1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



453 



depth of water which escaped was 85 feet. The 

 highway which now passes through the pond is 

 for nearly half a mile from 70 to 80 feet below 

 the old water level. The lowest surface of the 

 bed of the pond is a bog or meadow from 40 to 

 50 rods wide, and nearly half a mile long, by the 

 side of which the highway is laid. For this 

 whole surface the average depth of water may be 

 called 80 feet. The sod of most of this is very 

 tremulous, and a pole, or even an unlucky foot, 

 once through the sod, goes down without further 

 obstruction to almost any deptli. From an ap- 

 proximate estimate, this pond contained 1,088,- 

 000,000 gallons, above the level of tlie bog, and 

 it would take the full discharge of the canal of 

 the Boston Water Works six months to fill it. 

 Such was the size of the pond which in 1810 

 burst its barriers, and swept almost in a body 

 down the valle}-." 



0SWEG0---IT3 MILLS AND BUSINESS. 



In the year 182G the fiiit mill for the manufac- 

 ture of flour was erected in Oswego, and at the 

 present day there is perhaps no point in the United 

 States, or in the world, where the manufacture of 

 flour is conducted upon so large a scale as in the 

 city of Oswego, together with the mills at the 

 village of Fulton, twelve miles up the river. The 

 first flouring mill in Oswego was built by Messrs. 

 Alvin Bronson and T. 8. Morgan, on the east side 

 of the river. Mr. Henry Fitzhugh afterwards also 

 built a mill adjoining, both of which were subse- 

 quently destroyed by fire. 



From that period the flouring business at Oswe- 

 go has been gradually increasing in magnitude — 

 slowly at first, but quite rapidly during tiie last 

 ten years. The destructive fire which occurred 

 here on the 5th of July, 1853, destroyed most of 

 the mills and elevators on the east side of the 

 river. Through indomitable energy, however, they 

 have all been rebuilt, upon a larger and more ex- 

 tensive scale, with all the modern improvements. 

 There are in Oswego, at the present time, sixteen 

 mills, with eighty-four run of stone, capable of 

 manufacturing about nine thousand barrels of flour 

 a day. Add to this the flouring mills twelve miles 

 up the river, and we have an aggregate of one 

 hundred and nine run of stone, capable of making 

 about twelve thousand barrels of flour, and con- 

 suming over fifty thousand bushels of wheat per 



The capital invested in so many mills, the num- 

 ber of men employed in running theui, and the 

 capital employed in the purohasc of grain to sup- 

 ply them, must necessarily amount to a very high 

 figure. At the lowest calculation, the capital in- 

 vested in mills and elevators will reach nearly 

 $1,000,000; the number of men directly employed 

 in running them, and in coopering, will exceed 

 1,400 ; and the number of persons deriving sup- 

 port from the labor therein, is not less than 3000. 



The hydraulic power of Oswego is immense, 

 and is still more than two-thirds occupied ; and 

 at Oswego Fall there is almost an incalculable 

 amount of water-power still unoccupied. The 

 water in the Oswego river is sufficient to drive 

 the mills throughout the yciir. 



The amount of wheat received at Oswego from 

 Upper Lakes and Canada, and tlie amount of 

 flour shipped by canal, is larger than at any other 

 lake port in the United States. In the year 1853 



there were 7,43G, 391 bushels of wheat received, 

 by lake, at Oswego, of which 1.781,152 bushels 

 were from foreign ports. During the same season 

 there were 853,950 barrels of flour shipped by 

 canal, being 195,596 barrels more than the total 

 shipments from Buffalo. The quantity of flour 

 manufactured at Oswego in 185.3 was smaller than 

 the two previous years, in consequence of the des- 

 truction of four or five of the largest mills by fire. 

 We give below a table showing the names of 

 mills at Oswego, their proprietors, run of stone, 

 and number of barrels of flour they are capable of 

 making per day : — 



Run of 



NAMES OF MILLS. Pr.OPRIETOBS' MAMES. StOne. 



Empire Doolittle, Irwiu & Wright 5 



Cre'ceut ."H. C. Wright 4 



Ontario G. L. A. B. Gr.iiit 6 



Atlas (Jeo. Seeley 5 



Palraetto Mollison & Hastings.... 5 



Huron C. F. ^"Ihorn 4 



Premium Samuel Beardsley 5 



Magnolia Chas. Smyth 3 



Exchange J.&I. Lewis 5 



Pearl Wni. Lewis 6 



Seneca Slerrick & Co 13 



Lake Ontario Fitzhugh & Littlejohn.. . 6 



Washington Penfield, Lyon & Co 5 



Schenandoah J. F. Johnson 4 



Eagle T. Wj'man 5 



Reciprocity G. & C. Ames 4 



Bbls. Flour 

 Per Day. 

 500 

 400 

 600 

 500 

 500 

 400 

 500 

 300 

 500 

 500 



i,;>oo 



600 

 500 

 400 

 500 

 400 



Total. 



8,400 



The mills at Fulton, which should be added, 

 are as follows : — 



Run of Bbls.FInur 



NAMES OF MILL.S. TROrRIETOns' NAMES. Stono IV'r Day. 



Pratt's Custom Timothy Pratt 3 . . 



Cayuga W. S. Nelson 5 . . 



Genesee Case & Cheseboro 5 . . 



Telegraph Clark & Pond 6 . . 



Nelson's Custom. ..W. S. Nelson 3 . . 



Voorhees' Custom. .J. L. Voorhees 3 . . 



25 . . 



The facilities for handling grain in Oswego are 

 also extensive there being ten elevators in all — 

 half the number of which, liowevcr, are attached 

 to the mills. The elevating capacity is about 

 thirty-six thousand bushels per hour, and the stor- 

 age room equal to about 2,200,000 l)ushels. There 

 are also two or three floating elevators in the har- 

 bor, capa')le of elevating from 1000 to 1500 bush- 

 els per hour. — U. S. Eeonomist. 



CARRYING FRUIT TO MARKET. 



But few days pass at this season of the year, 

 during which may not be witnessed at any of our 

 market-towns, the effect of carelessness in carrying 

 fruit to market. It is well known to all salesuien 

 tliat, be their wares what thi -y niay, the better 

 tlieir appearance, th<; lu'tter will they sell. This 

 fact seems to })e entirely overlooked by farmers 

 when carrying tiieir produce, and more especially 

 fruit, to market. 



For instance, a farmer having early apples for 

 sale, will shake them from tlie tree, pick them 

 up, bruised and all, tlirow tliein into the box of a 

 lumber-wagon, and drive tlicm eight or ten miles 

 at a smart jiace, and over a rougli road. Upon ar- 

 riving at his destination he finds them bruised, 

 discolored, anil witliall, lookino; far more fit for 

 consumption by swine tiian for human use. The 

 next elibrt is to sdl them, and in tli is branch of 

 the operation tlie results of his lieedle.'^sufss are 

 soon maile manifest. It is only after a great waste 

 of time and words that lu; succee.lsin disposing of 

 them, and tiicn but for a mere trifle. Ic is no 



