Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 8, 1888

Manufacturing Interests By Henry C. Gauss

The manufacturing interests of the city of Salem, although occupying in their total valuation, a fourth place among those of the manufacturing centres of Essex County, are only within a few thousand dollars of being second in the valuation of their general manufactures. The census of 1880 gives Salem a total of manufactured products of $8,440,350, of which the leather manufacture contributes nearly one-half. Since the compilation of that census, the increase in the volume of the leather business, together with the increase of the shoe manufactures and that of other lines, with the establishment of at least two new industries, have augmented the volume of manufactured products in the city till it would be safe to place the total valuation at the time of writing at, at least, nine millions of dollars.

There are represented in Salem thirty-one of the more important lines of manufacturing industries, including most of the general lines of manufacture, with several specialties. As has been said, nearly one-half of the volume of manufacturing products is contributed by a single industry, one that makes Salem the most important centre of its prosecution in the country, and one that was the first to be established. This is the

Leather Manufacture. - The leather business of Salem has had a slow but steady growth, and with but few checks. Philemon Dickinson is the first recorded tanner; he flourished in 1639. The early tanneries were probably on land now bordered by the northern side of Washington Square and by Forrester Street, - the excavation for a cellar for a house built by Charles W. Whipple on the latter street, in 1886, having revealed the rotted boards of vats with an accumulation of tan-bark, the deposit going to some depth, causing an inconvenience in placing the foundation. Other excavations in the same vicinity also have disclosed traces of ground bark. The same substance, together with the horns of cattle, has been found at the foot of Liberty Street, and it is believed that a tannery was established there at an even earlier date than that of those on Forrester Street.

One, or perhaps two, tanneries sufficed the primitive demands of the earlj'^ settlers for leather, and even in 1768 there were only four tanneries established in Salem. Just previous to the above date Joseph Southwick, a preacher-tanner of Dan vers, introduced the first-recorded improvement in the process by putting his old horse at work grinding the bark in a stone mill. If the old gentleman looks down now on the labors of his successors, he must be vastly interested in the evolution of his slow-going stones, with their capacity of a slab of bark in half an hour, to the whirring bark-mill of to-day that devours a carload in an equal time.

From the last part of the eighteenth century the tanneries deserted their location in the lower part of the town and began to make their habitat along the course of the then clear and stenchless North River. In 1801 there were seven tanneries situated in the valley that soon came to be called " Blubber Hollow," and the number of these gradually increased, extending up the stream and along Boston Street till, in 1850, there were eighty-three establishments, of which thirty-four were tanneries, as many curryingshops, fifteen shops which carried on both trades, and two morocco-dressers. The value of the leather tanned and curried was in the vicinity of $869,047.70, and five hundred and fifty hands were employed. The large number of establishments may be accounted for by the fact, stated by a veteran tanner, that the owner of the shop, with only four or five men, generally constituted the shop's crew.

About this time there was a great depression in the leather trade in Salem that continued several years. It eventually was removed, and the American civil war, with the wars of the Crimea, that followed the first years of its recuperation, gave it an impetus it had never before had, and its progress has never since been checked to any material degree, while its present prospects, with improved railroad facilities and improved processes of manufacture, are brighter thaa ever before.

There are at present in Salem fifty-four firms engaged in the manufacture of leather, - twelve tanners, fifteen curriers, twenty-one tanners and curriers, and six morocco-dressers. The census of 1880 gives fiftytwo establishments with nine hundred and ten employees, $1,167,050 invested as capital, and a value of production of $4,209,004. That there has been an increase in the volume of the business since that date all the leather men agree, and, after careful consideration, it is thought that it is not too high to estimate the capital employed at $1,350,000, a volume of production of $4,750,000, and a total employment of nine hundred and fifty men.

The leather manufactories lie, for the most part, in a well-defined district, well compacted and lying on the following streets : Boston, both sides, from Essex to Goodhue ; Goodhue, northern side ; Grove, western side, to Harmony Grove Cemetery; Mason, eastern side, to oil works; South Mason and Franklin. There are also a number of scattered shops on the short streets leading up "Gallows Hill."

