The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-11-20
NO. S54.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
OUR FATHERS KNEW LITTLE OF TO.
DAYS coNvENIENcEs.
Some Discoveries ana Iaventions Which
Have Come to Modify Our Ways 90
Working and Living Within the
Last Half Century.
detroit Free Press. !


The changes that the last half century has
brought to tho commercial, social and do
msstie lilo of the world are remarkable. II
seems, in Iced, in looking back YER retont
inventions AMI discoveries as though man
kind male no great stride in all the 40
year that succ,ed,I IL ths invention Of PRINT
ing Fifty years ago there wa not rap.
ing or moving machine to be heard in any
field, nor wa there a seei- planter to be soen
or any labor-,aving apparatus for doing
farm wark except such as had existed for
general tions.
FIREARMS-PHOTOs-RU
In 1885 tIe farmerj shot squirrels with
fiintlock fowling pieces, Springfield mus
kets, or some of the innumerabe queen.
arms" that were said to have been picked
up on the fell Of Bunker Hill. Percussion
cap locks had not como into vogue and flint
locks were retained in b)th the militia ami
regular service for many years thereafter
The first breech- loading needle gun was
made in 1886 and in the same year Samuel
Colt patented his revolving pistol
Fifty years ago such a thing as
a photograph had never been imag-
ined. Daguerrs's process, long sincs
abandoned, was first announced to
the French Academy OF Sciences
by Arago in 1889. Portraits were painted
in oil for those who could afford them;
miniatures were taken in water colors upon
ivory and for the rest there was nothing
better than a silhouette profile, cut in whits
paper with q pair Of scissors, and placed
over piece Of black silk
It waS 10 1885 that Charles Goodyear took
out his first patent for an India rubber
cement Before that time the few gum"
ovsrshoes that wers worn came from the
crude manufacture of the Indians of Brazil.
Garden hose, waterproofs and all the multi.
farious lit of hard and soft rubber gools
belong to the last half century.
PINS, PENS, FUEL AND LIGHT.
In 1886 the first successful machines for
making pins were put into operation in New
York, but these were the kind with wire or
aspun heads' which had q way Of slipping
down toward the point and leaving the
upper end OF the pin to 60 into the thumb
or finger The process of making pins with
solid heads such as are now in universal
use, was not patented until 1910.
People wrote their letters with quill pens
in 1885, AMI there was no note paper, little
ruled paper of any kind, no blottins paper.
no envelopes AMI NJ stamps. Fine sand
was used to take up the surplus ink. anl
only one sheet or piece Of paper being al
lowed to go by mail at a single rate, fools
cap was largely used for, Correspondence on
account of its sizs till it was replaced by
large, square sheets OF letter paper. Steel
pens were not in common use then, nor for
long time afterwards, for they were
neither cheap nor good.
Tue use of an@Sthetics was practically un-
unknown till the effect Of ether in rendering
the patient insensible to pain in surgical
operations was announced in 1916. Coal
was hardly known as a fuel In this country
fifty years ago. Everybody burned wood.
Lucifer matches were not often seen or
smelled in those days; fire was kindled with
the tinder-box. and candles and pipes were
usually lighted with live Goals from the fire.
place. There was no gas for lighting streets
or houses in this country. Whale oil lamps
and tallow dips were the universal reliance.
Burning fluid, lard oil and camphene came
later, and it was years before the discovery
Of petroleum and the manufacture ~kero-
sene.
HoUsEKEEPER-CARPEN
The housekeeper had no canned fruits
whatever, and no preserved meats, soups or
vegetables She could get no condensed
milk, no COCOA, and but little chocolate.
She would have had to look long for q ba-
mana, and all imported fruit was scarce
She would as soon Of thought Of putting a
raw squash on her table as a tomato in any
form. Ice did not rattle in her water
pitcher. and she had no refrigerator. Soda
water and ice cream were not at hand to
cool the palate in summer, and lager beer
was q fluid whose name was never pro-
nounced on these shores. The first really
practical Sc wing machine had not bsen in.
vented, and the household linen was spun
and woven at home.
Tnn rad Hr ynia nf
wood work that went into the construction
of a house. He hewed the sills joists
beams, posts, rafters and braces; plaued
and matched the boards. shaved the shingles
In the woods and made the sash and doors
at his bench In winter Women knit their
stockings. for the stores held no Balbriggan
hose, and the only elastics they could buy
were made OF silk inclosing sever Il small
coils of brass wire.
ELECTRo-P PLATE AND STEREOTYPE.
The process Of electro plating was
unknown in those days, and consequently
the cheap plated ware Of recent times
could not be had. Forks were made of
steel and with but two prongs
Everybody put food to his mouth
with the knife, and the bandana spread
upon the knees was the predecessor Of the
napkin. Individual butter plate, hal not
appeared. Stoves were by no means in uni
versal use. and the capacious brick ovens
still did service on baking days.
In 1885 there wers probably about 200
newspapers in the United States; now there
are five time; as many. The paper machs
process Of stereotyping was first used on
New York ne swspapers In 1861. and electro
tipping dates back not more than thirty-five
years ago.