UC-NRLF
32 701
INTRODUCTION
TO A HISTOEY OF
IRONMAKING AND COAL MINING
IN PENNSYLVANIA.
CONTRIBUTED TO THE FINAL EEPORT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA
BOARD OF CENTENNIAL MANAGERS.
BY
JAMES M.
SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION.
PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR:
No. 265 SOUTH FOURTH STREET.
1878.
.
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1878, by
JAMES M. SWANK,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
PRINTED BY
ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT,
No. 233 South Fifth Street,
Philadelphia.
PREFACE.
THE following chapters were written during the summer of 1877, at the
request of the Pennsylvania Board of Centennial Managers, to accompany
their final report to the Pennsylvania Legislature, and are believed to possess
sufficient value to justify their publication in a form which will make them
accessible to the general reader. They were written amid the pressure of
other duties, and it is possible that the critical reader will detect some errors
of statement and some omissions of important facts which in his charity he
may concede would not have occurred if the author had been a gentleman of
leisure, as every true historian ought to be, intent on doing one piece of work
at a time and doing it well. I am, however, not conscious of any lack of enthu-
siasm or industry in the performance of a really difficult and laborious task.
That there may be no misunderstanding, I wish distinctly to impress upon
the mind of the reader the fact that I have not attempted to write a complete
history of ironmaking and coal mining in Pennsylvania, but have assumed
only to write such an introduction to their history as will contain a record of
the principal events which mark the beginning of these two great industries of
our State, and mark, also, the leading events in their subsequent development.
Beginning with their beginning, I end with the progress they had made down
to 1876, but only glance at the great gap between. Otherwise stated, the scope
of the following pages embraces a statement of the first enterprises in iron-
making and coal mining in Pennsylvania, a reference to significant periods of
their development, and a summary of ultimate results. Greater amplitude and
detail could only have been possible by completely changing the plan upon
which the two essays had been projected. I have undertaken to preserve only
that part of the history of our iron and coal industries that is of most value
and is in most danger of being lost.
To those who would have been gratified to see in this volume a description
of existing ironworks in Pennsylvania, it is proper that we should say that the
American Iron and Steel Association published in 1876 a complete list of all
such enterprises in the United States, which list is now being revised for
publication in the spring of the present year.
In the preparation of the chapters which follow I have consulted all ac-
cessible printed sources of information which were deemed authentic, and, in
addition, I have personally or by letter communicated with many persons who
were likely to possess information concerning our early ironmaking and coal-
mining enterprises. Upon many of the subjects treated of in connection with
the history of early ironmaking in Pennsylvania, as, for instance, the first iron
rails made in the United States, there was absolutely no literature to consult,
and great difficulty was experienced in obtaining reliable facts from living
ironmasters, family records, or other private sources.
(in)
971804
IV PREFACE.
I have been greatly aided by the polite and sympathetic attention of the
gentlemen in charge of the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
who have afforded me every desired facility for the examination of historical
data contained in colonial records, old maps, local histories, and biographical
sketches.
I have freely consulted in the library of the American Iron and Steel
Association such standard historical and statistical works as Charles E.
Smith's Statistics of Iron Manufacture in Pennsylvania, (1850); J. P. Lesley's
Iron Manufacturer's Guide, (1857) ; Joseph Scott's Geographical Description of
Pennsylvania, (1806) ; Sherman Day's Historical Collections of the State of Penn-
sylvania, (1843); Thomas F. Gordon's Gazetteer of the State of Pennsylvania,
(1832); Dr. William H. Egle's Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, (1876) ; Dr. J. Leander Bishop's History of American Manufac-
tures, (1861); J. H. Alexander's Report on the Manufacture of Iron, (1840);
Harry Scrivenor's Comprehensive History of the Iron Trade, (London, 1841);
Daddow & Bannan's Coal, Iron, and Oil, (1866); Walter E. Johnson's Notes on
the Use of Anthracite, (1841); etc., etc. I have quoted freely from the Annual
Keports of the Secretary of the American Iron and Steel Association for 1876
and 1877. Mr. Robert W. Hunt's paper on the "History of the Bessemer
Manufacture in America," and the paper of my deceased friend, Mr. William
Firmstone, entitled a "Sketch of Early Anthracite Furnaces," both papers
contained in the Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers,
(1875 to 1877), have been carefully studied. I have also examined Hon.
Abram S. Hewitt's lecture on the Statistics and Geography of the Production of
Iron, (1856) ; B. F. French's History of the Rise and Progress of the Iron Trade
of the United States, (1858) ; and John B. Pearse's Concise History of the Iron
Manufacture of the American Colonies and of Pennsylvania, (1876). Mrs. Isabella
James's Memorial of Thomas Potts, Junior, was of great service to me, because
of the reliable documentary references to colonial ironmaking which are con-
tained in it. I am also under obligations to this lady for some suggestions of
value in connection with the same period of our iron history.
Although it is impossible in a brief preface to mention the names of all the
friends who have aided me, verbally or in writing, in obtaining information,
there would seem to be a special propriety in mentioning the fact that in my
search for reliable data I have not limited my inquiries to our own country,
but have been honored by a correspondence with two distinguished English-
men, Mr. B. F. Mushet, concerning his share in perfecting the Bessemer Pro-
cess, and Dr. C. W. Siemens, concerning his invention of the Gas Furnace and
Direct Process. I name these gentlemen to show to the reader that wherever it
has been possible I have gone to the fountain-head for information.
The publication of the report of the Pennsylvania Board of Centennial
Managers having been delayed until February, 1878, owing mainly to the
illness of their Secretary, Alexander C. Mullin, Esq., as a matter of pro-
priety the contributions to that report which are contained in this volume
could not be published until now, although written several months ago.
JAMES M. SWANK.
OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION,
No. 265 SOUTH FOURTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 15, 1878.
CONTENTS.
IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, . . 9
BEGINNING or THE IRON INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES, . 10
Virginia the first Colony to make Iron, in 1620, . . . .10
First Iron Enterprises in other Colonies, . . . . . . 10
The Washington Family interested in Ironmaking in Virginia, . . 11
First Iron Ore in the United States cfiscovered in North Carolina, . 11
BEGINNING OF THE IRON INDUSTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA, . . .11
First Mention of Iron in Pennsylvania, in 1692, . . . . 11
First Ironworks established in Pennsylvania by Thomas Rutter in 1716, 12
Pool Forge on the Manatawny Samuel Nutt's forge at Coventry, . 13
Sir William Keith's Ironworks on Christiana Creek, .... 14
First Blast Furnace in Pennsylvania built in Berks County, . . 14
Will of Thomas Rutter History of Colebrookdale Furnace, . . 15
Thos. Potts, Jr. Samuel Nutt's Reading Furnace William Branson, 16
SECOND STAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IRON INDUSTRY OF
PENNSYLVANIA, . 16
Durham Furnace General Daniel Morgan Durham Boats, . . 17
First Iron made in Lancaster County McCall's Forge Spring Forge, 17
Green Lane Forge Mount Pleasant Furnace and Forge Warwick
Furnace Cornwall Furnace Elizabeth Furnace, . . . 18
Baron Henry William Stiegel Early Pennsylvania Stoves, . 19, 20
Curious Extracts from the Records of Elizabeth Furnace, . . 20
William Branson and Windsor Forges the Jenkins Family, . . 2t
Noted Ironworks in Pennsylvania in 1759 First Steel Works, . 22
First Plating Forge in 1750 Steel Works in Philadelphia in 1750, 23
Crum Creek Forge, built in 1742 Sarum Ironworks, built in 1746, 23
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CORNWALL ORE HILLS, .... 24
Peter Grubb purchases the Cornwall Ore Hills in 1737, . . . 24
Cornwall Furnace built by Peter Grubb in 1742, .... 24
Colebrook Furnace built by Robert Coleman in 1791, ... 25
History of the Grubb Family, .25
Hopewell Forge Speedwell Forge Mount Hope Furnace, . . 26
Biography of Robert Coleman Notice of James Old, . . 26, 27
HISTORY OF VALLEY FORGE, ........ 28
CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE IRON INDUSTRY OF EASTERN
PENNSYLVANIA, .......... 30
Ironworks in Berks County David Jones the Birds Udree Ege, 30
Maria Forge and Furnace in Carbon County, 30
First Iron Enterprise in York County, in 1756, 30
(v)
CONTENTS.
PAGE
First Iron Enterprises in Cumberland and Franklin Counties, . 31
The Chambers Family Michael Ege, Sr., 31
Thaddeus Stevens a Pennsylvania Ironmaster, .... 32
Activity in Ironmaking in Lancaster and Chester Counties, . . 32
Ironworks in York and Delaware Counties Early in this Century, 33
Beginning of the Iron Industry in the Lehigh Valley, ... 34
Forges in Luzerne County in the Last Century, .... 34
The Manufacture of Iron in Pennsylvania in the Last Century, 34-36
FIRST IRONWORKS IN THE JUNIATA VALLEY, 37
Bedford Furnace in Huntingdon County built in 1785, ... 37
Centre Furnace Hock Forge General Philip Benner, ... 37
Spring Creek Forge Logan and Tussey Furnaces Roland Curtin, 38
Barree Forge Huntingdon Furnace The Shoenberger Family, . 38
Tyrone Forges Juniata Forge Coleraine Forges Other Enterprises, 39
First Ironworks in Blair County, .39
John Canan John Eoyer Doctor Peter Shoenberger, ... 40
First Furnace and Forge in Bedford County, 40
The Hanover Ironworks in Fulton County, 41
Vicissitudes of the Pennsylvania Iron Industry, ..... 41
The Caledonia Steel Works William McDermett, ... 42
Governor David R. Porter a Pennsylvania Ironmaster, ... 43
Extent of the Iron Industry in the Juniata Valley, ... 44
Early Iron Enterprises in Juniata, Mifflin and Perry Counties, 44, 45
First Use of Gas from the Tunnel-head, 45
Henry S. Spang John Lyon Anthony Shorb, .... 46
EARLY IRONWORKS IN OTHER CENTRAL AND EASTERN COUNTIES, . 46
First Ironworks in Clearfield, Clinton, and Tioga Counties, . . 46
William P. Farrand Peter Karthaus Disastrous Enterprises, . . 46
Early Ironworks in Lycoming, Columbia, and adjoining Counties, 46, 47
Ironworks in Luzerne County the Scrantons Analomink Forge, 48
Early Iron Enterprises in Dauphin County, . . . . . 48
Simon Cameron a Pennsylvania Ironmaster, 49
Furnaces in Adams County Iron Enterprises in Schuylkill County, 49
FIRST IRONWORKS WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES, .... 49
Iron made in Fayette County by John Hayden in 1790, ... 49
The First Furnace Turnbull & Marmie John'Holkar the Oliphants, 50
Notice of John Hayden, by Hon. James Veech, .... 50
Union Furnace Mount Vernon Furnace Isaac Meason and others, 51
Mary Ann Furnace and Forge in Greene County, .... 53
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIMITIVE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING WROUGHT
IRON, * 53
THE FIRST KOLLING-MILLS WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES, . . 54
Christopher Cowan's Rolling-Mill at Pittsburgh, built in 1812, . 55
Isaac Meason's Plumsock Rolling-Mill, built in 1816, ... 55
The Lewis Family James Pratt David Adams, .... 55
WAS PLUMSOCK THE FIRST MILL TO ROLL BARS AND PUDDLE IRON? 56
Clemens Rentgen and his Patents Puddling Iron with Wood, 56, 57
BEGINNING OF THE IRON INDUSTRY AT PITTSBURGH IN 1792, . 58
CONTENTS. Vll
PAGE
Biographical Sketch of George Anshutz, ...... 58
SECOND STAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IRON INDUSTRY AT
PITTSBURGH, 59
Joseph McClurg Anthony Beelen Tuper & McKowan, ... 59
List of Kolling-Mills in Pittsburgh in 1826 Blast Furnaces, . 60, 61
BEGINNING OF THE IRON INDUSTRY IN OTHER WESTERN COUNTIES, 61
Westmoreland Furnace, built by John Probst about 1792, . . 61
General Arthur St. Glair's Hermitage Furnace, 61
Bishop Hopkins a Pennsylvania Ironmaster, ..... 62
Judge Baldwin Colonel Mathiot Alexander Johnston and others, . 63
Shade Furnace, the First Iron Enterprise in Somerset County, . 64
Thomas Vickroy Richard Geary Daniel Weyand and others, . 64
Forge at Johnstown, built by John Buckwalter in 1809, ... 65
Kobert Pierson's Nailery at Johnstown, 65
First Furnace in Cambria County built by George S. King and others, 65
Iron Enterprises in Indiana County, ...... 66
BEGINNING OF THE IRON INDUSTRY IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYL-
VANIA, 66
Furnace and Forge at Beaver Falls, built in 1802, .... 66
Bassenheim Furnace Detmar Basse Miiller Homewood Furnace, . 67
First Ironworks in the Shenango Valley, ..... 68
Bear Creek Furnace, in Armstrong County, built in 1818, . . . 68
Activity in Ironmaking in the Allegheny Valley, .... 69
Decadence of the Manufacture of Charcoal Pig Iron in Western Penn-
sylvania Furnaces in Erie and Crawford Counties, .... 70
Natural Gas First Used in Ironmaking at Leechburg in 1874, . 70
FIRST USE OF BITUMINOUS COKE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AMERICAN
PIG IRON, 71
William Firmstone F. H. Oliphant and others, . . . . 71
Henry C. Carey a Pennsylvania Ironmaster, . . . .71
FIRST USE OF ANTHRACITE COAL IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PIG IRON, 72
Geo. Crane Dr. F. W. Geissenheimer and other Anthracite Pioneers, 73, 74
List of First Furnaces to Use Anthracite Coal, .... 75
First Use of Anthracite for Generating Steam and for Puddling Iron, 76
FIRST USE OF KAW BITUMINOUS COAL IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
PIG IRON, , . . . 77
David Himrod Wilkinson, Wilkes & Co., 77
FIRST USE OF LAKE SUPERIOR IRON ORE IN THE BLAST FURNACE, 78
David and John P. Agnew Frank Allen, 78
BEGINNING OF THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST STEEL IN THE UNITED
STATES, 79
List of Early Steel Works in Pennsylvania, 79
Hussey, Wells & Co. Park, Brother & Co., and others, ... 80
INTRODUCTION OF THE BESSEMER PROCESS INTO THE UNITED STATES, 81
William Kelly Henry Bessemer Robert F. Mushet and others, 81, 82
Particulars of the Introduction of the Bessemer Process, . . . 83
Daniel J. Morrell E. B. Ward William M. Lyon and others, . 83
First Bessemer Steel Rails in the United States Rolled at Chicago, 84
Vlll CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION OF THE SIEMENS GAS FURNACE AND SIEMENS-MAR-
TIN PROCESS INTO THE UNITED STATES, 85
The Messrs. Siemens the Messrs. Martin, . . . . 85
Abram S. Hewitt Frederick J. Slade James Park, Jr., ... 86
John A. Griswold & Co. Anderson & Woods William F. Durfee, 87
THE WHITWELL HOT BLAST, 88
FIRST IRON RAILS MADE IN THE UNITED STATES, ... 88
The Mount Savage Rolling-Mill the First to Roll Heavy Rails, 89
First American T Rails Rolled by the Montour Rolling-Mill in 1845, 89
Description of the First Rails Imported into the United States, . . 90
First Thirty-foot Rail, Rolled by the Cambria Ironworks in 1855, . 91
IRON SHIPBUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES, 91
The Steamboat, Valley Forge, built of Iron at Pittsburgh in 1839, . 91
Captain Ericsson History of the Monitor, ...... 92
Shipbuilding on the Delaware The American Steamship Company, 93, 94
EXPORTS OF PENNSYLVANIA IRON BEFORE THE REVOLUTION, . 94
BRITISH MEASURES TO PREVENT THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND
STEEL IN THE UNITED STATES, ... .... 95
STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL FROM 1805 TO
1876, 98
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT BY COUNTIES OF PENNSYLVANIA IRON-
WORKS IN 1850 AND 1876, 105
CONCLUSION, 105
COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
FIRST MENTION OF THE EXISTENCE OF COAL IN THE UNITED STATES, 109
First Coal Discovered in the United States in 1679, . . . .109
Anthracite Coal Discovered in New England about 1760, . . 109
First Discovery of Coal west of the Mississippi in 1804, . . . 110
THE FIRST COAL MINES IN THE UNITED STATES OPENED IN VIR-
GINIA, . 110
DISCOVERY OF COAL IN MARYLAND, Ill
Statistics of Cumberland Coal, . * Ill
DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREAT COAL SEAM AT PITTSBURGH, . .111
THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA COAL TRADE, .... 112
Statistics of Shipments of Western Pennsylvania Coal and Coke, . 113
BEGINNING OF THE BUSINESS OF MANUFACTURING CONNELLSVILLE
COKE, .113
BEGINNING OF THE BITUMINOUS COAL TRADE OF CLEARFIELD
COUNTY, 114
DESCRIPTION OF THE ANTHRACITE COAL FIELDS OF PENNSYLVANIA, 115
FIRST USE OF ANTHRACITE COAL IN STOVES AND GRATES, . 121
COST OF DEVELOPING THE ANTHRACITE COAL FIELDS OF PENNSYL-
VANIA, 122
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION ABOUT COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVA-
NIA, 122
STATISTICS OF COAL MINING IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN PENN-
SYLVANIA, ... 123
EAELY
IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
THE object of the following sketch is to recoyd^ m^ch
order and without violence to geographical requirements, th& first
steps that were taken in Pennsylvania to ma.fce, iroi/j and io stjqw
the extent of the iron interest of the State at the close of fclit;
first century of our national existence. We shall endeavor, first,
to record the beginning of the iron industry in each of the iron-
producing sections of the State; second, to note in detail the intro-
duction of those radical changes in the business of iron and steel
making with which Pennsylvania has been prominently identified ;
and, third, to present such statistics of the past and present con-
dition of the iron industry of the State as seem to us to be worthy
of preservation. It has not been our purpose to preserve a list of
all the iron enterprises that have existed in the State, if that were
possible ; nor to boast of the metallurgical achievements of Penn-
sylvania ironmasters and their workmen; nor to seek the aid of
the geologist and the chemist in describing the iron ores of the
State and the conditions under which they are found. We leave
these features of the history of ironmaking in Pennsylvania to
other hands. The publication of this sketch is believed to be
amply justified by the revived interest in our national annals
which the Centennial itself has created, and by the great promi-
nence of Pennsylvania among the iron-manufacturing States of the
Union. In the development of the iron industry of the nation
Pennsylvania has been in many respects, as will hereafter appear,
the pioneer of all her sisters, while she has long been their honored
leader in contributing to the quantity and variety of American
iron products.
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10 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Beginning of the Iron Industry in the United States. In 1619
the London Company sent workmen to Virginia " to set up three
ironworks." The enterprise was at once undertaken on Falling
creek, a branch of the James river, and not far from Jamestown.
Here iron was undoubtedly made in 1620 and 1621, but on the 22d
of March, 1622, most of the workmen were cut off by the Indians
and the works were destroyed. No other attempt to make iron in
Virginia seems to have been made for about a hundred years. The
next attempt to make iron in the colonies was in the province of
Massachusetts Bay. A furnace was erected in 1643 on the western
bank of the Saugus river, at Lynn, by a company of which John
Winthrop, Jr., was the leading spirit. In 1651 a forge had been
added to the furnace. The first vessel cast in New England was a
small iron pot, cast by Joseph Jenks, Sr., at Lynn, probably in 1644.
Iup K?48 a -forge- was Established at Braintree by Winthrop's com-
pany," and- in lB5'2^one was established at Raynham by two brothers
tfa'tp<J'^Gfii#cd, at least 'one of whom had been employed at Lynn.
