erecting a new refinery and incidental buildings on
Main and Ashley Streets. The building will be the
highest in the city, having thirteen stories, including
a spacious basement. The foundation on which this
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1245
gigantic structure rests is built of cut stone, the walls
having a thickness of forty four inches. The refinery
has a frontage of one hundred and thirty-eight feet
on Main Street, and the filtering-house, including
wash-house and warehouse, has a frontage of two
hundred and eighty feet on Ashley Street. The boiler-
house, fronting on an alley, measures two hundred and
eighty feet. The floors in the refinery are each sup-
ported by twenty-four oak posts, having an average
thickness of twenty-two inches. In the filtering-
house, each floor is supported by twenty-four cast-iron
columns, which are connected with wrought-iron
beams. The height of the refinery is one hundred
and thirty-two feet ; height of the filtering-house, one
hundred and ten feet ; height of the tower, one hun-
dred and twenty-seven feet. The average height of
the floors is eleven feet. The material used in the
building is principally pressed brick above the founda-
tion. In appearance it is plain and substantial.
Richard Berger was the architect.
The present officers of the company are W. L.
Scott, president, and A. D. Cunningham, secretary.
William H. Belcher, founder of Belchers' Sugar
Refinery, was born in Connecticut in 1811. From
fifteen to twenty years of age he was clerk in his
father's store in a country town in Massachusetts.
When not quite twenty he went to New York, enter-
ing as clerk in a wholesale grocery store. After a
year or two he took up the business of selling books
at auction, traveling through the country for that pur-
pose, and selling in the largest towns. At the close
of 1834 he went through the Southern States, and
continued in the business until 1840, selling books in
most of the Southern cities and in some of those in the
West. In 1840, as already stated, he embarked with
Samuel McLean in the business of sugar refining in
St. Louis. The business connection was dissolved
next year, Mr. Belcher leaving it; but in 1843 he
bought the whole establishment, and the enterprise
from that time went forward prosperously and ex-
panded yearly. Mr. Belcher knew nothing of the
business when first connected with it, but soon learned
the old plan and system of sugar refining, and learned
further that it was going out of date, and that new
and improved methods must be adopted to secure
success. These he introduced from time to time, and
from a very small beginning built up a sugar refinery
that when he left it was one of the largest in the
country, as well as being one of the most important
manufacturing establishments in St. Louis or the
West. The principal part of the present buildings
of the sugar refinery were erected by him. He pur-
chased the site after suffering severely at his old loca-
tion from the flood of 1844, selecting a locality that
was found water-proof that year. In 1859 he went
to Chicago, and established a sugar refinery there
with fair prospects of success, but the outbreak of the
war ruined that enterprise, and the refinery was worked
irregularly during the war with only partial success.
While in Chicago he introduced the culture of the
sugar-beet into Illinois, and inaugurated other enter-
prises which promised more of benefit to the public
than to himself. He died at Chicago in March, 1866,
honored and esteemed by the mercantile community
of that city for his rare business qualifications, his
public spirit, and his personal character.
SPICES. The sale of spices also forms an important
factor in the grocery business of St. Louis. One of
the largest firms engaged in this branch of the trade
is that of William Schotten & Co. William Schotten,
the founder of the house, was born in Neuess, near
Diisseldorf, Germany, Sept. 26, 1819. His father
was a man of limited means, and his boyhood passed
without special incident. He received the usual
parochial education, and was then employed by a
prominent physician in his neighborhood, who had a
very large practice. In this occupation young Schot-
ten acquired a practical knowledge that could not be
obtained in the schools. In 1847 he embarked for
America, and repaired directly to St. Louis, having
heard that a number of his countrymen had settled
here. Soon after his arrival he established a spice-
factory on Walnut Street, opposite the Cathedral.
He began on a small scale, grinding his stock himself
by hand, and then peddling it about town from a
basket. He labored with remarkable energy and per-
severance amid discouragements that would have ap-
palled a less determined man. One by one, however,
the obstacles yielded, and he finally secured a prosper-
ous business, his goods not only obtaining a local
reputation but being in demand in Chicago, Cincin-
nati, and other large cities in the West. Year by
year the trade continued to expand until his death in
September, 1874, when he left a comfortable fortune
to his family, together with a large spice and coffee
business. His sales aggregated yearly about two
hundred thousand dollars, a very large amount for
those days. As has been said, this result required
hard and steady work and many sacrifices ; but Mr.
