The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-09-03
COMMUNICATED.
The Paper Mills of Cecil County.


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Communicated.
The Paper Mills of Cecil County.
The paper manufacturing district OF!
Cecil county is principally on the Little
Elk creek, which comes out of Chester
county, crossing Mason and Dixon's line
about mile west of Lewisvilie, and
running southeriy course between
eight and nine miles, falls into Elk river.
The water of this creek is said to be OF a
favorable quality for mixing with the
pulp ground for paper, but of this | can
not say,
Samuel and William Meteor were the
pioneers of paper making in Cecil county
and early in the present century estab
lished paper mill on the Little Elk,
near the spot where Singerly roller flour
mill now stands. The paper making
process was then in primitive condition.
The pulp which was made from rags
being ground fne and mixed with water
to proper consistence, was dipped up
by hand in kind of a sieve, sheet at a
time, shaken together, and turned over
on felt, then another felt was laid on
until a sufficient number were together to
be pressed. They were taken off the felt
and placed between boards, and pressed
again They were then strong enough
to bear handfihg';zsss>a weE5 taken to the
dryirg loft and hung over poles. After
being dried, they were pressed again
with a long lever. l recollect when at
school, about 1916, by holding up sheet
of paper to the light, we could see the
letters MEETEER, which were formed
by the r,ou!d on every sheet. l was in
the mill at Carter's, where l saw women
with knives scraping the Jumps off the
sheets of paper, as they were putting it
up.
About 1915, Robert Carter came from
Delaware county, Pa, and bought the
mill property on the Little Elk, now
owned by his son, 1. D. Carter, and
commenced making paper, and lived
there until the time of his death. He
was an active, industrious and persever-
ing man, and kept up with the improve
ments in the business, and soon became
the leading paper maker in the county.
About 1928, the old mill on the Little
Elk, established about the beginning of
the century by the Cecil Manufacturing
Company for the manufacture Of fine
cloth, having been abandoned, was pur
chased by Robert Carter and turned into
paper mill, and was run successfully
by Norris Lewis, until it's destruction by
fire in 1854.
Afterwards, in 1915, when the Marley
forge property was sold it was purchased
by Robert Carter, and changed into a
paper mill and was run by his son,
William G. Carter several years, and
afterwards came into possession of Alex
ander Priestley and then into the hands
of George w. Childs, of the Philadelphia
Ledger who ran it about twenty years,
making a great deal OF paper, and Mr..
Childs sold it recently to Charles S.
Garrett & Son, who have greatly i'm
proved the buildings, and increased the
power until they can make ten tons Of
wall paper per day, end talk of still
further increasing the power. Steam is
used in these mills in addition to the
water power. A branch railroad from
the Guilds station on the Philadelphia
division of the B. & o. r. R., is now
being built up the west side of the Little
Elk, which will add greatly to the advan
tages of those mills, doing away with the
great expense of keeping up teams for
hauling.
Above the old mill operated by Norris
Lewis, is the paper mill of Harlan &
Brother, making heavy book boards of
an excellent quality. This mill was built
originally by John Wilson, as a wooden
factory, which he New Leeds, after
| Leeds, England.
The large stone paper mill, built by
| William Meeteer, and called Providence,
has before been referred to, and was
considered then very large mill After
the death of William Meeteer it was run
for years by his family and others, dur,
ing which time great improvements were
made in the art of paper making, but
since this property came into the hands
of William NJ. Singerly, proprietor of the
Philadelphia Record, and the extensive
pulp works at EIkton, it has been in
meusely increased, running five large
paper machines and making not less thar
twenty tons of paper in 4 day, and the
number of new houses put up makes il
quite a village, and they are asking for {
post cfficP, with daily mail, to which
they are well eutitlcd, and will soon have
Just below Providence on the same
stream are the grain and saw mills OF Jos
X. Lewis, and below the MarleyMil on tn
Little + k and south of the railroad arr
the roller Touring mills of Daniel Harvey
doing much business. There is an III
occupied water power on the creek, b
tween |. D. Carter and Harlan Il Bro
This is the best power GA the creek
being over thirty feet, and is on tn
lands of |. D. Carter andWm. c. Brogau
This includes all the paper mills on til
: Little f k, in Cecil county.
JUS south Of the B. Il O. railroad, @
the |. tile Elk, is the Wilma roller tiou
mill, with improved machinery, it make
200! hDur, aud has considerable trade
This had Ion. been used as burr mil
and was kuown as Booths mill, an
, a(terw ards Mackal's mill, and was pun
chased some tea or twelve years ago.
There is large paper mill on th
; Ootaraso creek in Cecil county. and
$ known as Wells paper mill. It stands Q
/ the site Of what was John Frey's forgl
! and afterwards Blackeurn's forge,
has a heavy water power, and was use
D ,r,,,o xa,,s nv navid Scott and loser