MEMORIES OF THE 



Going into this business, he followed it for several years to a 

 greater extent than he at first intended, and bought ashes, of 

 which there were plenty through the town and adjacent country. 

 Every settler was endeavoring to clear his land, and burned all 

 the wood he could in the house as well as in the fields. The 

 ashes when gathered were put through leaches to get the lye, 

 which was boiled in a long row of big, thick kettles and made 

 into what was known as potash and, by a little different system, 

 pearlash. It required much hard labor, the chopping and draw- 

 ing of hundreds of cords of wood, the hauling and handling of 

 great quantities of ashes— a heavy, dirty work — and the cart- 

 ing of the potash, when made, over long, bad roads to a distant 

 market. 



The potash, when ready for market, was packed in casks 

 holding about five hundred pounds each. Although not a 

 cooper, he learned to make these casks himself, having been 

 disappointed in the services of a cooper and having material on 

 hand from which to make them and a market which demanded 

 immediate delivery of the goods in Utica. 



Having worn out what was called the old ashery, he built 

 another below the mill, under the bank and near the old school- 

 house, which in its turn was used several years and then 

 abandoned. The construction of these asheries was mostly by 

 his own labor and from material on the farm. They were run 

 both day and night, and he and his help frequently worked all 

 night keeping up the fires and doing the heavy, hard work re- 

 quired. These asheries, as shown by his books, were operated 

 from 1818 to 1832. Large quantities of ashes were drawn from 

 all over the surrounding country and leached and thrown out 

 in great piles back of the old buildings. When the asheries 

 went down, rank grass quickly covered these enormous old 

 mounds. g 



