(Page 42) CHAPTER
V
I N D U S T R I E S .
One often
wonders what the people of a small town, where there are no mills or factories,
do for a livelihood. They hardly see how a town of this kind can support a
thousand or fifteen hundred people, or how they can manage to exist. I have had
several people of other towns say to me, "What do the people of Chesapeake City
do for a living?" "What kind of work is there to do?" It does seem almost
impossible that Chesapeake City can support the number of people that live
there, yet there is always a demand for men. At the present time fifty more men
could be given work at two days' notice.
The largest industry in the town is the boatyard. This incorporation has more men on its payroll than any other two companies in the town. It is a stock company and at the present time is controlled by the Southern Transportation Company. This company was incorporated by the Deibert Bros. in 1911. In order to raise money for the building of this plant, stock was issued and sold at one hundred dollars per share as the par value. This stock was bought up largely (Page 43) by the people of the town and very little of it was sold outside, as it was the wish of the company to make this plant a town interest.
The plant consists of a number of buildings, among which are the machine shop, the power plant and numerous shelter houses for lumber and tools. There is also a railway where ordinary sized boats can be hauled out for repairs. All of the boats that have been built there so far are barges of different sizes. Some were built for the canal trade and some for use on the Atlantic Coast. All of their contracts were with the Southern Transportation Company. As the Southern people had all of their work done at this yard they thought that they could work it to a better advantage by running the plant themselves. They offered to buy it from the Deibert Brothers but they did not wish to sell. The Southern People were determined and so they made the Deiberts a proposition something like the following: You get very little work outside of what we give you. If you will sell the plant to us we will give you a reasonable price for it. If you do not sell to us we will build a plant of our own and thus take away your work. The Deibert Bros. were, therefore, forced to give in. So in 1913 they sold it to the Southern Company, who (Page 44) have continued to operate it to the present time under the name of Shipyard Department, Southern Transportation Company. The plant is run by electricity which is wired from Wilmington. At the present time the payroll of the company contains from ninety to a hundred names.
Next below the boat yard, for the employ of men, comes the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Co. This canal is described in another chapter of this book. The Company employs a number of men on their pile-drivers and dredges. They also employ a number of carpenters and laborers to keep the canal in repair. Several more find employment in the canal office and on the lock and bridges.
This canal is what has made Chesapeake City. It is the gateway to the South and it has a prosperous future before it. If the much talked of ship canal is cut through to take the place of the old one, much can be prophesied for the town. This canal will be a short cut for Northern Shipping. It would bring to the town many industries and this will necessarily mean many more people.
Boating is another means of livelihood. A number of the citizens of the town work on the tug-boats and barges that ply on the canal and creek and also on the passenger boats of the Ericsson Line that run between Baltimore (Page 45) and Philadelphia. If the ship canal is built this work will become much more extensive. The work is highly desirable and is very healthful. The Ericsson Line affords a cheap route of freight transportation to the town and is much preferred to the railroads.
The Pumping Station employs a number of men as engineers and firemen. This is really a branch of the canal but can be taken separately if it is desirable. This Station is used to pump water from Back Creek into the canal and has a capacity of 34,166 gallons per minute. It was built in 1802. It formerly had but one engine, but after the fire another engine was installed giving the plant a combined force of ______ horsepower. It caught fire in 1882 and was burned, and was rebuilt in 1883. The overshot wheel that carries the water from the creek to the canal aqueduct is the largest wheel in existence. If the ship canal were built this station would not be necessary, as the water would flow on an ocean level.
The National Bank of Chesapeake City is an important factor of the town. It was completed in 1903. The building is of Port Deposit Granite and contains a vault that is insured against fire and burglary by (Page 46) the Maryland Casualty Company. A bank is always a large help to a community. It brings a system to the surrounding country, under which money matters can be settled to the satisfaction of every one. It gives the people the use of checks, notes, drafts, cash deposits and deposits on the interest bearing plan that cannot be had if the bank is not in existence, unless it is through the mails, which is slow, or without a long drive to a neighboring town. As the bank always helps the community, it could not help doing so in this instance and of being a means of co-operation between the merchants, farmers and the citizens in general.
The Bank's Capital Stock is $25,000.00 Its Surplus Fund is $17,500.00 The directors are, Messrs. James S. Hopper, William S. Evans, James P. Steele, William B. Davis and Bennett Steele. The officers are as follows: James S. Hopper, President; William S. Evans, Vice-President; Richard S. Wallace, Cashier and Julius W. Clayton, Teller.
