have been speedily applied to the practical uses of mankind. In this work American genius and energy, though checked by the retarding influences of three foreign and domestic wars, has performed its full share. They have subordinated the tireless energy of Steam to more extensive and varied uses than any other people, including the grand triumph of ocean navigation. They have taught the nations of the earth how to control the subtle energy of the lightning's flash, and from remotest distances to exchange from the pulsating fingers of the electro-magnet currents of thought and intelligence almost as quickly as they are conceived. Even while we write, American genius and perseverance in schemes of practical utility-after having furnished the world with many of its most effective instruments, reticulated the country with lines of Telegraph, and given a wider practical scope to telegraphy, in the fire and police alarm, in the announcement of approaching storms, and in other ways-is busy in consummating the most signal triumph at present anticipated, that of forging the ocean clasp which will belt the whole earth with a girdle more potent and sensational than the fabled cestus of the poets.

In the art of modifying the curious native properties of Caoutchouc and Gutta Percha, and of moulding their plastic elements into a thousand forms of beauty and utility, whether hard or soft, smooth or corrugated, rigid or elastic, American ingenuity and patient experiment have never been excelled, and the whole world participates in the benefits.

Petroleum, as a natural product, has been known, and to some extent utilized, for centuries in other parts of the world. It was reserved, however, for American enterprise to show that there exists, at various depths and in widely distant places, almost exhaustless reservoirs of a substance which, either in its crude state or elaborated by the technical chemist, has within a very short period become one of extensive commercial importance in the arts, as a lubricator, a generator of light and heat, and a source of new and beautiful dyes. It has thus become one of the most valuable and productive of material re

sources.

The extent and variety of American Mechanical skill are very imperfectly seen in such prominent inventions as the Power, Carpet and Stocking looms; in the Rotary Power Printing-press; the Automatic Type Setter and Distributor; in the Steam Fire Engines; in the Mowing, Reaping, and Threshing machines; the Sewing Machine, with all its various applications by hand or steam power, and the other prominent inventions noticed in the foregoing pages. The multitude of minor improvements, often unrecorded and unregarded by the public

eye, which go to make up the aggregate of the mechanical forces of the nation, and to swell the amount of its production, are an important element in the general prosperity, but are too numerous or elusive to arrest even the eyes of the annalist. Since our labors were begun the progress of the nation in its productive capacities and its mechanical inventions has been going on with an accelerated speed, baffling every effort to follow its protean changes. Notwithstanding the fact that a terrible civil war has projected its baleful shadow across the shining pathway of the nation-diverting from the arts of peace much of the strength and genius of the people-the inventive talents of the country have suffered little more than a temporary check, and are now more active than ever before. It will ever remain as a monument of the patriotism, enterprise, and skill of American manufacturers, inventors, and artisans, that the equipment of the vast land and naval armaments of the loyal States, and the enormous consumption of the war in materials and supplies of every kind, were mainly supplied from the workshops of the country. The prompt conversion of its manufacturing establishments in many instances to new uses, according to the demand of the hour, and their speedy restoration since the war to their former purposes, show the flexibility of American industry, as the prosperous emergence of the manufacturing classes from the great contest shows its vitality, and affords the strongest assurance of its permanence and future grandeur.

33

INDEX

ΤΟ

REPRESENTATIVE MANUFACTURERS.

Hon. Nathan Appleton, Boston, Mass.

THIS eminent Merchant and Manufacturer was born in New Ips-
wich, New Hampshire, in 1779. He entered Dartmouth College in
1794, but left before graduating, to engage in a mercantile business in
Boston, with his brother Samuel, establishing the firm of S. & N.
Appleton, which for many years occupied a leading position among
the firms of that commercial city.

His attention and means were early directed to fostering the growth
of domestic manufactures, and he was one of the original proprietors
of the Waltham Cotton Manufactory, elsewhere alluded to, where the
Power-Loom was first put in operation in this country, in 1815. The
success of this establishment, more than any thing else, gave an impe-
tus to the manufacture of cotton goods, and led to the purchase of the
site of Lowell, and the erection of the Hamilton Company's Mills, and
other large manufactories. His connection with the early manufac-
tories of the country have been already so frequently alluded to in this
volume, that more need not be said on the subject in this place.

In 1830, he was elected to Congress as a Representative of the
district of Lowell, and again in 1842, where he discharged his duties
satisfactorily to his constituents, and with advantage to the nation.
He died July 14th, 1861, bequeathing to his relatives a large for-
tune and an honorable name.

Samuel Batchelder, Boston.