'Iri 16'o6 th'e fir'st ironworks in Connecticut seem to have been estab-
lished at New Haven by Captain Thomas Clarke. About 1734 a
forge was erected by Thomas Lamb at Lime Rock, in the Salisbury
district of Connecticut. In 1748 a forge was erected at Lakeville,
in the same district, and in 1762 the first blast furnace in the
State was built at this place by Ethan Allen of Ticonderoga fame,
John Haseltine, and Samuel Forbes. Rhode Island made iron
soon after its settlement in 1636. In 1675 a forge at Pawtucket,
erected by Joseph Jenks, Jr., was destroyed by the Indians, as were
also other ironworks and infant enterprises. Henry Leonard, one
of the first ironworkers at Lynn, removed to Shrewsbury, New
Jersey, soon after 1664, and there set up probably the first forge
in that province. It is stated that in 1682 "a smelting furnace
and forge were already set up " in New Jersey, and it is supposed
that they were built at Shrewsbury, and were then owned by Colo-
nel Morris. In 1685 Thomas Budd wrote that there was but one
ironwork in New Jersey, and that this was located in Monmouth
county. Shrewsbury is in this county. Pennsylvania first experi-
mented in making iron about 1692, but the industry was not estab-
lished until 1716. No iron enterprises were established in New
York until after 1734. It is probable that the first ironwork in
the State was erected about 1740 by Philip Livingston, on Ancram
creek, in Columbia county. The iron industry was revived in
Virginia about 1715, Colonel Alexander Spotswood building two
BEGINNING OF THE IRON INDUSTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 11
furnaces, one of which was a smelting furnace at Fredericks burg,
on the Rappahannock river, and the other was a very com-
plete air furnace at Massaponax, fifteen miles distant, on the same
river. In 1732 there were four furnaces on the Rappahannock, in
one of which, Principio furnace, Augustine Washington, the father
of George Washington, was largely interested, the ore used in it
being supplied by him from his plantation, two miles distant. His
mother's family, the Balls, were also interested in the same or in
a neighboring iron enterprise. Augustine Washington's plantation
was at Bridge's creek, in Stafford county, on the east side of the
Rappahannock. About the same year that the iron industry was
revived in Virginia the manufacture of iron was commenced in
Maryland. Principio forge, in Cecil county, was among the first
iron enterprises in the State, if it was not the very first. It was
owned by the same company that owned Principio furnace in Vir-
ginia, which State partly supplied it with pig iron. The Carolinas
also made iron about 1715. North Carolina is entitled to the
honor of having first given to Europeans the knowledge that iron
ore existed in the American colonies. The discovery was made by
the expedition fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585.
Beginning of the Iron Industry in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania
was one of the last of the colonies to begin the development of its
iron resources, but it was also one of the last of the colonies to
receive permanent settlers. The Swedes and Dutch, who were its
first settlers, holding almost entire possession of its territory down
to the granting of Penn's charter in 1681, probably made no iron
within its limits, although there is a tradition that the Swedes
made iron at Tinicum in Governor Printz's time, from 1643 to 1653.
William Penn sailed up the Delaware in the Welcome in 1682,
and in a letter written in 1683 he mentions "mineral of copper
and iron in divers places" as having been found in his province.
In other letters he expresses the wish that the iron and other
mineral resources of the province may be developed. In 1692 we
find the first mention of iron actually having been made in the
province. It is contained in a metrical composition which is
preserved in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
the title of which is as follows : A Short Description of Pennsyl-
vania: "Or a Relation what things are Known, Enjoyed, and
like to be Discovered in the said Province. Issued as a token of
good will ... of England. By Richard Frame. Printed
12 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
and sold by William Bradford in Philadelphia, 1692." Frame
describes in his epic the wild and tame beasts, and the fowl,
fish, cereals, fruits, berries, nuts, etc., which are found in the
province, and in regard to iron says that at "a certain place
. . . about some forty pound " had then been made. This iron
was probably made in a common smith's fire.
In 1698 An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province
and Country of Pennsylvania and of West New Jersey in America,
. . "by Gabriel Thomas, who resided there about Fifteen Years,"
was published at London, in which mention is made of the mineral
productions of these colonies. Alluding to Pennsylvania, he says :
"There is also ironstone or ore, lately found, which far exceeds
that in England, being richer and less drossy. Some preparations
have been made to carry on an ironwork." From this statement
by Mr. Thomas we infer that the experiment alluded to by Mr.
Frame, which resulted in the production of forty pounds of iron as
early as 1692, did not lead at the time to the establishment of an
"ironwork." Nor can we learn that the "preparations" men-
tioned by Mr. Thomas led to any immediate practical results. In
1702 James Logan wrote to William Penn as follows: "I have
spoke to the chief of those concerned in the iron mines, but they
seem careless, never having had a meeting since thy departure;
their answer is that they have not yet found any considerable vein."
Bishop, in his History of American Manufactures, quotes Oldmixon
as mentioning in 1708 a deposit of iron ore called "iron hill" in
New Castle county, then in Pennsylvania, between the Brandywine
and Christiana ; and Mrs. James, in her Memorial of Thomas Potts,
Junior, says that on the 24th of September, 1717, Sir William
Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania, "wrote to the Board of Trade
in London that he had found great plenty of iron ore in Pennsyl-
vania."
Two years before the death of Penn in 1718 the first ironworks
were established in Pennsylvania. The event is briefly described
in one of Jonathan Dickinson's letters, written in 1717, and quoted
by Mrs. James : " This last summer one Thomas Rutter, a smith,
who lives not far from Germantown, hath removed further up in
the country, and of his own strength hath set upon making iron.
Such it proves to be, as is highly set by by all the smiths here, who
say that the best of Sweed's iron doth not exceed it ; and we have
accounts of others that are going on with iron works." Rutter's
enterprise was a bloomary forge, called Pool forge, the exact loca-
BEGINNING OF THE IRON INDUSTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 13
tion of which is uncertain, but it was on Manatawny creek, and
probably about three miles above Pottstown. Mrs. James visited
the spot it is supposed to have occupied, "and could see some re-
mains of the dam, and an excavation in the bank where buildings
once stood." Another Pool forge is known to have existed farther
up the stream, probably built after the first one was abandoned.
Pool forge was attacked by the Indians in 1728, who were repulsed.
Bishop says : "A forge is mentioned in March, 1719-20, at Maua-
tawny, then in Philadelphia, but now in Berks or Montgomery
county. " This reference is undoubtedly to Pool forge.
In Day's Historical Collections mention is made by a historian of
Chester county of Samuel Nutt, who built a forge called Coventry,
in the northern part of Chester county, which "went into opera-
tion about the year 1720," and made "the first iron" manufactured
in Pennsylvania. Another historian of Chester county contributes
to Egle's History of Pennsylvania the information that Samuel Nutt
did not arrive in this country until 1714. " He took up land, on
French creek, in 1717, and about that time built a forge there.
A letter written by him in 1720 mentions an intention of erecting
another forge that fall." Mrs. James states that Nutt purchased
800 acres of land at Coventry in October, 1718. She claims that
Rutter removed in 1714 from Germantown "forty miles up the
Schuylkill, ... in order to work the iron mines of the Mana-
tawny region." In her Memorial she gives a verbatim copy of the
original patent of William Penn to Thomas Rutter for 300 acres
of land in Manatawny, dated February 12, 1714-15. Dickinson
says positively that Rutter made iron in 1716. Nutt probably
made iron at Coventry forge in 1718. Bishop refers to a letter
written by Dickinson in July, 1718, stating that "the expectations
from the ironworks forty miles up Schuylkill .are very great."
In April, 1719, Dickinson again wrote: "Our iron promises well.
What hath been sent over to England hath been greatly approved.
Our smiths work up all they make, and it is as good as the best
Swedish iron." Dickinson probably meant Nutt's forge as well
as Rutter's. The following obituary notice in the Pennsylvania
Gazette, published at Philadelphia, dated March 5 to March 13,
1729-30, ought to be conclusive proof of the priority of Thomas
Rutter's enterprise : " March 13. On Sunday night last died here
Thomas Rutter, Senior, of a short illness. He was the first that
erected an ironwork in Pennsylvania." Both Rutter and Nutt
were Englishmen, and were men of means and great enterprise.
14 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
After they had removed up the Schuylkill, Nutt married Mrs.
Anna Savage, the widowed daughter of Thomas Rutter. Her first
husband, Samuel Savage, had accompanied her father when he
went up the Schuylkill to make iron.
Bishop says that " Sir William Keith had iron works in New
Castle county, Delaware, erected previous to 1730, and probably
during his administration from 1717 to 1726." This enterprise
consisted of a furnace and forge, which were located on Christiana
creek, and were built about 1725. At that time Delaware was
embraced within the limits of Penn's province, and it was here
that Keith had discovered the "great plenty of iron ore in Penn-
sylvania" of which he wrote to the London Board of Trade.
There is authority for the statement that the furnace was aban-
doned before 1730, and that another furnace was erected which
never went into blast. Iron was, however, made on the Christiana
in bloomaries for several years after 1730.
In Watson's Annals the statement is made that " the first built
furnace of Pennsylvania was that of Colebrooke Dale, (Berks Co.,)
built in 1720 by James Lewis and Anthony Morris, of Philadel-
phia." This statement is supported by the fact that Thomas
Potts, Jr., was a resident of Manatawny as early as 1720, where
he was acting in 1725 as the agent of his rich relative, Anthony
Morris, one of the alleged builders of the furnace. It is further
strengthened by the fact that Anthony Morris and Thomas Potts
were" in 1731 part owners of Colebrookdale furnace, and also part
owners when the furnace was torn down and rebuilt by a company
in 1734. It is corroborated as to the date by information com-
municated to us in a letter from Mrs. James, in which she says :
" I have a large calf-bound folio ledger of nearly 200 folios of Cole-
brookdale furnace, marked ' B.' The first date is August, 1728,
but there are several pages referring to the first ledger, one of them
in 1726. . . . Mention is constantly made ... of sending
'piggs' to Pool forge, proving that Pool was then in full blast.
. . . ' A' would seem to be a large volume from reference to the
folios," and therefore to have covered the operations of a number of
years. Mrs. James thinks that it is lost. If it could be found it
would doubtless show that Colebrookdale furnace was built in 1720,
or a year or two earlier. Mrs. James is of the opinion that Thomas
Rutter built the furnace, but she also writes to us that on the title-
page of ledger " B," above referred to, the name of Thomas Potts is
written in connection with the year 1728. This was before Thomas
BEGINNING OF THE IRON INDUSTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 15
Rutter's death on March 8, 1730. In his will, dated November 27,
1728, he does not give the name of any of his iron possessions. The
opinion is fairly warranted that Colebrookdale furnace was built by
a company, of which Thomas Rutter, Anthony Morris, James Lew-
is, and Thomas Potts were among the members, with Thomas Potts
as their agent Thomas Rutter being the principal owner. This
opinion derives plausibility from the following extracts from Thom-
as Rutter's will, on file in the office of the Register of Wills in
Philadelphia, and which we have examined.
" I give and bequeath unto my son Thomas Kutter one-third part of y e one
hundred acres of land leased to a furnace company, with y e one-third part of
y e said furnace, iron ore, or other appurtenances to y e said one hundred acres
of land. ... I give and bequeath unto my son Joseph Butter the one-
third part of the furnace, iron ore, and other its appurtenances, with the one-
third part of one hundred acres of land leased to y e furnace company, and
also two-thirds of my other land adjoining to y e furnace land; also two-third
parts of y e forge, and of y e hundred acres of land whereon y e forge stands."
The furnace here referred to was unquestionably Colebrookdale
furnace, and the forge was Pool forge. In the inventory filed with
the will, and dated "March ye 18th, 1729-30," appraisement is made
of "two-thirds of the furnace and iron ore and of one hundred
acres of land," etc., corresponding to the words of the will in its
reference to the furnace. The truth of history will not be violated
if we award ungrudgingly to Thomas Rutter the honor of having
erected the first blast furnace, as well as the first forge, in Penn-
sylvania.
Colebrookdale furnace was located in Berks county, on Iron-
stone creek, a branch of the Manatawny. It stood about eight
miles north of the mouth of the Manatawny, and three-fourths of
a mile west of the present town of Boyertown, and about two hun-
dred yards from the Colebrookdale Railroad. Plenty of cinder
marks the exact site. A large grist and saw mill stands about one
hundred feet distant. It would seem that friendly Indians were
employed at the furnace, as "Indian John" and "Margalitha" are
found in the list of workmen about 1728. In Nicholas Scull's
map of Pennsylvania, published in 1759, Colebrookdale furnace is
mentioned, and in a list of ironworks existing in Pennsylvania in
1789, and published by Mrs. James, it is again mentioned, although
we infer that it was not then active. We have not found the
furnace mentioned at any later period. A stove-plate cast at this
furnace in 1763, and so inscribed, was exhibited at the Philadelphia
16 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Exhibition. In 1731 pig iron sold at Colebrookdale furnace "in
large quantities." The name of this furnace was sometimes written
Colebrook. It is an interesting coincidence that the first furnace in
England to cast pots, kettles, and other hollow ware by the use of
sand moulds was Abraham Darby's Colebrookdale furnace in Shrop-
shire, which he leased in 1709. It was a small charcoal furnace,
and had been in existence for a century. Darby converted it into a
coke furnace. He died in 1717. As he was a cotemporary pioneer
in the iron business, and a Friend or Quaker, as were most of the
pioneer ironmasters of Pennsylvania, it is easy to imagine that
Penn's colonists should have called their first furnace after Cole-
brookdale furnace in Shropshire.
After the death of Thomas Rutter, in 1730, Thomas Potts, Jr.,
became the principal owner and manager of the ironworks on the
Manatawny, carrying them on with ability and success for many
years. He was the progenitor of many noted Pennsylvania iron-
masters of the same name in the last and present centuries. Sev-
eral of his sons intermarried with the heirs of Thomas Rutter and
Samuel Nutt. He died in January, 1752, aged seventy-two years.
In his will, dated 1747, he leaves his "two-thirds of Colebrook-
dale furnace and iron mines " to his son Thomas. Tradition says
that he was born in Wales.
Soon after Nutt had built his forge at Coventry it is believed
that he built a furnace on French creek, called " Redding." Mrs.
James places the date of its erection at about 1720. It is probable
that it was the second furnace in the State, Colebrookdale being
the first. Samuel Nutt died in 1737.
In Samuel Nutt's will, dated September 25, 1737, he bequeaths
to his wife one-half of his right to a furnace and forge, and to his
nephew and step-son-in-law, Samuel Nutt, Jr., and his wife the
remaining half of such right. The furnace referred to was un-
doubtedly Reading, and the forge was Coventry, in the ownership
of each of which William Branson was probably an equal partner.
Second Stage in the Development of the Iron Industry of Pennsyl-
vania. In 1728 there were four furnaces in blast in Pennsylvania,
one of which undoubtedly was Colebrookdale. Another was Dur-
ham, in Bucks county, where there was also a forge about the same
time. The others were probably Sir William Keith's, on Chris-
tiana creek, and Samuel Nutt's Redding furnace on French creek.
Durham furnace was built in 1727, but its first blast did not take
SECOND STAGE IN THE IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 17
place until the spring of 1728. It was built by a company of four-
teen persons, of which company James Logan, who was Penn's sec-
retary, was a member. In November, 1728, James Logan shipped
three tons of Durham pig iron to England. In the consolidated
exhibit of the ironworks of the Lehigh valley at the Philadelphia
Exhibition in 1876, the keystone of the Durham furnace, bearing
date 1727, was an interesting feature. In 1728-9 Pennsylvania
exported 274 tons of pig iron to the mother country.
There is reason to believe that as early as 1734 there were two
Durham furnaces. In Scull's map of Pennsylvania (1759) an old
and a new furnace and a forge at Durham are distinctly marked.
In 1770 there were two furnaces and two forges at Durham. There
were at one time three forges on Durham creek. The first furnace
was torn down in 1819, and Long's grist-mill was built on its site.
The father of the celebrated Daniel Morgan of the Kevolution was a
charcoal-burner at Durham ironworks. As late as 1780 there were
negro slaves employed at Durham, twelve of whom in that year
escaped to the British lines. Much of the iron made at Durham
was taken to Philadelphia in boats fashioned somewhat as an
Indian canoe, and first built at Durham ; hence the term, after-
wards in common use, " Durham boats." These boats were about
sixty feet long by eight feet wide. They were sometimes propelled
by sails, but most frequently with poles in the hands of men who
walked upon footways on each side of the boat. The Durham boat
closely resembled the more modern keel-boat.
Iron was made within the ancient limits of Lancaster county at
a very early day. Day says the first ironworks in the county are
supposed to have been built by a person named Kurtz, in 1726,
and that the enterprising family of Grubbs commenced operations
in 1728. We have traced the authority for this statement to
Hazard's Register, volume 8, where there is a fragmentary quota-
tion from the Lancaster Miscellany of information contributed by
Redmond Conyngham. From another source we learn that Kurtz
was an Amish Mennonite. He probably built a bloomary forge.
In Egle's History of Pennsylvania it is stated that Kurtz's works
were on Octorara creek, and that it is possible they were in Mary-
land, and not in Lancaster county. Of the Grubbs we shall speak
hereafter. McCall's forge, on Manatawny creek, afterwards Glas-
gow forge, was built about 1725 by Anthony Morris and George
McCall. Spring forge, at Spring Mill, owned by Anthony Morris,
was running in 1729, as was Pool forge. These forges were supplied
18 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
with pig iron from Colebrookdale furnace. Green Lane forge, on
Perkiomen creek, twenty miles north of Norristown, was built in
1733 by Thomas Mayberry. The workmen employed here were at
one time chiefly negro slaves. This forge was supplied with pig
iron from Durham furnace before 1747. Rev. George Michael
Weiss is said to have owned it before 1763. Glasgow and Green
Lane forges were in operation down to the middle of the present
century. Redding furnace, on French creek, which was undoubt-
edly the second of the name, was built by Samuel Nutt and William
Branson in 1735-6; Warwick furnace, also on French creek, by
Samuel Nutt's widow, in 1737 ; Mount Pleasant furnace, on Perki-
omen creek, thirteen miles above Pottstow T n, by Thomas Potts, Jr.,
in 1738 ; Cornwall furnace, in Lebanon county, by Peter Grubb,
in 1742; Elizabeth furnace, in Lancaster county, about 1750.
Mount Pleasant forge, built after the furnace, was in operation
as late as 1856. Elizabeth furnace continued in operation until
1856, about one hundred years, when it was abandoned by its
owner, Hon. G. Dawson Coleman, for want of wood.
The history of this old furnace has been shrouded in so much
obscurity and is withal so interesting that we are gratified in being
able to present a circumstantial account of it. We introduce this
account by reproducing the following narrative, written by Robert
Coleman, grandfather of Hon. G. Dawson Coleman, to whom we are
indebted for a copy of it from the family records.
Some time previous to the year 1755 Jacob Huber, who then owned the
tract of land upon which these works now stand, erected a small furnace there.
Like all other new undertakings of this kind, commenced and conducted with
but small experience of the business, Huber soon found it expedient to dispose
of his establishment. Accordingly he parted with all his estate in the furnace
tract, and such other lands as he had acquired, to a company composed of
Henry William Stiegel, Charles Stedman, and Alexander Stedman. The
Stedmans living at a distance, Stiegel became the active owner and manager
of the estate. He accordingly took possession in the year 1757, erected a new
furnace, and carried on the works for the space of about eighteen years, during
which period he acquired for the use of the company a considerable addition
to the furnace lands, and also made some purchases in his own right. In the
meantime Mr. Stiegel became embarrassed in his circumstances. He fell
largely in debt to Daniel Bennezet, of Philadelphia, for the security of which
debt he mortgaged all his undivided third part of the Elizabeth furnace estate
to Mr. Bennezet, and not having paid the money proceedings were had upon
the mortgage; a levari facias issued upon a judgment obtained thereupon, by
virtue of which a sale was made by John Ferree, Esq., high sheriff of Lan-
caster county, to Daniel Bennezet, the mortgagee, who received a deed for the
SECOND STAGE IN THE IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 19
mortgaged premises dated the 5th of May, 1775. Daniel Bennezet also be-
came the purchaser, at two other and subsequent sheriff's sales, of other lands
belonging to Mr. Stiegel.
In the year 1776, possessed of but a small capital, and recently married, I
took a lease for the Elizabeth furnace estate for the term of seven years, not
anticipating at that time that before the expiration of the lease I should have
it in my power to become owner in fee simple of the whole or a greater part
of the estate. Success, however, crowned my endeavors. A new and regular
system was adopted, by which the business of ironworks was made to resemble
more a well-conducted manufactory than the scenes of confusion and disorder
which had before that time prevailed in that business. During the continu-
ance of the lease I made several purchases of lands contiguous to the estate,
and in the year 1780 I purchased from John Dickinson, Esq., the one undivi-
ded third part of the Elizabeth furnace and lands thereunto belonging, he
having before that time become the owner of all the estate and interest which
Alexander Stedman held in the same. In the year 1784 I purchased out Mr.
Charles Stedman, who also held an undivided third part of the estate. The
remaining third part of the original estate was not purchased by me from
Daniel Bennezet until the year 1794, he either not being inc^ned to sell or
asking more than I thought it expedient to give.
On the furnace erected by Huber, whose first name was probably
John, and not Jacob, the following legend was inscribed :
Johan Huber, der erste Deutsche man
Der das Eisenwerk vollfiiren kann.
Freely translated, this inscription reads : " John Huber is the
first German who knows how to make iron."
Baron Henry William Stiegel, whose eccentricities are described
with perhaps too free a hand in Bishop's History of American Manu-
factures, was a native of Manheim in Germany, and according to the
most reliable accounts a gentleman of noble birth and great wealth.
