Norwich bulletin., 1913-02-07
BURNT MILL WAS
 LANDMARK IN 7ozRAH.
Old Times RscaiIs<i In An interesting
 Way


 The burning of the "old Grinding mill' at BozrahvilIe on Monday night bestirs recollections of many old res idents of this city as well as of that section says the New London Day. The mill was a part of an industry, which enjoyed a nation wide reputa- ton, the Hayward Rubber Co.,, which had it's main factory at Colchester The mill furnished employment for mill at Bozrahville made. that town a settlement of several thousand persons. while today hardly 100 people live within a radiuc of two miles of the ruins of either mill.
 Mule Drawn "schooners."
 The Colchester turnpike from Nor wich to Colchester was traversed in those times by the "Colchester schoon CTS" These were the big mule drawn wagons which freighted raw material and finished products between the big prosperous rubber town and Norwich.
 Factory Site For Over 100 Years.
 The site of the Grinding mill has been factory site for over cen tury. Old New London newspapers of 1907 advertised the Polly factory. which was located on it. for sale In the 40s the Gil1ettes, still a prosperous family in that section, operated a grist mill The water privilege is one of the finest in this section of the state and for ordinary business purposes was calculated to provide power suffi- ciently cheap to be profitable despite the long hauls for freight.
 The Hayward Rubber Co, adapted the mill site to it's use previous to 1852 It built big mill and install ed machinery for grinding hard rub Der into dust with paint and other ingredients so that it would be work able at the Colchester factory. From that time until 24 or 25 years ago the long succession of Colchester schoon- CTS were familiar sights along the turnpike.
 "Massa" Bailey Into Prominence.
 Then "Massa' Bailey came into prominence ''Massa'' Bailey was William Bailey, who died near Yan- tic a few months ago. He was super intendent of transportation for the Hayward company and was master of the negro teamsters, which drove the mule teams over the 20 odd miles of road.
 Boots and rubber shoes were loaded into the 'tschooners" at Colchester and started for Norwich. The wagons were of distinctive type eight feet high above the wheels and with ca pacitfes equal almost to a freight car. Six and eight mules were required to drag them,- according to the conditions day elapsed that the road side farmers wife could not hear the crack of mule whips and the cheerful strains of the southern negro melody the great wagons rolled past.
 carted Rubber.
 Loads of goods were carted to Nor wich to be transferred to cars. If night came with a wagon near Boz rahville it was wheeled into the Bailey farm yard and the mules were guar tered there on the place which Rep resenta tive Sullivan now operates e. m cto oyf for Norwich. Returning from Nor wich the teams would bring rubber and crude materials, unloading at the mill and relocating with dust for the rubber factory. The crude rubber came from foreign steamship holds in round, hard cakes, two feet in diame- ter and six or eight inches thick They made heavy loads
 CoIchester's Decline.
 Joseph Holmes was superintendent rubber was ground. He moved away when the rubber trust absorbed the Hayward company and took the ma chinery to Colchester. The abandon ing of Colchester just as it began to dream of becoming an incorporated city is tale by itself that sent a shudder to the heart of every little home owner, who was forced to sell at great sacrifice and to move out of Colchester because the rubber trust
  and every means of lucrative employ ment.
 Tissue PaperS Mill.
 A score of years ago Charles C. White, a manufacturer and broker of paper in New York, conceived the idea of taking over the Grinding mill to tissue paper manufactory. He interested New York capitalists, Harrison & Sons, brokers, being in vestors. Henry 0. Woodwork, now of this city, was the first superinten- dent of the White eompany's mill and it's machinery. This plant was as modernly equipped as it could have been in the heart of a city, hav- ing it's electric light plant. machine shop and an inexhaustable supply of power with battery of steam boilers in case the water motors became dis abled. Since that time the mill has fur nished tissue paper to the market with l the exception of a few months that l it was for sale and the White com pany decided to abandon it. T. Nor 1 timer Harrison operated the mill for the past few years.