Early Business and Industry

The early families who settled in Veteran cleared land for farms and built mills and workshops. The first public house opened on the valley road in 1812. In the 1820s, grist mills, tanneries, sawmills, and textile mills were established. Linen and woolen mills in Veteran produced 6,623 yards of fabric in 1829. The opening of the Chemung Canal in 1833 brought more business to the area. Locally-produced lumber, building timber, tan-bark, firewood, and shingles were loaded onto barges and shipped down the canal to wider markets. Barge building was also a significant industry in Pine Valley.