Beginning in 1845, Welsh immigrants came to the Peach Bottom slate region after Peter Williamson, a Scots-Irish immigrant who had bought property including the slate deposits, sought skilled slaters from Wales despite transportation difficulties and the need for experienced workers. Drawn by the promise of cheap land, good jobs, and freedoms they lacked at home, they endured a six-week voyage in leaky boats where diseases such as dysentery and cholera claimed many lives. Those who survived were usually successful. Most were skilled slate splitters and quarrymen who arrived with their families and only a few possessions, bringing with them a love of music, poetry, and Welsh language and culture. By 1890, as many as 600 Welsh immigrants lived in the area, the slate industry was booming, fortunes were being made, and almost all of the quarries were owned by Welshmen at some point during their operation. The last immigrants arrived in 1907, and soon afterward the slate industry began to decline, leading many quarry workers to leave for better-paying and safer work elsewhere, though overall they achieved their American Dream.