Sunday 2 September 2012

1902-11-15



Last Saturday’s musings of the days of long ago, when Hamilton was but a village and stoves were a luxury in homes, calls to memory that the first iron foundry in this city was established late in the 30’s by Fisher and McQuesten, two down east Yankees, who wandered in here about the close of the rebellion. The foundry was built  at the corner where now stands the Hotel Royal, and continued there till it was burned down some time in the latter part of 1855 or early in 1856. Fisher was a practical foundryman by trade. Dr. McQuesten practiced medicine before coming to Hamilton, and was the financial backer of the infant industry. Probably less than half a dozen molders were employers in the shop for a number of years, as it did not take many men to make all the stoves for the country surrounding Hamilton. The Gartshores had a foundry in Dundas, and there was another at Long Point, upon on the shores of Lake Erie, and it was considered somewhat of a risky business to start one in Hamilton with such strong competition close at hand. Early in 1843, a couple more Yankees invaded Hamilton, coming from Utica, New York, prospecting to start a foundry. They were Charles and Edward Gurney. Dr. McQuesten was very much pit out at the idea of a rival shop coming to town, and said that his foundry was able make more stoves than could be sold in and around the village, and he suggested to the Gurneys that they were taking big risks opening here. But the young men were not to be turned from their purpose, and they bought a lot on John street, in part of the block now owned by the Gurney-Tilden company, and made arrangements for the building of a small frame shop that would furnish floor room for half a dozen molders. The Gurneys were practical men, having learned the iron trade in Utica, and they had heard of the great possibilities of Hamilton, because it was the head of navigation, and came here to spy out the land. Their entire capital, including patterns and tools, was less than $2,000, but they were not afraid of hard work. They returned to Utica and gathered up all that was necessary for an outfit in a small way. In those days, the smaller Canadian foundry men used to make their patterns from the stoves of the larger American foundries that had a good reputation, without any cost for the privilege, and in this way were able to keep up-to-date without paying for the experiment. In a few weeks, the Gurneys returned from Utica and settled down to business. Money was scarce and everything was sold on credit. This made it hard for them to make both ends meet, but by doing as much of the work as possible themselves, they kept down expenses, and the few men they employed were glad to get work and run the chances for their pay. Alexander Carpenter, who later became a member of the firm, had a tin shop on John street, near the corner of King William, where the blacksmith shop is, and as he had some skill in the making of patterns, was a desirable acquisition to the new firm, under the name of Gurneys and Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter owned the house on John street, where Mrs. Peace’s second hand store is, in which he lived and the adjoining Gothic stone building, the lots running through to Catharine street. Next to the stone building was printing office, and next to that was the new foundry building. Further north was a church, originally built for Presbyterians, but afterwards used by the Baptists, and probably the Wesley congregation used it for awhile, history is not clear to that. Milton Davies, the owner of the stage line, lived on the corner of John and Rebecca, and the house he occupied is now down on Catharine street, the second one below Cannon. Robert Lucas, now retired, began to work for Gurneys and Carpenter in 1847, and at that time they had not more than a dozen men employed. It was no trouble to sell stoves on credit, but cash was a scarce article. As the firm increased in strength, it annexed the land adjoining, till finally it owned the entire block, fronting on four streets, and then bought other lots across the street.
          The firm prospered because the men at the head of it were able to superintend every department. From the making of stoves, other lines of iron work were added, till now the present company manufactures a class of builder’s hardware that is not surpassed by anything produced in this or foreign countries. John Tilden, the president of the Gurney-Tilden company, began work for the old firm way back early in the 60’s as a sorter of scrap iron, for which he was paid $1.50 a week. This early education brought him touch with the iron business, and as he grew older, he was promoted till now he is at the head of the great concern. Nearly sixty years ago, the Gurneys, with a capital of less than $2,000, and with only three molders besides themselves, started an enterprise that ended in an estate, when they died a few years ago, of not less than half a million dollars to the families of each of the brothers. Today the output of the Gurney-Tilden plant gives employment to 325 men and boys, and its buildings cover an entire block, with a large factory across the way on Rebecca street. Its large and diversified line of manufactures is one of the best evidences of the benefits of a protective tariff. Take the builders’ hardware alone; remove the duty from it, and the company would have to come in ruinous competition with that line of goods. As it is now, the Gurney-Tilden company is able to make first-class goods and make a fair profit after paying the hands employed remunerative mages. The 325 hans employed represent that number of families that are dependent on the success of the company for steady work, for even the single men and boys, in a majority of cases, have to contribute part of their earnings to the support of fathers and mothers who are partially dependent upon them.
          Before George Gurney, one of the younger members of the original family, died, he made a will in which he bequeathed $10,000 to Robert Lucas, the veteran molder, who began to work for the firm in 1847. For fifty years, “Faithful Old Bob” gave his best efforts to his employers, and it was a graceful act on the part of George Gurney to provide an independence for the old man to round out his days in comfort.

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          The weather clerks are doing good work for Canada, especially this favoured spot, where winter does not intrude itself till the closing year gets hoary with age. Just think that here we are in the middle of November, and it is as bright and pleasant as in the early fall. Kipling never visited Hamilton, else he would never have written that libelous poem, Our Lady of Snows. History tells us that it was not always as mild in November as it is now, for we have only to go back to the 4th of November, 1871, when the bay was nearly frozen over and the young folks went skating on the ice. On that day, thirty-ne years ago, the bay was covered with boys and girls enjoy the first good skating of the season. Four boys, more venturesome than the others, went skating up toward the Desjardins Canal, where they struck upon thin ice and were drowned. At no time during the winter has it ever been safe to skate too near the point where the waters of the canal and bay unite.

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          Say, aren’t those Yankees doing things down at the foot of Sherman avenue? It is only a few weeks ago that the thirty-five acres now owned by the International Harvester company was part of a farm and was away out of the city limits. Today, the place where they raised turnips and potatoes and corn and wheat, almost in the twinkling of an eye is being covered with brick buildings, crowding on each other, and before the close of the year, hundreds of skilled workmen will be employed in turning out all kinds of farming machinery; and by the time the next grain crop is ready to harvest in the great Northwest or over in Australia and New Zealand Hamilton-made products will be available. Hamilton mowers and binders will be there to do the work, and as a certificate of good behavior that the machine is what it is represented, will be stamped on it, “Made in Hamilton, Canada.” When the Deerings first talked of coming to Hamilton, the Sawyer-Massey company and the other industries gave them hearty greeting. They were not like the old Dr. McQuesten, when the Gurneys came to Hamilton in 1843 to start a foundry, who objected to more shops in that line, as Fisher and McQuesten’s foundry was equal to all the demand for stoves and iron work. The coming of the International Harvester company to Hamilton is an evidence of what Providence and Protection have done for this city and for Canada. No wonder that thousands of men, women and children go down to the foot of Sherman avenue every Sunday to see the great transformation that is taking place – farming land turned into a great industry that will give employment to thousands of men. If the cry for more land for new industries continues, Hamilton will have to annex the entire township of Barton.

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