There have, of course, been great improvements in machinery in the leather trade since Parson Southwick's bark-mill, but there is still room for many inventions that will lessen the time of production of leather, and aid to supersede, to a degree, handlabor. There has been, and, perhaps, still is, a prejudice among manufacturers in favor of hand-labor and against machine, but the late strike taught them that machines could be used, and a revolution in the business in this respect is expected by many leather men.

The Late Strike. - The late strike above referred to was the second of the great leather strikes that have been inaugurated in Salem. It had its true origin in the attempts of the Knights of Labor, to which the employees almost universally belonged, to enforce a new price-list for splitting and some other branches, together with a ten-hour-a-day time schedule. The manufacturers refused to entertain pricelist or time schedule, and as a strike in some departments was imminent, posted the following circular :

"Whereas, At a meeting of the leather manufacturers of Salem and Peabody, at which over sixty members were present, the subject of dictation to us in the management of our business was referred to a committee with full power to act as in their judgment may seem best, and that we follow such course as they may advise. That committee having met, reported the following resolutions :

" That hereafter we employ only such men as will bargain individually with us and agree to take no part in any strike whatever; and all men desiring so to be employed by us may report Tuesday morning, July 13th, at the usual hour of this factory.

This stroke at once removed the contest from every question of wages and hours, and threw down the gage of battle directly before the order of the Knights of Labor. It took up the defiance and a generally strike was ordered. Men left their work by scores. Shops were left with hides in the lime, without a hand to save them, except the proprietor. Some shop crews worked till the stock was put out of danger, and then left. The manufacturers combined and helped those whose stock was spoiling, to save it. All, however, could not be cared for, and a loss of several hundred dollars was sustained. The manufacturers, as soon as possible, began to import nonunion help from Maine and the provinces, and the new workmen, by careful supervision, were able to take the place of the skilled labor in part, and the manufacture of leather went on after a short delay.

The success of the manufacturers in partly filling the places of the strikers irritated the latter, and after a series of petty and very annoying persecutions, the enmity broke out into open riot, beginning in Peabody on August 7th, when non-union men and their boarding-houses were stoned by angry mobs. It extended to Salem on the Monday following, on the 9th, and the non-union men, their boarding-houses and some tanneries were subjected to the same treatment. The riot, however, was promptly suppressed by the police,

Finding that open riot was ineffectual, a guerrilla warfare was adopted; whenever a non-union man was found away from police protection he was assaulted. Details of strikers also followed the non-union men about, the boycott was used, and every means possible put in practice to induce the men to leave. Some men did go, but their places were soon filled, while the strikers, despite help from the Knights of Labor, grew weaker and weaker.

The culmination came on Thanksgiving Day ; a mob attacked two brothers named Yeaton on Boston Street, and also stopped a horse-car and beat three nonunion men who were its occupants. The long series of outrages disgusted the better class of the strikers, and, with the cessation of help from the order, the strike was declared off. This was on Sunday, November 28th. Those strikers who could find work went back, but many whose places were filled were unable to get back and much suffering was caused among the poor employes as a result.

The result of the strike to the manufacturers was that it gave them perfect freedom from the Knights of Labor dictation, and although the losses of stock were considerable, the loss was lessened by the increase in the price of leather and the stoppage of a threatened over-production. The result to the employees was disastrous, - a long term of idleness, with the vice idleness brings, brought want to many a family, and the winter of 1886-87 was one of sore distress in many cases.

Cotton Manufacture. - Next to the leather business, the manufacture of cotton cloth is the most important industry carried on in Salem. The cotton goods manufacture is vested in a single concern, the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company, incorporated April 5, 1839. The original capital of the company was $200,- 000. The first mill was erected in 1847, the capital stock being increased to $700,000 meanwhile.

