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��INDUSTRIES IN HOPKINTON.
��Bridge " to the present village of Con- toocook. As the place increased in size and importance more notable works were established. As soon as 1825, Abram Brown was .a mill operator or owner. In company with John Burnhara, he car- ried on a notable business in the lumber and grain line for about thirty years. The grist mill operated by these two men was conducted by the sons of John Burnham till the fire of 1873, which con- sumed it. In 1826, or thereabouts, Joab Patterson established himself here in the business of a clothier. Subsequently he took into partnership his brother, David N., and till about 1860 the two carried on
- business, but subsequently to 1844 fol-
lowing the manufacture of woolen cloths, which they sold largely to people in the vicinity in exchange for wool or cash. For a short time another brother was connected with them. On the north side of the river, a mill, on the site of the present saw mill operated by the Burn- ham brothers, was built by Hamilton E. Perkins about 1835. It was subsequent- ly burned and rebuilt. The present grist mill, owned by Col. E. C. Bailey, occupies a building erected for miscella- neous purposes by H. E. Perkins a short time after his first. Messrs. Kempton & Allen began the manufacture of mack- erel kits about 1850, first in the present Burnham saw mill; afterwards one or both occupied the old Patterson fac- tory, where business was kept up till the fire of 1873. For a few years subse- quently to 1864, Messrs. Jonathan M. & George W. Morrill carried on woolen manufacturing in the present grist mill building, which was then the property of Capt. Paul R. George, or his heirs. In 1874 the brothers Morrill & Kempton, kit manufacturers, erected their present steam mill about a half mile north of the village. Grinding was also done at their mill during the first years of its exist- ence. A year or two subsequently to the erection of this mill, Colonel Bailey put in the machinery of his present grist mill. He is at present the exclusive owner of the site of the water power at
Contoocook. About 1815, Thomas Kast began the
��manufacture of leather on the spot now occupied by Horace J. Chase, employing the present water power. He kept up the business for about thirty years, and then sold out to Jonathan Osgood. In 1852 the works passed into the hands of Mr. Chase, who has made numeroas im- portant additions and improvements to them. This establishment has been twice burned out — once during its occu- pancy by Mr. Kast and once since owned by Mr. Chase. About 1830, Benjamin F. Clough established a mill at what is now known as " Cloughville." Several sons of Mr. Clough have since been engaged in different kinds of wooden manufao tures here, and several mills have at times been in operation. As soon as 1835, John Smiley became engaged as a miller at West Hopkinton, on the site of the old Rowell mill. For about thirty years " Smiley's Mills" was a popular grinding station for the vicinity. Grind- ing is no longer done at this station. The traveler who now takes his way in the valley between Putney and Beech Hills, crossing the tortuous Dolloph's Brook where it runs easterly across the road, at the site of what was formerly Richard Kimball's mill, will hardly con- ceive that here, where is now nothing but trees and bushes, was once a mill three stories in height, where, in addi- tion to sawing lumber, the managers ground and bolted as good meal and flour as perhaps can be made at any place. Yet it was so. Several parties were at different times interested in this mill. Nathaniel Clement and Jeremiah Story once did business in partnership at this location. The Clement family was prominently connected with this mill in later times. The mill site was in the possession of the Story family till 1877. About forty-five years ago, much en- thusiasm was aroused over the manufac- ture of silk. Silk worms and mulberry trees were procured from older New England States and work begun in ear- nest. Silk thread and cloth were manu- factured, but the enterprise died about as suddenly as it was born. The products of this business cost more than the in- come. Our people could not successful-
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