Sonoma County CA Archives History - Books .....Forrestville 1877
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 25, 2006, 3:54 am

Book Title: Historical And Descriptive Sketch Of Sonoma County, California

FORRESTVILLE.

   Forrestville is situated twelve miles northwest of Santa Rosa, on the border
of the timber country, in what is known as Green valley. The Guernville branch
of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad passes within one and a half
miles of the town. It was first settled by A. J. Forrester, now in San Louis
Obispo county, from whom it takes its doubly-appropriate name. A great many
persons who live in Forrestville find employment cutting cord-wood and tan-bark
for the San Francisco market; besides there is a good market in the surrounding
country for posts, pickets, fence-rails, &c. There is a graded public-school in
the town of ninety-two scholars, taught by John Scott; a Methodist Episcopal
Church of sixty members; and near the town the Adventists have a comfortable
house of worship. There is a general store kept by J. C. Bonsall, one
blacksmith-shop kept by Oliver & Harbine, one hotel, one saloon, one
butcher-shop, and one wagon-maker.

RUSTIC-CHAIR MANUFACTORY.

The chief industry in Forrestville is the Rustic-Chair Factory now owned and run
by John Hamlett. There is quite a little history connected with this enterprise,
which will not be out of place here. Over twenty-five years ago Major Isaac
Sullivan, in Green valley, made the first rustic chairs, and sold them at five
dollars apiece; they are still in use, and are doing good service. The factory
for the manufacture of these chairs as a specialty, was started by S. Faudre on
Russian river, three miles from Forrestville. He continued the business for five
or six years, selling chairs from two to three dollars apiece. He then moved the
factory to Forrestville, where it has been for the past ten years. Faudre made
at Forrestville about thirty thousand chairs, and sold out to S. P. Nowlin, who
ran it at a lively rate for six years, making and selling during that time over
sixty-five thousand chairs. He then sold to the present proprietor, Mr. Hamlett,
who is making and selling about twelve thousand chairs a year.

   The material used in the manufacture of these chairs is the chestnut or
tan-bark oak, which we have elsewhere described, and ash. Out of these woods the
posts and rounds are made; the backs are made of alder and fir; the bottoms of
raw-hide cut into narrow stripes, and interlaced when wet and pliable. In
drying, the hide draws taut, making an indestructible bottom. The rounds are
turned green, and kiln-dried until seasoned. The posts are turned green, are
steamed bent, and worked before they dry out, so that when mortised, bored and
drawn together with the seasoned rounds and backs, the post seasons on the
rounds, and it is not possible to take them apart without splitting the posts
from the back or round. The raw-hide bottom is put on last, and binds the whole
frame still more firmly.

   These chairs are disposed of in a manner peculiar to this factory. They are
loaded in four-horse wagons, from two to four hundred chairs to the load, and
are hauled all over the State of California and Nevada. They have been hauled to
Yreka, Honey Lake, Surprise Valley, in fact, to every town in the State where a
wagon can get. South they have been sent, on wagons, to San Bernadino, up Owen's
river to White Pine and Elko; a great many were sold at Gold Hill and in
Virginia City. Some of these seasoned chairs were shipped to Colorada and to
Tucson, in New Mexico, where they sold as high as eight dollars apiece. The
price was generally regulated by the distance hauled, the scarcity of lumber and
the amount of coin in sight. The object was to make the chairs net the
manufacturer eighteen dollars per dozen. As an exemplification of the benefits
of manufactures, we will state that this chair factory alone has brought into
the county not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORICAL
AND
DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH
OF
SONOMA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
BY
ROBERT A. THOMPSON,
EDITOR OF "THE SONOMA DEMOCRAT."
PHILADELPHIA:
L. H. EVERTS & CO. 
1877.


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