Re: MtMan-List: More on early tanneries

[Casapy123@aol.com]

The following citations all come from "The Fur Trade," Vol. II, written by
Paul C. Phillips, University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.  While not as detailed
as one might like, these references establish that there was a lot of
"manufacturing" of leather products in America in its early years.   I'll keep
looking. 

p. 120 - "During the early years of the republice, the fabrication of pelts
was an important industry.  Imports from Europe were scarce, and hats, shoes,
and clothing were produced almost entirely within the United States.  Textile
manufactures had not yet developed, and the chief raw material was the pelts
of animals.  Tanneries used deerskins for the manufacture of leather, and
these skins came from the South as well as from the country along the northern
Alleghenies."   

p. 120 - The furriers and tanners of the day operated individually, on a small
scale.  But there were many of them - enough to supply the needs of the
country - and the aggregate of their business was large.  Their names have
mostly been forgotten, although the biographer of Astor has resurrected a
number of them who were associated with the great fur merchant in the early
years of his career.  These include Robert Browne, the Quaker merchant, Hayman
Levy, a Mr. Wilson, and Cornelius Heyer and Cornelius Heeney, who may have
been the same person."

p. 152 - "Philadelphia was second in importance to New York, in both trading
and manufacture of pelts.  It was the center of a long established tanning
industry, and used many deerskins."  

p. - 161 - "Self-sufficiency had been forced on the country by a long period
of commercial restriction [due to the War of 1812].  As a result, manufactures
had developed, and among the important were manufactures from furs and skins.
Leather-tanning had expanded to a value of more than $12,000,000 a year and
used all the deerskins available."

Jim Hardee, AMM#1676
P.O. Box 1228
Quincy, CA  95971
(530)283-4566 (H)
(530)283-3330 (W)
(530)283-5171 FAX
Casapy123@aol.com