Connecticut western news., 1880-07-21
The Lime Burning Industry.
AT THE Knss OF CHARLES BARNES SONS.

VI OuE lOCtu luuuSGCiSS, Luo SeCOuu HI mag nitude and importance counting as first the iron blast furnaces of the Barnum, Richard son Company at East Canaan, is the manu- facture of lime, extensively carried on by two concerns viz. Chas. Barnes Sons, and Peirce Lawrence & Co.,, of which latter we shall write hereafter.
 The business of lime burning In our town is not one that has sprung up within the | memory of the most of our inhabitants, but it | has seen heads turn gray in it's development;
 it has seen generations come and go, and it | has witnessed the progress and growth of our | town, from long before the entire village con- sisted of the old 'lower corner tavern" and | two or three houses on Bennett's corner. | down through the years till it has reached | it's present mammoth and magnificent propor. | tions, and the industry has fully kept pace in | progress and advancement, with that of the 1 town, the facilities of to. day being as much | superior to those of 50 years ago, in this | branch, as in all others. Exactly how long lime has been burned in I the vicinity of the Barnes brothers works is | not definitely known, but it is known to have | been carried on for over 50 years but up to the time MT. D. l.. Peirce, (now senior of the firm of Peirce, Lawrence < Co) in company with the late William Hinman, built ''patent kiln," about 25 years ago, it was conducted on a limited scale, in rough, awkward kilns, only 120 barrels at a drawing, requiring three days time, and the fire had to be put out to get the lime out. The stone used then were all quarried in the vicinity, and some on the land now owned by Harry Goodwin, but later the quarrying was done exclusively at the quarry near the kiln. to which it is still con- fined, and which yields an inexhaustible and superior quality of limestone, burning white and clear Skipping over the various chang es in proprietorship, in which Peiree. Him. man, Frederick Watson, Wm. c. Chave & Co. of New York, and others figured prom inently, the rapid development begins with the ownership of the late Charles Barnes,
 which dates back to 1869; the works, how ever, were conducted by him, for four years previous, (beginning ls65,) under lease from |
 whom he purchased the property and works,
 as stated, in 1869, when the utmost capacity
 was 50 barrels day, there being but one kiln. Finding it necessary to increase the
 capacity for production, and not having land and quarry enough he purchased in the spring of 1869, the farm owned by D. l.. Peirce, con- taining from 150 to 175 acres, for the sake of getting the quarry, with the exception of which, the farm was subsequently sold to his son, Edward Barnes, who now occupies it. About the time this purchase was made, MT, Barnes two sons, Sheriden and Henry, the present exclusive owners, became con. nected with him in the proprietorship, under the firm name of Chas. Barnes $ Sons. Shortly afterward new stone kiln was con- structed, near the original kiln, which has just been torn down, and is being replaced with new "Monitor" iron kiln, increasing the capacity to 11O barrels day. In the spring of 1874 the next kiln was built which was a ''Monitorn iron kiln, the first iron kiln constructed in these parts. The completion of this kiln increased the capacity to 160 barrels day. The original Hinman & Wat son kiln, the only one standing when MT.
 Barnes took possession, was torn down in 1876, and new Monitor is now about
 completed on it's site The new kiln is built
 on the most approved plan, designed at once
 to save labor and facilitate production. The
 hearth is built on an inclined plane, some
 three feet above the level of the floor, and so ) arranged that it is only necessary in draw ing,' to back small iron cart up to the oven open the iron door, and the hot lime falls into the cart, to be hauled back and : spread over the stone floor to cool With ed out of the oven by hand making it neces- 2 sary for man to work and sweat between the combined and oppressive heat of furnace fire in front. and pile of red-hot hme be-
 hind. The stack is an iron cylinder 10 feet
 iD diameter lined up with fire brick, till the
 opening is only about feet in diameter. There are four fues fed by four wood fires r on grating of fire brick. The capacity of
 the three kilns will be about 200 barrels a day, but it is not probable that more than
 two kilns will be burning at one time. There l are about 20 men employed about the kilns
 at present, who take pride in showing the product of the several kilns, as compared with their neighbors at the P. L. & Co. kilns,
 and they show some good figures, too. For : instance, in one kiln, (the second one) 101
 barrels were made in one day, April B, ls7s The total amount of lime made last year, from January to January, was 30,000 barrels; the } year before, %, 900. The yearly capacity of
 the three kilns when the new one is com-
 pleted, will be 60,O00 barrels. There are now
 about ?, 800 cords of wood stacked up about
 the works, and sometimes there is double
 that amount. In 1875 a steam pump was
 erected to pump the water out of the quarry
 to enable the mining to be carried on deeper,
 as the quality is better the lower down it goes; and since then about l60 900 barrels
 of stone have been taken out. The lime is
 Haven, Hartford, Merlden, and other places
 in eastern Connecticut.
 Messrs Sheriden W. and Henry C. Barnes
 have owned and managed the concern since
 the death of their father, which occurred in
 April, 1876, and to no better hands could the
 management have been left, as both under
 stand the business of lime making in its every
 department and detail, aud as for business
 capacity no better evidence is needed than
 the popularity they have gained, and the good business reputation they enjoy with the business men with whom they come in con-
 tact, as well as on the Commercial Registers. Dr Henry s. Tanner of New York is to. : Aho nE do, Enrk Ia ;u