The mercantile business is the most extensive industry that the town possesses. There are really more stores than the town can properly support. The merchants do not specialize in any one line, but they each handle all sorts of goods and they all have about the same amount of stock. The hardware and tin stores draw a little closer mark and sell, as near as possible, one line of goods. One or two of the stores have (Page 47) a cash system of trade. The others have no system at all. Their accounts run along at random and the storekeeper never knows just where he stands. One half of the accounts are a long time coming in and quite a number of them never come in at all. This defect could be remedied by the merchants forming a sort of union, under which there would be an understanding among them respecting certain things. If they would all agree to work on a cash basis, each one of them would be several hundred dollars to the good at the end of the year. All of them would have to agree with and manage their business according to their understanding, because if one section of them agreed to work a cash system and the other section did not, a certain portion of the former's trade would go over to the latter, because there is always an element in a community that think they must have an outstanding account. This is something to be thought about by the merchants. It is highly desired by the public spirited citizens and the people that have an interest in the community, because it would make a higher degree of competition and the people would not seek out a certain store because they could get credit there, but because that store had something to offer or some exceptional value or bargain to offer that the other stores did not have.
(Page 48)The agricultural district around Chesapeake City is one of the richest in Cecil County. It is extensively productive of grain and fruit, and is particularly adapted to the raising of small truck and vegetables. A ready market is found in the town for the greater part of the vegetables and what cannot be consumed by the people of the town is shipped to the city markets. Automobiles make it possible for many of the farmers of the district to personally take their produce to the city markets. Wilmington is the place selected by most of them on account of its nearness to the town and also on account of the excellent prices of the Wilmington Market. This system of direct selling, that is having goods come from the producer directly to the consumer, is becoming vastly popular. If the consumer would cooperate with the producer they could erect a system that would put the middle man, that is the commission merchant, out of business. It would enable the producer to sell his goods at a reduced rate and would insure to the consumer the good and the freshness of the article bought. The Parcel Post System of the Post Office has made vast strides toward bringing this thing about.
Many of the farms of the district are very large and this makes the production of grain payable. Some of the wheat and corn is bought by the nearby mills. The waterways of the town make it possible to ship the vast am- (Page 49) ount of grain that is not consumed in the community to Baltimore and Philadelphia Markets. Some of the farms have large orchards on them and much fruit is sold in the town, as the majority of the people do their own canning and preserving instead of buying such things from the stores. What fruit is not sold in the town finds a ready sale on the Baltimore Market. The low rate of freight charges by water makes it highly desirable that goods be shipped in this way. The J. Groome Steele Co. controls several boats that carry grain, fruit and other products to city markets.
Tomatoes are also a product that cannot be overlooked. A number of years ago, the output of tomatoes was so extensive that a cannery was built. The whole process of canning and packing was conducted and the boats of the Ericsson Line were used as a shipping medium. For several years the company prospered, and then for three years straight the tomato crops failed owing to droughts. The cannery was shut down and up to the present time, has not been reopened. Quite a number of tomatoes are raised now but they are shipped to Baltimore Canneries.
Eighteen or twenty years ago the commerce of the town was much greater than it is at the present time. (Page 50) Liquors were sold in the town at that time and this always has a tendency to draw the people and to make the town more lively and the commerce greater. To hear the old inhabitants of the town talk of these days reminds one of the old days of buckineers and pirates of the early history of the West. Many fights and drunken brawls took place and also several murders. The shipping on the canal at that time was much larger than it is at the present time. Power boats were not in extensive use during that period and time was of little consequence to the boatmen, many of whom were rough and uneducated. When they came to the town they would stay for several days. The saloons would be very lively when a number of the boats tied up at the wharves. The stores prospered also at this time. The people not only spent their money in the saloons but also in the store. It is difficult to say which is the better, to have the sale of liquors in the town or not to have. Certainly the stores and industries prospered but it is evident that the people did not. Liquor always has the tendency to bring out the brute in man and this is harassing to the town interests and to good citizenship. If the sale of liquors should be taken away from all of the surrounding towns of the community it would undoubt- (Page 51) edly be the best thing that could happen, but as it is, it is taken away from one or two of them and left in the remainder of the towns of the community. This is hardly fair to the towns that it is taken away from, as it also takes the rural trade away from them. Possibly in time liquor will be abolished all over the country and that will settle these unsatisfactory conditions. This would be fair to all the towns and the people would be drawn by the stores and other things that the town had to offer, and not by liquor.
The forests around the town at one time were very large and are still of good size but are becoming less and less each year. These forests abound in both hard and soft woods. Some of the wood is used as fire wood but the greater part of it is sawed into lumber, much of which is used in the town, as nearly all of the houses and other buildings are frame. Much woodland has been cleared within the last ten years and if some precaution is not taken, for the coming generation, wood will be a scarcity if not almost a luxury.