Elizabeth furnace is said to have been so named by him in honor
of his wife. It is situated near Litiz, fourteen miles from Lancas-
ter. Day says that Stiegel founded the village of Manheim, near
Elizabeth furnace, in 1762, and erected glassworks as well as the
furnace. Bishop states that " some of the first stoves cast in this
country were made by Mr. Stiegel, relics of which still remain in
the old families of Lancaster and Lebanon counties." These and
other early stoves are thus described by the same author.
These were probably the same as the "Jamb stoves" made by Christopher
Sower, of Germantown, some of which were cast at or near Lancaster. They
20 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
were, it is probable, the first stoves cast in America, and are described as sim-
ilar in construction to the box form of the old ten-plate stoves which super-
seded them, but they were without a pipe or oven. They were set in the side
or "jamb" of the kitchen fire-place, and passed through the wall so as to
present the back end in the adjoining room. This, though red hot, but im-
perfectly warmed the rooms, which, though small, were less impervious to cold
air than those of the present day. Dr. Franklin published, in 1744, with a
copper-plate illustration, an account of the open stove, or "newly invented
Pennsylvania Fire-place, etc.," which bears his name. They were afterward
improved by Count Kurnford, a native of New Hampshire, who also investi-
gated the subject of heating houses by steam conveyed in metal pipes, which,
about the middle of the last century, was proposed by William Cook, of Man-
chester. Our hardy ancestors, however, depended little on stoves, which were
not in general use in dwellings until near the present century, and still later
in churches. Cannon stoves were, in 1782, provided as an article of luxury
for Christ Church, Philadelphia. The air-tight stove is said to have been in-
vented by Isaac Orr, of New Hampshire, who died in 1844, at the age of fifty.
Rev. Joseph Henry Dubbs, of Lancaster, records the fact that
Stiegel's stoves bore the inscription :
Baron Stiegel ist der Mann
Der die Ofen machen kann.
That is, " Baron Stiegel is the man who knows how to make
stoves."
After Elizabeth furnace came into the possession of Robert Cole-
man he made shot and shell for the Continental army, and some of
the transactions which occurred between him and the Government in
settlement of his accounts for these supplies are very interesting.
Under date of October 26, 1780, the following entry is made by
Mr. Coleman to the credit of The United States: "By cash, re-
ceived of William Thorne, Pay-Master, 107,319,15-90 dolls., old
emission, exchange 73 for one, 551,5,11." In August, 1781,
another credit is entered of " 328 dolls., new emission, three for one,"
which shows an appreciation of the currency. Two months later
exchange was at two and a half for one. On November 16, 1782,
appears the following entry : " By cash, being the value of 42 Ger-
man prisoners of war, at 30 each, 1260;" and on June 14, 1783,
the following : " By cash, being the value of 28 German prisoners
of war, at 30 each, 840." In a foot note to these credits Robert
Coleman certifies "on honour" that the above 70 prisoners were all
ever secured by him, one of whom being returned is to be deducted
when he produces the proper voucher. Rupp, in his history of Lan-
SECOND STAGE IN THE IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 21
caster county, mentions that in 1843 he visited one of the Hessian
mercenaries who was thus disposed of at the close of the war for
the sum of 80, for the term of three years, to Captain Jacob Zim-
merman of said county.
In 1743 William Branson, of Philadelphia, erected two forges on
Conestoga creek, near Churchtown, in Lancaster county, which he
called Windsor, and which were famous forges in their day. The
following circumstantial account of these noted forges and some of
their early owners is from a letter we have received from Mrs.
Martha J. Nevin, wife of the Rev. Dr. John W. Nevin, of Caer-
narvon Place, Lancaster.
In looking over an old family record I found the following : " In the year
1700 David Jenkins arrived in Philadelphia from Wales, and settled near the
Great Valley Church. His son John, anxious to become acquainted with the
resources of his adopted country, penetrated more deeply into the forest and
directed his course to the site on which the Windsor forges were afterwards
erected. Entered into contract with John, Thomas, and Richard Penn for the
purchase of four hundred acres of land, January 10th, 1733. Nine years after-
ward he sold it to William Branson, of Philadelphia, who in 1742 erected the
forges and mansion house."
Wishing to get a particular account, I wrote to James McCaa, Esq., who
was one of the executors of my father's estate, (the late Kobert Jenkins, ) and
who had possession of the old Windsor account-books, to look them over, and
give me the correct account. I received from him the following : " William
Branson & Company, then owners and proprietors of the old Reading furnace,
in the year 1742 bought all the interest and improvements that John Jenkins
had made on the Windsor tract of 400 acres. He perfected the title in the
name of William Branson and immediately began to build. The date on the
stone over the door of the lower forge is 1743. The date of the mansion I do
not exactly know, but have always understood it was built directly after the
completion of the forges. In a short time afterward Mr. Branson sold out to
the English company, who were Lynford Lardner, Samuel Flower, and Rich-
ard Hockley, Esqs., who held it for thirty years, when, in 1773, David Jenkins,
son of the original proprietor, bought the half interest of the company for the
sum of 2,500, and in two years afterwards bought the other half for the
sum of 2,400, including the negroes and stock used on the premises."
You may depend on this account being thoroughly accurate, as it is taken
directly from the old account-books. David Jenkins was my grandfather.
My father, Robert Jenkins, inherited Windsor from his father. I was born
there.
Robert Jenkins managed Windsor forges with great success for
fifty years, dying in 1848. He was a member of the Legislature
in 1804 and 1805, and from 1807 to 1811 was a member of Con-
gress. David Jenkins was a member of the Legislature in 1784.
22 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Pool forge, about a mile down Conestoga creek from Windsor
forges, was built about 1760, probably by James Old. He at least
owned it about that time. Spring Grove forge, on the same stream,
about three miles west of Pool forge, was built in 1793. None of
these forges were abandoned until after 1856. Until 1813 a large
part of Lebanon county, which was formed in that year, was em-
braced within the limits of Lancaster county.
In Nicholas Scull's map of Pennsylvania (1759) two ironworks
are marked at Pottstown, at the mouth of the Manatawny, one on
each side of the stream, but their names and their owners' names
are not given. We learn, however, from another source, that one of
them was a forge named Pottsgrove, the original name of Pottstown,
which was laid out in 1752 by John Potts, son of Thomas. Above
Pottstown the following ironworks appear on Scull's map in the
order named : McCall's forge, Pool forge, and Pine forge, on the
Manatawny, and Colebrookdale furnace on the Ironstone branch.
The last three enterprises are located in Berks county, but McCall's
forge is in Montgomery county. Mayberry's forge and one or
two other ironworks east of the Schuylkill are also marked on
Scull's map. Pine forge was built before 1747 by Thomas Potts.
In 1768 it was owned by his son John. It probably supplanted
both the Pool forges. In 1845 it was converted into a rolling-mill,
run by water-power, which is still active. Crossing the Schuylkill
with Scull, we find Warwick furnace and Reading furnace on
French creek, and Windsor forge, in the order named the first
two in Chester county and the last in Lancaster county. Coventry
forge is not noted, but it was certainly in operation in 1756, as an
official statement made in 1757 shows, and in 1770 it is noted on
William Scull's map of Pennsylvania. It was in operation after
the Revolution, and in 1856 a forge of the same name, which is now
abandoned, was in operation at or near the original site. In Israel
Acrelius's History of New Sweden, written about 1756, mention is
made of a forge attached to Warwick furnace, and of another at-
tached to Reading furnace, one of which was beyond doubt Coventry.
The historian says : " Each has his own furnace Branz at Reading,
Nutt at Warwick. Each also has his own forges Branz in Wind-
sor. Nutt supplies four forges besides his own in Chester county."
The first steel works in Pennsylvania are said by Mrs. James
and others to have been erected on French creek, in Chester county,
prior to 1734, by Samuel Nutt, but William Branson was proba-
bly associated with him in this enterprise. Branson appears to
SECOND STAGE IN THE IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 23
have owned the works in 1737. Samuel Nutt, in his will, written
in that year, makes no mention of them. They were known as the
Vincent steel works. In 1756 they were owned by William Bran-
son, and are thus described by Acrelius, the Swedish historian : "At
French creek, or Branz's works, there is a steel furnace, built with
a draught-hole, and called an ' air oven.' In this, iron bars are set
at the distance of an inch apart. Between them are scattered horn,
coal-dust, ashes, etc. The iron bars are thus covered with blisters,
and this is called ' blister-steel.' It serves as the best steel to put
upon edge-tools. These steel works are now said to be out of
operation."
In 1750 there was a plating forge with a tilt-hammer in By-
berry township, in the northeastern part of Philadelphia county,
the only one in the province, owned by John Hall, and two steel
furnaces within the city limits, one of which (Paschal's) was
built in 1747, and stood on a lot at the northwest corner of Eighth
and Walnut streets : the other was owned by William Branson.
There appear to have been no other steel furnaces in operation in
the province in 1750. Hall is said to have established a bloomary
forge on White Clay creek, in New Castle county, about 1734.
He was a grandson of Thomas Rutter, and oldest son of Joseph
and Rebecca (Rutter) Hall.
At an early day there were two iron enterprises in that part of
Chester county which is now embraced in Delaware county. These
were, a forge on Crum creek, about two miles above the town of
Chester, built by John Crosby and Peter Dicks about 1742, and a
rolling and slitting mill on Chester creek, in Thornbury township,
where Glen Mills now stand, built in 1746 by John Taylor. The
forge on Crum creek w r as in operation as late as 1756, when Acre-
lius says it was owned by Peter Dicks, had two stacks, was worked
sluggishly, and had ''ruined Crosby's family." This last statement
is discredited by a local historian. In 1748 Peter Kalm, a Swedish
traveler, wrote that the ore for the Crum creek forge was obtained
thirty or forty miles away, where it was first melted in an oven and
then carried to the forge. The bellows at this forge were made
of leather. Taylor's enterprise was named Sarum ironworks,
and embraced a forge as well as a rolling and slitting mill. In
September, 1750, John Owen, sheriff of Chester county, certified
to the Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania that Sarum had been
in operation until June of that year. After this time the British
government had interdicted the further employment of rolling and
24 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
slitting mills in the colonies. We can not learn whether Mr. Taylor
long obeyed this decree, but it is said that his works were carried on
with energy until his death in 1756. Acrelius, writing about the
time of Taylor's death, says : " Sarum belongs to Taylor's heirs ; has
three stacks, and is in full blast." Peter Kalm states that at Chi-
chester (Marcus Hook) "they build here every year a number of
small ships for sale, and from an ironwork which lies higher up
in the country they carry iron bars to this place and ship them."
This "ironwork" was probably Sarum. Taylor was the descen-
dant of an English settler in the province. His rolling and slit-
ting mill was the first in Pennsylvania.
Development of the Cornwall Ore Hills. Cornwall furnace, men-
tioned before as having been built by Peter Grubb in 1742, was
located within the limits of the since celebrated Cornwall ore
hills, in Lebanon county, and is now running. It is the oldest
furnace in the country that is still in operation. The Cornwall
ore hills, which literally comprise three mountains of almost pure
magnetic iron ore, were conveyed by John Penn, Thomas Penn,
and Richard Penn, proprietors-in-chief of the province of Penn-
sylvania, and counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on the
Delaware, by their warrant dated London, May 8, 1732, to Joseph
Turner, of Philadelphia, for five hundred pounds, money of Penn-
sylvania. The grant embraced 300 acres. Turner assigned the
entire tract to William Allen, April 5, 1734, and on the 28th and
29th of November, 1737, Allen assigned the same to Peter Grubb,
to whom a patent was issued August 2, 1745. Peter Grubb died
intestate about 1754, and the estate descended to Curtis Grubb
and Peter Grubb, Curtis receiving two-thirds under the intestate
law of that day, and Peter one-third. Both sons were colonels
in the Revolution. June 28, 1783, Curtis conveyed a one-sixth in-
terest to Peter Grubb, Jr., his son. By articles of agreement, dated
September 26, 1785, Peter Grubb, Jr., grandson of the first-named
Peter Grubb, and son of Curtis Grubb, sold to Robert Coleman
his share of the Cornwall ore hills, Cornwall furnace, and ap-
purtenances, reserving the right for a sufficient quantity of ore for
one furnace, which right is held and exercised to-day by Fergu-
son, White & Co., the proprietors of Robesonia furnaces in Berks
county. The deed for the share sold to Robert Coleman, signed
by Peter Grubb, Jr., and Mary his wife, is dated May 9, 1786.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CORNWALL ORE HILLS. 25
After that year Robert Coleman, through successive purchases from
the Grubbs, acquired four additional sixths of the property orig-
inally conveyed by the Penns to Joseph Turner. At his death
in 1825 his estate was devised to his four sons, and at the present
time, under various partitions that have since taken place, the
interest of Robert Coleman is vested in his grandsons, Robert and
G. Dawson Coleman, and in the heirs of his grandsons, William
and Robert W. Coleman, while one-sixth still continues as the
property of the descendants of Peter Grubb. Neither the Coleman
nor the Grubb family limited its operations in the last century to
the Cornwall "ore banks and mine hills," but each became the
owner of many other iron properties. Both families are now
prominently engaged in the manufacture of pig iron the heirs
of William and Robert W. Coleman owning five anthracite fur-
naces and the old Cornwall charcoal furnace, G. Dawson Cole-
man owning three furnaces, and the heirs of Peter Grubb owning,
in whole or in part, eight furnaces.
During the Revolution Cornwall furnace cast cannon and shell
and shot for the Continental Congress. Colebrook furnace, a near
neighbor of Cornwall furnace, is frequently said to have been built
in 1745. This statement is an error, traceable doubtless to a
confounding of this furnace with Colebrookdale furnace in Berks
county. Colebrook furnace was built by Robert Coleman in 1791.
John Grubb, the father of Peter Grubb, 1st, who built Cornwall
furnace, was a native of Cornwall, in England, whence he emigra-
ted to this country in 1692, landing at Grubb's Landing, on the
Delaware, near Wilmington. He was a member of the Provincial
Legislature of Pennsylvania from 1694 to 1698. He is buried in
the Swedes' graveyard, at Wilmington. Peter Grubb, his son, was
born at Grubb's Landing. We are unable to ascertain the exact
time when he embarked in the manufacture of iron in Lan-
caster county. Hazard intimates that he commenced operations
as early as 1728, but we can find no proof that he did. A tradition
in his family says that he built a furnace in 1735 about five-eighths
of a mile from the site of Cornwall furnace, and cinder is pointed
out to sustain the tradition. But this supposed furnace was un-
doubtedly a bloom ary, which may be regarded as Mr. Grubb's first
iron enterprise. The earliest record evidence of his connection with
ironmaking in Lancaster county is believed to be contained in
"ye leace" of Cornwall ore lands, in 1739, by Peter Grubb to
Samuel Grubb and Joseph Taylor. In this lease Peter Grubb is
26 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
styled an " ironmaster," and it says that he " intends to build an
iron furnace" on land adjacent to that leased to Samuel Grubb
and Joseph Taylor. That furnace was undoubtedly Cornwall
furnace, built in 1742. Hope well forge was built about the same
time by Peter Grubb. On the same stream Speedwell forge was
subsequently built, probably by James Old, about 1760. These
forges were on Hammer creek, within the present limits of Lan-
caster county. Mount Hope furnace, built by Peter Grubb, Jr.,
in 1785, and still active, is on the Big Chiquisalunga creek, in
Lancaster county, about ten miles south of Lebanon. In Acre-
lius's history, written about 1756, appears the following statement :
Cornwall, or Grubb' s ironworks, in Lancaster county. The mine is rich
and abundant, forty feet deep, commencing two feet under the earth's surface.
The ore is somewhat mixed with sulphur and copper. Peter Grubb was its
discoverer. Here there is a furnace which makes twenty-four tons of iron a
week, and keeps six forges regularly at work two of his own, two belonging x
to Germans in the neighborhood, and two in Maryland. The pig iron is car-
ried to the Susquehanna river, thence to Maryland, and finally to England.
The bar iron is sold mostly in the country and in the interior towns ; the
remainder in Philadelphia. It belongs to the heirs of the Grubb estate, but
is now rented to Gurrit & Co.
Martic forge, near the present village of Colemanville, Lancaster
county, built in 1755, was one of the two forges "belonging to
Germans in the neighborhood." From about 1825 to 1850 steel
was made here.
Robert Coleman was born near Castle Fin, in Donegal county,
and not far from the city of Londonderry, in Ireland, on the 4th of
November, 1748. In 1764, when 16 years old, he left Ireland for
America. Arriving in Philadelphia he presented letters of intro-
duction to Blair McLanahan and the Biddies, who recommended
him to Mr. Read, Prothonotary at Reading, Pa., in whose employ-
ment he remained two years as a clerk. He left Reading and en-
tered the service of Peter Grubb, 2d, as clerk at Hopewell forge.
Here he remained six months, and then left to accept a situation
at Quitapahilla forge, near Lebanon, the property of James Old.
Mr. Old, moving some time after from Speedwell forge to Reading
furnace on French creek, took Robert Coleman with him. While
at this furnace Mr. Coleman married Ann Old, the daughter of his
employer. The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. Thomas
Barton, at the furnace, on Monday, October 4, 1773. Fourteen
children blessed this union. Soon after his marriage Mr. Coleman
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CORNWALL ORE HILLS. 27
rented Salford forge, near Norristown, where he remained three
years. His grandson, G. Dawson Coleman, has in his possession a
document of rare interest, illustrative of Revolutionary experiences
at Salford forge. It is indorsed: "Robert Coleman's memorial,
presented August 26th, 1776, asking permission for his clerk and
three forgemen be exempted from marching with the army to
Amboy." It represented that the memorialist was an officer in
Colonel Potts's battalion, and was then on his^ march to Amboy;
that he had rented a forge for three years at a rental of " two hun-
dred a year," the lease of which would expire in three months ;
and that the " principal part " of his workmen were Associators,
who, if obliged to march with the militia, would cause him great
loss and entirely prevent him from working up his stock in hand.
The request of Mr. Coleman was granted the same day by the
Council of Safety, to whom it was addressed. While at this forge
Mr. Coleman manufactured chain bars, which were designed to
span the Delaware river for the defense of Philadelphia against
the approach of the enemy's fleet. From Salford forge Mr. Cole-
man removed in 1776 to Elizabeth furnace, which he first rented
and afterwards purchased. In 1809 he retired from active busi-
ness and removed to Lancaster, where he died August 14, 1825,
aged almost 77 years. His remains rest in the Episcopal burying-
ground. During his long life he held various positions of honor.
He served with credit as an officer in the Pennsylvania militia
during the Revolution ; was a member of the State Convention
which framed the Constitution of 1790; was for several years a
member of the State Legislature ; raised and commanded a troop
of cavalry during the whisky insurrection; was a Presidential
elector at-large in 1792, and a Presidential elector for his Con-
gressional district in 1796 ; and for nearly twenty years was an
associate judge for Lancaster county. For more than a quar-
ter of a century he was the most prominent ironmaster in the
State. Mrs. Coleman, who was born in 1756, survived her hus-
band many years, dying in 1844, aged 88 years.
We are unable to giye much information about James Old.
Like many other Pennsylvania ironmasters of his day, he was a
native of Wales. He was unquestionably a man of great enter-
prise and a most successful ironmaster. Mr. Old was a member
of the Legislature in 1791, 1792, and 1793. He married Margaret
Davies, daughter of Gabriel Davies, who bore him seven children,
sons and daughters, but it is probable that he has now no living
28 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
descendants who bear his name. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia,
written in 1781 and 1782, speaks of an iron mine in Albemarle
county, on the north side of the James river, which was owned
by a person named Old. Margaret Old, a daughter of James
Old, married Cyrus Jacobs, who was the owner or lessee for many
years of Pool and Spring Grove forges on Conestoga creek, and a
noted ironmaster in his day. The Jacobs family came to Penn-
sylvania about 1700, and settled on Perkiomen creek.
Valley Forge, in Chester county, has historic associations which
no American can ever forget. This forge seems to have been
erected some time prior to 1757 by Stephen Evans, whose execu-
tors sold it in that year to John Potts. There is a misty tradition,
however, that it was built at a much earlier day by a person named
Walker, an Englishman, who came over with William Penn. Its
original name was Mount Joy, which name is said to have been
given to the neighboring mountain by William Penn. This was
also the name of a manor owned by him on the Schuylkill. The
forge was located near the mouth of East Valley creek, on the
Chester side of the creek the creek forming a part of the boundary
between Chester and Montgomery counties. The forge was destroy-
ed by the British in 1777, just prior to Washington's occupation of
the vicinity for winter quarters. It was rebuilt after the Revolu-
tion, probably by David and Isaac Potts. The iron used at Valley
forge was made at Warwick furnace, which continued in opera-
tion during a part of almost every year from its erection in 1737
down to 1867, when its last blast came to an end and the furnace
was abandoned.
