firm and as heavy as the best imported goods.  In this they succeeded, but by a clumsy, wasteful process, which destroyed all profit.  Moreover, instead of making a single class of goods, each factory attempted to satisfy the various demands of the market.  Hence arose multiplied causes of failures, for which remedies had to be invented.  A general business knowledge did not immediately avail in an industry where matters of detail were of the greatest consequence.  To-day these mills are the principal sources of wealth in the county.  Another branch of manufactures grew up in 1799 when Lemuel Pomeroy came to Pittsfield, and in addition to the ordinary labor of a blacksmith began to make plows, wagons, and sleighs.  He bought the old Whitney forge and extended the works from the production of fowling pieces to that of muskets.  Large contracts with State and National governments brought a profitable business, until, in 1846, the percussion guns were introduced.

The independant spirit displayed by Pittsfield, or rather by Berkshire County, in matters of the highest importance, was largely due to the difficulty of communication with other sections of the country.  For the first eighty years the Worthington turnpike, running by way of Northampton, was the only means of passage to the east.  In 1830 the Pontoosuc turnpike going through Westfield was completed and transferred traffic from the old road to the new, which led to Springfield.  A little before this time the Erie Canal project was successfully carried out.  Thereupon arose in Massachusetts a wide-spread desire for engaging in a similar enterprise.  Several routes were explored for a canal from Boston to the Hudson.  One of them passed through Pittsfield at an altitude of 1,000 feet, and the route recommended as feasible was 178 miles in length, and required a tunnel of four miles under the Hoosac mountain.  One of its opponents showed that according to the Commissioner’s data, fifty-two years would be required in which to finish the tunnel.  At this point came the news of successful steam locomotion in England, and a discussion began as to the comparative merits of railways and canals.  For several years horse-power was proposed to be employed, but before actual work began the superiority of steam had been demonstrated.  In the face of indifference, skepticism, and active opposition, which brought about discouraging delays, the road was built, and the first railroad train entered Pittsfield May 4, 1841.  That week occurred the first accident.  An old man jumped off the train as it approached his house, and was severely injured.  Thus, in 1842, chiefly through the exertions of Lemuel Pomeroy, the Western Railroad was completed, and trains ran from Albany to Boston.  Several short local roads have since been constructed, which have done more to bind the county together, and have contributed greatly to its wealth and comfort.  On the west the physical barriers were less difficult to surmount, and the advent of railroads has only diminished the inequality.  New York is still the metropolis; the mass of travel, the business relations, are turned in that direction.