1853 – Letter from a mechanic dispatched to a Niagara Falls paper mill by the Smith, Winchester, and Company to fix one of its massive papermaking machines
Niagara Falls, New York: 1853. Envelope or Cover. This stamped, folded letter was sent by B. Smith to the Smith, to the Winchester & Company in South Windham, Connecticut. It is datelined “St. Lawrence Hotel Aug 7th 1853” and bears a three-sent Washington stamp (Scott #11a) cancelled with a beautiful strike of a circular Niagara Falls, N.Y. postmark dated August 8. The letter sheet features a scene of Horseshoe Falls with a superimposed image of an iron horseshoe to emphasize its curved shape. In nice shape with some minor predation to the right margin which affects several letters of the text.
The letter reads in part:
“After a long while I arrived here. . .. I was sick 9 Days at Schodack & did not think I should get any further west. . .. I went out to Ameran they have started both machines Mr Lynn says . . . there never was two machines started better in the world. The pump for Cylinder machine does not run fast enough. It will take me to long to go into the particulars [that] I will leave it until I come home.
"34½ feet for wet felt to Cylinder Machine
20 feet for - - Fourdrinier
20½ yds for Dryer Felt 5 Cylinders
"They have a felt so long now it is stretched out they will have to move the felt roll . . . under the firs Dryer. . ..”
. Very good. Item #010818It is likely that Smith was preparing to repair two paper machines located at the principal papermill in the region, the Niagara Falls Paper Manufacturing Company on Bath (today Green) Island.
Smith, Winchester & Company of South Windham, Connecticut, grew out of an earlier machine shop established by George Spafford and James Phelps in 1828. After financial difficulties in the late 1830s, an employee Charles Smith and his brother-in-law took over the company and began operating as Smith and Winchester. By 1853, it had become an internationally recognized manufacturer of paper-making machinery. Its massive cylinder and Fourdrinier machines, along with ancillary equipment needed to make paper, were transported across the entire country by oxen and railroad. Because of their size, the machines could not be brought back to the factory for repair, so the company kept mechanics on the road to fix them on site.
(For more information, see Eves’s “Connecticut as a Maker State: The Smith and Winchester Company of South Windham” at the Windham Textile and History Museum website.)
An interesting letter documenting the on-site repair of massive paper-making machines in mills where they had been installed written on a letter sheet with an uncommon image of Niagara Falls.
.Price: $150.00