House Movers

Here's a different occupation that folks don't often think about, a house mover. They literally moved a house from it's foundation, moved it to another location and set it on it's new foundation.

Below is an advertisement from the Omaha Daily Bee, Feb. 12, 1886 advertising a house moving company.

Below are some illustrations of various types of buildings being moved from the Salt Lake Herald June 13, 1897

1877 Railroad Strike

For a good overview of the strike, I recommend starting with Wikipedia.

Another source would be History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850: 1877-1896 by James Ford Rhodes.

The strike was fueled by several things, one the decrease of the wages being paid to the employees and the 1873 depression. It probably became as violent as it was because of Taft and how he won the election. But all of that is speculating, which our characters might do in conversation. If you choose to use the strike in your novel be sure of the dates and the time it entered your area.

U.S. Camel Corps

On March 3, 1855 congress appropriated 30,000 to develop the U.S. Camel Corp. The idea was that camels might be better suited for the SW. Wikipedia has a nice overview of the project and process.

The Camel Corp never really developed because of the camels dispositions.

You can read an early account regarding The Camel: his organization, habits and uses ©1856 Chapter 17. The following chapter speaks on matters for the use of camels with the military.

Can you imagine being one of the men responsible for bringing in camels?

Chimney Sweeps Health

Today we still have chimney sweeps and it is wise to clean your chimneys once a year. In the 19th century the need for workers in this field was high.

In The Hygiene, diseases and mortality book ©1892 published in London, we find this excerpt about the health issues chimney sweeps deal with.
Chimney Sweeps are a class by themselves so far as concerns the active cause of disease existing among them. In the chapter on the ' conditions of labour,' we have cited sweeps as a class of labourers who suffer physically and morally by the social position allotted them. They are to a certain degree Helots of society, placed under circumstances inimical to their social well-being and their health; and, from this cause, apart from the peculiar incidents of their occupation, we might expect them to occupy an unfavourable position in tables of comparative mortality, and such we find to be the case. Thus Dr. Ogle says their death-rates between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five, and also between fortyfive and sixty-five, arc excessively high, and their 'total mortality, as shown by their comparative mortality figure (1519), is 50 per cent. higher than the average' (op. cit. p. 56).
As to causes of death, the Table K indicates no marked difference between those prevailing among coal-heavers and sweeps. Those of the circulatory system are somewhat rare, and those of the digestive organs decidedly so. Phthisis and respiratory maladies stand much on a par in the two trades; the latter in a slightly lower ratio. But, in the matter of alcoholism, sweeps show a greatly higher percentage than coal-heavers; that is, as 206 to 13 per cent.
Moreover, sweeps are often troubled with skin (eczematous) eruptions, and their eyes suffer with the acrid soot, making them blear-eyed. It seems demonstrable, moreover, that the soot finds its way into the subcutaneous tissue, where it produces small patches, not removable by washing. From these the black particles can, it seems, make their way along the lymphatic spaces to more distant localities. (See remarks by Mr. W. G. Spencer, British Medical Journal, November 15, 1890.)
But the disease, par eminence, attaching to their calling is epithelial cancer. Dr. Ogle discovered, from his statistics, that' of 242 deaths of chimney sweeps, no less than forty-nine were due to some or other form of malignant disease. This gives 202 deaths from this cause to 1000 deaths from all causes; whereas the proportion of deaths from malignant disease to deaths from all causes, among all males from twenty-five to sixty-five years of age in England and Wales, is only thirty-six in 1000; so that, even if the total mortality of sweeps were simply equal to that of all males, their mortality from malignant disease would be more than five times as much as the average. But the mortality of chimney sweeps ... is 50 per cent. higher than the average, so that the liability of chimney sweeps to malignant disease is about eight times as great as the average liability for all males. These figures scarcely support the belief expressed by some authorities that improvements in the art and habits of sweeps have caused this disease to be comparatively infrequent among them.' Of the forty-nine cases of deaths by cancer returned, the scrotum and adjacent parts weje the seat of the lesion in twenty-three; in thirteen the organ affected was not stated; but in seven of them the malady was in internal organs, and the rest in the face, hip, orbit, palate, or neck.
The consoling belief that sweeps' cancer is becoming a scarce phenomenon, since the application of the special Acts of Parliament controlling their work, is also somewhat rudely shaken by Mr. Butlin, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, who, in his work on Cancer, affirms that numerous instances are to be met with.

Drayman 1870

Another occupation I found in the 1870 censuses was that of a Drayman, fortunately there is a well defined meaning for this occupation. In writing I would have simply called him the wagon driver but I love the term. Here's a link to Wikipedia for a short definition of the term.

Watermaker 1870

While going over some 1870 censuses I came across a man who was born in Russia living in America who's occupation was listed as Watermaker. This occupation intrigued me. I do know that there were some people who converted sea water into fresh water and since the census was of a seacoast town that might have been his job as a watermaker. However, it has me searching the internet for other possible meanings.

The second alternative I came up with was a soda-water maker. Either of these are possible but I wonder if there are any other meanings for this occupation.

He's not Native America so we can think in terms of a rain maker.