Schotten possessed in an uncommon degree the val-
uable German qualities of patience and perseverance.
His genial disposition secured him hosts of friends,
and added largely to his list of customers.
In addition to the spice trade, Mr. Schotten engaged
in the milling business on North Market Street, oppo-
site the old North Missouri Railroad depot. This
1246
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
enterprise prospered for a time, but the mill was
burned, and the insurance proving worthless, the in-
vestment was a total loss. Thenceforward he confined
himself strictly to the business of manufacturing
spices, etc., and handed over to his sons at his death
the fine results of a quarter of a century of honest and
diligent labor.
Mr. Schotten was twice married, and left three
sons, Hubertus by his first wife, and Julius J. and
Henry E. by his second. Upon his arrival in St.
Louis, Mr. Schotten attended a night school in order
to gain a knowledge of English and other branches
essential for a business man, and thoroughly appreci-
ating the importance of a good education, gave his
three boys the advantages of a college course. His
sons seem to have inherited much of their father's
aptitude for business, for in the eight years since his
death their trade has doubled, and is constantly in-
creasing.
In 18*70, Mr. Schotten visited Europe, remaining
abroad over a year. Much of the time was spent in
gaining additional knowledge of his business, and he
brought back improved machinery.
Outside of his business, Mr. Schotten did not seek
prominence, being naturally very unpretentious. He
once, however, accepted a directorship in the Iron
Mountain Bank.
In politics he was inclined to be independent, and
never sought an office. In religion he was a Catholic,
and was, successively, a member of the Cathedral and
St. Mary's parishes, and was a faithful and generous
adherent of the church.
Salt used to be in the past, and probably will be
in the future, a valuable mineral resource of Missouri.
As early as Jan. 25, 1810, William Christy & Co. adver-
tised that they wished to employ fifteen hands to work
at salt-making on the Missouri, to whom they would
give liberal wages. " Our boat," added the advertise-
ment, " will depart from this place for the salt-works
about the 1st of March." Jan. 4, 1812, McKnight
& Brady announced that they had just received " a
quantity of salt from the Missouri saline." At the
present time the cost of transportation bears such an
inconsiderable relation to the cost of establishing im-
proved modern salt-works, with the elaborate ma-
chinery, royalties, rentals, etc., that it is cheaper for
St. Louis to buy its salt than to manufacture it. In
former times, when the costs of transportation were
excessive, the salines of Missouri and the adjacent
counties of Illinois were a source of revenue and a
stimulus to trade.
The salt springs and salines of Missouri are most
abundant in the central part of the State, yielding
excellent brine, especially in the counties of Cooper,
Saline, Howard, and those adjoining them. They are
adjacent to the Missouri, in a country full of cheap
wood and coal, and the supply of saline is regarded
by experts as inexhaustible.
RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS.
Receipts.
Barrels.
Year.
1882 297,425 42,750
1881 232,843 73,239
1880 313,379 61,348
1879 244,966 78,345
1878 271,521 78,781
1877 202,377 104,406
1876 242,153 114,850
1875 246,193 96,880
1874 201,268 136,165
1873 379,699 149,861
1872 262,413 117,367
1871 211,235 107,197
1870 316,435 62,626
1869 238,452 63,937
1868 242,899 64,512
1867.- 141,869 78,674
1866 134,542 88,013
1865 170,814 83,221
Sacks. Bulk, in Bushels.
368,290
314,720
333,868
439,788
Exports.
Year.
Barrels.
Sacks. Bulk, in Bushels.
1882 291,188
1881 218,185
1880 239,163
1879 221,965
1878 218,997
1877 184,934
1876 196,988
1875 219,102
1874 205,442
1873 230,939
1872 199,940
1871 202,629
1870 251,509
1869 195,100
1868 182,187
1867 114,817
1866 115,252
1865 109,248
16,519
25,197
21,688
21,691
32,049
25,519
39,900
30,381
40,119
35,978
51,594
52,547
23,164
27,031
24,778
28,737
47,432
24,328
245,071
182,382
Tobacco. According to the early advertisements
of industries in St. Louis, the manufacture of tobacco
was begun about the year 1817. On November 29th
of that year, Richards & Quarles advertised a " tobacco
manufactory on the cross street nearly opposite the
post-office, northeast corner of block No. 36," and in
1836, H. Richards informed the citizens of Missouri
and Illinois Territories that he carried on the tobacco
manufactory " on the cross street nearly opposite the
copper and tin manufactory of R. Neal." From that
day the trade in tobacco in St. Louis has steadily
grown and expanded into its present enormous dimen-
sions. The absence of data prevents the tracing of
their growth ; commercial statistics were not regarded
as of any importance at that day, and for many years
afterwards there existed no reliable record of commer-
cial facts and conditions. In 1841 the Republican
regarded tobacco as " another item of our trade which
is swelling etery year into much greater importance."