This first mill is four hundred by sixty feet, contains 32,768 spindles and 643 looms, with a capacity of 9400 yards of cloth a week. At the time of its completion it was regarded as the finest and bestappointed mill in the country.

The first mill being a success, twelve years later a still larger building was erected by the company, the capital being increased to $1,200,000. The second mill is four hundred and twenty-eight by sixty-four feet and contains 35,000 spindles and 700 looms.

Since the building of the second mill, three additional mills, slightly smaller, have been built, the last one, on the opposite side of Union Street from the others, being constructed in 1883, the first loom being started Jan. 12, 1884.

The Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company has now a capital of one million five hundred thousand dollars, and its plant consists of five mill buildings, with machine-shop, storage-houses, etc. The total number of spindles in the mills, is one hundred thousand, and of looms, twenty-four hundred. The power in the mills on the eastern side of Union Street is furnished by two pairs of Corliss engines of twenty thousand horse-power total, and in "Mill No. 5" by a four hundred horse-power engine. The mills are lighted by twenty-two hundred gas jets and six hundred and fifty incandescent lights, gas works and an electric light plant being situated on the premises.

The production of cotton cloth by the mills during the yeir 1886 was eighteen million seven hundred and fifty thousand yards, at a valuation of about one million five hundred thousand dollars, and sixteen thousand bales of cotton were consumed. There are fourteen hundred operatives employed in the mills, and the yearly pay-roll is four hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

The Naumkeag Mills have always taken a front rank in the cotton manufacture of New England for the quality of the cloth produced and their solid financial standing, the stock at present being quoted many points above par. The relations with the operatives have for the most part been harmonious. The company has experienced no disastrous fires, and the whole course of the company has been, to a great extent, a prosperous one. The mills are now models of appointment and management.

Shoe Manufactures. - Next to the manufacture of cotton goods, the largest industry in Salem is the manufacture of shoes, which, while not as extensive as that of some other towns of the county, is still fairly large and is increasing. There are twenty-one manufacturers of shoes in the city, the grades being mostly medium and fine ladies' and children's shoes. There are, besides, twenty-five shops for the manufacture of inner-soles, stiffenings, etc., and two shoestitching shops.

The capital employed in the shoe business in Salem is about one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, with a value of production of about nine hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and a total number of eight hundred and fifty employees. The manufactories are mostly grouped in the vicinity of the Boston and Maine Railroad depot, on Mill, Washington, Dodge and Lafayette Streets, although two of the largest are on Boston Street.

The relations between employer and employe in the shoe factories of Salem have been harmonious during the past few years and, save one or two minor troubles, there have been no strikes. The projected street over the South River is expected to open up land that will be utilized for shoe manufactories, and with good railroad facilities, nearness to the leather supply and no labor difiiculties, Salem offers many advantages for location of shoe manufactories.

Jute Bagging. - The manufacture of jute bagging is now carried on in Salem at two establishments. The fir.st jute-mill was established in the fall of 1865, when the late Francis Peabody built the jute-mill on

Skerry Street. Two years later a tract of land on English and Webb Streets, the old English estate, was bought and a second mill built by a company known as the India ManufecturiEg Co., formed at the same time. A second company, called the Bengal Bagging Co., was formed in 1870 to carry on the Skerry Street mill, but, in 1875, all the property fell into the hands of David Nevins & Co., of Boston, and, since the death of the elder Nevins, a year or two ago, has been carried on by his son.

The two mills have now over a thousand spindles, with a capacity of five million yards of bagging a year. The total value varies, but averages three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The amount of jute-butts consumed annually is twenty-two thousand five hundred bales, at a value of eight dollars per bale. The two mills employ a total of two hundred and sixty-eight hands, of which one hundred and one are females and one hundred and two youths and children.

The jute-butts are brought from Bengal, from the port of Chittagong, in large vessels that give the inhabitants of Salem their only occasional sight of large sized, square-rigged vessels, and the import duties make up the greater part of the receipts of the Salem custom-house, the amount received from each vessel being in the vicinity of two thousand dollars. The bagging is mostly shipped South for use in billing cotton, especially large shipments going to Galveston, Tex.

