Fox river with dam in background

Dayton Items

Dayton, as a  point where the finny tribe and fishermen do most congregate has long been celebrated in this section of the country. People armed with hooks and lines, buckets of bait and togged in old clothes, come daily and nightly from far and near. They arrive on foot, in buggies, in lumber wagons, and dumped off the cars, and are landed in every shape, all bent on the same purpose, i. e., that of catching fish, not by the dozens, or in fifties, but by bushels, bagsfull, wagon loads, and in other prodigious quantities. They arrive in lofty spirits, braced up by lofty expectations of astonishing the natives. They usually depart wet, hungry, tired, disgusted, and without any fish worth speaking of. To a man whose constitution requires a vast deal of resr – long continued and complete relaxation of every muscle and nerve – fishing is just the thing. Fish, as food, may be brain food, but catching them is certainly a brain softener. It does not require a very high order of intellect in a man to fish, that is, a man of very moderate brain power ought to know enough to outwit a fish, which stands rather low in brain development. In short, fishing, to an outsider, is a very languid, sleepy sort of work.

There never has been any employment so well adapted to the wants of a lazy man as that of fishing as they do it at Dayton. To see the anglers as they line the banks and cover the rocks like so many mud turtles is a sight fit to make a person yawn. To the man to whom any kind of exercise is a bore fishing is just about exercise enough. The fellow lands upon some sequestered spot, sits down to rest and meditate awhile, then baits his hook, summons up all his energies like a man trying to ward off sleep, gets the line in the water, and then the things fishes itself! When a man gets too lazy to fish they accuse him of having a softening of the brain, and soon after he becomes too tired to draw his breath, and this ends him!

Some of the fellows we saw fishing on Friday last were half a mile from the water, under a shade tree, three of ‘em asleep and the fourth studying the sun’s altitude and position of its spots through a “pocket” telescope! Though we were in sight of a score or more of fishers for an hour, we did not see a fish hauled out, nor even hear of one being captured, though a shoal of three or four minnows were reported to have swam up among the fishers early in the morning.

Dayton, however, has another point of view of far more importance to the business man and to the farmer. We refer to her woolen mills – as good as any in the state – built some years ago at great expense, and stocked with as excellent machinery as the Union anywhere could boast. Though under a cloud for a time, but now started anew by its original owners, the Greens, it will soon be working upon a large scale, and is daily turning out great quantities of yearn of various grades, also superior cloth.

Another enterprise is the collar factory, under the management of Mr. Dunavan. It employs a large force of hands, turns out the premium horse collars of the United States, and also a fine article of leather fly nets, the latter being its chief production during the summer months. The goods from this establishment find a ready market all over the country.

Another business, as yet young, but extensive and rapidly increasing in importance, is the Dayton tile works. When the factory was started it was not supposed that it would, in five years, reach the dimensions it has attained in a few months. The tile they manufacture is as good as any made in the west.

The large paper mill here next claimed our attention. This institution has long since become fixed and firmly established upon a substantial business basis. It runs exclusively on straw and manilla paper and consumes vast quantities of material. It has on hand an enormous stock of as good paper as is made anywhere. The recently senseless boom in prices of material used is happily subsiding, and the rather sluggish demand in this county for paper, has been rather unsatisfactory, but it runs ahead, looking for a fairer margin between its expenses for sock and the price of manufactured goods than has generally prevailed.

Besides, a good flouring mill and a local store and a “tavern” and good prices for farm products in general, all contribute to make Dayton a live business village.

Since the tile works were started in full operation a new industry has been developed, being coal mining operations, managed by Simpson & Welke, a couple of hard-working miners, who obtain a good quality of coal which lies on the level with the banks of the feeder, and is drifted and removed on hand card on a tramway and dumped below the woolen mills into wagons, or on the public roads as may be required.[1]

[1] Ottawa Republican, May 27, 1880, p2.