The foregoing information about Valley forge was obtained with
much difficulty and from various sources. Since writing the above,
however, we have received a yet more circumstantial account of this
historic forge, the particulars of which were kindly obtained for us,
after much personal investigation, by Joseph E. Thropp, Esq., of
West Conshohocken, Montgomery county. It is as follows :
Valley forge was built on the western side of Valley creek, in Chester
county. The original site was about five-eighths of a mile from the mouth
of the creek. It was owned and operated by members of the Potts family
from the spring of 1757 until its destruction by the British about two months
before the American army encamped there in 1777. From 1771 Col. William
Dewees, son of Sheriff William Dewees of Philadelphia, was associated with
the Potts' s, and in 1773 appears to have bought an interest. The iron used at
this forge was hauled by teams from Warwick furnace. After the close of the
HISTORY OF VALLEY FORGE. 29
war another forge was erected about three-eighths of a mile farther down the
stream, on the Montgomery county side, on ground now covered by part of
the cotton and woolen factory, and a new dam was built, raising the water
partly over the site of the old Mount Joy forge. (This second forge was in
ruins in 1816.) About the same time a slitting-mill was erected on the Ches-
ter county side, most probably being constructed out of one of the buildings
used by the artisans for the army. The forge and slitting-mill were built by
Isaac Potts and his brother David. In 1786 they were operated under the
firm name of " Isaac Potts & Co.," the company consisting of David (Isaac's
brother) and his son James. The property subsequently passed through the
hands of Joseph Potts, Ralph Peacock, Rebecca Robbins, and Jacob Vogdes,
until in 1814 the latter, who had not operated the works, sold them to John
Rogers and Joshua Malin. Malin, who was a cousin of Rogers, was the
manager. He rebuilt the rolling and slitting mill, making it about 30 feet
wide by 80 feet long. There was a "tilt mill" in one end, and between the
main building and the dam a small foundry, the cupola of which was blown
by a water blast. He also commenced a three-story stone building on the
Montgomery county side, which is still standing, and constitutes part of the
present cotton factory. This was intended for the manufacture of hardware.
In 1816 Malin became involved, and John Rogers was by suit proven to be
his partner and compelled to pay his debts. April 1st of that year Rogers
bought Malin' s half interest in the property, and in the fall of the year
James Wood went there as a partner of John Rogers and manager of the
works. Isaac Smedley was also a member of the firm. Wood completed the
mill which was intended by Malin for a hardware factory, and made it into a
saw factory principally, though shovels, spades, files, etc., were also made.
He also operated the rolling-mill, making boiler plate and sheet and band
iron. Part of this was slit for the nail mill at Phoenixville, where as yet they
had no such facilities. (Lewis Wernwag operated the nail mill at Phoenix-
ville at the time.) Malin had made nails by hand in a frame building nearer
the road. The iron used by Wood in the rolling-mill was obtained from
Laurel forge, Coventry forge, and Springton forge.
About 1818 Rogers sent John Parkins and his son John, Jr., to Wood to see
if they could successfully make cast steel, to be used in their saws. These
men had during 1812 made an attempt to make cast steel in New York City,
but failed. A furnace was built in the back end of the rolling-mill, but did not
prove large enough ; then a large stack was erected between the rolling-mill
and the smith-shop, (part of the smith-shop is still standing and used as a
stable,) and six furnaces were built around it. Here cast steel of good quality
for use in saws was made. Sixty barrels of clay for crucibles were brought
from Perth Amboy. Early in 1821 Brooke Evans, of Sheffield, England,
went to Valley Forge, having leased the property from Rogers. He convert-
ed the saw factory and rolling-mill, then being vacated by James Wood, into
gun factories. He raised the roof of the rolling-mill and added two stories
to it. (He made at Valley Forge 20,000 muskets.) This building was subse-
quently destroyed by a freshet and no traces of it remain. The building on
the Montgomery county side, after being vacated as a gun factory, was enlarged
and converted into a cotton and woolen factory.
30 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Continued Development of the Iron Industry of Eastern Pennsyl-
vania^ Berks county was a busy iron centre before the Revolu-
tion, as it is to-day. We have already mentioned its earliest iron
enterprises, and now add some others. David Jones, a Welshman,
settled on 1000 acres of land in Caernarvon township in 1735,
and soon afterwards became prominent as an ironmaster. He was
the ancestor of the Hon. J. Glancy Jones. Charming forge, near
Womelsdorf, was erected in 1749, and is still active. Hopewell fur-
nace, in the southeastern corner of Berks county, on French creek,
was built in 1759 by William Bird, an enterprising Englishman,
who is said to have built a forge at Birdsboro in 1740, and who
originated other iron enterprises. The furnace is still active.
He built Roxborough furnace, in Heidelberg township, some time
prior to his death, which occurred in 1763. The name of this fur-
nace was afterwards changed to Berkshire. He was succeeded by
his son, Mark Bird, who built a rolling and slitting mill and a
nail factory at Birdsboro about the time of the Revolution. He
also built Spring forge in Oley township, and Gibraltar forges, in
Robeson township. At Trenton, New Jersey, he manufactured wire.
He failed in business about 1788. The town of Birdsboro, in
Berks county, now the seat of the extensive ironworks of Messrs.
E. & G. Brooke, was named after William Bird. Oley furnace,
eleven miles northeast of Reading, was built about 1770, and is still
active. Oley forge, on Manatawny creek, was built in 1780, and
was in operation as late as 1856. These were Mr. Udree's enter-
prises. Green Tree forge was built in 1770. Reading furnace, in
Heidelberg township, Berks county, was erected in 1793, by George
Ege, and was in operation until about 1850. Other old furnaces
in this county include Joanna, built in 1792, rebuilt in 1847, and
still in the active list; Sally Ann, built in 1791 and in operation in
1856 ; and Mary Ann, built in 1797 and also in operation in 1856.
Other old forges were built as follows: the two Rockland forges,
six miles southeast of Kutztown, in 1788 and 1790, and the two
District forges, in Pike township, in 1797 and 1800. In 1798 there
were six furnaces and six forges in Berks county. In 1832 there
were eleven furnaces and twenty-one forges.
Maria forge, in Carbon county, was built in 1753, and a blast
furnace soon followed it. They stood on Poco creek, a short dis-
tance east of Weissport. The forge was abandoned in 1858, and
the furnace in 1861.
There was a bloomary forge in York county in 1756, owned by
CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE IRON INDUSTRY. 31
Peter Dicks, of Chester county. Spring forge, in the same county,
was built in 1770. Pine Grove furnace, in Cumberland county,
was built in the same year by Thornburg & Arthur, and about
1800 it was sold to Michael Ege, Sr. About the year 1770 a
furnace was built at Boiling Springs, in this county, forming the
nucleus of the Carlisle ironworks, which afterwards, about 1782,
included a forge, a rolling and slitting mill, and a steel furnace.
Michael Ege, Sr., was the proprietor. These works are still in
operation, C. W. & D. V. Ahl being the owners. Many other
furnaces and forges were built in Eastern Pennsylvania prior to
the Kevolution, and also some bloomaries.
After the Revolution, and even before its close, the business of
making iron in Pennsylvania received a fresh impulse and was
extended into the interior of the State. Bishop states that the
first furnace built in Franklin county was Mount Pleasant fur-
nace, in Path valley, erected soon after the peace of 1783 by
three brothers, William, Benjamin, and George Chambers. A
forge was erected as early as 1783. This forge and furnace were
four miles northwest of Loudon, and were destroyed in 1843.
Soundwell forge, sixteen miles north of Chambersburg, on Cono-
dogwinet creek, was built in 1790, and was active in 1855.
Carrick forge, four miles from Fannettsburg, in Franklin county,
was built in 1800, and was in operation in 1856. A furnace of
the same name was built in 1828, which is still active. Mont Alto
furnace, in the same county, was built in 1807, and is still active.
Two forges of the same name, which are yet in operation, were
built in 1809 and 1810 about four miles from the furnace. In
1832 Mont Alto rolling-mill was built. Loudon forge and furnace
were built about 1790 by Colonel James Chambers, and destroyed
about 1840. Valley forge, near Loudon, in Franklin county,
was built in 1804, and abandoned after 1856. Other old forges
in Franklin county* were abandoned before 1850. Liberty forge,
on Yellow Breeches creek, in Cumberland county, was built in
1790, and is still active. Other forges in Cumberland county
were built prior to 1800. Cumberland furnace, ten miles south-
west of Carlisle, on Yellow Breeches creek, was built in 1794.
Holly furnace, at Papertown, in the same county, is said to have
been built in 1795. A forge was in existence here in 1848. Both
of these furnaces were built by Michael Ege, Sr. They have
long been abandoned. A paper mill now occupies the site of
Holly furnace. Two furnaces, now abandoned, once stood near
32 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Shippensburg in this county Mary Ann, built in 1826, and
Augusta, built in 1828. Southampton furnaces, Nos. 1 and 2, and
Mary furnace, all near Shippensburg, but in Franklin county, are
also abandoned. A large forge near Southampton furnaces was
torn down in 1849. Big Pond, built in 1836, at Newville, in Cum-
berland county, is still on the active list as a charcoal furnace.
Franklin and Cumberland counties were very busy iron centres
during the first half of the present century. We have mentioned
chiefly their early iron enterprises. One of their later enterprises
was Caledonia furnace, in Franklin county, ten miles east of Cham-
bersburg, which was built in 1837, and owned in 1863 by Hon.
Thaddeus Stevens, in which year it was burned by the Confederates,
under General Lee, when on the march to Gettysburg. Another
embraced Warren furnace and forge, in the southwestern corner of
Franklin county. William Bowers built the forge in 1830 and the
furnace in 1835. Both stopped running in 1856. In 1840 there
were 8 furnaces and 11 forges, bloomaries and rolling-mills in
Franklin county, and 6 furnaces and 5 forges and rolling-mills in
Cumberland county.
We are indebted to Hon. Frederick Watts, of Carlisle, for
the following information concerning the distribution of the iron
property of Michael Ege, Sr., who was for nearly fifty years a
prominent ironmaster of Cumberland county, owning, as we have
shown, Pine Grove furnace, the Carlisle ironworks, Holly furnace,
and Cumberland furnace. At his death, in 1815, his son, Peter
Ege, owned Pine Grove furnace ; another son, Michael Ege, Jr.,
the Carlisle ironworks; another son, George Ege, Holly furnace,
and a daughter, Mrs. Eliza Wilson, Cumberland furnace.
Bishop says that in 1786 there were seventeen furnaces, forges,
and slitting-mills within thirty-nine miles of Lancaster. In the
next twenty-five years a large number of forges and furnaces were
built in Lancaster and Chester counties, and in both counties,
but particularly in Chester county, rolling-mills were established.
In 1790 Benjamin Longstreth erected a rolling and slitting mill
at Phcenixville, where the foundry now stands, to roll bars into
plates to be slit into nail rods. This was the beginning of the
present extensive works of the Phoenix Iron Company. Rokeby
rolling-mill, on Buck run, four miles south of Coatesville, was
built in 1795, and Brandywine rolling-mill, at Coatesville, was
built in 1810. The puddle-mill of the latter works, now called
Lukens, operated by water-power, occupies the site of the original
CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE IRON INDUSTRY. 33
mill, which was the first plate-mill built in the United States, as
we are informed by the present proprietors. Mary Ann forge,
two miles north of Downingtown, was built in 1785, and Spring-
ton forge, five miles north of Mary Ann forge, was built in
1790. Both of these forges are still active. Hibernia forge, on
West Brandywine creek, four miles north of Coatesville, was built
in 1793, and is still in operation in connection with a small rolling-
mill which was added in 1837. Sadsbury forges, on Octorara
creek, near Penningtonville, were built in 1800 and 1802, and one is
still in operation. Brooke forge, near Pequea, in Lancaster county,
was built in 1795, and Pine Grove forge, sixteen miles ^outh of
Penningtonville, on Octorara creek, in the same county, was built
about 1800. A small rolling-mill, which is now abandoned, was
added in 1844, on the Chester county side of the creek. Pleasant
Garden forge, on the Brandywine, five miles southeast of Oxford,
was built in 1806 and abandoned about 1848. A small rolling-mill
was built in 1845, which is also abandoned.
In 1838 there were in existence, within a radius of fifty-two
miles of Lancaster, 102 furnaces, forges, and rolling-mills.
At Columbia and Marietta in Lancaster county there were in
1876 eleven furnaces, the oldest of which, Sarah Ann, a charcoal
furnace, was not built until 1841. In 1845 it was changed to
anthracite. All the others use anthracite when running.
In 1805 there were two forges in York county. Castle Fin forge,
on Muddy creek, in York county, was built in 1811 by a person
named Withers, and rebuilt in 1827 by Thomas Bird Coleman,
who also erected a steel furnace in 1832 or 1833. Margaretta
furnace, on Cabin Branch creek, was erected in 1823, and a forge
called Woodstock was erected at the same place in 1828. Both
have been abandoned. Codorus furnace and forge, on a creek of
the same name, were built by Henry B. Grubb, and abandoned
before 1850. York furnace, at the mouth of Otter creek, was built
in 1830, and is still active. A short time prior to 1830 a furnace
called Susan Ann, or Manor, was built by William S. Cornwell
near the Brogue tavern in York county. A furnace at York
made all kinds of castings in 1832, when it was owned by Israel
Gardner. In 1843 there were two furnaces and four forges within
the county limits. In 1850 there were five furnaces and three
forges. Since 1850 the iron industry in the county has declined.
In 1805 there were seven forges and one slitting-mill in Delaware
county. Franklin rolling-mill, at Chester, in Delaware county, was
34 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
built in 1808. In 1828 there were five rolling and slitting mills
in this county, and some manufactories of finished iron products.
\J The iron industry in the Lehigh valley was confined to a few
charcoal furnaces and forges and one rolling-mill until its first
anthracite furnace was built in 1840. There was a forge at Easton
before 1778, named Chelsea. In 1808 William Henry, of Nazareth,
built a forge in Northampton county, which was started in 1809,
making its first bar of iron on the 9th of March. In 1824 Matthew
S. Henry built a furnace which made its first ton of pig iron on
the 10th of May, 1825. Hampton furnace, near Sheimersville, in
Lehigh bounty, was built in 1809. In 1826 Stephen Balliet built
. a furnace in Lehigh county, near the Blue mountains, called
Lehigh. In 1832 there were in Lehigh county a furnace and forge
owned by Mr. Balliet, and a furnace and two forges owned by Mr.
Heinbaugh probably Hampton furnace. In Northampton county
there were in the same year one furnace and three forges in oper-
ation. In 1836 a rolling-mill and wire factory were built at South
Easton, in Northampton county, by Stewart & Co. Now, of all the
iron districts in the country, the Lehigh valley ranks second only
to Pittsburgh in the yearly value of its iron products, while it ranks
first in the list of pig iron districts. It has several large rolling-
mills and fifty anthracite furnaces. The Bethlehem Iron Company
owns six furnaces and one of the most complete iron and steel roll-
ing-mills in the world.
About the year 1778 a bloomary forge was built on Nanticoke
creek, near the lower end of Wyoming valley, in Luzerne county,
by John and Mason F. Alden. Another bloomary forge was
erected in 1789 on Lackawanna river, about two miles above its
mouth, by Dr. William Hooker Smith and James Sutton. Still
another bloomary forge was erected in 1799 or 1800, on Roaring
brook, at Scranton, then called Slocum's Hollow, by two brothers,
Ebenezer and Benjamin Slocum. The product of these bloomaries
was taken down the Susquehanna river in Durham boats. They all
continued in operation until about 1828.
About 1789 there were fourteen furnaces and thirty-four forges
in operation in Pennsylvania, according to a list published by Mrs.
James. In 1791 the number of furnaces had increased to sixteen,
and of forges to thirty-seven.
Most of the bar iron made in the last century in Pennsylvania
was hammered at the forges out of blooms made from pig iron.
But little was made from blooms produced in the bloomary fire di-
CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE IRON INDUSTRY. 35
rectly from the ore, as was the New England custom. The Penn-
sylvania furnaces were also employed in making castings, such as
stoves, pots, kettles, etc. The stove which Franklin invented was
first cast at Warwick furnace about 1742, by his friend, Kobert
Grace, who carried on the furnace in right of his wife, the widow
of Samuel Nutt, Jr. But the first bar iron made in the province,
by Thomas Rutter, Samuel Nutt, and others, was made in forges,
sometimes called bloomary forges, directly from the ore. During
the Revolution cannon and cannon-balls were cast at the Pennsyl-
vania furnaces for the Continental army. Sixty cannon were cast
at Warwick furnace alone in 1776.
The early Pennsylvania furnaces made from ten to twenty-five
tons of pig iron or castings in a week, the highest limit being
seldom attained. As all the furnaces were blown by water-power,
and as the water failed in the summer season, a fair yield by one
furnace in a year was 500 tons of iron. The size of the furnaces
seldom exceeded twenty-five feet in height and seven feet in width
at the bosh. The fuel used was exclusively charcoal, and the blast
was always cold. Only one tuyere was used. Leather bellows were
at first used, but wooden bellows, or tubs, were afterwards substi-
tuted. These tubs are still in use in connection with some of our
oldest furnaces. Warwick and Cornwall furnaces were each over
thirty feet high. These and some other furnaces each yielded in
the last century as much as 1,000 tons of iron annually. In 1731
pig iron sold at Colebrookdale furnace at about $15 a ton. Cast-
ings cost about twice as much as pig iron. The forges made
from sixty to one hundred and fifty tons of bar iron in a year,
which sold at from $75 to $100 a ton.
The bar iron and castings made in the Schuylkill valley during
the last century were taken down the river to Philadelphia in boats,
which were poled back to their starting points with great labor.
The following notice of the workmen employed in making iron
in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution and of the prices of iron
is taken from Acrelius's History of New Sweden, written about 1756.
The workmen are partly English and partly Irish, with some few Germans,
though the work is carried on after the English method. The pig-iron is smelt-
ed into "geese," ("goesar,") and is cast from five to six feet long and a half
foot broad, for convenience of forging, which is in the Walloon style. The
pigs are first operated upon by the finers, (smelters). Then the chiffery, or
hammer-men, take it back again into their hands, and beat out the long bars.
The finers are paid 30s. a ton and the hammer-men 23s. Qd. per ton; that is.
36 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
to say, both together, 2 13s. 9d. The laborers are generally composed partly
of negroes, (slaves,) partly of servants from Germany or Ireland bought for a
term of years. A good negro is bought for from 30 to 40 sterling, which
is equal to 1500 or 2000 of our dollars, koppar mynt. Their clothing may
amount to 75 dollars, koppar mynt, their food, 325 ditto very little, indeed,
for the year. The negroes are better treated in Pennsylvania than anywhere
else in America. A white servant costs 350 dollars, koppar mynt, and his
food is estimated at 325 dollars more, of the same coinage. For four months,
in summer, when the heat is most oppressive, all labor is suspended at the
furnaces and forges. Pig-iron is sold at the furnaces for from 3 6s. 8d. to
3 10s. per ton. Bar-iron at the forge brings 20 per ton, or 20s. per 100
pounds. It is sold dear, for six months' credit is given. Pig-iron is sold
in Philadelphia at 5 per ton; bar-iron, in large quantities, at from 14 to
16 per ton. It certainly seems remarkable that the price is diminished
after the long transportation to the city ; but in this people find their profit.
The iron-works of Pennsylvania lie mostly within forty miles of Philadel-
phia. The carriage for such a distance does not exceed twenty shillings ster-
ling per ton. As a set-off to this is reckoned the return-freight upon goods
serviceable for the storehouse of the works.
The following description of the methods employed in forging
iron by our English ancestors is taken from Bishop's History of
American Manufactures. These methods were substantially the
same as those in use in this country during the last century.
John Ray, F. R. S., has left on record a description of the process of forg-
ing iron as practiced in Sussex, England, in 1674. The forge had two ham-
mers, one called the finery, the other the chafery. At the former the metal
was brought into the state of blooms and anconies. The bloom was a four-
square mass, two feet long, prepared by beating a loop, or mass of metal
weighing about three-fourths cwt., with iron sledges upon an iron plate, and
afterwards with the forge-hammer worked by water. This was called shing-
ling the loop. After two or three more heats at the finery, the mass was
brought to an ancony, the middle of which was a square bar of the desired
size, and the two ends of rough square lumps. At the chafery the bar was
completed by reducing the ends to a uniform size with the middle portion.
Three loads of large wood-coal made a ton of iron at the finery, and one load
of small coals at the chafery. A man and boy at the finery would make two
tons of iron per week, and two men at the chafery would make five or six
tons a week.
