After building the first running dyke in 1769, Hazen, Simonds and White continued to devote considerable attention to the task of reclaiming and improving the marsh. In order to have ready access a road was laid out running back of Fort Howe hill and along Mount Pleasant to the marsh. Not far from the present station at Coldbrook they built a house with hovels for cattle and put up fences and settled a family there. A few years later they built two more houses and settled two more families there, each with a stock of cattle. The first tenants on the marsh were Stephen Dow, Silas Parker and Jabez Salisbury. The houses built for their accommodation cost from £15 to £20 apiece. About this time or a little later a small grist mill was built at the outlet of Lily Lake.
One of the inducements that led James Simonds to fix upon the harbor of St. John as a place of settlement was the abundance and excellent quality of the limestone there and its convenience for shipment. The license of occupation given under 236 the hand of Governor Montagu Wilmot on the 8th of February, 1764, was in the terms following:
“License is hereby granted to James Simonds to occupy a tract or point on the north side of St. John’s River, opposite Fort Frederick, for carrying on a fishery and for burning limestone, the said tract or point containing by estimation ten acres.” Soon after the formation of the trading company in the course of the same year, the manufacture of lime became an object of consideration. Some reference has been made already in these chapters to the progress of the industry.
The company had four lime kilns, the situation of which will be best understood by reference to modern land marks. One was at the base of Fort Howe hill at the head of Portland street, a second near the site of St. Luke’s church, a third near the present suspension bridge, and a fourth on the road leading to the old “Indian House.” The work of quarrying and burning limestone was carried on in a very primitive fashion by the laborers of the company. In the winter a number of them were employed in quarrying the stone and hauling it with oxen to the kilns. The wood needed for burning grew almost at the spot where it was wanted, and its cutting served to clear the land as well as to provide the fuel necessary. In the course of ten years Simonds & White shipped to Newburyport and Boston more than 3,500 hogsheads of lime for which they received four dollars per cask; they also sent lime to Halifax, Cornwallis and other places in Nova Scotia. The facilities for manufacturing in those days were very inadequate, the men lacked experience, casks were hard to get, and for a time the lack of a wharf and warehouse caused much delay in the shipment.
And now a word as to the present condition of the lime industry at St. John. It cannot be questioned that the splendid quality of the limestone, its vast abundance, its convenient situation for shipment and the abundance and cheapness of the fuel needed, clearly prove that the manufacture of lime is destined yet to become an important industry in this community. Fifteen years ago the industry was rapidly developing, when the McKinley tariff and the Dingley bill completely excluded the St. John manufacturers from the United States market which passed into the hands of their rivals of Rockland, Maine. It is, however, only a question of time when there will be a removal of the prohibitive tariff in the interests of United States consumers, and this will be hastened as the deposits of limestone at Rockland are exhausted. This circumstance, together with the increasing demands of the Canadian market, will cause the manufacture of lime at St. John to become eventually an industry as great as that of shipbuilding in its palmiest days.
About the year 1888 the prospects of the St. John lime burners seemed particularly bright. Extensive operations were being carried on at Randolph, Robertson’s Point, South Bay, Glencoe, Adelaide Road, Brookville and Drury’s Cove. Probably at least 400 men were employed and a dozen draw kilns and twenty square kilns were in operation. In order to show the prospective development of that which in the time of Simonds & White was an infantile industry, it may be stated that the capacity of the draw kiln is from 70 to 100 barrels of lime every twenty-four hours, while that of the square kiln is about 400 barrels per week. The draw kiln is more 237 expensive in construction than the other, but its capacity is greater, and it is not necessary to extinguish the fire, the lime being drawn out as it is burned and fresh stone put in. At several of the lime kilns at the Narrows, above Indiantown, the facilities are unrivalled. The stone is quarried from the cliff a few rods from the kiln, dumped in at the top by cart or wheelbarrow, drawn out at the bottom at the water’s level and loaded on scows. The wood for the kiln grows on the surrounding hillsides or may be obtained from the saw-mills in the vicinity at nominal cost. At the time the manufacture of lime was interfered with by the McKinley bill, the following persons were actively concerned in the development of the industry: Hornbrook and Wm. Lawlor & Son at Brookville, Jewett & Co. at Drury’s Cove, Isaac Stevens and A. L. Bonnell at South Bay, Frank Armstrong and J. & F. Armstrong at the Narrows, Hayford & Stetson at Glencoe above Indiantown, Charles Miller at Robertson’s Point, Randolph & Baker at Randolph, W. D. Morrow and Purdy & Green on the Adelaide Road.