ARY
,015.
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1247
"To show the importance of this item," added that journal,
" we here incorporate a letter addressed to us by a house in the
city who are extensively engaged in the trade, and the extent
of their connection with it will be appreciated by the fact that
they this year took out an open policy of insurance on tobacco
to the amount of $500,000. From the interest and attention
they have devoted to the subject their statement may be relied
upon as very near the actual amount :
"'A. B. CHAMBERS, Esq.:
"'DEAR SIR, In answer to your inquiries in relation to the
tobacco crop of Missouri, we reply that the shipments this season
do not vary materially from 9000 hogsheads, of which number
at least 8500 pass St. Louis. The relative quality and value will
be found nearly as follows :
2000 hhds. strips, worth in Europe $175 $350,000
2500 " Ists, " New Orleans 120 300,000
2500 " 2ds, " " 70 175,000
1500 " X, " " 50 75,000
500 " ings and bull's eye, worth in New Orleans
$25 12,500
$912,500
" ' From the best estimate that can be formed of the growing
crop, it will range from 12,000 to 15,000 hogsheads, but prices
will not be equal to last year.'"
hogshead, the price fixed by an act of the Legislature, will
amount to five thousand dollars, to say nothing of the quantity
which will be brought from the other States and Territories.
If viewed only in the light of revenue, with reason it might be
urged upon the City Council to adopt this measure, but it pre-
sents itself in another form more enlarged and benevolent, that
of benefiting the entire population of the great valley of the
upper Mississippi, more particularly our own State. The planter,
if we act wisely, will find here a market for his tobacco, can at-
tend in person and dispose of it to his own satisfaction, and re-
turn home convinced that the citizens of St. Louis feel an in-
terest in his welfare, and are willing to lend a helping hand in
advancing not only her own prosperity, but that of the entire
State, that she knows no difference between honorable and
valuable customers on her frontier and her own immediate
citizens."
The increasing crops of tobacco in Missouri and
adjacent States induced the City Council to establish
regulated inspections of tobacco, and Messrs. Wimer
and Shaw, as a select committee of the City Council,
reported an ordinance to that effect. 1
From 1853 to 1868, inclusive, the following were
the receipts of tobacco at the warehouses of St. Louis :
John W. Witner and Hiram Shaw, in recommend-
ing the City Council of St. Louis to establish tobacco
inspection, said,
" The crop of Missouri tobacco in 1841, although the business
of growing that staple is yet in its infancy, is estimated by gen-
tlemen well versed in this matter at not less than twelve thou-
sand hogsheads; the crop of 1842 is estimated at twenty thou-
sand hogsheads, and should one-third only of this quantity be
inspected here, the storage on the same, at seventy-five cents a
.RECEIPTS, SHIPMENTS, AND OFFERINGS, IN HOGSHEADS, DURING THE PAST THIRTEEN YEARS.
Hilda.
1853 9,926
1854 9,485
1855 6,632
1856 6,829
1857 5,646
1858 6,721
1859 9,006
1860 11,956
Hhds.
1861 8,505
1862 13,050
1863 19,325
1864 42,490
1865 16,483
1866 13,669
1867 18,584
1868 12,266
Since and including 1870 the receipts, shipments,
and offerings have been :
1882.
1881.
1880.
1879.
1878.
1877.
1876.
1875.
1874.
1873.
1872.
1871.
1870.
Receipts
17,445
22,042
18,813
20,278
25,870
28,064
29 204
13 110
22 881
19 062
12 676
16,523
11 193
Shipments
Inspections
7,946
6,871
10,737
10,457
8,879
11,470
10,766
14,870
19,701
16,322
22,109
18,913
24,221
17,466
11,574
10,980
17,772
18,174
14,648
13,048
9,137
10,087
11,243
14,677
7,642
10,480
About 1850, Missouri possessed the largest tobacco
manufacturing establishment in the West, the house
of Swinney & Lewis, Lewis Brothers, Lewis Company,
of Glasgow, afterwards of St. Louis. This house was
founded in 1837 in Glasgow, and removed to St.
