Oils of the North Country

 

Oils of the North  Country

Journal Opinion    May 14, 2025 

In the past 300 years, New Hampshire and Vermont have been oil states, although not quite like Alaska or Texas.  This column looks at the history of oils such as those produced from sperm whales, farm animals, linseed, and coal and those collected from the region’s natural environment. 

It covers the period from 1750 to 1960. The information is taken from vintage newspapers and online sources.

. Some presented themselves as fluids and others as solids. They were used for lighting, medicines, toiletries, greases, and repellants. Several were used by native peoples prior to colonial settlement.

As was true with other agricultural products of New Hampshire and Vermont, oils produced locally were often eclipsed by production elsewhere. Some oils were exported to other states and other oils were imported

Two early widely used imports were whale and sperm oil. The American whaling industry was located in nearby Massachusetts and peaked around 1850. Through the middle of the 19^th century, whale oil was used in candles, soaps, lubricants, and lamps. Sperm oil, harvested from some whales, was of superior quality and used in medicine, perfumes and higher-quality lighting.

Items made from these oils were offered in Vermont stores early in the 19th century. In 1861, Blakes’ store in East Corinth still offered whale and sperm oil products.

The introduction of kerosene for lighting in the 1850s usurped the whale oil market, although the oils were still used in other products. Kerosene was just the beginning of a tsunami of petroleum-based oil products that transformed daily life. At the  same time, coal or coaline oil became available for burning in kerosene lamps and for use as an insecticide.

Two other imported oils found in most local households were cod liver oil and castor oil. Early druggists offered these oils for the treatment of rheumatism and rickets. Many children were given regular doses of one or both of these oils.  

Still, some fish oil was locally produced. In the early 1800s, fish oil was processed in several locations to produce meal and oil.  In New Hampshire, Hampton fishermen made fish oil for lamps and for cod liver oil. This may also have happened in the Champlain Valley in Vermont. 

Another oil offered in Vermont stores in the early 19th century was neetsfoot oil. Made from cattle bones, it was used to condition leather. In the 1890s, one factory in St. Johnsbury manufactured the product.

Raising sheep became a major agricultural pursuit in the two states during the first half of the 19th century. Wool oil, also known as wool wax, wool grease or lanolin oil, was a byproduct.  

It was used as a lubricant and in manufacturing leather and soap.  Vermont newspaper advertised both for sheep pelts and for the sale of the oil. One ad in 1837 offered 300 gallons of wool oil. Wool oil advertisements were still appearing in a Portsmouth newspaper as late as 1871.   

Between the 1830 and the 1860s, lard oil was another  local product. It was made by pressing pure rendered pig fat and extracting the oil. It was used as a lubricant and in the production of soap.

 In 1852, one Vermont newspaper reviewed the used of lard in lard-oil lamps. It “was the best of winter oil…better than sperm oil.”  

Many turned to the natural environment for oils. As early as 1685, residents in southern New England were harvesting the resin or liquid pitch from pine trees to make gum turpentine.

Distilled turpentine was used as a solvent, cleaning fluid, and in folk medicine. The resin was collected from pine trees in a process known as boxing, that scarred bark and deeply damaged trees. By 1715, the process had stripped the landscape of pine in the southern Connecticut River Valley.

The process then moved to southern New Hampshire where activities began as early as 1724.  In 1749, the state’s naval stores used pine oil as “the most and best oil.” By 1880, the supply of pine in the two states had been “tapped out.”

 One of the earliest manufactured products in Vermont was flaxseed or linseed oil. Many farmers raised flax for both the fibers and seeds. The oil was used in the manufacture of paints and varnishes for buildings and furniture.

Beginning in the late 1700s, flaxseed mills were built along waterways in both states. Early mills were located in Post Mills, Bellows Falls, Salisbury, Windsor, and Rutland in Vermont and Weare, New Boston, and New Ipswich in New Hampshire.  

Mills hulled, dried, and crushed locally grown flax seeds, which were then cooked and pressed to extract the oil.

In the early 1800s, paint companies, such as those in Montpelier and Burlington, advertised for hundreds of gallons of linseed oil.

The rise of cotton textiles after 1820 led to a decline in the raising of flax and the closure of linseed mills in the two states. Production elsewhere more easily satisfied the demand for linseed oil. 

And there were oils found in perhaps unusual sources., Skunk oil was made from the rendered fat of skunks and their scent glands. Early settlers may have learned about its use from natives.

In the 1840s, Vermont druggists began offering pure skunks oil as a treatment for croup and sore ligaments. They acquired the product from local trappers and hunters.

In 1850, a tongue-in-cheek suggestion was made that a skunk oil mill should be established in Ripton. Not only was that mill not established, I could find no reference to actual local mills producing the product.

Druggists from Newport to Rutland and Brattleboro advertised frequently, both seeking the oil and offering it for sale.

In 1875, Andrew Bates of Hanover sent “2,000 skins of these pesky animals to the Boston Market. Skunk’s oil is valuable for medicinal purposes and brings a fair price.” A pelt was said to yield about 4  ounces of oil. 

An 1881 Richford newspaper article answered the question “What do people buy skunk oil for?” The reply was that it was good for rheumatism.  