I'm interested if anyone who reads this blog has ever run across this occupation, post a comment and let me know what you think.

American Cowboy

Here's a fun look at the American Cowboy from a London publication. The excerpt below comes from "The Statist: a journal of practical finance and trade, Vol. 21 ©1888

Feb. 4, 1888

THE AMERICAN COWBOY.
The British duchesses who have been worshipping at the shrine of Buffalo Bill, to the great amusement of their Republican sisters in America, will be grieved to hear that the cowboy, of whom their pet is a glorified representative, is fast becoming a departed glory. He is passing away into the land of shades and traditions ; the place which he made so hot and so lively during his brief but eventful reign will soon know him no more. Civilisation, that fell destroyer of all that is true and beautiful and simple in nature, has overtaken him, and ordered him to move on. Like Jo, he had no convenient place left to move on to, not even a Tom All Alone's, and he is being gradually pushed over the edge of the poetic prairie into oblivion; in the ruder language of the political economists he is being " improved off the face of the earth." Even on the Mexican frontier, which used to be his happiest hunting ground, he has got notice to quit; his part is played out, and new actors are taking possession of the stage.

The cowboy was an essentially ephemeral being. He was the product of a transition state of things in the Far West, and with it he necessarily takes his departure. In the order of development he came on between the buffalo hunter and the farmer, filling up the period which was too early for the one and too late for the other. Fifteen or twenty years back, when the buffalo had been driven west of the Rio Grande, herds of some wild cattle took his place. They were for the most part a legacy from the old Spanish settlers of Texas and New Mexico. With very little care they increased and multiplied and replenished the boundless prairie. But as yet they were of little value ; there was an unlimited supply, but no demand, the nearest markets of any importance being hundreds of miles away. Moreover, the idea of eating prairie cattle had not yet occurred to Eastern beef consumers. Two events changed all that. First, the railways began to push Westward into the ranche country, and to offer practicable transport to Eastern markets. Next, Chicago started its now enormous industry of beef packing—that is, of boiling meat in tins. It created a demand for ranche cattle, and threefourths of the tinned meat shipped from Chicago is now prairie fed. Farm-fed steers are generally distributed to Eastern and Southern markets as dressed or fresh beef.

The cowboy came in with tinned meat, which made ranching a commercial success. It gave value to the mobs of cattle which ranged the prairie, feeding on free grass and with no mark of ownership but the brand on their shoulders. They became worthy of care and attention, and to that end the cowboy appeared on the scene. Adventurous spirits, attracted by the wild, free life, with a fascinating dash of danger, took to the prairie. The Mexican "greaser?," who had previously done all the trading that was needed, found themselves swamped by ex-miners, prodigal younger sons, University men who had broken loose, and desperadoes who had left a bad record behind them in the East. Many men took to it from sheer love of adventure, but more of them drifted into it as a last resource. It was a business quickly learned and requiring very little capital to start in. The outfit consisted of a picturesque sombrero, a woollen shirt, buckskin trousers, and jack-boots—a free and easy combination of the Mexican costume with the Colorado miner's.

But the cowboy's proudest distinction was not his sombrero or his lasso ; it was his revolver. On the prairie he had, of course, to go armed for the Indians, who were still on the war path. The last of them have now been cleared away, and even the once formidable Apaches in Southern Arizona have ceased to be a terror to the settler. On the capture of their chief, Huronymo, about a year ago, the tribe was broken up, and most of them removed to Florida, where they are safely secluded somewhere in the Everglades. But in the cowboy's early days the Mexican frontier right along from Western Texas to Southern California swarmed with scalpers, and any white man who might meet them unexpectedly had to be pretty handy with his firearms. Most of the cowboys were. Pistol shooting came next to poker in their calendar of human accomplishments. They practised it both drunk and sober, but especially drunk. Out on the prairie little harm came of it, except to themselves ; but when they descended on a town accidents were apt, indeed they were pretty sure, to happen.

After a round up, or when he had cattle to ship East, the cowboy always had a blow-out of his own peculiar kind. It generally began with whisky, and ended with promiscuous pistol shooting. Blood was shed, of course ; but as the Missouri man who had " busted " for half a million said of his liabilities, that was a mere detail. There is, ve know, a prejudice against pistol practice in towns as Iwing dangerous; but the cowboy had completely emancipated himself from that weak notion. His pistol was his plaything as well as his protector; it spoke for him when he had no longer a tongue of his own ; it gave vent to his humour, and when a happy thought entered his drunken head he fired it off with his revolver. Endless are the stories of his mad freaks which linger on the frontier. It was a favourite joke with him to make a man stand up against the wall, and fire a bullet on each side of his head, finishing off with a third through the crown of his hat. Sometimes the human target would submit to the operation voluntarily for the sake of the whisky with which the cowboy would be sure to fill him ad libitum during the rest of the drinking bout; more frequently the victim stood up under compulsion, trembling and shaking in his shoes all the while.

