Lindley Tannery
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Wales-Heintzelman- Pierce Home 1865-66- 1983
(The Pierce Family new owners -(1943)
" The Germania Tannery is located on Cook's Creek ( Tannery Creek (2013), near it's junction with the Tioga ,about 1 mile north of the Lindley post office.(former). It was built about 1865-66 by Gideon Wales.The present owner is Mrs. Emeline Heintelzman who has given power of attorney to Barnes and Merritt of Frankfort Street, New York; and all hides are furnished by them and the leather is shipped to their establishment. The manager at the works is I. Clineburg , and the superintendent is Ernest E.Clineburg."
From History of Lindley 1951 by William Hilton Burr
" Few people live who still remember the large tannery which once stood near the railway and the eastern highway where the road follows Cook's Creek down from Caton. A century ago ,there was a large tannery at this point. Many men were employed there and much business done there for many years. We remember long stacks of Hemlock bark piled fifteen feet high, standing side by side. Carloads of bark from distant forests and raw hides came from western shippers in carload lots. Sole leather went out. In the tannery, long rows of vats where hides were treated according to the tanners schedule were to be seen by visitors. Hides were first immersed until removal of the hair was easy. Then hides were placed on oval tables where workmen with long curved instruments resembling a draw shave removed the hair. From this point ,the hides were again treated in baths in which the juice of the Hemlock bark was used. After a time, hides found their way to the rolling mill where moving rollers pressed and released them. Then- they were treated with oil and hung in long rows in a drying loft. From there, they left for the shoe factories in New England and other places.
We know but little about the tanning business,but we are certain from the well remembered smells of many kinds that it was not a place where they manufactured Attar of Roses or Lily of the Valley Perfumes. When the supply of Hemlock bark was no longer available, the tannery was dismantled late in the last century (1800's) and one of the principal business concerns of Lindley was forever gone"
As an added note, many of my generation remember trips to Elkland,Penna while the Elkland Tannery was still in operation. Mr.Burr's comment about the odor brought back memories of the unpleasant smell. With the tannery no longer in existence, we no longer mind our visits to this neat, little neighboring community.
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