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Cattaraugus_Cutlery_Company wiki

FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2013

Cattaraugus Cutlery Company


Cattaraugus founder John Brown Francis Champlin first became associated with cutlery at the age of twenty-five, when he became a cutlery salesman for importers Friedmann and Lauterjung. Champlin left his employer in 1882 to join with his son, Tint, in starting his own business. The cutlery-jobbing firm was named J.B.E. Champlin & Son.
In 1886, four of the elder Champlin's brothers-in-law joined in the J.B.F. Champlin & Son business. The relatives were W.R. Jean, John and Andrew, sons of Job Russell Case and brothers of Champlin's wife, Theresa. When the Case brothers entered into the business, its name was changed to Cattaraugus Cutlery Company. Although the case brothers soon dropped out of the new business, it was the beginning of the longtime association of the Case family with cutlery.
In 1890, the Champlins purchased the knife-making equipment owned by Beaver Falls Cutlery Company of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. With the purchase of this equipment and the building of their factory in Little Valley, New York, Cattaraugus had changed from a jobbing operation to a cutlery manufacture.
Under the leadership of the Champlin family, Cattaraugus remained in business until 1963. During this time, the company name was a respected one within the industry as well as with consumers. Cattaraugus made knives for the U.S. Armed Forces and the Byrd Polar Expedition and, in promotional efforts, sponsored whittling competitions, offering up to $50,000 in prizes.
In the early 1970's, knife dealer A.G. Russell revived the Cattaraugus brand name and used it occasionally ever since. These knives should not be confused with knives made by the original company. The markings on these knives usually reference Russell␣s location in Springdale, Arkansas. The Knife Collector Club (KCC), for which many of these knives were manufactured. The Knife Collectors Club knives are of high quality and come in Limited Editions and Commemorative Knives.
The original company's knives were stamped “CCC Co. Little Valley, NY, or the number 3 and a C inside a circle and, most frequently, “Cattaraugus Cutlery Company, Little Valley, New York.
Many Cattaraugus knives were stamped with pattern numbers. The first digit indicates the number of blades (up to five blades were made by Cattaraugus), and the second digit indicates the type of bolsters as follows:
0 - No bolsters 
1 - One bolster 
2 - Two bolsters 
3 - Tip bolsters 
4 - Unknown
5 - Slant bolsters
The third and fourth digits are the factory handle frame pattern numbers. The last digit indicates the knife's handle material as follows:
0 - White Fiberloid 
2 - Imitation Pearl 
3 - Mother-of-Pearl 
4 - Fiberloid
5 - Genuine Stag 
6 - Ebony 
7 - Cocobolo, Burnt Bone or Fancy Fiberloid 
8 - White Bone 
9 - Jigged Bone 
G - Gambier Pearl (Sea Snail Shell) 
OP - Opal Pearl (outer part of Abalone Shell) 
OR - Oriental Pearl (dyed Opal Pearl) 
PP - Peacock Pearl (Abalone Pearl) 
B - Blue Celluloid or Burnt Bone 
R - Red Celluloid 
Y -Yellow Composition
Cattaraugus used a variety of handle material, but the natural handles predominate with ebony, mother-of-pearl, and jigged bone being the most common. Different styles of jigged bone can be found, but the most popular among collectors is the style with scattered long groves, called “Worm Grove” bone. The Little Valley firm also employed exotic varieties of pearl shell more than perhaps any other major manufacture.
Unlike Case and some other manufactures, the Cattaraugus numbers were not consistent to the point that they are a reliable reference. The 20224 pattern will be a different knife than a 22223 pattern, although both knives will be 22 patterns. The company made so many patterns, over 100, that few collectors, if any, have memorized them. I recommend that you learn the pattern number from the knife itself and for pricing reference, find a good knife price guide.


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Cattaraugus Bank Connection To Cutlery
There is a great deal of documentation
that Cattaraugus, Case Brother's,
W.R.Case & Son Cutlery's were all
financed by Cattaraugus Bank. John
Russell Jr. himself took out loans
in the 1940's from them.

This is not a widely known fact.