There were many sorts and conditions of cowboys, as of other men. Some were vain, and in their cups wished to show off their shooting; some were brutal fellows, who liked to see harmless, unarmed people run from them in terror; others were humorous dare-devils, who would do anything for the mere fun of it. They had a strong sense of the grotesque, and would quite unexpectedly order a man to do something he had no special aptitude for—to sing or dance, or make a stump speech, or even to pray. One night a drunken cowboy marched into the telegraph office in a Western Texas depot, and ordered the clerk to kneel down at once and say his prayers. " But I don't know my prayers," said the trembling clerk. "Oh, don't you just," replied the cowboy, pointing his six-shooter at him; " this will teach you, I guess.' Without further argument, down dropped the telegraph man on his knees, and surprised everybody around by the spiritual unction he worked up. It was an even chance whether the cowboy, when he was done, put a bullet into him or took him to the bar and stood drinks all round. The incident ended happily with drinks, but this telegraph clerk was never allowed to forget his cowboy's prayer.

The success of Buffalo Bill's Show is generally attributed in the West to the passion of cowboys for the circus. They would ride scores of miles to attend one, not so much for the purpose of seeing as of taking part in it. Their greatest delight was to join in the public procession, and to do the lion's share of the whooping and shouting. They would also ride into the ring, and show off some horsemanship of their own. The other spectators thought themselves lucky if a pistol or two did not go off in the excitement. Once a ranchman had driven down sixty car load of cattle to a Texas railway station, and his cowboys were busy loading them when they heard that a circus was coming along. They knocked off work, went out to meet the circus, and rode back with it. After the public procession they assisted at the performance, and honoured the clown's best jokes with pistol salvoes. During the night the cattle stampeded, and only fifteen car loads out of the sixty could be started. A new roundabout had to be made to recover the rest.

The cowboy had his own notion of politics. He judged a candidate a good deal by first impressions, and personal appearance went a long way with him. He had a strong antipathy to snobbishness either in dress or manners. Woe betide the stump orator who ventured before a cowboy audience with a silk hat on his head. Ten to one it would have a shot hole through the top of it before he had been three minutc3 on the platfonn. One venturesome wearer of a bell-topper was warned beforehand of this weakness of his cowboy auditors, but he said he would get on with them all right. Sure enough, he had hardly seated himself when the expected shot was fired. He quielty took off his hat, looked at the hole in it, smiled gratefully at the sportsman, and put it on again. His coolness captivated the boys, and his speech delighted them. After the meeting they insisted on conducting him in triumph to the nearest hat store, and buying the best sombrero for him there was in it. The cowboy had his good points, but like many other an exuberant genius he made the world rather hot for him. It has cooled down very much of late on the Texas frontier; a cowboy nowadays causes no more commotion in a saloon than Buffalo Bill would produce in a Belgravian drawing room were he to return next year to the scene of his late triumphs. He has had his day and ceased to be heroic in the slightest degree.

Broom Factories & Broom Makers

Brooms have been around for eons, the question I've been trying to answer is when did the first broom factories start in America.

In 1841 in Sussex I find the listing of 65 broom-makers
A list of immigration to Missouri in 1867 listed several boom-makers
I found a disabled soldiers Broom-factory in 1875
1881 I found an expense report that line item a broom factory in a Missouri Penitentiary in 1880
And I found a grocery store owner in 1888 took payment of a broom making machine in exchange for food, then proceeded to have a very successful broom factory in the late 19th century into the 20th century. In fact, the business is still in operations today.

So, as of this moment, I do not know when the first broom factory developed in America. If you have a source with additional information, I'd love to hear it.

Below is a list of Broom & Brush Factory jobs, from the "Classified index of occupations by the United States," © 1921

Binder, broom or brush factory.
Borer, broom or brush factory.
Box maker, broom or brush factory.
Broom or brush maker, broom or brush
factory.
Broom or brush maker (not in factory).
Broom or brush maker (n. s.).
Buffer, broom or brush factory.
Buncher, broom or brush factory.
Comber, broom or brush factory.
Cutter, broom or brush factory.
Drawer, broom or brush factory.

Turpentine Making

Another occupation that you wouldn't think much about today but is something that was quite popular in the 19th century, especially in the east coast Southern states was that of Turpentine making.

Below is a clipping from Trumbell White in "Our Wonderful Progress" ©1902

TURPENTINE AND RESIN
Dialect writers find a fruitful field among the "tar-heels" of the Carolinas, Alabama and Georgia. In the cool depths of the turpentine woods, with the gashed trees yielding up their resinous gum, the balmy air and the picturesque "hackers," "dippers" and "scrapers," with the ever-vigilant "rider" watching everything, is a phase in southern life which has long been the delight of authors and the pleasure of the artists. The crudity of the implements and the stills used in the making of turpentine and resin lends additional interest to this old industry, and the gypsy-like habits of the turpentine-makers add to their ragged, illiterate charms.