White-Lead Manufacture. - The manufacture of white-lead as a pigment from pig, or blue-lead, is one of the oldest industries in the city, it having been established in 1826. In that year two lead-mills were started, one by the first Salem Lead Company and the other by Colonel Francis Peabody. Both were situated in South Salem, the first on the site of the Naumkeag Cotton-Mills, the other where Lagrange Street is now situated.

The first Salem Lead Company had a capital stock of over two hundred thousand dollars, but the enterprise proved unprofitable and, after an expenditure of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, the works were sold at auction in 1835 for the sum of twenty thousand five htindred dollars.

The works established by Colonel Peabody were more successful, and were carried on at Lagrange Street till 1843. In 1830 the Wyman Grist-Mills, at Forest River, were purchased and used for grinding and mixing the lead. In 1843 the Forest River Lead Company (incorporated in 1846) purchased the works of Colonel Peabody, tore down the sheds on Lagrange Street, and established the entire plant at Forest River. The manufacture of white-lead to the amount of one thousand tons annually was carried on by the company till 1882, when it made an assignment. The works were operated for a time by a Boston firm, but were finally abandoned in 1883, and have since remained unoccupied.

The present Salem Lead Company was incorporated February 7, 1868. It has its works at the foot of Saunders Street. They consist of a large three-story mill, with corroding-sheds in the rear. The company has a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars employed at this factory, and the annual product is about fifteen hundred tons of white-lead, dry and ground in oil, together with a considerable amount of sheet-lead and lead-pipe. About thirty hands are employed.

Oil Manufacture. - The refining and manufacture of oils has been an industry in Salem from 1835, when Caleb Smith began the oil and candle manufacture on the site of the present Seccomb Oil Works. Col. Francis Peabody began the same industry a year later, also in South Salem. The latter did a large business, buying in one year one hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of sperm and whale oils. He also manufactured a large quantity of candles and imported the first machine for braiding candlewicks.

There are now four manufactories of oils in the city ; two, however, are unimportant. Seccomb, Thayer & Sons carry on the manufacture at the "old stand,'' established by Caleb Smith. They manufacture lubricating and curriers' oils to a small extent. The Seccomb Oil Company, which was established in 1865, was dissolved in 1885.

The Salem and South Danvers Oil Company was organized in 1855, and have a capital of forty-eight thousand dollars. Since the organization the company has manufactured considerable quantities of kerosene and curriers' grease and oils.

On June 14, 1887, the works of the company took fire from a spark blown from a burning tannery on Soitth Mason Street, and within three-quarters of an hour a stock worth ten thousand dollars, with all the wooden buildings of the plant, were totally destroyed. The stills, however, and other manufacturing plant were not materially injured, and the work of rebuilding was re-commenced at once, although some citizens made an attempt to have the Board of Aldermen refuse a permit to rebuild on that site. The manufacture of kerosene has been given up, and the manfacture of curriers' grease and oils entered on on a large scale.

The Adamanta Works. - The latest established industry in Salem has been that of the manufacture of paints, etc., by new processes, by the Adamanta Manufacturing Company at the former Rowell farm, on Salem Neck.

The Adamanta Manufacturing Company organized in 1885 with a capital of thrte hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for the prosecution of the manufacture of a number of articles under different patents, mostly German, purchased, in the autumn of 1885, the estate, on Salem Neck, known as the Rowell farm. This land was admirably fitted for the ptirpose of the manufactory, being secluded and with easy water and land access. Building was commenced in February, 1886. A long, low, fire-proof building was constructed for the manufactory, together with the necessary out-buildings, and in September, 1886, work was commenced. At present there are about twentyfive men employed, a number of whom are Germans, as is the superintendent.

The products of the works are enamel paints, varnish, a steam-proof pitch and an artificial rubber. The present manufactory is a merely exjierimental one, but a large quantity of the articles produced has been sold; the demand is said to be increasing, and a large manufactory is among the probabilities; indeed, plans for such are being now considered.