 

Cattaraugus Cutlery Co. 2' Display Steak Knife 
Recently acquired by:
The American Museum of Cutlery
Cattaraugus, NY
Images By: Burning Springs


There is an article on The American Museum of Cutlery in Cattaraugus.
It is in the Knives Illustrated magazine June 2008 Volume 22, NO 3.

An Introductory History of

The First Rail Road Boomtown

Cattaraugus Village and Rich Valley

 

 

 

The 1779 Battle of Cattaraugus

During the American Revolutionary War, in 1779, General George Washington adopted a strategy of reducing the assets of the British by attacking the American Indian tribe’s villages who sided with them.  Nearly all of New York State's Iroquois Indian Tribes fell into that category.  Washington sent two of his most trusted soldiers through Pennsylvania into New York State with significant forces, to punish the Seneca Indians both in the Genesee River Valley and also along the Allegany River.  Washington chose Col. Daniel Brodhead and General John Sullivan.  General Sullivan mounted a campaign against the Seneca Indians in the Genesee Valley totally destroying many Indian villages and crops.   The Seneca Indians fled to the Zoar Valley area between Springville and Lake Erie in northern Cattaraugus County just east of Chautauqua, and to Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario; both under British protection.   At the same time as Sullivan’s expedition, General Washington sent a force of over 600 men under the command of Col. Daniel Brodhead up the Allegany into Western New York from Pittsburgh to test the resolve of the Seneca’s, as well as the western defenses of the British.   The soldiers destroyed many Indian villages and all crops of those tribes loyal to the British as they encountered them.   Sullivan and Docksteder had a plan of joining forces and capturing Fort Niagara from the British.

A British force was encamped at the mouth of the Cattaraugus River at present day Sunset Bay under the command of John Docksteder.    A Seneca Scout from Chief Cornplanter’s Town in Pennsylvania arrived at Docksteder’s outpost to alert the British of Brodhead's advance.   Seneca Indians were well known for their long distance running skills.  One or more runners covered this distance of nearly 75 miles in a matter of hours!   The British Army force-marched to present day Cattaraugus Village to engage the advancing American Soldiers.    Seneca Scouts were key in leading  the British force against  Revolutionary Soldiers and their Delaware Tribe of Indian scouts within, and just south of, present day Cattaraugus Village.  The British further engaged the Revolutionaries at the mouth of Bucktooth Creek (near present day Salamanca, N.Y.)  where there were many casualties, all thought to be Delaware Indians.   Cattaraugus Village was the northernmost incursion of Brodhead's force into New York State.  His defeat at Cattaraugus Village dashed the possibility of joining forces with General Sullivan and attacking Fort Niagara.    Col. Daniel Brodhead escaped with the remainder of his force back to Pittsburgh.

 

Settlement

After the American Revolution, many soldiers were granted tracts of land in the Westfield, Chautauqua County, New York area.   This Chautauqua area was of strategic importance in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s.  Travelers on the Great Lakes could portage to Chautauqua Lake and then easily travel on to the Allegheny River, the Ohio River, the Mississippi and beyond.  It wasn’t until during the War of 1812 that adventuresome pioneers ventured into the region just east of Chautauqua that was known by the Senecas as Cattaraugus  (“Cattaraugus” is a Seneca word for  “Burning Springs” due to ancient lightning strikes in the natural gas rich banks of the river of the same name).  

The earliest recorded death in the Cattaraugus Village area was in 1810 when Captain Rosecrantz, an Indian trader, was found dead of mysterious causes.  Then, in 1826, Thomas Dutton another merchant from neighboring Lodi  (now Gowanda)  traded too much alcohol to the Indians. Local merchants were incensed and bought him out, paying him in gold.  As he left Lodi traveling though the northern Cattaraugus wilderness, he was never again seen alive.    His body was found the next spring, without his gold or his fancy silver watch.   In 1828, Brothers Calvin and Arad Rich courageously relocated their families to the valley and surrounding hills around what is now Cattaraugus Village.   The area became well known as Rich Valley, not just for the prolific Richs, but also because of the fertile soil and the year round stream of water that coursed through the valley.   The stream dropped well over 100 feet in elevation within a short distance, providing ideal conditions for future water-powered mills.