Turpentine is the distilled gum of the pine trees of North and South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and part of Florida. The season begins when the first spring sap rises and ends when cold weather checks the flow of the tree's blood. In January or February the "hacker," with his keenbl'cded ax, begins the round which ends with the season. He is the expert of the woods and knows his trees, and just how much hacking they will stand. His task is to cut the "boxes" in which the thick gum of the wounded tree will collect. A box is a wide incision about six inches deep, a wedge-shaped cut in the tree, and he hacks from 90 to 100 boxes a day. The first 'boxes at cut near the roots of the tree, and they are cut close together, to the height of a man's head, as can be done without killing the pine. The hacker leaves a width 'A bark between each box, so as to preserve the virality of the tree. When the trees are leased to the turpentine-makers the terms of the lease limit the number of boxes to each tree, but when it is desired to work the pine to the fullest extent the gashes are carried up to a height of twenty feet or more.

After the hacker comes the man who "corners" the boxes. This "corner" is a cut in the top of the box, to guide the sap into the cavities left for the gum, and the man who "works" the "crop" goes systematically from box to box, starting the sap anew with fresh incisions, working in this way 10,000 boxes during the season. The sap or gum fills the boxes with a clear, sticky, thick fluid, and this is removed by the "dipper." Scattered through the woods are barrels in which the "dipper" deposits the gum, which is then hauled to the still. About a quart of sap is taken from each box by means of the trowel-shaped scoop used by the dipper, and then the hacker comes along and starts the flow afresh by wounding the tree again. The turpentinemaker watches his men closely, for the tarheels are an easy-going people and require to be urged by the "rider," who goes through the woods on horseback, examining the crop, hurrying the dippers and hackers, and sending the barreled gum to the still.

The first or "virgin" sap, which flows in the spring, makes the best resin, and the poorest is the product of the hardened gum which is left on the sides of the boxes when the sap "turns down" in the fall. This is removed by the "scraper," who moves
through the woods with his scraping tool, gathering the leavings.

The still is a large copper vat, hooded with a close-fitting air-tight cover, in which is a funnel which in turn is connected with the worm of the stilL The worm runs down into another vat near at hand, and in this vat the fumes or vapors of the heated gum are distilled into turpentine. Fire under the copper beats the gum, and the volatile parts rise to the funnel, pass into the still and are condensed by the water in the second vat into spirits of turpentine. The residuum left in the vat is the resin of commerce, which is passed through a series of strainers and sieves to the barrels, which are made on the spot. The turpentine, however, cannot be barreled so easily, for it will work through an ordinary barrel. It is placed in white pine barrels, which have been coated inside with several coats of strong, hot glue, until the barrel is impervious to the subtle fluid.

The trees are worked for five or six seasons, and then the turpentine-maker moves to another part of the woods. He started in Xorth Carolina, crossed over to South Carolina, and is still moving toward the gulf. Forest fires destroy the pines faster than the hacker does, for the inflammable trees catch the sparks readily, and the flames sweep over the large areas before they die out. Careful owners of turpentine woods have the pine straw and fallen underbrush raked away from their trees before the season begins, and, collecting this material in some safe spot, wait for a quiet day, when there is no wind, and then they burn the rakings.

Negroes are the common laborers of the turpentine woods, but white men are plentiful. They live in rough shanties in the
D, with the stables for mules aud horses near at hand. No work is more healthful than turpentine making, for it is all out of doors in the depths of the balmy, health-giving pines, free from the malaria of the swamps and from sudden changes of weather.
end of quote

I found many turpentine makers in the 1860 census of one of the county's in Florida.

Stenographic Notes

I stumbled on this phrase while researching the railroads and while I thought I knew what the writer was saying, I wanted to double check. What I found was an interesting tidbit.

First the quote from the article I was reading:
My friends of the Railroad Gazette informed me that in such event they would have stenographic notes taken for a report that would appear in their paper.

Naturally I presumed shorthand. Which the writer was intending. Wikipedia shows there were several varieties of short hand in the 19th Century. Here's a link to view the Lord's Prayer in several of those forms.

A basic timeline of shorthand in the 19th century.
Pitman shorthand introduced in 1837
Graham shorthand introduced in 1854 (credited with perfecting Pitman's shorthand)
Munson shorthand introduced in 1867
Gregg Shorthand introduced in 1888

19th Century Photography

Wikipedia has a great overview of the history of the camera. There are a few dates that should be noted for those of us who write historical fiction.

In 1839 the first commercially produced camera, a Daguerreotype Giroux was sold.

1840 an American Chamfered daguerreian was made

Daguerrotypes are shown at the Great Exhibit in London in 1851 by 1853 New York Daily Tribune estimates that in the US 3 million daguerrotypes are being produced yearly.

The first studio that took portrait shots opened in 1853 in Paris.

In 1854 a boom of portrait studios worldwide over the next decade.

1859 a panoramic camera was invented.

1861-1865 Civil War is photographed by Mathew Brady and staff creating 7000 negatives.

Color Photography is introduced to the world in 1868

Eastman sets up Dry Plate Company in 1880

In 1887 a detective camera was patented by Eastman.

1888 First Kodak camera containing 20 foot roll of paper.

1889 first Kodak camera containing film

1900 Brownie camera introduced.

And behind every camera there is a photographer. I stumbled on this page and thought it might be helpful as well. It is a list of 19th century photographers, along with the dates they were in operation and where. Wikipedia has a great overview of the history of the camera. There are a few dates that should be noted for those of us who write historical fiction.