John Houghton, F. R. S., (Husbandry and Trade Improved,} in 1697 says
both the finery and chafery were open hearths covered with heaps of coals,
blown by bellows in the same way as the furnaces, but not so large ; and the
sow and pigs received five heats in the two two at the finery and three at
the chafery. He calls the thick square first made a half bloom, and the bar
with the two knobs a bloom, the greater end being called the mocket head,
and the less the ancony end. At the fourth heat the mocket head was re-
duced, and at the fifth the ancony end, to ihe state of a bar.
FIRST IRONWORKS IN THE JUNIATA VALLEY. 37
First Ironworks in the Juniata Valley. The first blast furnace in
the Juniata valley was Bedford furnace, built in 1785 on the site
of the present town of Orbisonia, in Huntingdon county, by the
Bedford Company, composed of Edward Ridgley, Thomas Crom-
well, and George Ashman. It made from eight to ten tons of pig
iron a week. Lytle, in his History of Huntingdon County, says it
was constructed mostly of wood, and was five feet wide at the bosh
and either fifteen or seventeen feet high. A forge was built on the
same creek, by the Bedford Company, a short distance from their
furnace, about 1785, which supplied the neighborhood with horse-
shoe iron, wagon tire, harrow teeth, etc. Large stoves and other
utensils were cast at Bedford furnace. The entire product of the
furnace was converted into castings and bar iron. At the Phila-
delphia Exhibition was a stove-plate cast at this furnace in 1792.
On the 10th of September, 1793, Thomas Cromwell, for the com-
pany, advertised in the Pittsburgh Gazette castings and bar iron for
sale at Bedford furnace. The first American bar iron ever taken
to Pittsburgh is said to have been made at Bedford forge. There
was then no wagon road to Pittsburgh. " In the forge the pig
iron of the furnace was hammered out into bars about six or eight
feet long, and these were bent into the shape of the letter U and
turned over the backs of horses and thus transported over the
Alleghenies to Pittsburgh." Bar iron and castings from Bedford
furnace and other ironworks in the Juniata valley were taken down
the Juniata river in arks, many of them descending to as low a
point as Middletown on the Susquehanna, whence the iron was
hauled to Philadelphia. Much of the iron of the Juniata valley
was also sent to Baltimore in arks down the Susquehanna river.
Centre furnace, located about nine miles southwest of Bellefonte,
in Centre county, was the second furnace erected in the Juniata
valley or near its boundaries. It was built in the summer of 1792
by Colonel John Patton and Colonel Samuel Miles, both Revolu-
tionary officers. The first forge in Centre county was Rock forge,
on Spring creek, six miles south of Bellefonte, built in 1793 by
General Philip Benner, who subsequently originated other iron
enterprises in the same county, and became an extensive shipper
of Juniata iron. He died in 1833, aged seventy years, long before
which time his Rock forge enterprise had expanded into a rolling
and slitting mill, nail factory, furnace, etc. The furnace was
built in 1816. Benner came from Chester county, where he had
made iron at Nutt's forge at Coventry after the Revolution. In
38 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
1795 Daoiel Turner erected Spring Creek forge, and in 1796 Miles
Dunlap & Co. had Harmony forge on Spring creek in operation.
Logan furnace, near Bellefonte, was built in 1800 by John Dunlap.
Andrew Boggs and John Royer operated this furnace about 1805-
6-7, under a lease from John Dunlap, the firm-name being Boggs
<fe Royer. Tussey furnace, fourteen miles south of Bellefonte, was
built about 1805 by William Fatten. In 1807 Roland Curtin, a
native of Ireland, and father of Governor Andrew G. Curtin,
erected a forge on Bald Eagle creek, about four miles from Belle-
fonte, and in 1817 he built a furnace called Eagle. In 1831 a
small rolling-mill was added, for the manufacture of bar iron and
nails. About 1820 Hardman Phillips erected at Phillipsburg a
forge and screw factory the latter one of the first of its kind in
this country. Cold Stream forge was erected about the same time
by John Plumbe, Sr., in Rush township, Centre county.
Barree forge, between the villages of Spruce Creek and Peters-
burg, in Huntingdon county, and nine miles west of Huntingdon,
on the Little Juniata, was built about 1794 by Edward Barthol-
omew and Greenberry Dorsey, to convert the pig iron of Centre
furnace into bar iron. The pig iron was hauled in wagons about
thirty miles over rough roads. Huntingdon furnace, in. Franklin
township, was built in 1796, four miles from the mouth of Spruce
creek, on Warrior's Mark run, but the location selected was too
far up the stream to secure the requisite power, and after one or
two blasts a new stack was built a mile lower down. The furnace
was built for Mordecai Massey and Judge John Gloninger by
George Anshutz, who in 1808 became the owner of one-fourth of the
property. At the same time George Shoenberger purchased a one-
fourth interest. Prior to 1808 Martin Dubbs became part owner,
and for a time the furnace was carried on by John Gloninger &
Company, Dubbs being the " Co." Massey, who was a land specu-
lator, never seems to have been directly interested in the manage-
ment of the furnace after its erection, although continuing to own
an interest in it and the greater part of the lands upon which
it was erected down to 1808, when the sale to George Anshutz
and George Shoenberger took place and Massey retired absolutely.
For these details of ownership we are indebted to Milton S. Lytle,
Esq., of Huntingdon, who has taken the pains to examine the
official records. A forge called Massey was connected with Hunt-
ingdon furnace, and was probably built about 1800. It stood
on Spruce creek, about one mile and a half east of the furnace.
FIRST IRONWORKS IN THE JUNIATA VALLEY. 39
The furnace has been cold since 1870. Tyrone forges, on the Little
Juniata, six miles west of Spruce Creek, were established by the
owners of Huntingdon furnace, the first of the forges in 1804. In
1832 Gordon stated that these forges, with a rolling and slitting
mill and nail factory attached, formed " a very extensive establish-
ment," owned by Messrs. Gloninger, Anshutz & Co. " The mill rolls
about 150 tons, 75 of which are cut into nails at the works, 50 tons
are slit into rods and sent to the West, and about 25 tons are sold
in the adjoining counties."
Juniata forge was built at Petersburg about 1804 by Samuel
Fahnestock and George Shoenberger, the latter succeeding to the
entire ownership in 1805. Coleraine forges, on Spruce creek, were
built in 1805 and 1809, by Samuel Marshall, an Irishman. There
have been many forges on Spruce creek, none of which are now
in operation. Union furnace, in Morris township, in Huntingdon
county, was built by Edward B. Dorsey and Caleb Evans in 1810
or 1811. Pennsylvania furnace, in the northern part of Hunt-
ingdon county, was built by John Lyon, Jacob Haldeman, and
William Wallace in 1813. It was for a long time managed by
John Anderson. The boundary line between Huntingdon and
Centre counties ran through this furnace. About 1818 Reuben
Trexler, of Berks county, built a bloomary called Mary Ann, in
Trough Creek valley, Huntingdon county, and about 1821 he
added a furnace with the same name, but afterwards changed to
Paradise. In 1832 John Savage, of Philadelphia, built a forge
near Paradise furnace, which Hon. Archibald McAllister informs
us was the first forge in this country " that used the big hammer
and iron helve on the English plan."
George Shoenberger, the father of Doctor Peter Shoenberger,
was born in Lancaster county, and during the closing years of the
last century settled on Shaver's creek, in Huntingdon county, as
did also his brother Peter. The town of Petersburg was laid out
in 1795 by Peter Shoenberger, the brother of George Shoenber-
ger. September 27, 1800, Peter sold to his brother George the
tract of land of which Petersburg formed a part, and about 1804
George built Juniata forge in connection with Samuel Fahnestock,
as we have already stated. Subsequently, as we have shown, he
became part owner of Huntingdon furnace. He died in 1814
or 1815. His only son, Doctor Peter Shoenberger, succeeded
him in the ownership of his iron enterprises.
Etna furnace and forge in Huntingdon county, now in Catharine
40 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
township, Blair county, were built in 1805 by Canan, Stewart
& Moore. John Canan was an Irishman from Donegal, but a
citizen of Franklin county prior to his emigration to Huntingdon
county. The furnace was the first within the limits of the present
county of Blair. Cove forge, on the Frankstown branch of the
Juniata, in Blair county, two miles northeast of Williamsburg,
was built in 1810, by John Royer, who was born in Franklin
county in 1779, was a clerk at Chambers's ironworks in that
county, was subsequently engaged at Logan furnace, and in 1808
commenced to build Cove forge. After a checkered experience,
including an honorable record as a member of the lower branch of
the State Legislature, first from Huntingdon and afterwards from
Cambria county, he died at Johnstown in 1850. Allegheny fur-
nace was built in 1811, by Allison & Henderson, and was the
second furnace in Blair county. In 1835 it was purchased by
Elias Baker and Roland Diller, of Lancaster county. The next
furnace in Blair county was Springfield, built in 1815 by John
Royer and his brother Daniel. Springfield furnace and Cove
forge are now owned by John Royer, son of Daniel. The next fur-
nace in this county was Rebecca, built in 1817. The last was the
first furnace erected by Doctor Peter Shoenberger, who afterwards
became the most prominent ironmaster in the State. Other iron
enterprises of his in the Juniata valley were numerous and ex-
tensive, and their beginning followed closely upon the building
of Rebecca furnace. He also owned ironworks in Bedford, Cam-
bria, Indiana, Westmoreland, Lancaster, Mercer, Allegheny, and
perhaps some other counties of Pennsylvania, and at Wheeling
in West Virginia. The Doctor was born at Manheim, Lancaster
county, in 1781 ; died at Marietta, Lancaster county, June 18,
1854, aged seventy-three years; and was buried at Laurel Hill
cemetery, Philadelphia. His widow is still living at Germantown,
at the age of ninety years. He left a large number of children,
who continued most of his iron enterprises.
A furnace and forge were built at Hopewell, in Bedford county,
about the year 1800, by William Lane, of Lancaster county. On
Yellow creek, two miles from Hopewell, Mr. Lane built Lemnos
forge and slitting-mill in 1806. In 1841 Loy & Patterson built
Lemnos furnace, on Yellow creek, two miles west of Hopewell, to
use charcoal, the firm leasing the lands from Mr. Lane. They blew
the furnace for a few years, when the property was sold, Messrs.
Karns, Horton & Gates purchasing it. They afterwards sold to
FIRST IRONWORKS IN THE JUNIATA VALLEY. 41
John and Thomas King. It has since changed hands several times,
and the furnace is now abandoned. Bedford forge, also on Yellow
creek, was built by Swope & King in 1812. Elizabeth furnace,
now Bloomfield, was built at Woodbfury, in Bedford county, in
1827, by King, Swope & Co., Doctor Shoenberger being the com-
pany, and owning one-half. In 1845 the furnace was removed to
Bloomfield, in Bedford county. In 1840 Bedford county, which
then embraced Fulton county and a part of Blair county, con-
tained nine furnaces and two forges. There are now no iron enter-
prises in Fulton county. There are three modern-built furnaces in
Bedford county one at Hopewell and two at Kiddlesburg. Han-
over furnace and forge, nine miles below M'Connellsburg, in
the Great Cove, in Fulton county, were built fifty years ago the
forge in 1822 by John Doyle, and the furnace in 1827 by John
Irvine. The "Hanover ironworks" were regarded in their day as
an extensive enterprise. They were abandoned, with many other
iron enterprises in the State, soon after the passage of the tariff of
1846. We are favored by James Pott, Esq., of M'Connellsburg,
with the following account of Hanover ironworks, which we publish
partly to illustrate the varying vicissitudes which the iron industry
of Pennsylvania has experienced in the past, and is even now ex-
periencing. No other business appears to be subject to so many
vicissitudes as the making of iron.
These works were located in Ayr township, known as the Great Cove, Bed-
ford (now Fulton) county, at a point nine miles southward of M'Connells-
burg. The works were commenced in 1822 by John Doyle, who had been
previously, and was then, I believe, engaged in the iron business at Mount
Pleasant (now Eichmond) ironworks, near Loudon, Franklin county, Pa. Mr.
Doyle built a forge only, which he operated but for a short time, and was suc-
ceeded by Thomas B. Dunn, who carried on the business until 1824, when the
property was sold to John Irvine. In 1827 Mr. Irvine built a furnace. Up
to this time the pig iron to supply the forge was obtained from Mount Pleas-
ant furnace. The iron business seems then to have been brisk, and in 1831
Mr. Irvine built another forge, and with the furnace and two forges he carried
on a lively business, manufacturing wrought iron and stoves and hollow ware,
employing, off and on, from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty hands. Mr.
Irvine operated the works with varying success until 1833, when he "suspend-
ed," and James E. Turner and Samuel Van Tries purchased the property and
operated it extensively until 1836, when Mr. Turner withdrew from the firm,
Mr. Van Tries becoming the sole proprietor, but soon after associating with
himself James B. Ross in the business. Under the new firm the works were
operated profitably and successfully for a while, but under the disastrous
effects of the "compromise tariff" of 1833 the iron business languished and
42 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
the firm failed in 1842. The property then reverted to William Pott, an
ironmaster at Loudon, Franklin county, Pa., as it had done on each similar
preceding occasion, he being the mortgagee in the case. Mr. Pott then leased
the works to James E. Turner, (the former associate of Mr. Van Tries,) in
1843. Mr. Turner operated on a limited scale, using the forges only, making
blooms, mainly from the iron in the mass of accumulated forge cinders of the
preceding years. In September, 1843, the works were almost entirely de-
stroyed by the great freshet of that time, and Mr. Turner did little after that
in the iron business.
William Pott now sold his Hanover ironworks property to John Pott,
formerly owner and operator of the Greenwood ironworks at Pottsville, Pa.,
and afterwards of Manheim ironworks, on the West Branch of the Schuylkill,
where the town of Cressona now stands. Encouraged by the revival of the
iron business by the stimulus given it by the protective tariff of 1842, Mr. Pott
took possession of these works in April, 1844, and at once set to work repairing
the damages of the freshet of 1843. He built a new furnace, which was put
into operation in the fall of 1844. The iron business was then remunerative,
and promised prosperity by reason of the vitality given it by the tariff of 1842.
The tariff of 1846 followed and worked disaster to the iron business of Penn-
sylvania, and in 1847 Mr. Pott made the last blast in Hanover furnace, aban-
doned the manufacture of iron, built a mill on the site of one of the forges,
and thenceforth devoted himself to agriculture and milling. This was the
end of Hanover ironworks, and nothing now remains to indicate its former
character except the stack of the furnace and the huge piles of slag and cin-
ders which bear evidence of the extent of the business during the period
between the years 1822 and 1847. Mr. Pott died in 1856, but the property
still remains in the hands of his family. The capacity of the respective fur-
naces was not large, being from fifteen to twenty tons of pig iron per week,
with cold blast and water-power.
Steel was made at Caledonia, near Bedford, for several years
before the beginning of this century. A circumstantial and very
interesting account of this enterprise is given in the following
extract from a letter addressed to James Park, Jr., of Pittsburgh,
by a distinguished citizen of Pennsylvania. The facts given in
this extract are now for the first time printed.
William McDermett, who was born near Glasgow, Scotland, emigrated to
this country at the close of the Kevolutionary war, say about 1783-84. He
married in England and brought his young wife with him. He possessed a
small capital. She was highly educated and accomplished. I have seen some
of the jewels, silver plate, and clothing which she brought with her. They
would indicate that her family were persons of some consideration. The
young couple landed at Philadelphia, and proceeded westward through Penn-
sylvania. He had, in Scotland, learned the art of making steel by some new
process, and believed the ores of Pennsylvania to be favorable to his project.
He went as far west as Bedford, attracted possibly by the name of the
FIRST IRONWORKS IN THE JUNIATA VALLEY. 43
which was well known to his wife in England. Going a short distance nearly
south of that town, and about a mile beyond the present Bedford Springs, he
seems to have found the location he was in search of, and there commenced
his work, having given to it the name of "Caledonia," by which it is yet
known to the residents of Bedford. He erected a log dwelling-house, con-
structed an extensive dam, and put up his machinery in a humble way. In
a few years he began to manufacture steel very successfully. It was sent by
his teams to the neighboring counties, and articles of merchandise brought
back in return. Many of his children, with whom I have conversed, remem-
ber handling the small bars of steel, seeing the departure of the teams, and
greeting them on their return. This continued for eight or ten years. At
about the close of the last century, when the family lived very comfortably
and their means were increasing, Mr. McDermett indorsed for one or more of
his neighbors who were in trouble. His fate was the common result of such
benevolence. The sheriff soon sold the establishment. Much of the farming
land now occupied by the proprietors of the Springs belonged to Mr. McDer-
mett, and the patents from the Commonwealth are found in his name. No
other person seems to have understood the art which he had thus successfully
put into practice. The house in which he lived still stands. The apple
orchard which he planted continues to bear some fruit; but his machinery
and works were gradually carried away and converted to other uses. A large
part of the dam yet remains, but those who annually fish in it for trout know
little of the enterprising man who built it. He moved with his family into
the village of Bedford, and lived for a few years in the stone house which
stands on one of the corners of the public square. When General Washing-
ton passed through Pennsylvania he rested at Bedford, and was the guest of
Mr. McDermett and his family. Several of the children were in the habit of
repeating the pleasant things which the General said to them during his visit.
A few years later Mr. McDermett moved to Spruce creek, in Huntingdon
county, on which a considerable iron business had sprung up. Here he ended
his days. His wife survived him for many years, and her children experi-
enced all the benefits of the liberal education which her acquirements enabled
her to impart to them. While she resided on Spruce creek, a young lawyer
named David B. Porter came there to learn the business of making iron. He
had studied his profession in Lancaster and Harrisburg, but was prevented
from practicing it by successive hemorrhages of the lungs. He was soon
employed by the Dorseys as the manager of their works, and afterwards for
many years exerted a large influence as a State Senator of Pennsylvania and
as Governor of the Commonwealth. He married one of the daughters of Mr.
McDermett. In old age Governor Porter was, perhaps, as well informed in
regard to the progress of the iron business in Pennsylvania as any other
citizen of the State. He always regarded Mr. McDermett as the chief pioneer
in the manufacture of steel, and greatly regretted that he had not, in his life-
time, committed the process to the keeping of some other person.
To the above we are enabled to add some additional particulars
concerning both Mr. McDermett and his distinguished son-in-law.
44 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
After Mr. McDermett's removal to Spruce creek, a forge and steel
works, called Claubaugh, were built on the creek by his nephew,
Thomas McDermett, at which steel was made by the process that
was used at Caledonia. We presume that blister and shear steel
were made by this process. These works passed into the hands of
Lloyd, Steel & Co. about the time of the death of William Mc-
Dermett in 1819 or 1820, by whom they were conducted for a few
years, when they were permanently abandoned.
David R. Porter was first employed for one year as a clerk
at Barree forge, and during the following year he was employed
as manager. He next entered into partnership with Edward B.
Patton in the building of Sligo forge, on Spruce creek, which
establishment passed out of their hands in 1819, in which year
Mr. Porter was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature
from Huntingdon county, from which event his successful politi-
cal career may be dated. In 1820 he married Josephine McDer-
mett, a lady of rare attainments.
Many other furnaces and forges and a few rolling-mills were
built in the upper part of Juniata valley after 1800. In 1832
there were in Huntingdon county, which then embraced Blair, eight
furnaces, ten forges, and one slitting and rolling mill in operation.
Each of the furnaces yielded from 1200 to 1600 tons of metal an-
nually. In the same year an incomplete list enumerated eight
furnaces and as many forges in Centre county. For many years
after the beginning of this century Huntingdon and Centre
counties constituted the principal iron-producing district in the
country, Pittsburgh and Eastern cities manufacturing the iron
which they supplied. This prominence in the production of iron
was maintained until after 1842, when the tariff of that year and
the discovery that iron could be made with anthracite and bitumi-
nous coal enabled other districts in the State and country to wrest
from these counties their iron sceptre. In 1850 there were in these
two counties and in Blair county (formed out of Huntingdon and
Bedford in 1846) and in Mifflin county forty-eight furnaces, forty-
two forges, and eight rolling-mills., nearly all of which were in
Huntingdon and Centre. These two counties have a long and most
honorable iron record.
There was a very early forge in Mifflin county, the site of which
is now in Juniata county. The following account of it is condensed
from a letter we have received from A. L. Guss, Esq., a native of
Juniata county.
FIRST IRONWORKS IN THE JUNIATA VALLEY. 45
Between 1794 and 1800 a forge was built on Licking creek, about a mile
and a half west of Mifflintown, then in Mifflin but now in Juniata county, by
William Sterrett and Thomas Beale. Sterrett was the son of an Indian trader,
and was the first white male child born within the present limits of Juniata
county, being born in Bingham Fort. Beale was a son of William Beale who
settled at Tuscarora Academy in 1754, and who came from East Cain, Chester
county. The forge was in operation for about four years. Some of the pig
iron for this forge was brought from Lancaster county, but most of it came
from Centre county. The supply from the latter county was hauled across
Seven mountains and loaded on arks at Lewistown and floated down the
Juniata to the place now known as Patterson, opposite Mifflintown, and thence
hauled to the forge. One of these arks suffered shipwreck above the head of
"the island." Much of the pig iron with which it was loaded was recovered
by the farmers and used as andirons in their houses, and in lime-kilns to hold
up the wood. In 1806 the forge was destroyed by fire. Its remains may be
seen at this day.
