COUNTRY LIFE, OLD AND NEW 



fested itself generally in the East. The concentrating 

 into large central plants of the small manufacturing in- 

 dustries that had grown up throughout the rural towns 

 went on rapidly during these years. This soon devel- 

 oped strong industrial centers along the waterways, 

 where good power was available. The railroads that 

 were being built through the river valleys favored this 

 concentration by affording ready means of transporta- 

 tion. The hat business, that had been a household trade, 

 was centered in Danbury. The tanneries that were 

 general over the county, and the scythe factories of 

 Salisbury, were centered in Winsted. Small silk and 

 wool industries, that were at one time found in nearly 

 every town, went to Winsted and Waterbury. The 

 small industries that formerly helped to make the rural 

 towns prosperous, thus went to build up big central 

 plants. These industrial changes were the means of 

 draining away much of the life and wealth of the coun- 

 try towns. During this same period, too, the vast, 

 cheap, fertile areas of the great Central West were 

 opened for settlement. A rocky hill farm in Connecti- 

 cut could be sold for a few dollars an acre and the pro- 

 ceeds would establish the owner on a new, free farm of 

 1 60 acres in Illinois or Iowa, every foot of which was 

 tillable land. More often, the sons were attracted by 

 the opportunities presented in these new fields, and 

 when the old folks passed on no one was left to care for 



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