In 1839 the first commercially produced camera, a Daguerreotype Giroux was sold.

1840 an American Chamfered daguerreian was made

Daguerrotypes are shown at the Great Exhibit in London in 1851 by 1853 New York Daily Tribune estimates that in the US 3 million daguerrotypes are being produced yearly.

The first studio that took portrait shots opened in 1853 in Paris.

In 1854 a boom of portrait studios worldwide over the next decade.

1859 a panoramic camera was invented.

1861-1865 Civil War is photographed by Mathew Brady and staff creating 7000 negatives.

Color Photography is introduced to the world in 1868

Eastman sets up Dry Plate Company in 1880

In 1887 a detective camera was patented by Eastman.

1888 First Kodak camera containing 20 foot roll of paper.

1889 first Kodak camera containing film

1900 Brownie camera introduced.

And behind every camera there is a photographer. I stumbled on this page and thought it might be helpful as well. It is a list of 19th century photographers, along with the dates they were in operation and where.

Farm Blacksmith

This information actually was printed in the 20th century but the information below is basics for blacksmithing on a farm. I'm simply including the work of building the right fire to use. Farm blacksmithing ©1921 by John Friese written because of the large number of agricultural students wanting/needing information about blacksmithing on the farm.

BUILDING A FIRE
THE first thing one who is going to do blacksmithing must learn is to build a fire properly. Place a handful of shavings or paper in the firepot. Light and give a little draft and throw some fine blacksmith coal over it. Let this burn well and then push it to the center and add green coal all around it. Green coal is nothing more than blacksmith coal thoroly wetted. As this coal changes to coke push it to the center and add more green coal around the edge of the firepot, until you have a fire that is much like that illustrated in Fig. 10.

The iron that is to be forged should be heated in burning coke, not coal. It should be placed in the fire horizontal as shown, and not toward the bottom of the firepot. The iron should have burning coke below, around and above it while heating.

A second fire is easier to build because some coke will always be left over. All that is required is to start this coke burning and heat the iron. The green coal is placed around the edges of the firepot so that the gas may be burned out of it and new coke continually be formed to take the place of that burned away.

A good blacksmith coal should be used Tho slightly more expensive than ordinary soft coal it is cheaper in the end, because of time and labor saved. Blacksmith coal has very little or no sulphur in it. While iron can be heated with ordinary soft coal and shaped, it is out of the question to try to do welding with a coal that has sulphur in it.

Blacksmith's Hammer

Below comes an excerpt from Practical Blacksmithing Vol. 4 by Milton Richardson ©1889

THE HAMMER.*
* * * The hammer is generally known as a rude instrument, but as a matter of fact it is in some of its uses a very refined one, requiring great care and skill in its use. * * *

Time forbids that I should refer to more than a few prominent forms of hammers. The carpenter's mallet has a large rectangular head, because, as his tools are held in wooden handles, he must not use a hard substance to drive them with, or he will split the handles. Wood being light, he must have a large head to the mallet in order to give it weight enough.

The author than goes on to explain a stone mason's hammer, a machinist's hammer.

USES OF THE HAMMER.
In whatever form we find the hammer, it is used for three purposes only, namely, to crush, to drive and to stretch. And the most interesting of these operations are stretching and driving. The goldbeater, the blacksmith, the sawmaker, the plate straightener and the machinist, as well as many others, employ the hammer to stretch ; while the carpenter, the machinist, and others too numerous to mention, use the hammer to drive. Among the stretching operations there are many quite interesting ones. Here in Fig. 3, for example, is a piece of iron, two inches wide, and an inch thick, bent to the shape of the letter u. This piece of wire is, you observe, too short to fit between the jaws, and I will now bend the piece and close the jaws by simply hammering the outside of the curved end with a tack hammer. The proof that the blows have bent the piece is evident, because the piece of wire now fits tightly instead of being loose, as before the hammering. The principle involved in this operation is that the blows have stretched the outer surface, or outside curve, making it longer and forcing the jaws together. If we perform a similar operation upon a straight piece" of metal, the side receiving the blows will actually rise up, becoming convex and making the other side concave, giving us the seeming anomaly of the metal moving in the opposite direction to that in which the blows tend to force it. This process is termed pening, because, usually, the pene of the hammer is used to perform it. It is sometimes resorted to in order to straighten the frame-work of machines, and even to refit work that has worn loose.

Salt

Hi all,

I stumbled across some information regarding the history of Cape Cod that mentioned salt making and the amount of salt produced annually. In the report dated 1839 is stated "About two millions of dollars are invested in the manufacture of salt. There were manufactured in this county in the year ending April 1,1837, 669,064 bushels of salt, valued at $219,870. " (John Hayward's 1839 New England Gazetteer). This made me wonder just how they made salt from salt water, oh I know it means evaporating the water out of the ocean but I wondered just how they went about doing it.

So I found this brief description from the "Library of Cape Cod History and genealogy, Issue 78 page 30 ©1912 that I found very informative. I hope you do as well.

