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Watsontown History by Major Fred H. Knight, 1915 |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 26 April 2005 |
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Page 4 of 17
The real dawn of prosperity came to Watsontown upon the erection and completion of what was commonly known as the "Big Mill," erected in 1866 on the land at the lower end of town, now owned by James Dixon, and completed in 1867, by Ario Pardee of Hazleton for the purpose of sawing the timber brought from the head waters of White Deer Creek. This was built at a cost of $100,000 and so complete was it that it was able to cut in nine years the timber taken off a tract which it had been estimated would require thirty years to cut.
The building of this Mill marked the beginning of the activity of the Bly boys. These young men, or particularly James and William, had the contract for bringing the logs down from the lumber tract, down the White Deer Creek, thence into the Susquehanna River, and deliver them to the boom directly in front of what was known as the "Old Jack Mill," from whence they were transferred into the basin which covered a large portion of the land surrounding the "Big Mill."
Shortly after completion of this mill, a large planting mill was erected directly south of the "Big Mill" at a point near where the tanks of the Atlantic Refining Company are now located. The upper part of this mill was used for general planing mill work and the lower par, or basement, was used for the manufacture of wooden pails. The planing mill work was also the enterprise of Ario Pardee and connected with him in this enterprise were A.T. Goodman, John H. Goodman and John Bly, trading under the name of The Watsontown Lumber Co. The pails manufacturing part of the enterprise, however, was conducted by Stearns & Hall, who came to Watsontown from New England.
The building of this "Big Mill" was a great boom for Watsontown. Many new families took up their residence here and many new buildings were erected. It was upon this tidal wave of prosperity that your historian, on April 12, 1866, cast his lot with Watsontown and started its next industry, a tin shop, in the building now occupied as a residence by Mrs. Scott Levan on Railroad Street.
The business places of Watsontown at that time consisted of the general store of A.T. Goodman, located at the southeast corner of Main and First Streets where the W.A. Lesser residence now stands, the store of Joseph Hogue, located on First Street where the S.B. & B. Railroad office is now situated, and the store of Enoch and Enos Everitt, located in a small building facing the Canal, the second house north of First or Front Street. These, together with the blacksmith shop of B.F. Grier, and the blacksmith shop of A.B. Porter, located on the north side of Second Street, on the site of the present Cronrath residence, together with the "Bill Mill" and a small Planing Mill and Boat Yard at the foot of Second Street, constituted Watsontown's stores and business industries in the latter part of 1866.
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Watsontown History 