It is impossible with the data on hand to form any proper estimate of the quantity of lime manufactured by these firms, but it may be stated that in the year 1887, Hayford & Stetson alone expected to burn 50,000 barrels in their draw kilns at Indiantown and 30,000 barrels in their square kilns. In the work of quarrying the use of the steam drill was then being introduced. Perhaps there is no better way of contrasting modern methods with the methods of those who first embarked in the industry one hundred and forty years ago, and at the same time showing the difficulties with which the pioneers had to contend, than by giving extracts from James Simonds letters to Hazen & Jarvis.
St. John’s River, 27th May, 1765.
Gentlemen:—I Rec’d yours of 3d. of April the 1st inst., and of the 18th on the 9th inst. [The letters came by the schooner “Polly” and the schooner “Wilmot.”] The schr. Polly was dispatched immediately fishing: she is now near loaded. I am sorry the same dispatch could not be made with the schr. Wilmot. A cargo of Lime could not be prepared before hand for want of Oxen to draw wood. Have had bad luck in burning the Lime, the wood being wet, as the snow was but just off the ground. One-third of the kiln is not burnt. * * * If you can get freight to this place, we believe it will be best to keep the schooner [Wilmot] constantly running between here and Newburyport. If the Lime answers well can burn any quantity whatever. The want of Hhds. is the greatest difficulty, the want of a house to cover it the next.
“I doubt not of your making the greatest dispatch in all business relating to this concern, and wish I could make you sensible of the disadvantages we are under to do the same. I thank you for the willingness you express to relieve me and that you think there is any difficulty to go through in these parts. You may depend upon it that no pains will be spared in this quarter to make the Concern advantageous. * * * I shall be extremely glad to wait upon Mr. Hazen when the schooner returns.
“Have been obliged to credit the inhabitants up the River to the amount of a considerable sum, which is to be paid part in furs and part in lumber (the lumber is not brought down). The Officers and Soldiers supplies and wooding the garrison is to be paid by a draft on the pay-master at Halifax. * * * Since the lime is all put in hogsheads I find there is near seventy (empty) hogsheads remains. They chiefly want one head each—twenty or thirty more will be sufficient for another 238 kiln. If you send the Schr. directly back, boards must be sent for heads, and should think it would be best to send 100 refuse shook hogsheads for a third kiln with boards for heads and hoops, as they cannot be had here, also 5 M. boards to cover a frame that is now decaying and will serve for a Lime House and Barn. Have borrowed 12 C. boards of Mr. Green (of the garrison). Shall have a kiln ready to set fire to in three weeks after the Schr. sails. Dispatch in shipping lime can never be made without a Lime house to have it ready when any vessel arrives. * * *
In Great haste, I am, Gentlemen,
Yr. Most Obedient & Humble Servt,
JAS. SIMONDS.To Messrs. Hazen & Jarvis.
In the year 1769 the company built a wharf and warehouse at Portland Point. Their work was often interfered with by the nature of the season, the winters then, as now, being exceedingly variable. Mr. Simonds writes, under date March 6, 1769:—
“Have had but little snow this winter, but few days that the ground has been covered. Have got to the water side a large quantity of wood and wharf logs; about 300 Hogshead Lime Stone to the Kiln, and should have had much more if there had been snow. Our men have been so froze and wounded that we have not had more than three men’s constant labour to do this and sled sixty loads of hay from the marsh, saw boards for casks, look after cattle and draw firewood. Shall continue drawing or draging wood and stone as long as the ground is frozen, and then cut the timber for a schooner and boat stone for a Lime Kiln, which with the wharf will take 400 tons.”