Louis in 1847, the Glasgow branch being still main-
tained. In 1860 the house employed five hundred
hands, manufactured between three and four million
pounds of plug and fine-cut, and exported large quan-
tities of leaf and strips to Great Britain and the Con-
tinent of Europe. Of its operatives, one hundred and
twenty-five were negro slaves owned by the firm.
This firm, before it closed operations to go into other
occupations, sold tobacco in every State and Territory.
In the production of manufactured tobacco, St.
Louis now ranks second among the cities of the United
States, being surpassed only by Jersey City, and is
also becoming quite a market for leaf tobacco. The
trade has increased of late years to about four million
five hundred thousand dollars, and the capacity of all
1 The old State tobacco warehouse, situated between Washing-
ton Avenue and Green and Fifth and Sixth Streets, was destroyed
by fire on the llth of August, 1873. The building was erected
by the State for a tobacco warehouse in 1843, and after being
used for that purpose for a few years was abandoned. It was
closed for a long time, and about 1859 the State donated the
use of the building to the city of St. Louis. While the old Lin-
dell Hotel was in process of construction, the State ordered the
sale of the ground and building, and they were purchased by
Jamieson & Getting, for the purpose of erecting an immense
dry-goods house. This plan was afterwards abandoned, and
the property was sold to John J. Roe, and belonged to his estate
at the time of his death. It was afterwards purchased by John
G. Copelin, Mr. Roe's son-in-law, for $190,000. The building
was estimated to be worth not more than $4000. During the
time it was in disuse for commercial purposes it was in great de
mand for parties, balls, drills, and large assemblages generally,
its extensive floor-room rendering it at one time the most eligible
place in the city for such purposes.
1248
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the factories together is over twenty million pounds a
year. Some of these establishments have erected
magnificent buildings and other improvements of this
nature within the last two years. The revenue paid
by St. Louis manufacturers and its excess over that
paid in Chicago establishes the pre-eminence of the
St. Louis market ; indeed, the monthly tax of one St.
Louis factory in excess of one hundred thousand dol-
Company, and Price & Austin Tobacco Company, to-
gether with a large number of individual firms.
The cigar trade has grown scarcely less in propor-
tion, and the dealers in leaf tobacco express themselves
as well satisfied with the ratio of increase in their
branch of the trade.
The receipts of leaf in 1882 were seventeen thou-
sand four hundred and fifty-five hogsheads, and the
LIGGETT & MYERS TOBACCO COMPANY,
Corner Thirteenth and St. Charles Streets.
lars (including the cigar duties) is frequently larger
than that of all the Chicago dealers. St. Louis manu-
factured tobacco is found in every part of the United
States, and the volume of product has steadily in-
creased since the reduction of the government tax in
1879. Among the largest manufacturers of tobacco
in St. Louis are the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Com-
pany, Catlin Tobacco Company, Dausman Tobacco
shipments seven thousand nine hundred and forty-
six.
In St. Louis, as elsewhere, the manufacture of
cigarettes has developed within a year or two, and the
present season already shows a marked increase in this
branch of the trade. Including this, the following
tabular statement covers the local manufacture in all
lines :
1877.
1878.
1879.
1880.
1881.
1882.
Ibs.
5,448,522
5,954,747
8,642 688
12,846,169
17 139,087
17,121.199
Cigars
M.
33,920
:::; 5110
35 042
38 412
39 904
40 877
M.
1 9S2
453
Snuff
Ibs.
35,595
36.180
41,180
43,710
47 769
48,990
In 1880 the census return was, for the whole trade :
Tobacco. Establishments, 222; capital, $1,419,-
125 ; hands, 2627 ; wages, 8668.926 ; material,
$4,262,681 ; product, $5,702,762 ; net profit, $629,-
243, equal to 44 per cent., which will do very well
This is divided up thus :
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1249
Cigars. Establishments, 201 ; capital, $272,925 ;
hands, 825 ; wages, $265,967 ; material, $312,725 ;
products, $888,993.
Tobacco (chewing, smoking, snuff). Establish-
ments, 21 ; capital, $1,146,200 ; hands, 1802 ; wages,
$402,959 ; material, $3,950,956 ; products, $4,813,-
769.
The leading Southern factories keep agencies and
an extensive stock in St. Louis for sale and conve-
nience of distribution, and the Havana and Key West
cigar manufacturers have also large dealings here.
