Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-12-22
A SUCCESSFUL vERMoN1ER.
SIIas Howes Who Invented the steel
square-Humble Blacksmith Who Be-
came a Millionaire.

Nearly all of you have seen the large
steer squares that are used by carpenters
put perhaps you do not know when and
where they were first made. and how
they came to be used. The making
OF them is great industry now, but
When the last century came in there was
not one in use.
The inventor was poor YER
mont blacksmith, Silas Howes by name.
and he lived in South SALISBURY, not far
from bennington, where General Stark
won his famous victory over the British
IN the Revolution. Very often at his forge
Howes must have heard stories of the bat
Tie told by surviving veterans of the war.
But he did not spend all of his time listen
ing to stories or telling them. He was
poor and had large family, and 1t was
not always easy to make ends meet
one dull, rainy day a peddler of tin
ware called at his shop to have the black
smith fasten a shoe on his horse These
peddlers travelled up and down the country.
calling at every farmhouse, and buying
everything In the way of barter. This
one had a number of wornout steel saws
that he had picked up in various places.
Howes bargained for them, shoeing the
peddler's horse, and receiving the saws
In payment, and each thought he had
made an excellent trade
What was the blacksmith going to do
with wornout saws, do you suppose? Well,
he had an idea, and, as it proved IL was
very happy idea. 1t was to polish and
weld two saws together, at right angles.
and thus make a rule or measure, su-
perior to anything then in use. After a
few attempts he succeeded in making q
square" marked 1t off into inches and
fractions of inches, and found that 1t
answered every purpose that he intended
1t for.
In the course Of few weeks he made
quite a number during his spare hours.
These he sent out by the peddlers who
found every carpenter eager to buy one.
Soon he found orders coming in faster
than he could supply the demand. One
of his steel squares" would sell for five
or six dollars, which was FIVE times as
much as II cost him, so there was money
in this new idea of his.
He applied for and obtained a patent
on his invention, so that no one else could
deprive him Of the profit II gave him. 1t
was just after the close of the War OF
1912, and money was scarce and difficult
to get. But Silas worked early and late.
and as he earned money he bought iron,
which he manufactured into Steel and
hired men to help him. In a few years
he was able to erect large factory and
put in machinery for the making OF
squares, which by this time had found
their way all over the country and had
made their inventor famous.
Such was the small beginning of a
large and important industry. People
came miles to see the wonderful FORCES
the showers of sparks flying from be-
meath the heavy hammers, and listen to
the din of the thousand workmen. And
1t all came about from a thoughtful man
seeing a few wornout saws in peddlers
wagon.
Silas Howes lived to be a millionaire
and he did a great deal of good with his
money. Few names are deserving of more
lasting remembrance than that of the
successful Vermont blacksmith When
he died the Eagle Square company was
organized, and squares are still made on
the spot where the first one was made
more than ninety-five years ago.-[Fred
Myron Colby in The Congregationalist.