Hope furnace, six miles from Lewistown, and Freedom forge,
three miles from the same place, were built in 1810, and were
probably the first iron enterprises within the present limits of Mifflin
county. General James Lewis was one of the proprietors of Hope
furnace. la 1832 there were three furnaces and one forge in Mif-
flin county, and in 1850 there were five furnaces and two forges.
The first iron enterprise in Perry county was probably a forge
on Cocalamus creek, built in 1807 or 1808 by General Lewis, and
operated by him in connection with Hope furnace. It was aban-
doned about 1817. It had two fires and two hammers, and was
called Mount Vernon. Juniata furnace, three miles from Newport,
was built in 1808 by David Watts, Esq., an eminent lawyer of
Carlisle. In 1832 it was owned by Capt. William Power. A forge
called Fio was built on Sherman's creek, about four miles from
Duncannon, in Perry county, in 1829, by Lindley & Speek. A
forge was built at Duncannon in 1829 by Stephen Duncan and
John D. Mahon. Duncannon rolling-mill was built in 1838 by
Fisher, Morgan & Co. Montebello furnace, at Duncannon, was
built in 1834; Perry furnace, four miles from Bloomfield, in 1840;
Oak Grove, four miles from Landisburg, by Dr. Adam Hayes
and his brother John, in 1830 ; and Caroline, at Bailysburg, in
1833. These furnaces were built to use charcoal, and all have
been abandoned. There are several new anthracite furnaces in
this county, but nearly every one of them is now idle.
Elizabeth furnace, near Antestown, in Blair county, is said to
have been the first in the country to use gas from the tunnel-
head for the production of steam. The furnace was built in 1832,
46 i IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
and the gas was first used in 1836. The improvement was patented
in 1840, and as late as 1846 the owner of the furnace, Martin Bell,
charged other furnaces a royalty for the right to use the gas.
Among the names which have been prominent in the iron manu-
facture in the Juniata valley, special reference may be made, in
addition to Doctor Shoenberger and others who have been men-
tioned, to Henry S. Spang of Lancaster county, John Lyon of
Cumberland county, and Anthony Shorb of Lebanon county.
Early Ironworks in other Central and Eastern Counties. In
Clearfield, Clinton, and Tioga counties a few furnaces have been
built since 1811, when Washington furnace, on Fishing creek, at
Lamar, Clinton county, was built. It was in blast in 1875. But
nearly every other iron enterprise in these counties has proved to
be a financial failure. The furnace at Farrandsville, near the
mouth of Lick run, in Clinton county, which was built about 1834,
to use coke, sunk, in connection with a nail-mill, foundry, and
other enterprises, a large sum of money, said to be over half a
million dollars, contributed by Boston capitalists, William P. Far-
rand, of Philadelphia, being their agent. Mill Hall furnace, near
the mouth of Fishing creek, in this county, was built in 1831, by
George Bressler, in company with Messrs. Harvey, Wilson, and
Kinney, to use charcoal. In 1857 it was converted into an anthra-
cite furnace. Sugar Valley furnace, at Logansville, in Clinton
county, was built in 1834, and Washington forge, in the same
county, in 1837. Lamar furnace, at Salona, in the same county,
was built in 1831. Of the enterprises above named, Washington
furnace and forge are the only ones that have not been aban-
doned. In a sketch of Clearfield county, in Egle's History of
Pennsylvania, it is stated that "in 1814 Peter Karthaus, a native
of Hamburg, Germany, bi*t afterwards a resident merchant of Bal-
timore, established a furnace at the mouth of the Little Moshannon,
or Mosquito creek, in the lower end of the county." This furnace
was operated with partial success for several years. Between 1834
and 1837 it was converted into a coke furnace, but was soon after-
wards abandoned. The first furnace in Tioga county was built
at Blossburg to use charcoal, but in 1841 it was altered by J. G.
Boyd and another person to use coke. It soon chilled, however,
and was abandoned.
An early furnace in Ly coming county was built in 1820, four
miles from Jersey Shore, and named Pine Creek. In 1832 it
EARLY IRONWORKS IN OTHER EASTERN COUNTIES. 47
was owned by Kirk, Kelton & Co. A forge was added at the
same place in 1831. Heshbon forge, furnace, and rolling-mill,
on Lycoming creek, five miles above its mouth, were built, re-
spectively, in 1828, 1838, and 1842. Hepburn forge, on the same
creek, twelve miles north of Williamsport, was built in 1830,
and Crescent rolling-mill, one mile lower down the stream, was
built in 1842. About 1835 Astonville furnace, near Ralston, was
built to use coke, but charcoal was soon substituted. At Ralston
a charcoal furnace, rolling-mill, nail factory, etc., were erected
by the Lycoming Valley Iron Company in 1837. In 1850 there
were three furnaces, three forges, and two rolling-mills in this
county.
Esther furnace, about three miles south of Catawissa, on East
Roaring creek, in Columbia county, was built in 1802 by Michael
Bitter & Son, who cast a great many stoves. In 1836 the furnace
was rebuilt by Trago & Thomas. Catawissa furnace, on. Furnace
run, near Mainville, in Columbia county, was built in 1815, and a
forge was built at the same place in 1824, on Catawissa creek. In
1832 there were two furnaces and two forges in Catawissa township.
In 1837 Briar Creek furnace, two miles from Berwick, in Columbia
county, was built. It has not been in blast since 1849. In 1845
Fincher & Thomas built Penn charcoal furnace, on Catawissa
creek, one mile east of Catawissa. All these furnaces have been
abandoned, but the forge at Mainville is still active. The Iron-
dale anthracite furnaces, two stacks, were built at Bloomsburg in
1844 and 1845. Bloom furnace, to use anthracite, was built on
the North Branch canal, near Bloomsburg, by William McKelvy,
William Neal, and Jacob Melick in 1853, and put in blast April
14, 1854. A charcoal furnace, called Liberty, was built at Moores-
burg, in Montour county, in 1838. The first furnace at Danville,
in Montour county, was built in 1838 to use charcoal, but was
altered to use anthracite the following year, when two other fur-
naces were built to use the new fuel, followed in 1840 by a fourth,
and soon after by others. Danville rolling-mill was built in 1845,
Montour in 1845, and Rough-and-Ready in 1847 all at Danville.
A furnace and forge were in operation in Shamokin township,
Northumberland county, as early as 1830, probably Paxinas. A
furnace was built at Shamokin in 1841 to use anthracite. It was
followed by Chulasky furnace in 1846, also anthracite. A fur-
nace and forge were built near Hartleytown, in Union county,
in 1827, and called Berlin. They were followed by Forest, near
48 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Milton, in 1846, and Beaver, near Middleburg, in 1848 both char-
coal furnaces. Union furnace, to use anthracite, was built in
1854 at Winfield, Union county, by Beaver, Geddes, Marsh & Co.
Nescopeck forge, near Berwick, in Luzerne county, was built in
1824, and abandoned about 1854. Shickshinny charcoal furnace
was built in 1846. In 1811 Francis McShane established a
small cut-nail manufactory in Wilkesbarre, "and used anthracite
coal in smelting the iron." The first rolling-mill in this county
was Wyoming, at Wilkesbarre, built in 1842, and followed by
Lackawanna, at Scranton, in 1844. Wyoming was abandoned
about 1850. Luzerne is now one of the most prominent iron
counties in the State. It owes most of this prominence to the
courage, energy, and business sagacity of two brothers, George W.
and Selden T. Scranton, and their cousin, Joseph H. Scranton. One
of the five furnaces of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company
at Scranton, in the organization of which they were the leading
spirits, is the widest in the State 23 feet at the bosh, and another
was the highest in the State 80 feet, but now reduced to 70 feet.
A forge was built at Stroudsburg, in Monroe county, in 1829,
called Analomink. In 1843 Day styled it a "large forge."
There is some obscurity concerning the early iron enterprises of
Dauphin county, arising partly from its connection with Lancaster
county down to 1785 and with Lebanon county down to 1813, ren-
dering it difficult to separate the enterprises of Dauphin county
from those of the other counties. Iron was doubtless made within
its limits as early as 1800, and probably by members of the Grubb
family. Henry Fulton established a "nailery" in Dauphin county
in 1785, probably at Harrisburg. It is said to have been " only a
little remote from a smithy." Lesley describes Mount Vernon fur-
nace, built in 1800, and a forge of the same name, on the Conewago
river, " on the borders of Dauphin county." In 1805 there were
two furnaces and two forges in the county. Oakdale forge, at
Elizabethville, appears to have been built in 1830. Victoria fur-
nace, on Clark's creek, was built in 1830. Gordon, in his Gazet-
teer of Pennsylvania, says there were three forges and two furnaces
in the county in 1832. Emeline furnace, at Dauphin, was built
about 1835. The first furnace at Middletown in this county was
built in 1833, and a second furnace was built in 1849, both cold-
blast charcoal. Manada furnace, at West Hanover, was built in
1837 by E. B. & C. B. Grubb. The first rolling-mill in the county
was the old Harrisburg mill, at Harrisburg, built in 1836. Fair-
FIRST IRONWORKS WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES. 49
view rolling-mill, on the Cumberland side of the Susquehanna,
two miles above Harrisburg, was built in 1831. The first anthra-
cite furnace in the county was built at Harrisburg in 1845 by
Governor David R. Porter. Hon. Simon Cameron has been promi-
nently identified with the iron interest of this county. The Penn-
sylvania steel works, the first Bessemer steel enterprise in the State,
are in this county. They went into operation in 1867.
Chestnut Grove furnace, at Whitestown, in Adams county, was
built in 1830. About 1830 there was a furnace in this county
named Maria, owned by Stevens & Paxton (Thaddeus Stevens).
Schuylkill county has had several forges, mainly at or near Port
Clinton, the first of which at that place appears to have been built
in 1801. In 1800 Messrs. Reese & Thomas made preparations
toward building a furnace and forge where Pottsville now stands.
Prior to 1804 a small charcoal furnace was built by them at this
place. In 1807 Greenwood furnace and forge were erected at
Pottsville by John Pott, the founder of the town, which was laid
out in 1816. In 1832 Gordon gave the ironworks then in opera-
tion in Schuylkill county as follows : Greenwood furnace and forge,
and Schuylkill, Brunswick, Pine Grove, Mahanoy, and Swatara
forges. A furnace called Swatara, six miles from Pine Grove, was
built in 1830, which was followed by Stanhope furnace, still nearer
to Pine Grove, in 1835. Other iron enterprises have since been
established in this county.
First Ironworks West of the Alleghenies. The first iron manu-
factured west of the Allegheny mountains was made in Fayette
county, Pennsylvania. F. H. Oliphant, of Uniontown, awards to
John Hayden, of Fayette county, the honor of having made " the
first iron in a smith's fire" as early as 1790. Taking a sample
on horseback to Philadelphia, he enlisted John Nicholson of that
city in a scheme for building Fairfield furnace, seven miles south
of Uniontown, on George's creek, and the two "then went on to
build the furnace." Mr. Oliphant thinks this was the first fur-
nace, the date of the erection of which he fixes at " about 1790,"
but Bishop says that the first furnace "was built by Turnbull &
Marmie, of Philadelphia, on Jacob's creek, between Fayette and
Westmoreland counties, fifteen miles above its entrance into the
Youghiogheny river. It was first blown in November 1, 1790,
and produced a superior quality of metal both for castings and
bar iron, some of it having been tried the same day in a forge
50 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
which the proprietors had erected at the place." The date given
here is correct, but the location given to the furnace is erroneous.
Craig, in his History of Pittsburgh, (1851,) gives currency to the
error in locating this furnace. It was built two and a half miles
above the mouth of Jacob's creek, on the Fayette bank, and called
the Alliance iron works. The stack is still standing, but in ruins.
The furnace was successfully operated for many years. John
Holkar, the French naval agent at Philadelphia, was a silent
partner with Turnbull & Marmie. The firm was dissolved August
22, 1793, Peter Marmie taking the works on Jacob's creek, and
William Turnbull retiring. Craig gives an extract from a letter
by Major Craig, Deputy Q. M. General and Military Storekeeper
at Fort Pitt, to General Knox, dated January 12, 1792, as follows:
"As there is no six-pound shot here, I have taken the liberty to
engage four hundred at Turnbull & Marmie's furnace, which is now
in blast."
Mr. Oliphant says : " I find by my father's books that he and
his brother Andrew (John and Andrew Oliphant) bought a half
interest in Fairfield in 1795, the parties carrying it on six months
alternately for a few years. It then fell into the hands of J. & A.
Oliphant." This proves that the furnace was built before 1795.
Hon. James Veech says that it was built in 1792.
On the 29th of March, 1871, Mr. Veech published in the Pitts-
burgh Commercial a communication concerning early ironmaking
in Fayette county, from which we quote the following notice of
the pioneer, John Hayden :
In the spring of 1789, John Hayden, who had lived in the red-ore iron
region of New Jersey, hauled over the mountains, from Hagerstown to
Brownsville, Fayette county, a four-horse wagon load of goods for Jacob
Bowman, who had come from the former to the latter place in 1787, at which
he was a prominent merchant and citizen for half a century. Hayden was
nearly a month in making the trip hauling 2,100 pounds at $3 per hundred.
Pleased with the beautiful valley at the western base of the Laurel Hill
Mountain the last of the chain south of the Youghiogheny, and tired of
teaming, he resolved to settle in " the West," and at once removed to near
Uniontown. He soon bought out a settler near to where is now " Fairchance
Oliphant's) ironworks," and fixed his abode upon it in the spring of 1790.
On the land was a log dwelling, not yet chunked and daubed ; and as winter
approached, Hayden betook himself to stopping the interstices. For this he
must needs have mortar, which, he thought, could not be well made without
lime or calcined oyster or clam shells. As the latter could not be had, he looked
around for limestone. In gathering what he supposed were limestones from
the bed of a stream, he gathered unwittingly " blue lump" iron ore, so
FIRST IRONWORKS WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES. 51
unlike the Jersey ores that he never suspected the cheat. He made up a pile
of it to burn, with wood, and, after supposing it well burnt, plunged lump after
lump of it into water and found it wouldn't slick, and that it was as heavy as
when he took it from the run. Coming to the conjecture that it was some
new form or color of iron ore, he resolved to test it. The expedient was
an improvised furnace upon a blacksmith's hearth ; but none of the smiths
in the neighborhood would entertain the experiment. Having a Jersey
acquaintance, a smith, in the vicinity of Connellsville, he had resort to him.
He had faith enough in the blue lumps to allow the experiment on his
hearth. After long and repeated efforts at heating and hammering, the
result was a piece of iron, as Hayden used to say, " about as big as a harrow-
tooth." Elated with his discovery, Hayden put his "harrow-tooth" and
some of the ore in his saddle-bags and rode off to New Jersey, to enlist some
of his iron acquaintances in the project of building a furnace and forge in
Fayette. None of them would join him in the enterprise. He came back to
Philadelphia, where, after his discovery became known, he succeeded in
securing the favor of the celebrated John Nicholson, then State Comptroller,
and in the zenith of his fame and speculations, which were ultimately so
disastrous to himself and the finances of the Commonwealth. Nicholson
soon after joined him, and thereupon "took up" large tracts of land in and
near the base of Laurel Hill, embracing the territory of Hayden's "blue
lump" discoveries. Hayden, about 1792, with the aid of Nicholson, built
a little furnace called Fairfield, near to where is now Fairchance ; but his
patron went down and John Hayden followed ; and in a few years the father
of F. H. Oliphant succeeded to his furnace and possessions. It may be set
down as certain that John Hayden, in 1790, made the first iron west of the
mountains. But his furnace was not in operation until after others, profiting
by his discovery, had built furnaces and begun the manufacture of castings.
Union furnace, now Dunbar furnace, was built by Colonel Isaac
Meason, on Dunbar creek, four miles south of Connellsville, in 1791.
The tradition is preserved that Union furnace was put in blast in
March, 1791. We have already stated that Turnbull & Marmie's
furnace was put in blast in November, 1790. Union furnace
was succeeded in 1793 by another and a larger furnace of the same
name, built near the same site by Colonel Meason and Moses Dil-
lon. Another early furnace was Fairchance, six miles south of
Uniontown, on George's creek, built by John Hayden, William
Squire, and Thomas Wynn in 1794. J. & A. Oliphant bought
it in a dilapidated condition about 1805. It was rebuilt two or
three times, and kept in operation until 1873. A forge was built
near the furnace about 1794. Another of Colonel Meason's enter-
prises was Mount Vernon furnace, on Mountz's creek, eight miles
east of its mouth, built before July, 1800, as appears from an
old advertisement. In 1801 it was rebuilt, as appears from an
52 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
inscription which is yet preserved. The stack was built of large
blocks of sandstone, and is still standing. It is thirty-three feet
high and eight feet wide at the bosh. The furnace was last operated
in 1824. Laurel furnace, on Laurel run, near Union furnace, was
built by Mockbee & Wurts before 1800, and subsequently rebuilt by
James Paull on another site. The firm named also built Hampton
forge, to work up the pig metal of Laurel furnace. In May, 1800,
John Ferrel, manager, advertised for sale castings, "neat, light,
and tough," at $100 a ton ; also bar iron. He expected soon to
have "some rolled iron, nail rods, and cut nails," the latter at
eight cents a pound. Redstone furnace, three miles east of Union-
town, was built in 1800. Joseph Huston was one of its first
owners, and was followed by his nephew, Judge John Huston, and
afterwards by John Snyder. A forge on the head waters of
George's creek was owned by Thomas Lewis and Philip Jenkins
in 1800, when it was advertised for sale by the sheriff Spring
Hill furnace was built in 1805 by Robert Jones, and afterwards
fell into the hands of Jesse Evans. Mary Ann furnace, nine miles
from Uniontown, was built by Richard Lewis in 1800, and in 1818
was bought by the present owner, Joseph Victor, who lived on the
premises in 1877, at the age of about 90 years. He rebuilt or re-
paired the furnace, and changed its name to Fairview.
Other furnaces were built in Fayette county early in the present
century, among them the following : Pine Grove, eleven miles from
Uniontown, built about 1805, and owned in 1857 by Basil Brown-
field ; Mount Etna, one and a half miles above Connellsville ; Cen-
tre, nine miles from Uniontown, on Dunbar creek ; Fayette, twelve
miles from Connellsville ; Little Falls, twelve miles from Union-
town, by Nathaniel Gibson ; St. John's, built by James Paull,
eight miles from Connellsville. There was a forge at Little Falls
as early as 1809. Breakneck or Findley furnace was built about
1826, four miles northeast of Connellsville. In 1805 there were
five furnaces and six forges in Fayette county. In 1811 there
were ten blast furnaces, one air furnace, eight forges, three rolling
and slitting mills, one steel furnace, and five trip-hammers. The
steel furnace was owned by Morris Truman & Co., at Bridgeport,
adjoining Brownsville, and made good steel. In 1816 Colonel
Isaac Meason built a mill for puddling iron and rolling bars at
Plumsock, in this county, of which we shall speak hereafter.
It will be seen that Fayette county was a great iron centre at
the close of the last and the beginning of the present century.
THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT IRON IN FORGES. 53
For many years Pittsburgh and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys
were almost entirely supplied by it with castings of all kinds, and
with pig and bar iron. Long before 1850, however, the fires in
most of its furnaces and forges were suffered to die out. In 1849
only four of its furnaces made iron. In 1876 the county con-
tained five furnaces and one rolling-mill.
A furnace named Mary Ann was erected at a very early day
about twenty miles from Uniontown, in Greene county, on the
opposite side of Ten Mile creek from Clarksville. It was aban-
doned long before 1820. Hon. James Veech writes us that he
remembers the ruins of it well. The stack was visible for some
time after 1840. He has an advertisement by "Samuel Harper,
agent for the proprietors," dated July 23, 1810, for its sale, naming
it as " The Iron Works," late the property of Captain James Robin-
son. It was probably built about 1800. Gordon, in his Gazetteer,
(1832,) says that "there were formerly in operation on Ten-Mile
creek a forge and furnace, but they have been long idle and are
falling to decay." Day, in his Historical Collections, (1843,) says
" a forge and furnace were formerly in operation near the mouth
of Ten-Mile creek, but were suffered to decline." These references
are clearly to Robinson's works. We think that Greene county has
never had any other iron enterprise within Its limits.