Prior to 1860 and particularly early in the 19th century, shipbuilding was carried on to some extent, small vessels being turned out of the works. In 1845 six vessels were built and in 1855 fifteen. The business of making salt by the evaporation of sea water was early established here Extensive shallow vats were built along the shores of the bays, equipped with movable roofs so that they could be covered on the approach of rain. The water was pumped into them by windmills. The last works that were operated were those of Jesse Nickerson on the neck where the hotel Chatham stood. These were closed about 1886. In 1802 there were six salt works in the town; in 1837, 80, producing annually 27,400 bushels, worth $8,220; in 1845, 54, producing 18,000 bushels; and in 1855, 14, producing 3,300 bushels. The industry ceased to pay and began to decline when duties on salt were lowered, when the State bounty was removed, when salt springs in New York and elsewhere in the country came to be developed, and when the price of pine lumber necessary in the construction of the works rose to a high level. General manufacturing was never carried on here to any extent.

Whaling

Whaling was a huge industry in the 19th century. There are many products that came from the whales today we don't need whale products because we can artificially manufacture many of the items.

Here's a list of some of the products gathered from the whaling industry:
From the blubber (fatty part of the whale) the seamen would boil it down and fill barrels of oil on board the ship. This oil was used for:
Lighting,
Lubrication,
Soap,
Paint,
Varnish,
From the sperm whale a pricey oil was obtain called Spermaceti. It was a highly prized oil, it was waxy and could be used to make candles. These candles burned with a very clear flame. It was also used in lamps. The Spermaceti oil was also refined for lubrication of precision machinery. And last but not least many perfumes were produced with some of this highly prized oil.

Whale bone also produced several products:
Scrimshaw is probably the best known. Jewelry, Sculptures, etc.
Corsets (the ribs of the corset) also collars this particular whale bone was called baleen and is what the whale uses to strain it's food out of the sea water. Other products from baleen were umbrella ribs, riding crops, buggy whips and hat brims.
Ivory for piano keys
Chess pieces
Walking sticks
inlays in furniture
Practical kitchen tools it has been said that the whale bone was the plastics of the household in the 19th century.

If you want to find more information on the Whaling industry you can go to New Bedford, Mass. and visit the Whaling Museum there.

Fur Trade 1834

Below is an excerpt from Journal of a trapper: or, Nine Years in the Rocky Mountains, 1834-1843 By Osborne Russell, Lem A. York. The journal was printed in 1921 by the nephew of the author nearly a century later.

Expedition Left Independence, Missouri, April 28,1834, Headed by Nathaniel J. Wyeth
At the town of Independence, Mo., on the 4th of April, 1834,1 joined an expedition fitted out for the Rocky Mountains and mouth of the Columbia River, by a company formed in Boston under the name and style of the Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company. The same firm had fitted out a brig of two hundred tons burden, freighted with the necessary assortment of merchandise for the salmon and fur trade, with orders to sail to the mouth of the Columbia River, whilst the land party, under the direction of Mr. Nathaniel J. Wyeth, should proceed across the Rocky Mountains and unite with the brig's company in establishing a post on the Columbia near the Pacific.

Our party consisted of forty men engaged in the service, accompanied by Messrs. Nutall and Townsend, botanists and ornithologists, with two attendants; likewise Revs. Jason and Daniel Lee, Methodist missionaries, with four attendants, on their way to establish a mission in Oregon, which brought our numbers (including six independent trappers) to fifty-eight men. From the 23rd to the 27th of April we were engaged in arranging our packs and moving to a place about four miles from Independence. TOn the morning of the 28th we were all equipped and mounted hunter-like. About forty men leading two loaded horses each were marched out in double file with joyous hearts, enlivened by anticipated prospects, led by Mr. Wyeth, a persevering adventurer and lover of enterprise, whilst the remainder of the party, with twenty head of extra horses and as many cattle to supply emergenciesJbrought up the rear under the direction of Captain Joseph ThingT^n eminent navigator and fearless son of Neptune, who had been employed by the company in Boston to accompany the party and measure the route across the Rocky Mountains by astronomical observation.

We traveled slowly through the beautiful, verdant and widely extended prairie until about two o'clock p. m. and encamped at a small grove of timber near a spring. On the 29th we took up our march and traveled across a large and beautifully undulating prairie, intersected by small streams skirted with timber intermingled with shrubbery, until the 3d day of May, when we arrived at the Kaw or Kansas River, near the residence of the United States agent for those Indians.

The Kaw or Kansas Indians are the most filthy, indolent and degraded set of human beings I ever saw. They live in small, oval huts four or five feet high, formed of willow branches and covered with, deer, elk or buffalo skins.

