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DESCRIPTION OF THE PRATTSVILLE 

 TANNERY. 



Prattsville, Greene Co., N. Y. ) 

 JYovember 27, 1847. ) 



T. B. Wakeman, Esq., 



Sec^y of the American Institute, JSTew York : 



Dear Sir — Having been honored by the American Institute with 

 a medal for the best sample of hemlock-tanned sole leather, in com- 

 pliance with your request, I have drawn up a brief but comprehen- 

 sive account of the processes and extent of the manufactures carried 

 on at my establishment in Prattsville; together with several tabular 

 statements, designed to illustrate its importance as an industrial pur- 

 suit. 



As I have worked and talked about the business for many years^ 

 and love to do so still, I know not how a Mechanic can answer, ex- 

 cept by stating how he did, and what he did, I am aware that, 

 through you, I am addressing the State of New York, whose chief 

 commercial city imports a greater number of hides, and carries on a 

 more extensive trade in leather, than any other city in the world. 

 In this cold clime, every one must realize that next to food and rai- 

 ment, leather is the sole for man. The improvements which I have 

 made from time to time in this branch of business have been the 

 result of experience; and dmonstrate satisfactorily to my own mind, 

 that however important are the discoveries of science, they would 

 be of little value, without that practice, which must ever prove the 

 ultimate test of utility and the sure talisman of success. 



Throughout the whole world American enterprise has become a 

 proverb. Go where you will, from the ice-bound North to the re- 

 gions of the torrid zone, in any path where civilized man has ever 

 trod, upon the land or the sea — and you will not fail to encounter 

 evidences of the peculiar genius of our people. You will find their 



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