Generally, though, the years before 1830 were often described 

 by Delaware tanners as difficult ones. Isaac Starr noted that 

 "One halt ot the tanners in this State, have within the last twenty- 

 five years, either failed, reduced their business, or retired from 

 it." ^^*^ Starr's opinion was echoed throughout the state. In fact, 

 not only the tanners had lost their optimism but the manufacturing 

 interests in general were glum and their grand vision of making 

 Wilmington an American Manchester had by 1833 been concluded 

 as wishful if not "abortive." ^"^ There were many reasons: em- 

 bargo, war, depression, and the lack of a protective tariff. But, 

 mainly in the 1820's, the factors most harmful to the tanner were 

 the low price of leather, the high cost of raw materials (principally 

 bark), competition from the large tanneries in the hemlock regions 

 of New York and western Pennsylvania, and a failure to adopt the 

 latest "patented inventions." ^^^ One tanning concern in Wilming- 

 ton, Jackson and Webb, attributed the tanner's plight to the short- 

 age of and subsequent high cost of Spanish hides — a situation 

 brought about by the revolutionary wars in South America. ^^* 

 Tanning had rivaled shipbuilding and flour milling as Delaware's 

 principal industry in the 18th century,^^° and, regardless of its many 

 problems, the state's leather and bark trade as late as 1832 still 

 ranked behind flour, textile, and paper milling in the amount of 

 capital invested, the number of men employed, and the value of 

 its product. ^^^ 



Yet the tanneries showed little sign of technical progress, 

 whereas in other Delaware industries innovation had been con- 

 stant: Oliver Evans had mechanized flour milling; the Gilpins had 

 speeded paper production; Jacob Broom, as early as 1795, had 

 built an Arkwright-type textile mill powered by water; and the 

 du Fonts had completely rationalized the production of gunpowder. 

 Tanning, however, remained unchanged, and with little variation 

 the production of leather continued in the same slow and tedious 

 manner that had been characteristic since the seventeenth cen- 

 tury — an occurrence not restricted to Delaware alone. 



'-« McLane Report, vol. 2, pp. 750-751. 

 '^" Delaware Gazette, October 8, 1833. 



■^* McLane Report, vol. 2, p. 751. This is undoubtedly true even though Delaware newspapers 

 reported new patents and tanning processes. See American Watchman, December 11, 1816. 

 129 Census Schedule, May 1821. 



'•■'" Lincoln, Wilmington, Delaware: Three Centuries under Four Flags, 1609-1937, pp. 265-266. 

 '" McLane Report, vol. 2, pp. n%-119. 



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