HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



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times, but with the changed conditions of business they have all 

 passed away. These tanning establishments all used power from 

 Black river for grinding bark. 



Beginning with the time of the war of 1812-15, the manufac- 

 ture of cotton and woolen goods became an important industry on 

 Black river, the Black River Cotton & Woolen Manufacturing 

 Company having been incorporated in 1813 with a capital of 

 $100,000. In 1827 Levi *Beebee erected the Jefferson cotton 

 mills, equipped with 10,000 spindles and said to have cost about 

 $200,000, being at that time one of the largest cotton mills in 

 the State. This mill was destroyed by fire in 1833. Watertown 

 Cotton Mills Company was incorporated in 1834 with a capital of 

 $100,000. This company ran 50 looms, but after several years, 

 the business becoming unprofitable, it was discontinued. The 

 Hamilton Woolen Mills Company, which developed the water 

 power at the head of Sewall's island, was established in 1835 

 with a capital of $100,000. The dam and factory were built in 

 1836. In 1842 the plant was purchased by the Black River 

 Woolen Company, which built a new mill and carried on a fairly 

 successful business until 1841, when the plant was burned. Sub- 

 sequently the business was revived by Loomis & Co., who employed 

 about seventy hands in the manufacture of woolen goods. Other 

 manufacturing enterprises of this class were the Watertown 

 Woolen Company and the Watertown Woolen Manufacturing 

 Company. The cotton and woolen manufacturing establishments 

 on Black river are now all out of existence* 



The machine shop of Nathaniel Wiley, established about 1820, 

 was the first iron manufacturing establishment at Watertown. 

 In 1823 George Golding established a machine shop on Sewall's 

 island, making mill gearings, factory machines and an occasional 

 steam engine. This shop ultimately led to the founding of the 

 present Bagley & Sewall Company, which is one of the largest 

 establishments of its kind in the northern part of the State, 

 employing about 125 hands, chiefly in the manufacture of paper- 

 mill machinery. The Watertown Steam Engine Company has 

 grown out of a small business established by Hoard & Bradford 



