Ajiniary  ^f7m'}    Chemical  Manufacturing  in  Philadelphia.  27 
preservation  of  sheep  until  they  were  four  years  old,  and  the  immediate 
establishment  of  the  manufacture  of  woolens,  salt,  saltpetre,  iron,  nails, 
copper  in  sheets  and  kettles,  malt  liquors  and  gunpowder  especially,  "  as  there 
existed  a  great  necessity'  for  the  latter,  particularly  in  the  Indian  trade."  The 
convention  advised  the  exclusive  use  of  home  manufactured  articles  and 
urged  that  associations  be  immediately  formed  for  the  encouragement  of  all 
domestic  productions. 
This  feeling  only  came  to  a  head  about  the  time  of  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Prior  to  that  in  the  Colonial  period,  the 
production  of  potashes  and  lime,  some  attempts  at  the  extraction  of 
salt  from  brines,  tentative  efforts  at  the  making  of  gunpowder,  and 
domestic  utilization  of  the  potashes  in  soap-boiling  about  comprised 
the  chemical  manufacturing  industry.  Of  these  the  most  important 
was  the  manufacture  of  potash  from  wood  ashes.  Scharf  and 
Westcott's  History  of  Philadelphia  states  that  in  1772  the  value  of 
the  potashes  manufactured  in  America  was  ±50,000. 
As  before  stated,  the  oppressive  trade  regulations  of  England 
acted  as  an  impelling  force  in  the  establishment  of  chemical  indus- 
tries. Thus  the  exportation  of  powder  and  its  materials  from  Eng- 
land was  prohibited  by  an  order  of  Council  of  October  19,  1774,  so 
that  the  American  Colonies  were  made  dependent  on  other  sources 
for  their  supply. 
The  Continental  Congress  in  various  ways  encouraged  the  erection  of 
powder  mills  and  also  the  production  of  nitrate  of  potash.  Congress  in  1775 
published  a  manual  giving  directions  for  making  saltpetre,  and  about  the 
same  time  the  "  Committee  of  the  City  and  Liberties  "  erected  a  large  salt- 
petre works  on  Market  Street  for  the  double  purpose  of  making  saltpetre 
and  also  to  instruct  such  as  were  willing  to  engage  in  the  making  of  this  very 
necessary  article  for  the  powder  mills. 
The  manufacture  of  gunpowder  was  very  extensively  carried  on  during 
the  Revolution  in  nearly  all  of  the  American  Colonies.  A  very  large  propor- 
tion of  this  powder,  however,  was  made  in  Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia  was 
among  the  first  places  in  which  powder  mills  were  successfully  operated. 
Early  in  the  Revolution  a  public  powder  mill  was  established  in  or  near 
Philadelphia  by  the  Assembly,  while  Congress  opened,  and  for  some  time 
operated,  what  was  known  as  "  The  Continental  Powder  Mill."  Congress 
also  offered  advances  to  such  persons  as  would  be  willing  to  establish  powder 
mills  within  fifty  miles  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  this  offer  was  taken 
advantage  of  by  many  who  subsequently  supplied  a  liberal  proportion  of  the 
powder  used  in  the  Continental  Army. 
But  to  come  back  to  the  efforts  of  the  Colonists  to  free  them- 
selves in  other  lines  from  dependence  on  the  mother  country,  we 
