South Worcester water power and started the business which, through various hands, has come down to the present time. For many a day these mills have had as a background the verdant slopes of Pakachoag Hill with its crowning glory of Holy Cross College.

It was not till 1847 that Mr. Washburn purchased the water privilege at Quinsigamond and began the enterprise which to-day surpasses the other two local plants in area covered. He was moved to this through the necessity of a rolling-mill of his own. work of the three divisions is distributed to the seeming advantage of the general output, every section being under the dirction of skilled foremen and managers, and altogether representing the greatest combination of specialty wire-mills in the country. The Worcester mills are largely selfsustaining, so far as raw material is concerned, making their own steel, rolling their own billets, and drawing their own wire, down to the finishing of their various specialties.

When visitors were admitted to the North Works no one phase of the same attracted more interest than the building in which, complying with a request made by Chickering, the great piano-maker, in 1850, Mr. Washburn began the manufacture of piano-wire, and to this day the old structure is still devoted to that purpose, the result being the best wire of this kind made in America, as well as exceeding in amount all that made elsewhere in the land.

The extent of this vast industry may be appreciated when it is stated that twenty-six closely printed pages of its catalogue are taken to name the forms and varieties that its products take. While in pure tonnage some other plants of the great combination may excel that of Worcester, no other equals it in specialties. Alphabetically, under "Special, Round and Miscellaneous Wires," are given no less than eighty-three varieties, and under "Flat Wires" are found seventy-three kinds. How many people ever dreamed that so many shapes and forms existed? The whole world is covered in an ef

fort to find out what is wanted, and then no pains are spared to fill and satisfy the need. Sometimes, what had been wonderfully popular suddenly ceases entirely, entirely, and then and then the machinery is rolled aside, against the day when fashion shall again demand its manufacture. Great combinations of beams and wheels for the making and winding of crinoline wire are not the only idle machines within these vast walls, but their day will come again as the whirligig of time renews the wants and caprices of men and

Women.

Among the important specialty dedepartments are to be mentioned the following:

In the wire-rope department ropes. and cables are made varying in size from the immense cables used for suspension bridges to pension bridges to the finest wire cords used for sash-cord, etc. Few realize the immense amount of hoisting and transmission rope used, especially in the mines of the country. The Company manufactures cables for cable roads where such roads are still in operation. These cables are made of special steel wires of large sizes, and have to be in one length, according to the length of the division operated. Some of these cables are three and four miles long to one piece, and weigh as much as 100,000 pounds.

The great advance in electrical fields. has made this department one of the largest of largest of the works. The factory turns out the large overhead feeder cables which are familiar to all, and which supply current to the electric street railways and distribute current for the electric light companies. Another important part of this department deals with cables for high voltages, insulated with rubber or paper, and covered with lead for underground

use.

The Company is a large manufacturer also of cables for submarine purposes. Some of the different varieties of this product are illustrated in one of the cuts shown in this article. (See wire cables.)

The coiled spring department is one of the most interesting divisions of the work. All kinds of furniture springs