FINAL REVERSES IN BUSINESS 255 



Mr. and Mrs. Pears, who had no liking for Hender- 

 son, early withdrew and sold their interest in the mill xl 

 to Audubon and Bakewell, thus adding to their financial 

 embarrassment. The engines, which seem to have given 

 no end of trouble, were constructed by David Prentice, 

 an intelligent Scotch mechanic; since his first work after 

 coming to this country was to erect a steam threshing 

 mill at "Fatland Ford," his services were probably se- 

 cured by William Bakewell, who afterwards helped to 

 establish him at Philadelphia. While at Henderson he 

 is said to have fitted a small engine and paddlewheels to 

 a keel boat, which was christened the Pike, and to 

 have taken it up the river to Pittsburgh. Prentice 

 seems to have entered the partnership and to have re- 

 tired with Bakewell. 



In order to extend the sphere of their operations, Au- 

 dubon is said to have purchased at this time a tract of 

 1,200 acres of government land, 12 and to have engaged a 

 band of stalwart Yankees to fell and deliver the timber. 

 According to one account, they were a party of emi- 

 grants who had come to Henderson with their families 

 and encamped on the river bank. For a time all went 

 well, but one day when they failed to deliver their usual 



The original mill covered forty-five by sixty-five feet, and consisted of four 

 stories and basement; the basement walls of stone stood four feet thick, 

 while at the third story the thickness was three feet; the three upper 

 stories were in frame. The studding measured three by six, and the rafters 

 four by eight, inches. Many of the large timbers that could then be 

 seen were sound and apparently good for a century or more. Parts of the 

 old machinery that had been used in the grist mill were lying about under 

 the eaves; the building was then used as a tobacco stemmery. See Joseph 

 M. Wade (Bibl. No. 182), Ornithologist and Oologist, vol. viii, p. 79 (1883). 



The old Audubon mill in more recent times was incorporated into 

 a warehouse for the storage of leaf tobacco; it was burned to the 

 ground on March 18, 1913. 



"The mill is supposed to have cost about $15,000; of this sum Thomas 

 Pears is said to have contributed from $3,000 to $4,000, and William 

 Bakewell a similar amount in the interest of his son, while Audubon 

 presumably furnished the balance. 



13 Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, p. 47. 



