The first manufactories of the town date back to within a few years of its settlement. Agriculture was, of course, the leading industry, and was carried on according to the wasteful and, apparently, unwise methods usual in a newly-settled country. Great attention was paid to breeding horses and mules, of which many were sent to the West Indies and other markets. The first carding machine was set up in 1801 by Arthur Scholfield, an Englishman. Soon he set about making and improving machines, which he sold to manufacturers in various parts of the country. The industry was subsequently helped on by the superior quality of wool, which resulted from the new custom of seeking better breeds of sheep. About 100,000 yards of cloth, worth as many dollars, were produced in the county in 1808. After the war which followed came a season of depression of manufactures; the cessation of the unusual war demand and excessive importations from abroad were the principal causes. At this period, when politics were carried into private affairs, as religion had been some hundred years before, each party must have its factory. Thus the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 was offset a few years later by the Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Company in Federalist hands. The former enterprise languished before long for want of sufficient water power. The latter, by a change of ownership, came under the control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, and enjoyed the benefits of the tariffs of 1824 and following years. Other mills went gradually into operation. But in this instance Yankee ingenuity and versatility found a difficult foe to master. The proprietors were ambitious and determined to make their fabrics as 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.