The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-06-06

tanner1eS in Maine having total ahhu"'
consumption of considerably more than
lO0, 600 cords Of hemlock bark.
At VIM, in Penobscot County, was
the largest tannery in the world. 1t was
900 feet long, 80 feet wide, containing
100 watts and using IS cords of hemlock
bark daily.
This tannery was burned in the sum-
mer of 1892 and has not been rebuilt.
Upon the St. Croix waters, in thu
Grand Lake regions, are the large Shaw
Clement tanneries with a capacity for
using nearly $4,000 cords of bark yearly
and for manufacturing 100000 lbs.
of leather.
A large tannery Qarger even than the
one burned at Winn) has recently been
built at Island Falls, in ArooBtook
County, and at Bridgwater in the same
county is the large tannery of G. IL.
Church & Co.
These tanneries have in the past added
much to the lumber industry of northern
Maine, as they created demand for
large quantities of hemlock bark which
was produced in abundance in certain
sections of the State.
OTHER INDUSTRIES DEPENDENT
UPON THE LUMBER SUPPLY. +
In addition to the Industries described
as dependent upon the forests eiths.'
wholly, or in part, for material, there are
in Maine many mills and factories for
the manufacture of various articles from
wood.
| Among these may be mentioned mould
ing factories, planning mills, handle fac
tories, carriage factories, dowel facto-
ries, chair factories, kindling wood mills,
tooth-pick factories, veneer mills, hand
sled and notion factories, furniture fac
tories, etc., etc., which together
represent large amount of capital and
furnish employment for many people.
MANUFACTURES OF COTTON GOODS.
This industry was early introduced
into Maine, whose splendid waterpower
offered an inducement for the erection
of factories, even before the territory
became settled to any great extent.
In 1910, as the census reports for that
year inform us, 811,912 yards of cotton
cloth were manufactured in Maine. Com
paratively small as this amount may
| seem. yet the same report shows that in
proportion to its population, Maine, even
at that early date. exceeded the balance
of the nation in the manufacture of cot
ton. We note also that in 1910, there
were distilled in Maine 100, 800 gallons of
alcoholic spirits. The old Pine Tree
State has certainly retrogr3ded, as far as
the figures of this latter industry are
concerned, for it has long been the proud
boast of Maine that not gallon of ar
dent spirits is distilled within her por-
ders, while, in the manufacture of cotton
goods, she has since that year made a
most wonderful advance.
From the small beginnings in the early
years, the business has gradually in
creased until now we have the magnifi-
cent structures of the Androscoggin, the
Lewiston, the Bates, the Continental, the
Franklin and the Hill Companies, at
Lewiston; the Cabot, at Brunswick, the
earliest OF all; the Lockwood, at Water
Biddeford; the Edwards, at Augusta;
the Work. at Saco; and numerous
others of less capacity in different local
tiles.
Some idea of the amount of business
done by one of these great mills and it's
effect upon the carrying trade of the
country, may be had when it is stated
that the Lockwood mill at Waterville,
which runs about 10000 spindles, re-
ceives at times from five to twenty car
loads of cotton per day. Much of this
cones by steamer from Galveston to
Portland and large quantity comes
by through rail from the South. This
company uses thousand bales Of cotton
per monCh and turns out $50, 900 yards of
cloth per week. The freight business of
this one mill is over one hundred tons
per week the year round. There are in
Maine twenty-three cotton manufactur
ing establishments with total invested
capital of s20,s50. $50.
During the decade covered by the last
census the increase of capital invested
in this industry in Maine was more than
five and half million dollars and the
increase in the number of spndles in the
same period was lS9,S3S. The total num-
Der of hands employed was 1892, gain
of :, 1913 in the decade.
OF these operators, 5.193 were males,
1856 females and 1853 children.
The total sum paid for wages in the
census year was 81 ,372, 472 in the cotton
mills of Maine.
The total value of products for the
year was SIS, 3l6, 300 and the cost of ma
terial used was S., 407, 1862.
The total number of spindles in the
State was SS5, 1862 and the cotton looms
numbered 1925.
With very few exceptions, the cotton
mills ofthe State have been operated con-
tiuuously, and the product of Maine
factories rates with the best.of its kind
in the country.
A large proportion of all the cloth
from the Maine mills is sold in
our own country, although the Pepperell
Mill, Biddeford, has for years had large
foreign trade and some of the other
mills have had occasional foreign ship
ments.
WOODEN MANUFACTURE.
The greatest relative increase in the
manufacture of wooden goods in Maine
was in the decade from 1860 to 1870,
during which time the capital invested
in this industry increased from less than
one million dollars in 1860 to more than