Manufacture of Type-Writers. - A second industry of importance that has lately been established in Salem is the manufacture of type-writers, under the Hall patents. In May, 1885, the plating and polishing works of E. C. Bates, on Front Street, were removed to the building 200 Derby Street, and with a large plant the manufacture of the Hall typewriter was begun, together with that of light machinery and electrical goods. The Hall Type- Writer and Machine Company was incorporated in April, 1886, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, at one hundred dollars per share. The company now employs fifty men, and produces an average of two hundred type-writers a month, at an annual value of ninety-six thousand dollars. The business of manufacturing light machinery and electrical work, mostly by contract for Boston and New York firms, is also large.

Manufacture of Cars. - Two companies for the manufacture of cars have been established in Salem. In 1863 the Salem Car Company began the manufacture of horse -cars at the present car-shops of the Boston and Maine Railroad, on Bridge Street. The project was unsuccessful, and the works were sold to John Kinsman, after having been in operation a short time. This gentleman manufactured a few railroad cars there, and then sold the works to the Eastern Railroad. They are now operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad as repair-shops, the bulk of the repairs for this section being made there. About one hundred and fifty hands are employed, and during leisure seasons a few cars are built, several of the best rolling stock on the Eastern Division having been constructed here.

The Atlantic Car Company was organized in 1872, and commenced the manufacture of railroad cars at works built by them on Broadway, in South Salem. The works only ran for a year, the business crisis in 1873 being the cause of their closing. The buildings, after being unoccupied for four years, were used as a furniture manufactory. This in turn failed, and, after a long period of idleness, the works were again started up as a manufactory of the " Humiston Preservative." This also failed, and the United States Patents Company took the plant; that continued for a year or two, then failed ; and in 1886 the Poor Brothers, of Peabody, bought the plant, and altered it over into a tannery, with several hundred vats, and employing a large number of men.

The Gas-Light Company. - The Salem Gas-Light Company was organized in April, 1850; works were built at the foot of Northey Street, and the first stores lighted December 17, 1850, and the street lights on December 25th of the same year. A large amount of gas has been manufactured. When the city electric light system was put in operation, in 1886, the greater part of the street lights were given up. The change, however, caused but little diminution in the production of gas, as it was found that the increased use of gas by individuals nearly made up the deficit.

The present plant of the company, having been in constant use for thirty-seven years, has gone out of date, besides being in a bad condition, and the company has in process of construction, at its lot on Bridge Street, new retorts and apparatus of an improved pattern. A wharf, gas-holder and other buildings had been constructed there some years before, and when the present works shall be finished the company will have a complete plant. The manufacture of gas will be carried on there, and the Northey Street works abandoned.

The present works contain fifty-five retorts, and 41,858,000 cubic feet of gas were manufactured there during 1886. The selling price was $1.75 a thousand feet. The new works will have a much greater capacity than have the old.

Electric Lighting Co. - Salem was among the first cities in New England to introduce electric lights. In 1881 a small plant was set up in the rear of the West Block, and a few lights started. The first lights were lighted December 18, 1881. The light, used at first by the storekeepers as an advertisement, came rapidly into favor, and, in April, 1882, the Salem Electric Lighting Company, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, was incorporated, and took the plant established in 1881. The demand for lights increased rapidly, and in the fall of 1886 the city of Salem closed a contract with the company for one hundred and twenty-nine lights for two years from Oct. 1, 1886, at forty-seven cents a night for one hundred lights, and forty-five cents for the remainder, the lights to burn all night and superseding four hundred gas-lights. The number was afterward increased to (me hundred and forty-seven lights, which are now located and make Salem one of the best lighted cities in the State.

In June, 1885, the incandescent light was introduced, and quite a number of stores are lighted with the lights, as well as the Council and Aldermanic chambers at City Hall.

