07/08/2007

Industrial Archeology at the former John Russell Cutlery Co.

[ Originally published on: Wednesday, July 04, 2007 ]

TURNERS FALLS -- The village's industrial heritage is easily visible in many ways: the smoke stacks rising up into the skyline, the power canal and the row houses built for workers of a bygone era.

But, there are other signs of the industrial era, which take a little digging.

On Saturday, to kick off a month-long exhibit at the Great Falls Discovery Center by the Museum of Our Industrial Heritage, museum curator Albert Shane of Leverett will be leading a walking tour/treasure hunt along the Connecticut River to showcase these more hidden pieces of the town's history.

The tour will explore the site of the former John Russell Cutlery Co. factory and starts at 1 p.m. at the Great Falls Discovery Center. Sturdy footwear is recommended.

In 1958, the cutlery factory, on the island between the power canal and Connecticut River, was demolished, leaving many of the bricks and metal pieces that held the building together lying on the river bank.

All that's left standing is the foundation, with large holes, used for drainage and as outlets for the canal that powered the factory, spaced along its base.

In the shadow of the foundation, Shane crouched down and dug through the rocks. Soon, he came up with a rusted piece of metal that appeared to have been some sort of old tool, perhaps a wrench. A little more digging and he found the handle of an old paint scrapper.

When workers made a mistake on a knife at the factory, they just through the piece out the window, said Shane.

'Here's a file,' he said after some more digging.

Shane pushed aside a few more rocks and held up another piece of rusted metal, a knife blade. Nearby, he discovered some blanks, the piece of steel where the blade was cut out of.

'If you do a little digging, you're liable to find even more stuff,' Shane said.

Trudging over rocks and trees, further along the bank Shane pointed out a railroad tie, which he said was most likely for carts that moved around the factory. A little farther down the riverbank a rusted metal cart was turned upside down.

Some of the metal pieces are recognizable, like the cart or a set of old window counterweights, but other twisted hunks of metal don't have a clear use.

In 1870, the J. Russell Cutlery Co. moved off the banks of the Green River in Greenfield; it moved to the banks of the Connecticut River.

'They needed a bigger factory and more water power,' said Shane.

The factory made knives until the flood of 1936, when the building was so severely damaged that the owners decided to abandon it. The Dexter Cutlery Co. had bought the firm in 1933 and it moved the facilities to its Southbridge plant after the flood.

The Discovery Center exhibit, running from July 1 to 31, will feature the paper and cutlery industries from the 1870s to the 1930s. A collection of John Russell Cutlery Co. will be on display.

The tour along the Connecticut River in Turners is the first in what the museum hopes are many tours of former industrial sites in Franklin County, said Shane. On Sept. 23, he plans to lead a tour on a site in Bernardston.

For more information on the museum, www.industrialhistory.org.

You can reach Arn Albertini at: aalberti@recorder.com or (413) 772-0261 Ext. 264

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