On the 4th of May we crossed the river and on the 5th resumed our march into the interior, traveling over beautiful rolling prairies and encamping on small streams at night until the 10th, when we arrived at the River Platte. We followed up this river to the forks, then forded the south fork and traveled up the north until the 1st day of June, when we arrived at Laramie's Fork of the Platte, where is the first perceptible commencement of the Rocky Mountains. We crossed this fork and traveled up the main river until night and encamped. The next day we left the river and traveled across Black Hills nearly parallel with the general course of the Platte until the 9th of June, when we came to the river again and crossed it at a place called the Red Buttes (high mountains of red rock from which the river issues). The next day we left the river on our left and traveled a northwest direction, and stopped at night on a small spring branch, nearly destitute of wood or shrubbery. The next day we arrived at a stream running into the Platte, called Sweetwater. This we ascended to a rocky, mountainous country until the 15th of June, then left it and crossed the divide between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and encamped on Sandy Creek, a branch running into Green River, which flows into the Colorado of the West. The next day we moved down Sandy west northwest direction and arrived at Green River on the 18th of June. Here we found some white hunters, who informed us that the grand rendezvous of the whites and Indians would be on a small western branch of the river about twenty miles distant, in a southwest direction. Next day, June 20th, we arrived at the destined place. Here we met with two companies of trappers and traders. One was a branch of the American Fur Company, under the direction of Messrs. Dripps and Fontanell; the other was called the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. The names of the partners were Thomas Fitzpatrick, Milton Sublett and James Bridger. The two companies consisted of about 600 men, including men engaged in the service, white, halfbreed and Indian fur trappers. This stream was called Ham's Fork of Green River. The face of the adjacent country was very mountainous and broken, except the small alluvial bottoms along t the streams. It abounded with buffalo, antelope, elk and bear and some few deer along the river. Here Mr. Wyeth disposed of a part of his loads to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and on the 2d of July we renewed our march towards the Columbia River. After leaving Ham's Fork we took across a high range of hills in a northwest direction and fell on a stream called Bear River, which emptied into the Big Salt Lake. This was a .beautiful country. The river, which was about twenty yards wide, ran through large, fertile bottoms bordered by rolling ridges which gradually ascended on each side of the river to the high ranges of dark and lofty mountains upon whose tops the snow remained nearly the year round. We traveled down this river northwest about fifteen miles and encamped opposite a lake of fresh water about sixty miles in circumference, which outlet into the river on the west side. Along the west border of this lake the country was generally smooth, ascending gradually into the interior and terminating in a high range of mountains which nearly surrounded the lake, approaching close to the shore on the east. The next day, the 7th, we traveled down the river and on the 9th we encamped at a place called the Sheep Rock, so called from a point of the mountain terminating at the river bank in a perpendicular high rock. The river curved around the foot of this rock and formed a half circle, which brought its course to the southwest, from whence it ran in the same direction to the Salt Lake, about eighty miles distant. The sheep occupied this prominent elevation (which overlooked the surrounding country to a great extent) at all seasons of the year.

On the right hand or east side of the river about two miles above the rock were five or six mineral springs, some of which had precisely the taste of soda water when taken up and drank immediately; others had a sour, sulphurous taste; none of them had any outlet, but boiled and bubbled in small holes a few inches from the surface of the ground. This place which looked so lonely, visited only by the rambling trapper or solitary savage, will doubtless at no distant day, be a resort for thousands of the gay and fashionable world, as well as invalids and spectators. The country immediately adjacent seemed to have all undergone volcanic action at some remote period, the evidences of which, however, still remained in the deep and frightful chasms which might be found in the rocks throughout this portion of the country and which could only have been formed by some terrible convulsion of nature. The ground about these springs was very strongly impregnated with salsoda. There were also large beds of clay in the vicinity, of a snowy whiteness, used by the Indians for cleansing their clothes and skins, it not being inferior to any soap for cleansing woolens or skins, dressed after the Indian fashion.

Female Steamboat Captain

Below you will find an article that was written in 1896, primarily about Mary Greene earning her Master Pilot license. Many report that she was the only female Captain but in fact there were a few others, which is reported in the second to the last paragraph. This information come from the Ohio public library site http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/bus/river/m_greene.htm

I like what I've read about Mary, but more importantly, I like the actual interviews that have been reported and the account her granddaughter gave in a recent book, an excerpt is at Google books. Link

Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Feb. 3, 1896; p. 2

A WOMAN PILOT

Mrs. Gordon Green Tells of Her Experience on the River.

Since Mrs. Gordon Green, wife of Captain Green, of the Wheeling-Pittsburgh packet, H. K. Bedford, took out papers making her a fully authorized pilot on the river between Pittsburgh and Marietta, there has been much interest in the incident. The Pittsburgh Post prints an interview with Mrs. Green, in the course of which she tells her story as follows:

"Well, it was very easy: you see, I spend a good bit of time in the pilot house with the captain -- my husband, you know -- and it is only natural that I should get to know the river. Of course, he took a great deal of pains to show me everything and often let me try my hand at managing the boat. In the course of the five years of our married life I have seen a great deal of the river, and it seems very natural that I should learn something of it. It requires only a good memory to know the channel, and, as for learning to ring the bells, and how to handle the boat, that is comparatively easy.

"You see, we have never gone to housekeeping yet. This boat has been my home ever since the captain and I were married, and I nearly always stand watch with him. Five years as a 'striker' ought to qualify almost anyone for a pilot, even if they had a less able and willing instructor than I had."

"But do you like the river? Is your floating home as pleasant as one on the bank would be?" asked the reporter.

