The daily gazette. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1874-1883, 1879-09-15
FIRST EDITION.
AN,lMPoRPANr INDUSTRY.
SOMETHING Anotr THE nt-roRy OF PA

i.s ANfANrvhfANi ANDooAhh'
Somnnsu nu, AnooT THE nasrohf OF PA
n,,, ar ~ "LMiS'roN-THh
oh- "ohA"' sse.l 44l
The erection OF the new pulp works
near Wilmington by the Jessup and
MOORE papert company will mark The
commencement new era In the indus
try or manufacturing paper in this sec
ton. 30 immense will be. these works
A0d 30 considerable the increase in the
manufacturing OF paper, that their es-
tanhsnnent n Mat, nt once becomes q Fortunate
thing Tor wilmington a. u manufacture
Ing piaco and an important one for the
citizens who havA the prosperity Of the
town Q hte;tosld v no 20 y elfare depends
upon the town success. lmmeiss works
are to Do built eoveripg acres, Of ground,
costing huudreds of Thousands Of dollars
and requiring. the labor of hundreds of
ouiiass; pondetSus mschi1sry " 70 no
put In 70 maze the paper that VIII re.
-quire the attention or several hundred
meu; plans now formed will be conshme
mated for carrying on this particular
branch of Industry on Q scale more gi-
gaDtic than ever even dreamed Of by our
people. e.- .-'- 20 f--
In view of this, 1t may not be uninter-
esting to 60 back some decades in the
history of the city, 70 the Time when pa
per making was first carried on here,
| and to give few facts relative thereto.
Many interesting facts are connected
with the earlier days of this business az,
with manyoOthers, but 10 IL unfortunate
that much connected with 1t has passed
away from the minds of men. Some
time after the war of 1872 had been
brough; to . close there was built upon
| the Brandy wine creek near the present
site OF james Riddle - SOls' cotton mill
q large stO0e building, by two brothers
uaned Joshua and TnOmSs G,lpin. They
formed partnership and commenced the
manufacture Of paper. In 1873 this IN
dustry was carrie,t on by the brothers to
great extent and with much success. II
was tho only paper mil Ia the country
| for milcs around In that prim atlye day
paper making like all other branches Of
Trade was IN . crude state and had great
room for advan 3emeot M annual labor
was the only agency employtd d In turning
| out the paper, rhe ponderou, cauldrons
| and rollers andpu machines ware un-
| known. Joshua GilDin was the leading
spirit of the firm. He was q man
| OF the most decided turn Of mind,
but for all that, man who commanded
respect among all classes. He mad
about him all the attributes which go to
| make, "a fine old English gentleman,
ali of the olden tlme". x n ~
JoShua Gilpin's was mind that does
| not stand stall, aad he was q man of the
| greatest fDRenuity aud enterprise. He
sat about bringing machinery into Use.
in making paper and finally invented
the first paper mill machinery ever
known. He fitted up his mill with this
machinery and became the most success
full paper maker Of the day. New Eng
land paper makers saw the paper that
came from Gilpin's mill and at once con-
cIuded that it was made by machinery.
And so one day, two men engaged in
paper making in massachusetts came to
Wilm. ngton ia disguise and exerted
GllnIn's lecret. But they were hood
wiIked on all sides. The mill was zeal
ousiy guarded night and day and all Of
work men were dumb on the subject
One night, however, they managed 70
steal into the mill by way of the tail
race aud by minutely examing the ma
cbinery. got the secret OF contrivance.
Going home they adopted Joshua Gil
mn's 1Ian as their own, and, as the in
vention WAS not patented. used it with
| Immunity. This was the first paper mill
machinery ever m ade snd from it have
| ali the nIans for making paper nowadays
emInated. etr.-.-s- 3
voir. filed with clear water which was
nsad when floods would come and make
The waters of the Brandywine muddy
rb;s was made necessary because mud
dv water cannot b used In making
naner' One of Joshua Gilpin's peculia
r,tfas was in the style on which ne con-
struc,eJ tha mill IL was ali unique, put
the entrance % was particularly so: On
either side stood Souse, exactly In
imitation of nsrter's lodges at the en-
trance of S.ntIemen's estatesin England
The rii3 extended nearly half way out
Il, tha atraam and this eventually re
% m .ne s.i a. d.nfal, ~ II vas dastroved
hr q aond the exact date of which can
not be k16wn. On Sept; 3, 1881, grea,