A SKETCH OF BRISTOL. 269
MANUFACTURING.
As has been heretofore stated, and as would naturally be inferred from the extent of the water power with which the town is favored, manufacturing is the most important lint of industry in which the people of Bristol are engaged. An entire article might well be devoted to a history and description of the va- rious manufacturing interests that have been liere developed. Space permits, however, but brief reference to some of the more important establishments, to be found along the course oi the river, whose immense power has thus far been only partially utilized.
The most important manufacturing establishment in town is the paper mill of Mason, Perkins & Co., which is located about midwav between the center of the village and the outlet of Newfound Lake, upon the finest power which the river affords, with a twenty-two foot fall. This mill (or a portion thereof) which is substantially built of brick, was erected in 1871 and put in operation the following year. It has since been materially enlarged and its capacity doubled. It contains the best improved machinery, runs eight thirty-six inch rag engines and a sixty-four inch Fourdrinier machine, and is turuished with a rotary bleach, seven by twenty-one feet in dimension. It is also supplied with two boilers of 60 and 75 horse-power respectively, for drying, bleaching, etc. The paper now manufactured is a superior quality of colored poster, of which about two tons per day is produced, though if run upon ordinary news paper the capacity of the mill would be nearly double that amount. About twenty hands are employed in this mill. The members of the company are David Mason and B. F. Per- kins of Bristol, and Nathan H. Weeks of Plymouth — Mr. Perkins being the man- ager. The same company own and operate a strawboard mill, located about half a mile below their paper mill, where they manufacture about two hundred and fifty tons of strawboard annually, by the air dried process, employing about fifteen hands during the season.
The pulp used in the manufacture of pa[)er, at the mill of Mason, Perkins & Co., is produced at the pulp mill of Mason & Berry (David Mason and William A. Berry) which is located on the lower power of the river near the railroad station. This lirm occupies the large buililing owned by the Lake Company, and formerly used as a hosiery mill. Mr. Mason commenced the manufacture of pulp, here, in 1878, and received Mr. Berry as a partner in 18S1. About one ton of dry pulp, or its equivalent, is produced daily; — poplar wood being , mainly used. Seven men are employed in the mill.
The New Hampshire Chemical Palp Company has recently commenced operations in this place, having been organized for the manufacture of wood i pulp by a new and peculiar process, believed to be far superior to the ordinary grinding process. 'Phis company has a capital stock of $200,000. Col. Charles H. Taylor, of the Boston Globe, is president, J. H. Hayden, general business manager, and Dr. M. R. Fletcher, superintendent. The patents under which the mill is operated are the invention of the superintendent, who is a New Hampshire man, born at Livermore Falls, in Campton, and are known as the Fletcher process, embracing both mechanical and chemical agents. As the process is different from any other, a brief description can not fail to be of in- terest. The wood in cord wood dimensions is placed in tight boxes, steam let in for two or three hours, the bark taken off, and the wood then put through a cutter which makes a cord into chips in an hour. It is then put through a crushing machine, reducing it to filaments the size of a shoe peg. These are put into a hundred-barrel tank, water and chemicals added, and steam turned on until the stock is cooked or softened. The liquor is then let off. the stock removed through a trap door at the bottom of the tank and placed in pulping
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