Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/782

 772 F. P. Goodwin " liberal and lengthy [sic] accommodation " to persons who were engaged in or had arranged to engage in manufacturing.' A more substantial proof of confidence in the success of manu- factures in the West than either of these incidents was then under wav. In the opening year of the war, some gentlemen began the construction of a manufacturing plant which, for a time, was the wonder of the West in an industrial way. It was completed in 1814, and was known as the Cincinnati Steam Mill. It is worthy of attention as being both the first manufacturing enterprise in Cincin- nati on a large scale, and the first to use steam power. The build- ing was sixty-two by eighty-seven feet and one hundred and forty feet high, with walls ten feet thick at the base. Though designed for the manufacture not onl)' of flour, but of woollen and cotton goods, flaxseed oil and several other articles, the principal business was the manufacture of flour, for which it had a capacity of seven hundred barrels per week." The growing population of the Miami Country and the increas- ing demand of the West for manufactured goods, combined with the example and success of the Cincinnati Steam Mill, gave such an impetus to projects for manufacturing as to bring about the begin- ning of numerous other industrial enterprises before the close of the year 1815. What may be termed household industries continued to grow with the increase of population, and along with these, but on a larger scale, may be enumerated the following. There were four cotton-spinning establishments run by horse-power, operating to- gether twelve hundred spindles, while, in all, thirty-three hundred cotton spindles were in operation in Cincinnati. Ninety-one wool- carding machines and one hundred and thirty spindles were in use, and a woollen manufactory was then building that was expected to yield sixty yards of broadcloth per day. There also were two rope-walks, while two breweries not only supplied the home market, but sent large quantities of beer, porter, and ale down the river. Above the mouth of Deer Creek, the Cincinnati Manufacturing Company had extensive buildings and was engaged in the manu- facture of various articles. With the exception of the large steam mill, already mentioned, the steam sawmill was probably the most important enterprise of the young metropolis.^ It occupied a build- ing seventy by fifty-six feet and its four saws had a capacity of eight hundred feet per hour. It was set in operation on July 4, UVcstcni spy, July 10, 181 j. 2 Drake, Natural and Statistical J'icw, pp. 137 and 146; Palmer, Journal of Travels in the United States and Canada, p. 72. 'Drake, Picture of Cincinnati, p. 147; Palmer, Journal, p. 72.