From 1790 to 1800 it is probable that twenty furnaces were
built in Pennsylvania. One of these was located within about
three miles of Pittsburgh, near the present suburb of Shady Side.
It was soon abandoned. We shall refer to it farther on. The
first nail factory west of the Alleghenies was built at Browns-
ville, before 1800, by Jacob Bowman, at which wrought nails, made
by hand, were produced in large quantities.
Description of the Primitive Method of Manufacturing Wrought
Iron. From a letter received by us from Mr. Oliphant we quote
an interesting description of the early method of manufacturing
wrought iron from the ore in Western Pennsylvania. It is the
same that was in use at an earlier day in other sections of the State.
The first wrought iron made west of the Alleghenies was by blooming the
ore from the Fairfield mines, blue lump, by Mr. John Hayden, one of the
proprietors of Fairfield furnace. The process was to burn the ore and then
pulverize it by stamping very fine. Then it was placed in an open fire, 18
inches square by 15 inches deep, formed of stone, having a tuyere 5 inches
54 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA,
below the top, one inch in diameter, supplied by blast from tubs, and water-
wheel to drive the tubs, making a half pound to the inch: fuel, charcoal.
Work commenced by filling the open fire with charcoal ; when lighted up
fully applying the blast in the tuyere ; then applying the pulverized ore with
a shovel by putting it on slowly above the blast, and as it melted the iron ran
down below the blast, the cinder being drawn off, and when the space below
the blast was filled up to the tuyere, being in a solid mass, it was raised out
by a bar 100 Ibs. in weight, and taken to a hammer weighing 500 Ibs., driven
by a water-wheel at the rate of from fifty to two hundred strokes per minute.
The chunk was hammered into a bloom ; then one end was heated in the same
fire to a welding heat, and drawn into what was called an anchony. When
some twenty or thirty of these were made, they then enlarged the fire to 20
inches square and 20 inches deep, and heated the bloom or large end, and drew
it out under the hammer into bars of various lengths, from five to ten feet long,
and various widths and thicknesses, ready for market.
When the furnaces were got under way, and pig metal was being made, old-
fashioned Dutch fires were made to work the pig metal into anchonies, and
draw it out into bars. Some ten or twelve of these forges were built up
through the county by the persons owning the furnaces, J. & A. Oliphant
putting up the first two on George's creek, six miles below the furnaces, and
called Sylvan forges. These forges were all built alike, four fires each, three
for making the anchonies and one a chaffery to draw them out into bars.
All the furnaces and forges dropped off one by one until all were stopped
in the county, except Fairchance and Redstone, the latter going occasionally
from 1832 up to 1856. Fairchance, building a rolling-mill in 1834, supplied
this whole section with iron, nails, etc., for twenty years, the only ironworks
in constant operation. Fairchance built the rolling-mill, making all the
machinery castings out of the furnace iron, even the large fly-wheels. The
steam cylinder and blast cylinder were brought from abroad.
The First Rolling -Mills West of the Alleghenies. Doubtless roll-
ing and slitting mills, for the manufacture of nail rods principally,
were established west of the Alleghenies soon after the first furnace
and forge were built in 1790, but specific information concerning the
first ventures of this kind is wanting. Cramer's Pittsburgh Alma-
nac for 1812 says that in 1811 there were three such mills in Fayette
county. The first rolling-mill of any kind west of the Allegheny
mountains of which we can obtain exact information is described
in the Almanac for 1813, issued in 1812, as follows: "Jackson &
Updegraif, on Cheat river, have in operation a furnace, forge, roll-
ing and slitting mill, and nail factory nails handsome, iron tough."
Like all the rolling and slitting mills of that day and of many
preceding days, the Cheat river mill neither puddled iron nor rolled
bar iron, but rolled only sheet iron and nail plates with plain rolls
ROLLING-MILLS WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES. 55
from blooms heated in a hollow fire and hammered under a tilt-
hammer. The nail plates were slit into nail rods by a series of
revolving disks. In reference to the Cheat river enterprise, Mr.
Veech writes us that its location was in West Virginia, on the road
from Uniontown to Morgantown, about three miles south of the
Pennsylvania State line, and eight miles north of Morgantown.
The honor of having erected the first rolling-mill at Pittsburgh
is undoubtedly due to Christopher Cowan, an Englishman, who
built a mill here in 1812. But this mill had no puddling furna-
ces, nor was it built to roll bar iron. It was intended to and cer-
tainly did manufacture sheet iron, nail and spike rods, shovels,
spades, etc. The same number of the Pittsburgh Almanac from
which we have last quoted says of this enterprise : " Christopher
Cowan is erecting a powerful steam-engine, 70 horse-power, to run
a rolling-mill, slitting-mill, and tilt hammer ; to make iron, nails,
sheet iron, spike and nail rods, shovels and tongs, spades, scythes,
sickles, hoes, axes, frying pans, cutting knives, chains, plough irons,
hatchets, claw hammers, chizzels, augurs, spinning-wheel irons, and
smiths' vises capital $100,000."
The first rolling-mill erected west of the Alleghenies to puddle
iron and roll iron bars was built in 1816 and 1817 on Redstone
creek, about midway between Connellsville and Brownsville, at a
place called Middletown, better known as Plumsock, in Fayette
county. The enterprise was undertaken by Colonel Isaac Mea-
son, of Union furnace, who had forges at Plumsock. Thomas C.
Lewis was chief engineer in the erection of the mill, and George
Lewis, his brother, was turner and roller. They were Welshmen.
The project was conceived by Thomas C. Lewis, and by him pre-
sented to Colonel Meason. This mill was much more complete
than Cowan's. Mr. Oliphant tells us that it was built " for making
bars of all sizes and hoops for cutting into nails." He says further
that " the iron was refined by blast, and then puddled. It was
kept in operation up to 1824, the latter part of the time by Mr.
Palmer." A flood in the Redstone caused the partial destruction
of the mill, the machinery of which was subsequently taken to
Brownsville.
In an interview with Samuel C. Lewis, of Pittsburgh, the son
of Thomas C. Lewis, he informs us that his father and his uncle
George Lewis not only superintended the erection and put in
operation the mill for which these honors are claimed, but that
he himself as a boy assisted in rolling the first bar of iron, his
56 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
uncle being the chief roller. In addition to Thomas C. and George
Lewis, two other brothers participated in the work of starting the
mill and in the rolling of the first bar Samuel Lewis, heater, and
James Lewis, catcher. At the same time Henry W. Lewis, another
brother, was a clerk in the office. Samuel C. Lewis, our informant,
was a boy of fifteen years, and " heaved up " behind the rolls. The
mill contained two puddling furnaces, one refinery, one heating
furnace, and one tilt-hammer. Raw coal was used in the puddling
and heating furnaces and coke in the refinery. James Pratt worked
the refinery, and David Adams was the puddler. The mill went
into operation in September, 1817. Mr. Lewis tells us that his father
and uncle, being skilled workmen, and therefore prohibited by an
English statute from leaving their native land, were compelled to
smuggle their passage across the Atlantic. He further informs us
that his father, before going to Plumsock, unsuccessfully endeavored
to induce Eastern ironmasters to introduce puddling furnaces and
rolls for bar iron.
Was Plumsock the First Mill to Roll Bars and Puddle Pig Iron f
We think it extremely probable that at this mill was done the
first puddling and that here was rolled the first bar iron in America.
Careful inquiry in well-informed quarters fails to discover the exist-
ence in the United States of any rolling-mill to roll bar iron and
puddle pig iron prior to the enterprise at Plumsock in 1816. Ralph
Crooker, of the Bay State ironworks, at Boston, the oldest rolling-
mill superintendent in the United States, writes us that the first
bar iron rolled in New England was rolled at the Boston iron-
works, on the Mill Dam in Boston, in 1825, and that the first pud-
dling done in New England was at Boston, on the Mill Dam, by
Lyman Ralston & Co., in 1835. We can not learn of any mill in
Eastern Pennsylvania that either puddled iron or rolled bars as
early as 1816.
We have, however, obtained the curious information that a patent
was granted to Clemens Rentgen, of Kimberton, Chester county,
Pa., as late as June 27, 1810, for a machine to roll iron in round
shapes, proving that Cort's rolls had not then been introduced into
the United States. Mr. Rentgen was a native of the Palatinate,
(now Bavaria,) in Germany, and emigrated from the town of
Zweibriicken in 1791 to Kimberton, about six miles from Phoenix-
ville, where he purchased a forge on French creek. At Knauer-
town he built steel works, at which he undertook to manufacture
THE FIRST COMPLETE ROLLING-MILL IN PENNSYLVANIA. 57
steel. The steel works were, however, not successful. His forge
was continued, and to it he added a small rolling-mill. His various
enterprises were known as the "Pikeland works," Pikeland being
the name of the township in which they were situated. On the
17th day of November, 1796, he obtained a patent for "forging
bolts or round iron," which he described as follows :
This machine consists of a strong platform, of a given size, in which are
fixed two upright posts. In these posts is fixed an axle going through the
handle of a concave hammer or sledge, at the extreme end of which is fixed
a cogwheel, whose cogs, operating on the lever or handle of the said concave
hammer or sledge, cause it to operate upon a concave anvil upon which the
iron to be wrought is placed. The concavity of this anvil is about one-eighth
of the dimensions of that of the said hammer or sledge. This machine is set
in motion by water or any other adequate power, by wheels operating upon
the said cogwheel.
On the 27th day of June, 1810, Mr. Rentgen obtained a patent,
noticed above, for "rolling iron round, for ship bolts and other
uses," which he thus described :
This machine consists of two large iron rollers, fixed in a strong frame.
Each roller has concavities turned in them, meeting each other to form per-
fect round holes, of from half inch to one and three-quarter inches or any
other size in diameter, through which rollers the iron is drawn from the mouth
of the furnace with great dispatch, and the iron is then manufactured better
and more even than it is possible to forge it out. The force applied to the
end of these rollers is like that applied to mills.
The original patents of Mr. Rentgen have been shown to us by
his descendant, Professor William H. Wahl, of Philadelphia. We
learn from this gentleman that Mr. Rentgen made some use of his
patent anvil and hammer, and that, before obtaining the patent in
1810 for his method of rolling round iron, he built an experimental
set of rolls, which were replaced after the patent was granted by
a permanent set, with which he rolled round iron as early as 1812
or 1813, some of which was for the Navy Department of the United
States Government. We do not learn that he ever rolled bar iron,
and it is not claimed that he used puddling furnaces.
It is a curious fact, which may not be known to many of the
present generation of American ironmasters, that pig iron has been
puddled in this country with wood, as it is now at some places in
Sweden ; and by the term wood we do not mean charcoal. Prior
to 1850 puddling with wood was done at Horatio Ames's works, at
58 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Falls Village, in Connecticut ; and the Katahdin ironworks, in
Maine, puddled with wood in that year. From 1821 to 1825 the
Fall River rolling-mill, in Massachusetts, used wood in heating
iron for nail plates in reverberatory furnaces.
Beginning of the Iron Industry at Pittsburgh. The iron industry
of Pittsburgh, the most important iron centre in the country, did
not have an existence in the last century, although a blast furnace
was built within a few miles of the town before its close, as already
stated. As the site of this blast furnace is now embraced within
the city limits, we give place here to a full account of it and of its
founder, which we have derived from trustworthy original sources.
George Anshutz, the pioneer in the manufacture of iron at Pitts-
burgh, was an Alsacian by birth, Alsace at the time being under
the control of France. He Avas born November 28, 1753. He
acquired some knowledge of the iron business by having the man-
agement of a foundry in the vicinity of Strasbiirg. In 1789 he
emigrated to the United States, and soon afterwards located at a
place now known as Shady Side, where he built a small furnace,
probably completing it in 1792. In 1794 the furnace was abandon-
ed. It had been expected that ore could be obtained in the vicin-
ity, but the expectation was not realized. The neighborhood produ-
ced little else than red shale. Recourse was next had to a deposit
of iron ore on Roaring run, an affluent of the Kiskiminetas, in the
southeastern corner of Armstrong county, from which supplies were
received in arks at a point on the Allegheny near to the furnace.
Some ore was also brought by difficult wagon transportation from
the vicinity of Fort Ligonier and Laughlinstown, in Westmoreland
county. But the expense entailed in bringing ore from localities so
difficult of access in those days was too great to justify the con-
tinued working of the furnace. After its abandonment Anshutz
accepted the management of John Probst's Westmoreland furnace,
near Laughlinstowu, and continued there about one year, whence he
removed to Huntingdon county, where, in connection with Judge
John Gloninger and Mordecai Massey, he built Huntingdon furnace
in 1796. Massey owned the land, Gloninger furnished the money,
and Anshutz supplied the necessary experience and skill, with an
understanding, we believe, that he was subsequently to become a
partner. In 1808 he became the owner of one-fourth interest in
the furnace. At this furnace most of the remaining years of his
BEGINNING OF THE IRON INDUSTRY AT PITTSBURGH. 59
long and useful and prosperous life were spent. When about
eighty years of age he retired from active business, and with his
family removed to the scene of his early trials, Pittsburgh, about
1833. Here he died, February 28, 1837, at the age of eighty-
three, in a house that had been built under his own directions, on
the bank of the Monongahela river. He was buried in the old
German burying-ground in Pittsburgh, but his remains were some
years afterwards removed to Allegheny cemetery. He left a large
number of descendants.
Anshutz's furnace at Pittsburgh was built at a point about four
miles east of the site of Fort Pitt, and midway between the Allegheny
and Monongahela rivers, on a stream known then and now as Two-
Mile run, on the bank of which Colonel Jonas Roup had previously
at an early period, after emigrating from the Cumberland valley,
erected a grist and saw mill. In 1794 the fire of the furnace lighted
up the camp of the participants in the whisky insurrection. There
was no forge connected with the furnace. The enterprise seems to
have been largely devoted to the casting of stoves and grates, which,
with the coal from the surrounding hills, gave comfort and cheer to
the people of the neighborhood. The ruins of the furnace disap-
peared about 1850 from the spot that had long known them, within
the eastern line of the Roup farm, and now within the enclosure of
William O'Hara Scully, at Shady Side. When the track of the
Pennsylvania Railroad was graded at Shady Side, in 1851, a por-
tion of the furnace building was demolished and a part of its founda-
tion was removed. Subsequently, in digging the cellar of Alexander
Pitcairn's house, a portion of the cinder bank was exposed.
Second Stage in the Development of the Iron Industry at Pitts-
burgh. The first iron foundry at Pittsburgh was established in
1803 by Joseph McClurg, on the site of the present post-office
and the city hall. In 1812 it was converted by him into a cannon
foundry. In 1807 there were three nail factories in existence in
Pittsburgh Porter's, Sturgeon's, and Stewart's, according to Cra-
mer's Almanac, one of which made 100 tons of cut and wrought
nails annually. In 1810 about 200 tons of cut and wrought
nails were made at Pittsburgh. The first steamboat on the Ohio
river, the New Orleans, was built at Pittsburgh in 1811. In 1813
there were two foundries in Pittsburgh, McClurg's and Anthony
Beelen's ; one steel furnace, owned by Tuper & McKowan ; and
60 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
one rolling-mill, owned by Christopher Cowan. Cowan's rolling-
mill was known as the Pittsburgh rolling-mill. The first "patent"
nail machine introduced into Pittsburgh is said to have been used
in this rolling-mill in 1814. The second rolling-mill in Pitts-
burgh was the Union, on the Monongahela river, built in 1819,
and accidentally blown up and permanently dismantled in 1829,
the machinery being taken to Covington, Kentucky. This mill
had four puddling furnaces, the first in Pittsburgh. It was also
the first mill in Pittsburgh to roll bar iron.
The following rolling-mills were in operation at Pittsburgh in
1826: Sligo mill was erected where it now stands by Robert T.
Stewart and John Lyon in 1825, but was partly burned down that
year. The Juniata ironworks were owned by Dr. Peter Shoenber-
ger, and were erected in 1824. Grant's Hill works were erected
in 1821 by William B. Hays and David Adams. They stood near
where the court-house now stands. Water for the generation of
steam had to be hauled from the Monongahela river. The Union
rolling-mill, located east of Kensington, (Pipetown,) was the largest
and most extensive of the kind in the Western country. It was
built in 1819, and owned by Messrs. Baldwin, Robinson, McNickle
& Beltzhoover. The Dowlais works, in Kensington, were built by
George Lewis and Reuben Leonard in 1825. At Penn street and
Cecil's alley, where the Fourth Ward schoolhouse now stands, stood
the Pittsburgh rolling-mill, built in 1812, and in 1826 owned
by R. Bowen. On Pine creek was the mill of M. B. Belknap,
operated by both steam and water power. In 1817 this mill was
a scythe and sickle factory. All of these mills did not make bar
iron in 1826 : some only manipulated rolled and hammered iron.
In 1825 there were "eight air foundries and a cupola furnace"
in Pittsburgh. Pig metal for the supply of these foundries and the
rolling-mills was in part obtained from blast furnaces in the neigh-
boring counties, but much of it was brought from the Juniata
valley, which also supplied the mills with most of their blooms.
The Juniata pig iron and blooms were hauled over the Allegheny
mountains to Johnstown, usually on sleds in the winter season,
and taken down the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and Allegheny riv-
ers to Pittsburgh with the spring and fall freshets.
In 1829 Pittsburgh had eight rolling-mills, using 6,000 tons of
blooms, chiefly from the Juniata valley, and 1,500 tons of pig metal.
In the same year there were nine foundries that consumed 3,500
tons of metal. In 1828 the iron rolled was 3,291 tons ; in 1829 it
EARLY IRONWORKS IN WESTMORELAND COUNTY. 61
was 6,217 tons ; and in 1830 it was 9,282 tons. It is stated that
in 1830 one hundred steam-engines were built. In 1831 there were
two steel furnaces, and cast iron began to be used for pillars, the
caps and sills of windows, etc. In 1836 there were nine rolling-
mills in operation, and eighteen foundries, engine-factories, and
machine-shops. In 1856 there were in Pittsburgh and Allegheny
county twenty-five rolling-mills and thirty-three foundries.
There were no blast furnaces in Pittsburgh and Allegheny county
in 1858, but now there are twelve. Clinton furnace, built in 1859,
by Graff, Bennett & Co., and blown in on the last Monday of
October in that year, was the first furnace to be built in Allegheny
county after the abandonment in 1794 of George Anshutz's furnace
at Shady Side a surprisingly long interregnum. Clinton furnace
was followed in 1861 by the two Eliza furnaces of Laughlin & Co.,
and soon afterwards by others. The Lucy and Isabella furnaces
have yielded larger weekly products of iron than any other fur-
naces in the country. The ores used at Pittsburgh are mainly
obtained from the Lake Superior mines, but those of Missouri
also furnish a large proportion.
There are thirty-two rolling-mills in Pittsburgh and Allegheny
county in 1876, four of which make steel as well as iron. There
are nine other establishments which make only steel. The Edgar
Thomson Bessemer steel works, completed in 1875, occupy the site
of Braddock's Field. The most surprising fact connected with the
iron industry of Pittsburgh is that it all should have had its
growth since the beginning of the present century.
Beginning of the Iron Industry in Other Western Counties.
Westmoreland furnace, near Laughlinstown, in Ligonier valley,
Westmoreland county, on Four Mile run, a branch of Loyal-
hanna creek, was built about 1792 by John Probst, who also
built a small forge about the same time. Neither the furnace nor
the forge was long in operation, both probably ceasing to make
iron about 1810. Colonel John McFarland, of Ligonier, informs
us that he has used iron made at these works. On the 1st of
August, 1795, George Anshutz, manager of Westmoreland furnace,
advertised stoves and castings for sale. General Arthur St. Clair
built Hermitage furnace, on Mill creek, two miles northeast of
Ligonier, on the road to Johnstown, about 1802. It was managed
for its owner by James Hamilton. The following advertisement
appeared in The Farmer's Register, printed at Greensburg, Pa.,
62 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
November 21, 1806, by John M. Snowden. This advertisement
had for its caption, " Hermitage Furnace in Blast," and was signed
by Henry Weaver & Son, and dated at " Greensburg, September 12,
1806." It read as follows :
The subscribers, being appointed agents by Gen. A. St. Glair, for the sale of
his castings generally, and for the Borough of Greensburg exclusively, give
notice that they will contract with any person or persons for the delivery of
castings and stoves, for any number of tons, on good terms. Samples of the
castings and stoves to be seen at their store, in Greensburg, any time after the
20th instant.
In 1810 Hermitage furnace passed out of the hands of General
St. Clair, and stood idle for some time. In 1816 it was started
again by O'Hara & Scully, under the management of John Henry
Hopkins, afterwards Bishop of Vermont. In October, 1817, Mr.
