What are the past and current major industries in the watershed basin? Emmit, one of our Middle School students, reports that the past major industries in the watershed basin were: lumber, tanneries, iron and steel plants, grist mills, paper mills, stove works, distilleries, rolling mills, and retailing. Many industries that were in the Fishing Creek Watershed used the water to power the mills. Fishing Creek helped the towns grow up around the industries. McHenry Distillery in Benton, 1912 Jamison City Sawmill Workers Past Industries Distillery: Benton (2) Lumber: Elk Grove (1) Jamison City (1) The lumber was used to build houses, the bark of trees for tanning, and the land cleared for farming. Tanneries: Buckhorn (1) Orangeville (1) Jamison City (1) A tannery is a place where they tan hides using hemlock bark. Iron: Bloomsburg (2) Lightstreet (2) The iron was derived from iron ore Copper Smelter: Central (1) A copper smelter is a place where they extract impurities from copper. Grist Mills: Benton (2) Lightstreet (2) The grist mill at Lightstreet used water from Fishing Creek and was in operation up to 1940. Button Factories: Lightstreet (2) The button factory was converted fron the grist mill at Lightstreet. Buttons were made from the shells of clams. Paper Mills: Benton (2) Stillwater (2) Huntington Mills (1) The paper mill near Stillwater was called Paperdale. It produced high quality paper for many years, but then then switched to the production of butcher paper. It existed in the 1800's. Wrapping paper was the first product at the mill in Lightstreet. Then in 1882, the mill began making waterproof cartridge paper for the Dupont Powder Company. Carpet: Bloomsburg (3) The carpet was made out of colored skeins of yarn. Silk: Bloomsburg (3) Silk is made for clothing and other fabric products. Molasses Factory: Buckhorn (1)