The life of this venerable Manufacturer covers the whole period of
our national history since the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
He was born in the town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in 1784; but his
youth was passed in New Ipswich, in the same State, whither his
parents removed within a few weeks after his birth. In early life he
evinced decidedly literary tastes, contributing to the "Portfolio," then a
leading periodical published in Philadelphia, and this habit of extensive
reading has been preserved, notwithstanding the distractions incident
to an active business career; and lately he has given to the world a
(514)

SAMUEL BATCHELDER, BOSTON.

515

small but excellent Treatise on the History of the Cotton Manufacture in the United States.

His connection with Cotton manufacturing dates from 1808, when he became interested in a factory at New Ipswich, elsewhere referred to in this volume, and which was the second established in the State of New Hampshire. The first mill built in the State was in 1804, with less than five hundred spindles; and it is said that its proprietors felt a degree of hostility against those who erected a second mill, with about the same number of spindles, from apprehension that they would "overdo the business.' The erection of these mills attracted to the place a number of Yorkshire weavers and Scotch manufacturers, whom Mr. Batchelder employed in the manufacture of checks and tickings, and other articles, by hand-looms. He continued in this business until 1825, when Mr. Nathan Appleton, and other capitalists interested in Lowell, induced him to remove thither and superintend the erection of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company's Mills, which, from the foundation to their final completion, were built under his supervision. He remained in Lowell until 1831, when he removed to Saco, Maine, to undertake the erection of a Cotton Mill for the York Manufacturing Company, and superintend its operations. Under his management this Company became very successful. Three additional mills were built, and the capital increased to a million of dollars. In 1846, Mr. Batchelder removed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he has ever since resided, and of which city he was elected Representative in the Legislature of Massachusetts.

Within this period of time Mr. Batchelder contributed to the Cotton manufacturing interest several important inventions. In 1833 or 1834 he invented and applied the first stop motion to the Drawing Frame, which was afterward patented in England, where it has since been in general use, as well as in this country. In 1835 he invented the steam cylinders and connections, now almost universally used in dressing frames for drying yarns. But probably his greatest invention was the Dynamometer, for ascertaining the power for driving machinery, and first used in the York Mills in 1837. This machine was awarded medals by Fairs and Institutes in this country, and described in scientific journals in Scotland and Germany, where it was pronounced preferable to any known apparatus for ascertaining the power actually used in driving machinery.

Mr. Batchelder, though he has attained the patriarchal age of eighty-two, is still discharging the duties of Treasurer of the York Mills at Saco, and the Everett Mills at Lawrence. Few men at his age equal him in mental and physical activity, and none can present a brighter record of those moral qualities that adorn manhood.

516

RICHARD BORDEN AND JEFFERSON BORDEN.

Richard Borden and Jefferson Borden,

Who are called the "Fathers of Fall River," are natives of that town, which has grown during their lifetime, and largely by their enterprise, from a mere hamlet to become a great manufacturing city. They are sons of Thomas Borden, a farmer and a miller, and in their youth they aided him in these pursuits. Fall River, on which the town of the same name is located, is a remarkable stream, having a descent of one hundred and thirty feet in less than half a mile, and for the greater part of its length is confined between high granite banks. The water power, therefore, has nearly all to be occupied between these banks, and the wheels upon which it is brought to act are placed directly in the bed of the river. It is also a characteristic of this river that while it affords an almost uniform and constant supply of water it is never subject to excess, and therefore no injury or inconvenience has ever been experienced from so peculiar a location of the mills. Nearly all the water power and the real estate on which the principal manufactories are now located were owned by the Borden family since the beginning of the last century. The site on which the Fall River Manufactory was erected, in 1815, was originally a mill site, inherited by Thomas Borden from his father, Richard Borden, and the same course of descent applies to the real estate and water power on which was erected the Fall River Iron-works in 1821, the Annawan Manufactory in 1825, the American Print Works in 1834, and the Metacomet Mill in 1846. All of these are now large and prosperous corporations, and owe their success in no small degree to the sagacious management of Richard and Jefferson Borden, who were copartners in the original purchase and supervised their establishment.

Richard Borden was born April 12th, 1795, and has been more especially identified with the Fall River Iron-works Company, of which he is now Treasurer. The success of this Company, which has now a capital of a million of dollars, has been the foundation of their prosperity in furnishing the original capital which has enabled the brothers to extend their enterprises until they have attained gigantic proportions. Jefferson Borden was born February 28th, 1801, and has directed his attention especially to the manufacture of Textile Fabrics. He is now Treasurer of the American Print Works, organized in 1834, which has a capacity for printing fifteen thousand pieces per week of forty-five yards each, or thirty-five million one hundred thousand yards annually. Its capital is $500,000. See Manufactures of Fall River, Vol. III.