CHAPTER IV.

EARLY MANHOOD.

Employment at Ithaca, 1828.—Ira Tillotson.-Bloodgood House. -Baptist Church.-Otis Eddy.-Cotton Factory.-Repairing Beebe's Mill.--Continued Employment with Colonel Beebe, 1829 to 1841.--Mechanical Skill.-Fall Creek Tunnel.-Beebe Dam. Lifelong Friendship with Colonel Beebe. — Improving Schools.—Influence in Local Affairs.-Political Action.-Hard Cider Campaign.—“ Tippecanoe and Tyler too." -Death of President Harrison.-Loss of Employment.-Looking Abroad.

ALMOST immediately after his arrival at Ithaca, in April, 1828, Mr. Cornell succeeded in securing engagement as a carpenter, and by good workmanship and strict attention to the interests committed to him, he was not long in gaining an enviable repute, as an industrious and painstaking mechanic, thus insuring his continued and satisfactory occupation. Mr. Ira Tillotson, then a prominent and influential citizen of Ithaca, who was a master-builder, enjoying an extensive patronage in that line of business, was his employer, and his first labor in Ithaca was in the construction of a dwelling-house, situated at the corner

of Geneva and Clinton Streets, which has, now for many years, been the residence of the Bloodgood family. He was next engaged in the erection of the Baptist Church building, fronting on the east side of the DeWitt Park, and which was afterward, about the year 1853, destroyed by fire.

Within a few weeks of his location at Ithaca he was offered a situation by Mr. Otis Eddythe proprietor of an extensive cotton manufactory, occupying the site of the present Cascadilla Place building-who was in need of the services of a person competent to keep his mill and machinery in suitable condition for operation. Mr. Cornell's experience during the preceding year, at the Homer machine-shop, had been a valuable preparation in qualifying him to fulfil the requirements of his new position, which he was able to meet so satisfactorily as to result in his continuance in Mr. Eddy's employment for more than a year. Mr. Jeremiah S. Beebe, proprietor of the flouring and plaster mills at Fall Creek, near the village of Ithaca, was about this time in want of the services of a millwright, to overhaul and repair his mills; but having been unable to find an artisan skilled in that particular branch of mechanism, and hearing of Mr. Cornell as an ingenious and versatile workman, he applied to Mr. Eddy for permission to engage the young man for the purpose

named, which was granted in true neighborly spirit.

Although Mr. Cornell was quite unfamiliar with work of the kind which was required, his practical intelligence aided him to successfully accomplish the desired task; and such was the satisfaction of his employer, that the engagement, which was of the most incidental and temporary character, as contemplated by both parties in the beginning, proved to be permanent; and was continued without interruption more than twelve years, extending from 1829 to 1841, and was only brought to a close by the retirement of Colonel Beebe from active pursuits. Engaged at first only as a mechanic, Mr. Cornell's duties were gradually modified and enlarged in importance, until he finally became the confidential agent and general manager of Colonel Beebe, in the transaction of his extensive affairs at Fall Creek, which involved the disbursement of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and for many years the business was almost as completely under Mr. Cornell's control and discretion as it would have been were he the proprietor of the entire establishment.

With an especial adaptation to the science of mechanics, both theoretically and practically, and having rendered himself thoroughly familiar with

the operation of the mills, in all of its interesting details, Mr. Cornell was able to devise and introduce into successful use, many valuable mechanical improvements, and to utilize various plans for economizing the methods of manufacture. He was especially fertile and ingenious in planning and perfecting labor-saving appliances of many kinds, by which the current expenses of the establishment were very materially reduced; and his thorough system of business enabled him to realize the best results in marketing the products of the mills. Under his management, the success of the enterprise induced the proprietor to erect a new flouring mill of largely increased capacity. The mill was planned by, and built under the exclusive supervision and direction of Mr. Cornell, and, for excellence and economy of construction, the admirable character of mechanical devices and arrangements, as well as for the superiority of practical operations, it was unexcelled and perhaps unequalled in the entire State.

At the beginning of Mr. Cornell's connection with them, the Fall Creek mills-not only those of Colonel Beebe, but also the paper-mills occupying the adjoining mill-sites-were supplied with power by water brought from the head of the great falls through a wooden race-way, or flume, attached to the overhanging wall of rock, on the

south side of the creek. Even under the most favorable circumstances the maintenance of such a structure is a matter of continual expense. In this instance, the annual expenditure was considerably enhanced by reason of the exposed situation and the danger to life and limb, incident to the care and repair of the flume. The liability of interruption to the flow of water by ice, was also, frequently the cause of serious annoyance in winter.

To remedy these difficulties, Mr. Cornell proposed the plan of excavating a tunnel through the solid rock, a distance of several hundred feet, so as to convey the water, by an uninterrupted flow, over a rocky bed, from the channel of the creek above the falls, directly to the mills, thus wholly dispensing with the wooden structure. The mill-owners, though at first somewhat skeptical as to the success of the project, were finally convinced of its entire practicability, and were thereby induced to provide the necessary means, with which the work should be executed. Mr. Cornell was thereupon duly installed as engineer-in-chief of the undertaking, although without previous experience and quite unacquainted with work of the character projected.

The excavation was begun and prosecuted from each end, and such was the correctness of calculations, that when the opening was made in