The electric lighting station is situated in the rear of the West Block, on Ess^x Street, in a specially constructed building, whose tall, iron chimneys are a prominent feature in a bird's-eye view of Salem from any point. The plant consists of eight arc dynamos, of a capacity of thirty lights each, of which five are employed on the city lights. There is an incandescent dynamo, burning two hundred and fifty lights. The power is supplied by boilers of three hundred horse-power, with three engines, respectively one hundred and seventy-five, seventy-five and sixty horsepower. The station is a well-appointed one, and the lights give good satisfaction.

Miscellaneous Manufactures. - The list of the more important manufactures of Salem is now finished, but the miscellaneous manufactures are large in total and comprise most of the domestic industries and manufactures, with the employment of a large number of operatives. There are two iron foundries, employing about twenty-five men and producing a large amount of castings for the different manufactories of the city and county ; eleven machine-shops, most of which manufacture machines under patents ; and one boiler-shop. The total value of the product of the metal-working establishments of the city is about seven hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

The building trades are well represented, Salem being a centre for the district in this respect, and the total value of the building products is in the vicinity of three hundred thousand dollars.

Boxes, to the value of thirty-five thousand dollars, are made ; stone-work, of a value of thirty thousand dollars, is produced ; and the printing and publishing interests have a value of production of fifty thousand dollars.

Defunct Industries. - The Salem Laboratory Company. - Among the few industries which have been relinquished in Salem, the manufacture of chemicals was the oldest. The manufacture of chemicals was begun on Lynde Street early in the present century, and continued by the Salem Laboratory Company, incorporated in 1819, which continued the manufacture above alluded to, removing the works to North Salem. A considerable amount of chemicals were manufactured up to 1884, when the company was dissolved on account of decreasing profits and other considerations. The buildings have been partly demolished, and one has been utilized as a currying-shop.

The Cooperage Business. - During the years of the commercial prosperity of Salem, and especially at the times of the West India and West African trade, the cooperage business of Salem was quite extensive, ten or twelve firms being engaged in the manufacture of fish butts, molasses and rum hogsheads, etc. With the decrease of the commerce the business declined, and is almost extinct, there being now only two shops, employing six or eight men, and turning out a few hundred lead kegs and half-barrels yearly.

Oum Copal Cleaning. - Another very important industry during the time of the trade with the west coast of Africa was the cleaning of gum copal and other varnish gums, carried on at Hunt's wharf.

Nearly all the varnish gums used in this country at that time were landed at Salem, and in a rough state. The business of preparing these gums for use grew to considerable proportions, but the imposing of a duty on the rough gums caused the business of cleaning them to be transferred to Africa, so that although small lots have been cleaned within six years, the business is now entirely extinct.

The Coal Business. - The principal industry of Salem, outside of the direct manufacturing interests, is the transshipment of coal, for the most part to the factories of Lowell and Lawrence. During the year 1886 - a year below the average in the amounts of coal received, owing to great coal strikes - the amount of coal brought to Salem was 184,163 tons, at an average valuation of five dollars per ton. The coal was brought in three hundred and sixty-three sailing vessels and thirty steamers, whose aggregate tonnage would probably be as great as that of any year in Salem's palmiest commercial days.

The coal trade of Salem has been established since 1850. In that year the Salem and Lowell Railroad was completed to Salem, and coal began to arrive at Phillips' wharf for the mills in Lawrence and Lowell. A business of one thousand tons was done the first year, and the amount rapidly increased till, in 1871 and 1872, two hundred thousand tons was the aggregate. In the former year a coal-pocket was built, but in the latter the road was leased to the Boston, Lowell and Nashua road and the larger part of the business transferred to Boston, and under the later regime of the Boston and Lowell the business has been still further decreased. During 1886 the aggregate of tons landed at Phillips' wharf was 26,645, mostly brought in small vessels of one htindred to five hundred tons capacity, the gradual filling up of the docks preventing the entrance of larger vessels.

