Ambassadors’ Notes

An advertisement showing the new rope works is far superior to the one washed away in 1850 and welcoming continuing trade.

There is some uncertainty about why this announcement is placed here 21 years after the event. Perhaps a new stream engine had recently been installed?

Sometimes good can come from a disaster

it might well have been that TJ would never have built such a state of the art, new premises with its powerful steam engine if he had not been forced by adverse circumstances to start again from scratch. It turned out that his new large, steam powered equipment came to be in high demand by the army during the civil war. Had he not suffered the setback of having to start again, he may well have only been making small changes to his previous property and then not found himself at such a competitive advantage when the need for extra long, thick ropes were needed by the federal forces.

The ambassadors for TJ know of other similar situations. One paper making company was having severe problems staying in business a few decades ago and was left with totally outdated machinery. When they decided to start again almost from scratch rather than quit, they had invested in special equipment to specialize in producing recycling paper. As a result, they found their business to have a huge competitive advantage when this became widely popular. They probably would not have had such success if they not been forced to retool as a response to their earlier calamity.