122 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



One of the most noted towns for woolen manufactures is Pittsiield, 

 Berkshire County, Mass. It was settled in 1752, incorporated in 1760, 

 and in February, 1770, Valentine Kathbun started the first fulling-mill, 

 charging 40 to 50 cents for fulling and finishing a yard of cloth. In 

 1776 another fulling-mill was put up as a rival, and from time to time 

 new clothiers' works were established, and in 1805 these establishments 

 had become so numerous that an association for mutual protection was 

 suggested. 



In 1800 Arthur Scholfield removed from Byfield toPittsfield and put 

 up machinery for a woolen manufactory. He was compelled to con- 

 struct it without patterns or drawings, and was even forced to return 

 to England to refresh his memory before he could complete a wool-card- 

 ing machine, which was put in operation in 1801, and carded wool at 

 12J cents a pound. The first fine broadcloth made in this country was 

 by Arthur Scholfield in 1804, made from the fleeces of imported Merino 

 sheep, presumably of the Humphreys importation. The cloth was a 

 gray mixed, and when finished was shown to the different merchants at 

 Pittsfield and offered for sale, but could find no purchasers in that vil- 

 lage, and was then sent to New York. A few weeks subsequently 

 Josiah Bisell, a leading merchant in town, made a voyage to New York 

 for the purpose of buying goods, and brought home two pieces of Schol- 

 field's cloths, which were purchased for the foreign article. Scholfield 

 was sent for to test the quality, and after pronouncing it very superior 

 exhibited to the surprised merchant his private mark on the goods he 

 had rejected a few weeks before. 



In 1807 Elkanah Watson introduced into Berkshire County the first pair 

 of Merino sheep from the Livingston flock, from the fleeces of which in 

 the following year Mr. Scholfield made 13 yards of black or blue-black 

 broadcloth, superior to any yet made in the country. Samples were 

 sent to the different cities and accounts of it were published, with the 

 cost of manufacture, and excited much interest throughout the coun- 

 try. This piece of broadcloth, 13 yards, was presented to James Madi- 

 son, and it is said that his inaugural suit was made from it. 



The French revolution and the declaration of war against England 

 and Holland in 1793, soon after the establishment of the National Gov- 

 ernment of the United States, and the passage of a tonnage bill, and the 

 war between England and Spain in 1796, which continued with but abrief 

 interval until all Europe was involved, crippled European commerce 

 and opened to the American merchant and American ships no small 

 portion of the trade of the world. England's superior navy rendered 

 intercourse between the European powers at war with her extremely 

 difficult. Much more difficult, however, was the intercourse between 

 these continental states and their colonies. They were, therefore, 

 obliged to depend, in a great degree, upon neutrals to carry on the 

 trade between them and their distant colonies in the East and West 

 Indies. The spices, teas, and other products of these colonies had no 