The greater part of the coal coming to Salem is landed at the Philadelphia and Eeading Company's pier, situated a short distance below Phillips' wharf, and built in 1873. The pier consists of a wooden - walled bulkhead, having a coal "pocket" with a capacity of eight thoitsand tons, and a long bridge connection. The bridge is about fourteen hundred feet in length and the wharf seven hundred feet. The depth of water at low tide is eleven feet. Most of the coal is brought in the iron steamers of the company, whose average capacity is 1660 tons. They run at regular intervals during the greater part of the year, the round trijj from Philadelphia, including loading and unloading, taking about two weeks, although, under especially favorable circumstances, it has been made in one. The coal received from the steamers and sailing-vessels is temporarily stored in the pocket and shipped away by rail as fast as cars can be procured. Most goes to the mills of Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill. The total amount of coal received at the pier in 1886 was 106,247 tons.

a large amount is received for the supply of a considerable local and district demand. There are thirteen retail coal dealers in the city, mostly situated on Derby Street and along the South River. The total shipments of coal received by them during 1886 were 63,861 tons.

Owing to the precarious state of the demand for labor in the coal business in Salem, and also to the transient nature of the labor itself, as no special training is needed for coal handling, and many take to it as a makeshift, it is difficult to ascertain how many receive support from the pursuit of that grimy calling. It is safe to say, however, that three hundred men, in round numbers, are employed by the coal trade of the city.

The Horse-Railroads. - The Naumkeag Street Railroad. - The benefit that the establishment and growth of the two horse-railroad companies running from Salem has been to the city is almost inestimable. It has turned into the coffers of the Salem merchants money that has in former years gone to Boston ; it has made Salem, in fact, what she is in position, the centre of the southern part of Essex County. It is safe to say that it has doubled the retail trade of the city.

The first act of incorporation of a horse-railroad in this city was obtained in 1862, under the name of the Salem Street Railway Company. The road was built to South Danvers (now Peabody), and the first car run July 8, 1863. In the same year the road was extended to Beverly, the line being opened for travel on October 28th. In May, 1864, a branch was built to South Salem, and five years later, June 4, 1869, a North Salem branch was put in operation.

The old Salem company, however, proved an unprofitable investment, and in 1875 a new company, known as the Naumkeag Street Railway Company, leased the property of the old road, and, by careful management and display of considerable enterprise, soon establ'shed the scheme on a paying basis.

The first extension of the tracks under the new company was to the '' Willows," the picnic ground of Salemites for generations, the line being opened June 10, 1877. A year or two later several of the heavy stockholders of the road purchased a tract of land there, and erected a " Pavilion " and theatre, besides making a small park there, and this, with many improvements made on the public land by the city, was opened as a summer resort on June 10, 1880.

The opening of the "Willows" was one of the great factors of the sticcess of the Naumkeag road; immense crowds of people were attracted to the place, as many as eight thousand people being on the grounds on some occasions, and, for the most part, transported by the horse-car lines.

Dating from the opening of the " Willows," and especially since 1883. the extension of the rails of the Naumkeag Street Railroad has been steady and rapid. In 1883 the Beverly tra^k was extended to the Gloucester crossing; a little later a branch was laid to the northern side of Harmony Grove, which, however, has since been given up as not being profitable.

In the spring of 1884 a line was projected to the town of Marblehead, whose transportation facilities by railroad were very meagre. The line was completed in August, 1884, the first car being run August 18th, and being received with great enthusiasm by the Marbleheaders. The line has met with good sticcess, although it was prophesied that it would prove unprofitable during cold weather ; the use of stoves in the cars, however, removed that objection, and the cars have a good patronage all through the winter.

The increasing traffic on the line between Salem and Beverly, together with the foreseen extension to Wenham, led the directors of the road to have another line through Beverly constructed. It was built through Rantoul Street, and connected with the Cabot Street line at the Gloucester crossing, the line being opened on June 16, 1886.

The line in Peabody was then extended through Lowell Street previous to July 2, 1886 ; and on August 2 1st the Marblehead tracks were extended through the town to Franklin Street.