 

 Boomtown

          With the impending completion of the Erie Canal, President Andrew Jackson championed the effort to develop the country’s interior with legislation that he supported.  This effort led directly to the planning of a railroad to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie, traversing through the southern-tier of New York State.   When this New York and Erie Railroad was completed in 1851, it wasn’t merely a new railroad.  It was the longest rail line in the entire world!    It connected Piermont on the Hudson, with Dunkirk on Lake Erie. 

In a last minute change in course, in 1849,  this railroad came through Rich Valley.    The new rail town was not planned as other communities were along the line.   It was not settled.   It was not founded.    It just happened!!   The new village was quickly carved out of thick virgin forest.   Large crews of men were needed to cut trees, pull stumps, cut rails, construct massive stone culverts and excavate hillsides throughout the area.  This involved intense manual labor and skilled stone masons many of whom apprenticed on the Erie Canal construction.   Hard drinking Irishmen from County Cork, Ireland dominated the three work crews who were uprooted from other areas and suddenly and unexpectedly sent to set up housekeeping and small businesses next to the railroad tracks being constructed.  The “Corkonians” set up their community in an area they called the “Patch” (as in “potato patch”) on the north side of the tracks in the midst of what is now Cattaraugus Village.    Some of their names were Carroll, Kelly, Crowley, and McCarthy.    The first telegraph line was installed immediately  to provide communication facilities between construction crews. 

              In 1851, when the first train came through carrying President Millard Fillmore, his entire cabinet, and chief of the Seneca Nation, there were few communities in this country more proud than this new  Village without  a name.  (It was referred to as “Albion” on President Fillmore’s rail ticket.)    The Village was named  “Cattaraugus” by President Millard Fillmore himself, in honor of the name of the County and the fact that the upstart village was already a center of commerce and needed its own post office and depot to serve the most burgeoning economy in the State at that time.    The Postmaster General himself was on hand to interview the postmaster candidates.     Economic growth intensified due to the new train depot and railroad sidings.  Stage lines sprang up connecting Cattaraugus to areas with no rail service.  One stage line went to New Albion, Leon, Conewango and on to Jamestown.   Another stage line went to Otto, East Otto, Plato, West Valley, Springville and Arcade.  Numerous cheese factories were constructed.    Lumber, apples, potash, lath, leather, and whiskey (not necessarily in this order)  were just a few of several dozen industries.   Hotels, boarding houses, livery stables, and schools opened their doors.  The town boasted a hospital, doctors, veterinarians, architects, and even a medical college.    An important influence on the local economy was due to the fact that the railroad completion made the Erie Canal obsolete.    For many years most of our nations western commerce coursed through Cattaraugus Village.    Locally produced goods could be available for sale on the streets of New York City, 450 miles away, within 24 hours on any one of the 4 trains a day that came through.   Many of the laborers who helped complete this last section of railroad, decided to settle in Cattaraugus.    After the construction crews moved on, over 1500 persons lived in the area.  By 1860 the township boasted 305 dwellings, 1557 oxen, 383 horses, and 8 school districts with 649 children in school.   Cattaraugus Village truly was a railroad boomtown on the way west, and most likely was the very first to fit that description. 

Several fires swept through the village over the years.  The most damaging was in September 1888.  It destroyed nearly the entire business district.    Almost all of the buildings in the Village were wood frame prior to 1888.   After the fire, the buildings were reconstructed out of brick to reduce the possibility of a recurrence. 

          Today, visitors can attest to the unique feeling that they experience when discovering  Cattaraugus Village.  The Village does not have a crossroads.   It has a “T”.   At the head of that “T” is the old Crawford Hotel (1890).   Once the center of activity in the Village and the destination of thousands of salesmen and merchants, this hotel awaits rediscovery as if in suspended animation… still with the original light fixtures, tin ceilings and wall paper.