The following tables will show the extent of the
business done in St. Louis during 1882 and for the
nine years previous, though half of the period is counted
by the fiscal year, the method of keeping the record
previous to 1877.
YEAK.
Tobacco Man n fac-
tured anil Sold.
Amount Tax
Paid.
Fiscal 1872
Pounds.
5,751.185
5,441,872
4,794,985
6,324,408
4,928,147
5,484,431
5,990,801
8,670,466
12,889,784
17,234,869
17,170,190
$1,358,717.50
1,094,600.03
1,154,651.52
1,317,783.26
1,185,712.92
1,319,036.16
1,440,716.84
1,477,899.00
2,062,541!. 45
2,751,307.00
2,728,525.82
" 1873
" 1874
1875
" 1876
Calendar, 1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
Total
85,839,684
The manufactures of 1882 can be cla$
lows : ]
Plu ' chewing tobacco 13
>sified as fol-
Ponnds.
,223.857*
2.7Sli|
,657,6 15i
48,990|
Snuff - -
Total....
.. 17.170.19544
Lead. The earliest mineral of value to St. Louis
in point of time, was lead. In fact, it may almost
be said that St. Louis owes its existence to lead. The
Hon. E. B. Washburue, of Illinois, ex-minister to
France from the United States, in a letter to A. D.
Hagen, Librarian of the Chicago Historical Society,
dated Dec. 13, 1880, after speaking of the researches
of M. Margry in the archives of the French Ministry
of Marine, and his important and valuable contribu-
tions to the early history of the United States, in
which he takes an enthusiastic interest, says,
" I took the opportunity to talk with him touching the early
discoveries of lead-mines in what is now Illinois and Missouri,
and received a letter in reply, which I also inclose herewith. He
was kind enough to send me a transcript of certain documents
which are to be published by Congress, and which I have not
yet seen. By these documents I am more convinced than ever
that the Galena and Dubuque lead-mines were the earliest ever
discovered by the French explorers, either :n Illinois, Iowa, or
Missouri. The accounts of the discovery, about the year 1719,
of the mine of M. de la Motte and the Mnramec mines of Mis-
souri are very interesting, but I cannot here refer to them par-
ticularly. What interested me very much is an extract from a
letter written from Fort de Chart.res on the 21st day of July,
1722, by one Le Gardeur de Lisle, which I copy herewith, and
which is in relation to the discovery of minerals on the Illinois
River :
" ' I have the honor to inform you, gentlemen, that I have
been sent in command of a detachment of twelve soldiers to ac-
company M. Rennud to the Illinois River, where the Indians
had found some lumps of copper, which they brought to M.
de Boisbriant, and more particularly to a coal-mine, said to be
very rich.
" ' When we reached the place of our destination, M. Renaud
commenced the search for the copper-mine, but without success,
no sign of that metal being visible anywhere. However, in
looking for the coal-mine, which we had been told was near the
spot we had examined before, we discovered a silver and copper
mine, of which M. Renaud made an assay, and which upon the
surface of the' ground is much richer than M. de la Motte's.
' ' I have kept a little diary of that journey. I take the liberty
of sending it to you ; it will enable you to locate the spot where
this mine is situated. It is a most beautiful site; the mine is
easy to work and close to a magnificent country for settlers. I
am delighted with iny trip and with the success which has at-
tended it, for the assay made bj' M. Renaud was upon ore found
on the surface, and it has proved to be much better than that of
M. de la Motte's mine.'
" M. Le Guis gives an account of the manner in which these
miners smelted their ore in 1743, and it is almost precisely the
same method which was followed in the Galena up to within
three or four years before I located there in 1840. There were
then the remains of many old log furnaces throughout the
mines. It was about in 1836, I think, that the log furnaces
were supplanted by the Druminond blast furnace. The amount
of waste or scoria by the old log method of smelting was very
great. This waste was in a great measure avoided by the
blast furnace, of which the inventor was Robert A. Drummond,
of Jo Daviess County, the uncle of the Hon. Willis Druminond,
of Iowa, late commissioner of the general land office at Wash-
ington.
" The following is the description of the log furnace one
hundred and thirty-seven years ago:
" 'They cut down two or three big trees and divide them in
logs five feet long; then they dig a small basin in the ground
nnd pile three or four of these logs on top of each other over
this basin; then they cover it with the same wood, and put
three more logs, shorter than the first, on top, and one at each
end crosswnys. This makes a kind of a box, in which they put
the mineral ; then they pile as much wood as they can on top