The greatest addition to the road was consummated, however, in the connection of the Beverly tracks through North Beverly to Wenham depot and to Asbury Grove, the latter branch, however, being used only in summer. The road, about seven miles in length, was completed May 23, 1886, and formally opened on the 26th. This road was a grea*" stroke of policy; it accommodated an immense local trade, besides "booming " building interests along the line.

On June 1, 1886, by legislative enactment the Naumkeag road assumed the franchise of the old Salem Street Railway, and, with the purchase of the Salem and Danvers in the spring of 1887, assumed an entire control of the local traffic.

The Naumkeag Street Railroad Company at present has a capital of $250,000 of paid-up stock, divided among forty-nine stockholders, with a net debt of $257,959.52, and total assets of $636,240.23. The road has a length of 30,119 miles, of which 7,785 miles were the original property of the Salem road, and 8,800 miles that of the Danvers road, making the extensions made by the Naumkeag Company during their occupancy 13,534 miles.

The Natimkeag system is divided into four branches, each with its stables, cars and superintendent, but under the direction of the superintendent of the main branch. The latter includes the tracks in Salem, Beverly, to the Gloucester crossing, Peabody and to the " Willows." The stables are situated on Webster Street and at Beverly Cove. The Danvers branch includes all the old Danvers track, and has stables in Danvers and Peabody, The Marblehead branch includes the Marblehead tracks and stables on the road, and the Wenham branch includes the tracks below the Gloucester crossing, having stables at Wenham, near the town hall.

The total earnings of the consolidated road for 1886 were $190,468.50, with a total expense of $154,977.79. Besides the extent of the Naumkeag tracks, connection is made at Peabody and Marblehead with the Lynn and Boston Street Railway, whose lines extend the entire distance to Boston, making a distance of some thirty miles in diameter reached by the road.

Salem and Danvers Street Railroad - In the fall of 1883 a party of Salem, Peabody and Danvers capitalists formed a stock company for the purpose of constructing a horse railroad from Salem to Danvers. They were incorporated May 15, 1884, under the style of the Salem and Danvers Street Railway Company, with a capital stock of seventy thousand dollars, afterward increased to one hundred thousand dollars. The construction of the road was pushed rapidly, and five miles of track were built and the road equipped at a cost of $62,783.24. The road was opened for travel June 25, 1884, and during the first three months of its operation the net income was $5239.93. In the spring of 1885 a connection of the Danvers track with that of the Naumkeag Street Railroad in Peabody was begun and completed July 9th, the cars running from Salem through Peabody to Danvers and vice versa. Several branches to Tapleyville and other parts of Danvers were alsobuilt, so that the road had access to every part of the town, and controlled all the local traffic.

It was feared by the Naumkeag road that the proposed filling of the South River would give the Danvers road a location through the heart of the city, and a movement was made to get control of the road, which was accomplished in April, 1887, the Naumkeag road paying one hundred and sixty-five dollars for a small balance of stock, and assuming the debt of the Danvers corporation.

Railroad Communication. - The steam railroad communications of Salem are excellent, the Boston and Maine Railroad, Eastern Division, formerly the Eastern Railroad, which was opened in August, 1878, and the Boston and Lowell Railroad, which has a terminus here, give rapid and cheap transportation to every part of the Eastern New England States and Canada. There are twenty-three regular trains to Boston on the Boston and Maine daily, with twentytwo extras and eleven Sunday trains, and a nearly equal number of trains going east. The trains on the Boston and Lowell road are also frequent.

Retail Trade. - The retail trade of Salem is large, especially in the dry-goods line, and has greatly increased since the extension of the horse-car lines. The dry-goods trade includes eighteen firms, and the stores are large and handsome, including three which occupy the entire blocks in which they are situated. The largest clothing-store east of Boston is also established here, with large stores devoted to other lines, and Essex Street, the centre of the retail trade, is lined with stores that equal, if not surpass, any in Essex County.