The Chesapeake Basket Company has had much to do with the extermination of these forests. In 1904 this company erected a sawmill and basket factory on the North side of the town. For several years they sawed out much lumber and also successfully manufactured bas- (Page 52) kets. This served for an occupation to a good many men and also to the school boys of Saturdays. They were paid by piece work and could begin and stop work when they pleased. In 1906 these factories caught fire and burned. The sawmill was rebuilt but the basket factory was not. The sawmill has continued to operate until the present time and turns out many hundred feet of lumber each year.
In 19_____ a large number of Slavs migrated to this town and vicinity. They came here under the direction of the Chesapeake Developing Company. These people originally came from Slavonia in Austria Hungary. They came first to Philadelphia and from there to this town. The Chesapeake Developing Company was formed by several prominent Slavs through a division of the Catholic Church. The object of the Company is to buy up certain sections of the country and sell it in small lots, of four or five acres, to their countrymen. They bought several of the largest and best farms in the community. These farms have not been cut up into small lots but several families live on them and till them. Their farming is highly successful. One of their peculiar traits is, that the women do quite as much of the work as the men. They also bought the large track of woodland that (Page 53) the Chesapeake Basket Company had cut the lumber from. This is the section that has been made into small lots. The poorer class of the people have built themselves quite a number of neat and comfortable houses on them and have proceeded to clear the land. These people have laid the corner-stone of a large church and school which will be erected in the near future. Indications show that in time these people will make very good and desirable citizens.
The coal interests of the town are controlled almost wholly by Mr. Bennett Steele. He has a good sized yard, near the creek, on the south side of the town. He sells many tons of coal during the winter months. This coal is obtained from Baltimore.
It is not necessary to have an ice manufacturing plant in the town owing to the abundance of streams from which ice is taken during the winter. Most of the ice is taken from the Canal Pond, as there is no tide or boat traffic there to disturb the water when it is freezing. A number of ice houses are situated on the banks of the pond so as to make hauling unnecessary. Mr. J. Clayton controls the sale of ice in the town but many of the people have their own private ice houses.
(Page 54) The extensive use of automobiles has made the garage necessary. The town boasts of two well equipped garages and automobile shops. One is centrally located, between the Creek and the canal. The other is on the south side of the town on Bohemia Avenue.
Air Slacked Lime is manufactured on a small scale. There are several kilns on the hill to the south of the town. These kilns are made like a well on the edge of the bank, and are walled with stone. These wells or kilns are filled with oyster shells and fire is lighted in a grate under them. When these shells become thoroughly dry, they take fire and burn to a fine powder. This powder is taken out of the kiln and put into a bin. Here water is thrown upon it and it slacks and the result of this process is lime. Much of it is used on land as a fertilizer and it is also used for building purposes.
Mushrooms are raised on a small scale. In 1913 Mr. J. M. Reed, Jr. built a plant on the south side of the town near the grounds of the Gun Club. The building is of wood and contains long rows of boxes or bins. These bins contain a specially prepared earth in which the mushrooms are planted. The temperature of the building is kept the same all of the time, and this makes the building very damp. These mushrooms spring up and (Page 55) obtain their full growth in less than twenty-four hours.
The Spa Spring Bottling Works, owned and operated by Mr. A. E. Hague, manufacture soft drinks that are surpassed by none in the surrounding country. The superiority of these drinks over what they buy elsewhere, is acknowledged by all of the dealers of the town and by many in other towns. A number of these dealers of other towns give their orders to this company rather than patronize the manufacturers of their own town. A company that manufactures this kind of goods cannot help making good and when the brand of soda that this company puts out becomes well known throughout the community, there is nothing to prevent the plant from growing and the business from becoming very much extended. Many of the citizens would like to see this take place, and wish the manufacturer all the success due a business enterprise.
In 1916, the Wills-Jones Company established a branch creamery in the town. Many of the farmers now sell their milk to these people, where they formerly shipped it to the city or sold it to the smaller rural creameries. These things are small but still they are worthy of observation. For instance, if this creamery was not in the town and the farmers had to take their milk elsewhere, they would also do their buying elsewhere. The creamery brings more people to the town each day and naturally while these people are in the town they do their buying there and thus save themselves a drive to some other town. Therefore, these interests, though small, deserve the co-operation and the boost of the business men of the community. (Page 56)
s/John B. Houck
CHAPTER VI BEGINS ON PAGE 56
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