335,000. He "continued to settle with the creditors" until only 

 a small sum remained unpaid. All of Bidermann's payments were 

 based on the supposition that Cardon was without funds, which 

 in fact appears not to have been the case. By 1829, Cardon had 

 over $40,000 invested in an iron furnace in Dauphin County, 

 Pennsvlvania. Charles Dalmas, the silent partner, was absolved 

 from responsibility and lost "only the $2000 he originally put in 

 the stock." -'' 



How had Bidermann paid the debts of the firm, and who were his 

 friends? Actually it was quite simple: the money came from the 

 du Pont Company, and E. I. du Pont was the friend who concurred 

 in such a procedure. When the books of the powder company were 

 audited in 1834, the debt of the tannery after absorbing all out- 

 standing obligations was listed as $55,148.92."^" Unlike the debts 

 of the Hagley cotton and Louviers woolen-mill ventures, this 

 financial obligation was assumed by Bidermann and not by E. I. 

 du Pont. When E. I. du Pont's estate was divided, the tannery was 

 clearly listed as a du Pont Company deficit — one for which 

 Bidermann took full responsibility. The debt of A. Cardon and 

 Company was subtracted from Bidermann's total assets in the 

 powder company, which, after the $55,148.92 tanning loss was 

 deducted, still amounted to $86,517.16.^^^ Thus the losses of the 

 tanning venture were temporarily assumed by E. I. du Pont de 

 Nemours and Company. 



With the accounts settled, the Hagley tannery was quickly 

 forgotten. Of the original partners only Bidermann remained on 

 the Brandywine, where for a time (1834-1837) he became the head 

 of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. Of the physical plant 

 only a single stone building remains to document the activities 

 of Cardon and his associates. To revive Delaware's sagging 

 leather industry, and indeed the country's in general, only time 

 was needed. The first quarter of the nineteenth century had 

 been difficult indeed, but by the 1850's there was a resurgence. 

 Leather factories replaced the antiquated but more picturesque 

 tanyards, and empirical methods gave way to a more advanced 

 industrial technology. It was the lot of A. Cardon and Company 

 to have heralded the change. 



^" "Statement written by Bidermann," in B. G. du Pont, vol. 9, pp. 255-257; for Garden's activities 

 after leaving the Brandywine, see McLane Report, vol. 2, pp. 196, 228. 



212 See journal, 1832-1834, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, November 1, 1834, OSOR. 



2'^ Antoine Bidermann to brothers and sisters, March 1, 1837, Allan J. Henry Collection, l>ox 16, 

 Eleutherian Mills Historical Library. 



74 