In 1885, a New Hampshire paper mentioned that teenage boys might earn pocket money hunting skunks.

The skunk population was overhunted, and those remaining were in poor condition with “no oil in them.” Maine continued to be a primary source, producing 25,000 gallons as late as 1907. 

After that, advertisements were less frequent. However, there were elders’ recollections of their family’s use of the oil as cures. 

One 1948 advertisement suggested, “the odor was no more than other liniments and much cheaper.”  At the same time, druggists mention that they no longer carry this folk medicine. One of the last ads seeking oil from hunters was in the Valley News in 1960.

On a smaller scale, there was the use of “coon oil” from the carcasses of raccoons. As with skunks, the rendered oil was used as a homemade liniment and a “sovereign remedy for coughs and colds” For a short time in the late 1850s, the “splendid light” of a coon oil lamp was advertised.

Snake oil was also produced on a limited scale in the two states. Rattlesnakes were found in several locations including along the Connecticut River and along the New York boarder. Snake carcasses were boiled, and the resulting oil was refined and offered as a liniment.

One of the first Vermont newspaper advertisements for snake oil appeared in 1827. Before 1848, notices offered snake oil for sale by druggists. Only one ad sought locally caught snake carcasses.

While snake oil continued to be offered until the 1920s, none of it was local oil. Also, the rise of fake oil of the “cure-all variety” peddled by carnival hucksters led to the use of the term “snake oil” to describe a fraudulent products or scheme..  

Wild spearmint and peppermint were found along most New Hampshire and Vermont brooks. As early as 1830, farmers realized they could make money from the wild plants. Newspapers such as Danville’s North Star mentioned “cash will be given” for the herbs.  

The crop was collected in bails and sold to processors. Steam distillation allowed the oil to be collected. It was generally available in bottles and sold for medicinal purposes and as a flavoring for food.  Druggists throughout the region offered it for sale.

While there was a north country market as late as 1880, it was generally overshadowed by commercial crops from large farms in the Midwest.

Wormwood and snakeroot were two other native plants that were sought by druggists and wholesalers for processing into oils.

As early as the late 18th century, locals gathered snakeroot. In Walpole, New Hampshire, “a large portion of pin money was derived from the sale of snakeroot.”

As late as 1830, a Chelsea store offered goods in exchange for snakeroot “well washed and dried.”

Those were not the only oils gathered in the north country.  Beginning in the period after the Civil War, it was not uncommon to see steam rising from scores of stills throughout the northern sections of New Hampshire and Vermont.  Those stills were used in the distillation of cedar and spruce oil.

In the spring and again in the late fall, cedar branches were gathered from relatively young trees. The brush was packed in a silo-like tub. An adjacent fireplace created steam which was diverted into the silo. The resulting vapors were drawn off, and the oil was extracted.

It might take as much as 1,000 pounds of bush to make 10 pounds of oil. This yellow “running off oil” was shipped to Boston or New York where it was used to manufacture furniture polishes, insecticides, perfumes, and drugs. 

Both cigar boxes and keepsake chests were sometimes flavored with the oil to give the impression they were made of cedar wood.

 During the two world wars, cedar oil was used in the maintenance of large guns. One source mentioned that Vermont led the nation in cedar oil production in 1942. 

Unfortunately, in the latter half of the 19th century, there were a number of suicide attempts linked with the drinking of cedar oil. 

In the period after 1840s, there was local cedar oil activities in the area of Vermont known now as the Northeast Kingdom. On a regular basis, town columns carried news of local operations. Towns such as Danville, Sutton, Glover, and Hardwick had regular teams of one to six workers per still.

I only found one reference to any community south of Peacham and Groton. In 1896, the local column mentioned that a man from South Ryegate had set up a still in Topsham. 

Locals used the income to supplement their regular activities. As one Burke resident said, “Although not produced in large quantities in this state, it does help with income…every dollar helps when you’re living on a farm.”

The availability of oil determined prices. That production, as with maple syrup, often depended on the weather.

Spruce oil was also manufactured using the same local distillation process. In the early 1800s, Strafford’s Taylor Factory processed the oil.

The first newspaper advertisement selling spruce oil was in 1829 from a Windsor store. Newspaper column references did not mention small farm stills until after 1878. In 1883, the Shaker community at Enfield Centre, distilled spruce oil.

Spruce oil stills were found in parts of Vermont that had not seen cedar stills. These included Newbury, Groton, Orange, Weston, and West Dover.  Benton, Easton, and Franconia in New Hampshire were also included.

In 1902, the following appeared in The United Opinion, “Earnest Brock is manufacturing spruce oil, instead of sperm oil as last week’s Opinion said.  Whales are not plentiful in West Newbury.” 

This needle oil continued to be distilled into the 20th century. Despite the impact of imported less expensive oil, some stills continued to operate. During World War II, the oil was used in the maintenance of large guns. As late as 1963, one article mentioned that spruce oil production was “still profitable.” 

When the idea for this article first arose, I had no idea of the number of oils produced in the North Country. A search of the Internet can still find some of these products; some  being offered by Vermont or New Hampshire sources.