"Oh, yes. I like the river ever so much. The captain has to be with his boat nearly all the time, and if we were keeping house we would be practically separated. Then I have very nice rooms here, and when I want to get away from the passengers I can retire to them. There is a constant change of scene, which is very agreeable, and then one is always meeting so many people that one knows. A great deal of my time is spent in the pilot house though, and altogether, I think it very nice to live on a boat."

"Do you intend to stand a regular watch on the boat?" queried the reporter.

"No, indeed; I didn't get my license for that. We have a pilot and Mr. Green stands one watch, so there is no necessity for my doing anything of the kind. I wanted my license because I felt that I was entitled to it. Then I can help the captain when he is on watch, or take the wheel for awhile for amusement if I like. If we should be left without a pilot for a time I could take a turn in the pilot house until we could get someone else. That is all the piloting I expect to do."

"But don't you find it hard work?"

"Oh, it is easy to handle the Bedford. It is a small boat, you know, and by being careful I have no trouble. Sometimes the wheel throws me around a little, but I always manage to keep it under control."

"Are we to infer from your entering the ranks of pilots that you look with favor on the new woman idea?"

"Several of my friends have asked me that since I got my license," she said, laughing. "I always tell them that I don't bother much about such stuff. I am contented to be just what I am, a woman, in the good old-fashioned way. I don't think there is anything unwomanly or advanced in my being able to steer a boat, and I am contented to let the captain do the voting for the family."

The captain has a far higher opinion of his wife's abilities than she has herself. In response to a query as to whether he was not a little proud of his new pilot, he straightened himself up, and said in a way that was eloquent of his earnest sincerity:

"You bet I am."

Mrs. Greene was Miss Mary Becker before her marriage, and her home is on Little Muskingum creek six miles from Marietta. Her father was the proprietor of a prosperous country store, and before Captain Greene won her, at the age of twenty-two, she had proved herself a shrewd business woman. One of her brothers is a prominent physician of Cincinnati, and the family are at least well-to-do.

Mrs. Greene is the only woman who ever took out her initial license at the Pittsburgh office. Mrs. Callie French, however, renewed her papers as pilot at this port last year. She is the wife of the proprietor of the French's show boat, and is said to be the best pilot that ever turned the wheel on the Ruth, the little craft that pushes the show up and down the rivers. Mrs. T. P. Leathers is licensed as a pilot at the New Orleans office, and stands a regular watch on her husband's boat, the T. P. Leathers, running out of New Orleans. A Mrs. Miller, formerly held a pilot's license at Cincinnati, but is not now on the river. Mrs. Ben Young, of Cincinnati, holds a master's license, and spends her time on her husband's boat, the Lee H. Brooks.

When the H. K. Bedford left the harbor Friday afternoon, Mrs. Greene was in the pilot house, and her husband stood on the roof watching her clever manipulation of the big pilot wheel. As it spun around and the Bedford rounded out into the stream, he looked as well satisfied as if he owned the whole river.

Traveling Salesmen - Nurserymen

I've already mentioned Tinmen who traveled to sell the wears of tin makers in the Northeast through out the country. I'd like to continue with a series of different types of Salesmen during the 19th century. Many of us have heard of those selling snake oil and such. But there were many legitimate salesmen.

Today I'd like to point out a salesman who would travel with a book/portfolio. A Plant Salesman, he would carry with him a book that would have colored plates of the various fruits and vegetables that his seeds would grow into. These colored plates were expensive and a cherished feature for a salesman to have. The use of the fruit plates helped with seed sales and more and more nurseries started using them. It was a Rochester New York Nursery that began making these prints. E. DARROW & BROTHER, ROCHESTER, NY in 1870.

Imagine the process of going west to sell seeds. Imagine the time it took. Imagine the hard work and salesmanship that it took to earn a living off of this.

The picture plates ranged in size from 9"x12" and 6"x9", they could be purchased as individual cars, as bound assortments or as a collection in a portfolio.

Blacksmith

Earlier today I posted about the anvil of the Blacksmith, there are many other tools needed to be a good blacksmith but we'll get to those at a later time. For now, I wanted to point out an interesting tidbit I recently learned about blacksmithing. Many a blacksmith had a wood working shop in their Blacksmith shop. This stands to reason when you think of the wagon wheels the ax handles, etc. They also had rooms dedicated to storage of lumber, paint room, varnishing room and clear varnishing.

In my previous research of blacksmiths it was very superficial. I knew they were in high demand and many towns would brag if they had one. In a city you often had many. I read of one account of 40 blacksmiths in one city. Obvious rural communities had a tougher time in securing a blacksmith to work in their town.

Milton Richardson put out a book called Practical Blacksmithing ©1889 that lays out the plans of the blacksmith's shop.

Anvils

The 19th century saw a lot of use of blacksmiths and their tools. I've been researching the types of Anvils that were most commonly used during the 19th century. Wrought Iron was common but in America it was generally cast iron.

The most common iron had a flat top and surface of harden steel. On one end there was a bick (horn or beak) to help mold rounded curves, such as horseshoes. Generally the other end was flat but you could find anvils with two bicks.