           It is well documented that Abraham Lincoln visited Cattaraugus in 1860.    Teddy Roosevelt gave his last speech prior to being elected Governor of New York here in the “Patch” from the back of his Rough Rider Railcar.   TR visited again as President.   Daniel Webster and Commodore Perry were visitors.   President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited here more than once.    After Mark Twain visited, he named his housecat “Cattaraugus”. 

            If you squint your eyes in the evening sunset, you can almost see them all conversing, beverage in hand, on the Hotel porches.

 

By 1874 the following businesses and trades were long established in Cattaraugus Village:

 

Agricultural implements

Apples

Architect

Axe Manufacture

Bakery

Bank and Private Banks

Barbers

Blacksmithing

Bookbinder

Boots and Shoes

Brackets and Moldings

Broom Maker

Building Mover

Butter and Cheese Dealer

Butter Tub Manufacturer

Cabinet Making

Carpenter and Joiner

Carpet Weaving

Carriage, Wagon, and Sleigh

Manufacturer

Cattle Dealers

Cheese Box Manufacturer

Cheese Making

Chestnut Harvesting

Churches

Cider Mill

Cigars and Tobacco

Civil Engineer

Clergy

Coal

Constable

Cooperages, Stave Mill

Creamery

Crockery, China, and Glassware

Cutlery -- Knife works and Razor Manufacture

Dairy Apparatus

Dairy Farmer

Dentists and Doctors

Door, Sash, and Blind Manufacturer

Dress and Cloak Making

Druggist

Dry Goods

Eating Houses

Engineer

Express Agents

Fancy Goods

Farming

Fire Company, Cattaraugus Hook and Ladder Co.

Florists

Flour, Feed, and Grain Mill

Fork, Hoe, and Broom Handles

Fur Dealer

Furnishings

Furniture

General Merchant

General Store

Gent's Furnishings

Glue Manufacturer

Grist Mill

Groceries and Provisions

Gunsmith

Hardware

Harness Making

Hoe manufacturer

Hotels (at least 4) and Boarding Houses (several)

Insurance

Justice of the Peace

Ladies Furnishings

Lath and Shingle Manufacturer

Lawyers

Lightning Rods

Lime, Plaster, and Cement

Liveries and Boarding Stables

Livestock Dealer

Logging

Lumber Mills, Dealers, Roller Mills

Marble Works

Masonry

Meat Market and Butchers

Mechanic

Medical College

Mercantile

Milk Pans and Coolers

Millinery

Millwright

Mine Speculators

Molding

Music and Instruments

Newspaper

Oil Speculators

Opera House

Painters

Pastor

Patent Medicine Manufacturer

Patent Right Agent

Peddlers

Photographers

Physician and Surgeon

Picture Framing

Planeing Mill

Postmaster (since 1851)

Potash

Printing

Produce Sales

Railroad (Erie - 1851 completed)

Railroad Agents

Railroad Engineer, Foreman

Real Estate Sales

Restaurants

Saloons

Schools

Seamstress

Sewing Machine Agent

Shoe Maker

Shoe Repair

Sign Painters

Stagecoach Proprietors

Station Agent

Stone Cutting

Stump Pulling

Surveyor

Tailoress

Tannery

Tavern

Tea Rooms

Teamster

Telegraph Company, Telegrapher (since 1849)

Thresher

Tinsmith & Sheet Iron Manufactory

Town Clerk

Town Supervisor

Toys

Trapping

Turning Lathe

Undertaking and Casket Manufacturer

Washing Machine Agent

Watches and Jewelry

Weaver

Well Driving

Whiskey Distilleries (2)

Wood Turning

 

            Cattaraugus Village from 1849 to World War One, was one of the most vibrant and exciting communities in America.  Pioneer adventurers transformed a wilderness company town from its beginnings, well into the industrial age.  The study of Cattaraugus Village is an object lesson as to what life experiences were involved in developing the character and common fabric of what it meant to be an American.    Generous individuals, businesses and governments separately and collectively gave of their fortunes and their time to create an American Dream that remains today as a prime example of what is right with America.

 

 

 

Copyright  2011

Patrick J. Cullen

  Cattaraugus, New York

pjcullen1@aol.com

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