Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-11-22
THE BELLOWS FALLS NEWS
$4,000 FROM SALE
Westminster Pulp & Paper CON-
pany's Mill
Now the Property of c. M. Blake, with
Whom Daniel p. Higgins Will Be
Associated.


Associated.
Much interest among all business men,
and others, has centered the last Few
weeks in the auction sale of the extern
sive mill property of the insolvent west
minister Pulp and Paper Company. The
sale took place on the premises Tuesday
afternoon at ! o'clock, and was attended
nv n large crowd of interested citizens
together with few mill men from other
nearby places. Two or three paper men
were present from Glens Falls, capt.
William Robertson and William A. Cole
from Putney, Mr.. Jarvis, who owns
large mill at Claremont, and others. Z.
p ellison of Brattleboro acted as auc-
tioneer and won to himself fresh laurels
to add to his former reputation as we'll
balanced auctioneer who can get the very
largest prices possible upon all classes OF
property.
factory. the aggregate being nearly $5o,-
600. of which $iG3S0 was for real estate
alone 1t had been variously estimated
by those in a position to judge adNlseuiy,
and who knew the unfortunate history OF
the Dropertv The majority had doubted
If 1t would bring the amount of the mort
cages. which were stated by Judge Read
to amount to about S33,700, including in
terest Mr. Read was the trustee of the
estate, and the details of the sale were
arranged under his direction. TO MS
sound Judgment and level head is due, in
a measure, the satisfactory result
The mill including machinery, water
mower. and the old woodworking mill,
occupied by Bigelow & Hart which rep
resented an outlay of probably SSO,uUo'
was bid off by Charles NJ. Blake Tor 500
OO0 tract of valuable land abuttlng
upon this property on the north, adjacent
TO the Boston and Maine Railroad, excel
lently located for manufacturing pur-
noses in fact, the only land in the mar
lxet in Bellows Falls which does abut upon
the railroad, was sold at the cheapest
proportionate price of any during the
day. the purchaser being DR.. o. NJ.
George. The price was $3.50. This was
followed by the purchase by DR.. George
of three building lots near by, the prices
being $3.50, 1855 and $275 What is known
as the "old Chase house." containing -FOUR
tenements and the office of the company,
was bought by George II. Babbitt for
$3.50, while the water-power and mill site
in the basin, known as the Forest prop
erty," was struck off to Charles NJ Blake
at $500.
In addition to the realty a large amount
of stock for the mill, extra machinery,
office furniture etc. was sold, the aggre-
gate of which, added to the realty and
money in the bank, as proceeds of prop
erty previously disposed of, is under
stood to swell the assets to somewhere
about the $4,000.
This property was located at the south
end of our village, just over the line in
the town of Westminster. Twenty-Five
years ago it was covered by a tannery
and saw-mill, and had been known as the
Granger mill property" The tannery
was burned and the power (Which Is fur-
nished by the SaXtons River) lay prac-
tically unused for some years. About 10
years ago it was bought by George o.
Guild, who had many years been sue
cessful dry goods merchant of our viii
-lage, in company with Benjamin B. Weth-
erbee, an expert and experienced paper
maker Under the firm name of Guild e
Wetherbee they built a modern MILL of
brick, substantial and well equipped a
few years later a fire occurred and the
property was destroyed and rebuilt. The
partnership was then changed to a cor
poration under the name of the West
minister Pulp and Paper Company, with
100000 capital. This company, owing to
lack of profits, was obliged TO shut down
the first of this year, and the mill has
stood idle since, the managers hoping
against hope to be able to start again
without going into bankruptcy. This they
were unable to do, and about two months
ago the company was petitioned into in
solvency by the creditors. Judge Read
was appointed to handle the property, the
sale having been arranged by him
Much interest naturally centers in the
question of the future of the property,
and what arrangements and associates
Mr. Blake has. Without doubt some well
matured plans are made for running 1t,
as Mr. Blake bought a large amount of
stock, in addition to the mill. Bellows
Falls will welcome the starting up of the
mill as an important industry. The mill
has been cared for in an excellent man
ner, and it is supposed to be in condition
to start up at once, in fact, the boilers
were fired up and a portion of the ma
chinery running during the sale.
1t is generally understood that, among
the other affiliations of Mr.. Blake in his
plans for the future, he has associated
Daniel P. Higgins with him as a paper
maker of undoubted ability and expert
ence He has been a lifelong resident of
Bellows Falls, as has Mr.. Blake, and
both are well known locally. Mr.. Blake
has been interested in the ownership and
management of the brewery across the
river, since it was built about % years
ago, until its sale to new owners a few
months ago. Mr.. Higgins has been for
the past few years superintendent of the
paper mill of John T. Moore e. Son He
formerly held similar position with the
Sunapee mill, and still earlier with the
old Fall Mountain Paper Mill of this
place.