Hopkins left the furnace, himself a bankrupt, and it has never
since been in operation. The stack is yet standing, and a large
sycamore tree has grown out of the stone wall, about ten feet above
the ground. General St. Clair died a poor man in 1818, aged
eighty-four years, and is buried at Greensburg. Mount Hope fur-
nace was built about 1810, in Donegal township, Westmoreland
county, by Trevor & McClurg. Washington furnace, near Laugh-
linstown, in this county, was built about 1809, by Johnston,
McClurg & Co. It was abandoned in 1826, and rebuilt in 1848
by John Bell & Co. It was in blast as late as 1854, and in 1859
was owned by L. C. Hall. Jonathan Maybury & Co. owned
Fountain furnace, in Westmoreland county, before 1812, but where
this furnace was located we have been unable to learn. The firm
was dissolved August 19, 1812. Kingston forge, erected in 1811
on Loyalhanna creek, Westmoreland county, ten miles east of
Greensburg, by A. Johnston & Co., went into operation early in
1812. Ross furnace, on Tub Mill creek, in Fairfield township,
Westmoreland county, was built in 1815, by James Paull, Jr., Col.
J. D. Mathiot, and Isaac Meason, Jr., and abandoned about 1850.
It made pig iron, stoves, sugar-kettles, pots, ovens, skillets, etc.
Another furnace in Fairfield township was built a short distance
below Ross furnace, on Tub Mill creek, by John Beninger, about
1810. He also built a small forge on the same stream, where
the borough of Bolivar now stands. Both the furnace and forge
ceased to make iron soon after they were built, the forge running
until about 1816. When short rff pig iron it sometimes made bar
EARLY IRONWORKS IN WESTMORELAND COUNTY. 63
iron direct from the ore, which was obtained near by. In 1834
a manufactory of axes and sickles was established at Covodesville,
on Tub Mill creek, above Bolivar, by Uri Updegraff. The business
was continued for eight years by Mr. UpdegrafF. Baldwin furnace,
on Laurel run, near Koss furnace, is said to have been built by
James Stewart about 1810. It ran but a short time. It was named
after Henry Baldwin, afterwards a Judge of the United States
Supreme Court, but then a leading lawyer of Pittsburgh. He may
have helped to build the furnace.
Gordon, in his Gazetteer of the State of Pennsylvania, states that
in 1832 there were in operation in Westmoreland county one
furnace, Ross, operated by Colonel Mathiot, and one forge, Kings-
ton, on Loyalhanna creek, operated by Alexander Johnston. The
latter gentleman, whose name appears above in connection with
two other iron enterprises, was the father of Governor William F.
Johnston. He was born in Ireland in July, 1772, and died July
15, 1872, one hundred years old. The early Westmoreland fur-
naces shipped pig iron by boats or arks on the Conemaugh and
Allegheny rivers to Pittsburgh, much of which found its way
down the Ohio river to Cincinnati and Louisville.
Other furnaces in Westmoreland county were, Mount Pleasant, a
very early furnace ; California, built by Col. J. D. Mathiot and S.
Cummins about 1852, on Furnace run branch of the Loyalhanna
creek, about a mile above the mouth of the run ; Oak Grove, built
in 1854 by Colonel John Clifford, near Ligonier, and owned in
1857 by James Tanner, of Pittsburgh ; Valley furnace, at Hills-
view, nine miles south of New Florence, built by L. C. Hall &
Co. in 1855 ; Laurel Hill, about three miles below Baldwin fur-
nace, on Laurel run, after its junction with Powder Mill run,
commenced in 1845 or 1846 by Hezekiah Reid and finished about
1849 by Judge J. T. Hale of Centre county, and subsequently
owned by various parties ; Conemaugh, on the stream of that name,
about eight miles west of Johnstown, built in 1847 by John C.
Magill, Hon. Henry D. Foster, and Hon. Thomas White, and sub-
sequently operated by George Rhey ; Lockport, built in 1844 by
William D. and Thomas McKernan, brothers, at the town of that
name, twenty miles west of Johnstown, subsequently owned by
William McKinney, of Lockport, and finally falling into the hands
of Dr. Peter Shoenberger; Ramsey, built in 1847, on the Kiski-
minetas, about four miles west of Saltsburg, Indiana county, by
Frederick Overman, for Dr. J. R. Speer, of Pittsburgh, its owner
64 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
All of the above furnaces have been abandoned. There is only
one furnace in the county now in operation, Charlotte, built by
Everson, Knap & Co., at Scottdale, in 1873, where the firm of
Everson, Macrum & Co. built a rolling-mill in the same year.
Shade furnace was built in 1807 or 1808, and was the first iron
establishment in Somerset county. It was erected on the banks of
Shade creek, about forty rods below the junction of Clear Shade
and Dark Shade creeks. David Rodger, an old resident at Shade
furnace, informs us that it was built by Gerehart & Reynolds upon
land leased from Thomas Vickroy. Being in debt, their furnace
and lease were sold by the sheriff to Ogle & Kimmell, of Somerset,
who were succeeded by Thomas Gaghegan, who gave way to one
Dunlap, when the property reverted to Thomas Vickroy. In No-
vember, 1813, we learn that Vickroy advertised Shade furnace for
sale, at a great bargain, the advertisement appearing in the Pitts-
burgh Mercury, published by John M. Snowden. A sale was effected
in 1819 to Mark Richards, Anthony S. Earl, and Benjamin Johns,
of New Jersey, constituting the firm of Richards, Earl & Co., who
operated the furnace down to about 1830. In 1820 they built a
forge, called Shade, three-fourths of a mile below the furnace, which
was carried on by William Earl for four or five years, and afterwards
by John Hammer and others. In 1849 it made 30 tons of bars.
The furnace was continued, at intervals, by various proprietors to
the close of 1858. Daniel Weyand, Esq., of Somerset, at his death,
in September, 1877, was the last owner of the property.
About 1811 Joseph Vickroy and Conrad Piper built Mary Ann
forge, on Stony creek, about five miles below Shade furnace, and
a half mile below the mouth of Shade creek. The forge was named
after Mr. Piper's wife, who was a daughter of Thomas Vickroy and
sister of Joseph Vickroy. David Livingston was subsequently
the owner of the forge, and operated it for several years. Richard
Geary, the father of Governor John W. Geary, was the millwright
who built the forge for the owners. We have heard that pig iron
was sometimes packed on horseback to this forge from Bedford
county, the horses taking salt from the Conemaugh salt-works and
bar iron as a return load.
In the year 1809 or 1810 Peter Kimmell and Matthias Scott
built a forge for the manufacture of bar iron on Laurel Hill
creek, now in Jefferson township, in the western part of Somerset
county. Mr. Kimmell shortly after withdrew, and the establishment
was run by Mr. Scott. Subsequently it passed into the hands of
FIRST IRONWORKS IN OTHER WESTERN COUNTIES. 65
Henry Benford and Jacob Ankeny, and ceased operations about
1815. Supplies of metal were obtained from Bedford and Fayette
counties. About the year 1810 Robert Philson erected a forge and
furnace on Casselman's river, in Turkeyfoot township. The ore
was mined in the immediate vicinity. The enterprise was a bad
investment, operations ceasing in three or four years. The next
furnace in the county was Jackson furnace, near the Pittsburgh
turnpike, on Laurel hill, built by Irvin Horrel, Philip Murphy,
and Charles Ogle about 1825. It was unsuccessful in their hands.
About 1833 Joseph and William Graham again put it in blast, only
to be overcome by speedy disaster. In 1832 Gordon stated that
there were three furnaces and three forges then in existence in
the county. Rockingham furnace, two miles above Shade furnace,
on Shade creek, was built in 1844 by John Foust, and subse-
quently operated by Ouster & Little; Somerset furnace, at For-
wardstown, was built by Huber, Linton & Myers in 1846, and
afterwards owned by G. Ross Forward ; and Wellersburg furnace
was built by the Union Coal and Iron Company, in 1856, under
the management of G. Ross Forward. All the furnaces and forges
in Somerset county have been abandoned.
The first iron enterprise in Cambria county was a forge at Johns-
town, built by John Buckwalter, of Chester county, on Stony creek,
in 1809, and subsequently removed to the Conemaugh river, also at
Johnstown, where it was operated with more or less regularity down
to about 1825, although it'was standing many years later. Its last
owner was Peter Levergood. It was used to hammer bars out of
Juniata pig iron. John Buckwalter was a descendant of Francis
Buckwalter, a Protestant refugee from Germany, who emigrated to
the vicinity of Phoenixville, in Chester county; in 1720, where he
purchased 650 acres of land for 195. In 1*810 it is recorded that
about 200 pounds of nails, valued at $30, were made at Johns-
town by one establishment. These nails may have been wholly
made by hand labor. About 1813 or 1814 an enterprise was
established at Johnstown by which nails were cut with a machine
worked by a treadle, but without heads, which were afterwards
added with another machine. The enterprise was established by
Robert Pierson, who died in 1818, and was buried in the Union
graveyard. His shop stood on the north side of Vine street, near
Franklin. Cambria county has been noted as an iron centre
since its first furnace, Cambria, was built by George S. King,
David Stewart, John K. Shryock, and William L. Shryock in
66 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
1841, on Laurel run. It was followed by Mill Creek, built by
John Bell & Co. in 1845 ; Ben's Creek, built by George S. King &
Co. in 1846; Eliza, five miles west of Ebensburg, on Blacklick
creek, commenced by Bitter & Rodgers in 1846 and completed
by Bitter & Irvin in 1847 ; Mount Vernon, at Johnstown, built
by Peter Levergood & Co. in 1846, and subsequently owned by
Lintons & Galbreath ; and Ashland, six miles north of Gallitzin,
built by Joseph A. Conrad and Hugh McNeal in 1847. All these
furnaces have been abandoned. The division line between Cambria
and Indiana counties passed through the stack of Eliza furnace.
The Cambria ironworks, at Johnstown, the most extensive in the
United States, were commenced in 1853 by a company of which
Mr. King was the originator. They now embrace iron and steel
rolling-mills at Johnstown, and several large furnaces at Johns-
town and in Blair county. In 1832 Gordon referred to the pros-
pect of making iron from native ore in Cambria county as fol-
lows: "And there is iron, as it is said by some, but denied by
others." To the enterprise of George S. King is this county in-
debted for the development of the iron ore within its borders.
The first iron enterprise in Indiana county was Indiana forge,
on Findley's run, near the Conemaugh, built about 1837 by Henry
Noble, who also built a small furnace as early as 1840. Both
the furnace and forge were running in the last-named year. Pig
iron for the forge was at first obtained from Allegheny furnace, in
Blair county. Becoming embarrassed, Mr. Noble was succeeded
by William D. and Thomas McKernan about 1843. About 1846
the property passed into the hands of Elias Baker, who built a
new furnace and forge. Other furnaces in Indiana county were,
Blacklick, built by David Stewart in 1846 ; Buena Vista, built by
McClelland & Co. in 1847 ; and Loop, built by Hampton & Smith
in 1847. Blacklick and Buena Vista were located on Blacklick
creek, and Loop on the Little Mahoning, three miles below Smicks-
burg. All the Indiana furnaces and its solitary forge have been
abandoned.
Beginning of the Iron Industry in Northwestern Pennsylvania.
A blast furnace was built at Beaver Falls, on the west side of
Beaver river, in Beaver county, in 1802, by Hoopes, Townsend &
Co., and blown in in 1804. A forge was connected with it from the
beginning, and was in operation in 1806, according to Cramer's
Pittsburgh Almanac. Both the furnace and forge were in operation
FIRST IRONWORKS IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 67
in 1816. The whole enterprise was abandoned about 1826. The
ore used was picked out of gravel banks in the neighborhood in
very small lumps. It has been erroneously stated that this was
the only furnace erected in Beaver county. There was another
early furnace in this county, named Bassenheim, built by Detmar
Basse Miiller, the history of which is .so interesting that we make
room for the following letter we have received from Mr. Henry
Muntz, an aged citizen of Zelienople, in Butler county.
Bassenheim furnace was built and put into operation in the year 1814 by
Dettmar Basse, a German gentleman of education, much enterprise, and some
means. He carried it on to 1818, when he sold out to Daniel Beltzhoover,
Kobinson & McNickle, who worked it five or six years more. About that
time, viz., 1824, the charcoal and iron ore beginning to fail in the neighbor-
hood, and their capital being pretty much sunk, they ceased operations and
retired, leaving the furnace a ruin, and now there is nothing to mark the place
of its location except a large stack of stone overgrown with moss and bushes,
and also a great pile of cinders, clinkers, and ashes, to show where the furnace
had been. This furnace was not located in Butler county, but in the adjoin-
ing county of Beaver, between two and three miles from Zelienople and lower
down the Connoquenessing creek and about a mile west of the Butler county
line. Its owners, Dettmar Basse and also Daniel Beltzhoover, resided at
Bassenheim farm on the Butler side of the county line, and much of its
business was transacted at Zelienople. These circumstances will account for
the popular belief that this furnace was located in Butler county. There was
no forge connected with it, nor any other work except to convert iron ore into
pig metal, stoves, kettles, pots, fire irons, etc. The ore was mostly dug out of
the ground within a mile or two of the furnace in lumps weighing from one
pound to fifty, generally of a blue color. At first the bellows was blown by
water-power, but, after the high water of the creek had washed one of the
abutments of the dam away and let the water out, the owners were obliged to
apply a steam-engine at considerable expense, by which it was afterwards
operated with much trouble and little profit. After the war of 1812 times
were very hard and money exceedingly scarce. One other reason that this
work did not succeed and pay better was the great expense of getting its
metal and wares to a market. I remember well that in February, 1818, $12
per ton were paid for hauling the pig metal to Pittsburgh, thirty miles, over
a bad road.
John Henry Hopkins, afterwards Bishop of Vermont, and already
mentioned in connection with General St. Glair's furnace near Ligo-
nier, was engaged as a clerk at Bassenheim furnace about 1815.
Still another furnace in Beaver county was Homewood, in the
northwestern part of the county, on the Beaver Canal, near the
mouth of the Connoquenessing creek, and two miles from Home-
wood station on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway.
68 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
It was built by James Wood, of Pittsburgh, to use coke or bitumi-
nous coal, and was put in blast in 1858. It was finally blown out
in 1867 or 1868.
Prior to 1845 there were only a few furnaces in the Shenango
valley, all charcoal, one of the oldest of which was Springfield
furnace, half a mile from Leesburg, and seven miles southeast of
Mercer, built in 1837 and active in 1849. Day, in 1843, says :
" two furnaces were wrought formerly, but have since been aban-
doned," and in confirmation of this statement we may quote the
geographer, Joseph Scott, who says that in 1806 " a forge and
furnace are now nearly erected " at New Castle. The first furnace
in Lawrence county of which we have satisfactory information was
Martha, at New Castle, built in 1844 to use charcoal. In 1849
it was owned by Power & Sons, and was soon afterwards aban-
doned. Cossallo rolling-mill was built at New Castle in 1842, by
the Cossallo Iron Company, and Orizaba, at the same place, in
1847, by Peebles & Co. In 1845, and soon afterwards, several
furnaces were built in this valley to use its splint coal in the raw
state, particular mention of which, owing to their modern origin,
is not deemed necessary. In 1876 there were 32 such furnaces
in the valley, besides several rolling-mills.
We are able to fix the date of the erection of the first furnace
in the once important but now neglected ironmaking district com-
posed of Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Venango, and other north-
western counties. This event took place in the year 1818, when
Bear Creek furnace, in Armstrong county, one mile from Lawrence-
burg in Butler county, was commenced by Ruggles, Stackpole &
Whiting, who then owned the Pittsburgh rolling-mill. In the
following year, owing to the failure of this firm, it passed uncom-
pleted into the hands of Baldwin, Robinson, McNickle & Beltz-
hoover, and was probably purchased by them to supply pig metal
to their rolling-mill at Pittsburgh. The furnace went into opera-
tion in 1819. It was abandoned long before 1850, but was run-
ning in 1832, in which year Gordon says it was owned by Henry
Baldwin, Esq., and was reputed to be the largest furnace in the
United States, having made forty tons of iron a week. The build-
ing of this furnace was superintended by Thomas C. Lewis, the
projector of Colonel Isaac Meason's rolling-mill on Redstone creek,
in Fayette county. The furnace was built to use coke, with steam-
power. Its first blast was with this fuel, but the blast was too weak,
and the furnace chilled after two or three tons of iron had been
FIRST IRONWORKS IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 69
made. Charcoal was then substituted. This furnace had a tram-
road, with wooden rails, in 1818. It is due to the memory of the
pioneer, Thomas C. Lewis, that we should state that it was against
his earnest advice that the blast used in blowing in Bear Creek
furnace with coke was insufficient. He predicted the failure which
occurred. The blast was cold, and was about five pounds to the
square inch.
The number of ironworks erected in the State in the ten years
ending with 1830 was forty-nine, of which thirty were forges and
rolling-mills and nineteen were blast furnaces. Some of these fur-
naces were in Butler and adjoining counties. After the manufacture
of iron at Pittsburgh was fairly started about 1825, a demand was
created for more pig iron than the Juniata valley and Fayette
county could supply. This led to the development of the iron-ore
beds in Clarion, Butler, Armstrong, and Venango counties. Rock
furnace, on Roaring run, a tributary of the Kiskiminetas, four miles
east of Apollo, in Armstrong county, was built about 1825 by James
W. Biddle, of Pittsburgh, and others. In 1832 Biddle is said by
Gordon to have owned this furnace, which produced about fifteen
tons of iron a week. It has been abandoned since 1855. Slippery
Rock furnace, in Butler county, and Clarion furnace, in Clarion
county, were built in 1828 the latter by Hon. Christian Myers, a
native of Lancaster county. Allegheny furnace, at Kittanning, in
Armstrong county, and Venango furnace, on Oil creek, in Venango
county, were built in 1830. In 1832 the former was owned by A.
McNickle, and made about fourteen tons of iron weekly. From
1830 to 1850, but particularly after the passage of the tariff of
1842, this section of the State produced large quantities of char-
coal pig iron. We particularize a few of the furnaces built soon
after 1830 : Beaver, five miles south of Shippenville, Clarion county,
in 1835 ; Madison, on Piney creek, same county, in 1836 ; Shippen,
near Shippenville, same county, in 1832 ; Lucinda, eight miles north
of Clarion, in 1833 ; Clay, on Horse creek, Venango county, in 1832 ;
Van Buren, on the Allegheny river, two miles southeast of Frank-
lin, same county, in 1832 ; Rockland, in the same county, in 1832 ;
Slab, on East Sandy creek, same county, in 1834; Mill Creek, in
the same county, in 1835. There was no forge in Armstrong county
in 1832, but there were a few forges in Butler and Venango counties.
A forge was built at Shippenville in 1833.
In 1850 there were 11 furnaces existing in Armstrong county,
6 in Butler, 28 in Clarion, and 18 in Venango 63 in all. In 1858
70 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
there were 18 in Armstrong, 6 in Butler, 27 in Clarion, and 24 in
Venango 75 in all. Many of these furnaces had, however, been
abandoned at the latter date. Nearly every one has since then
been abandoned. The discovery that bituminous coal could be
profitably used in the manufacture of pig iron, and the subse-
quent discovery of the rich ores of Lake Superior, were influences
which tended greatly to destroy the business of making charcoal
pig iron in the counties named, and in Fayette, Westmoreland,
Somerset, Cambria, and Indiana counties, and correspondingly to
develop the iron business in the Shenango valley and elsewhere.
But the distance of many of these furnaces from market, the lack
of cheap means of transportation, and the growing scarcity of char-
coal timber also had much to do with the abandonment of Western
and Northwestern Pennsylvania charcoal furnaces. It is not im-
probable that the manufacture of pig iron in the Allegheny valley
and in Fayette county may yet be revived by the general substitu-
tion of Connellsville coke for charcoal, as iron ore is still abundant.
The Great Western ironworks at Brady's Bend were commenced
in 1840, embracing a rolling-mill and four furnaces to use coke.
They have not been in operation for several years.
The iron manufactured in the Allegheny valley was taken down
the Allegheny river on keel-boats and arks, the business of trans-
porting it, as may readily be conjectured, being quite extensive.
Erie charcoal furnace, at Erie, was built in 1842, and abandoned
in 1849. It used bog ore. It was owned by Charles M. Heed.
Liberty furnace, on the north side of French creek, in Crawford
county, was built in 1842 by Lowry & Co., of Meadville, and
abandoned in 1849.
At the Siberian rolling-mill of Rogers & Burchfield, at Leech-
burg, Armstrong county, natural gas, taken from a well 1,200 feet
deep, was first used as a fuel in the puddling furnace. In the fall
of 1874 it was announced that during the preceding six months
the gas had furnished all the fuel required for puddling, heating,
and making steam, not one bushel of coal having been used.
Iron Ore has been found in Elk, Potter, Bradford, Juniata, and
Wayne counties, but it has not been developed. Ore has recently
been mined at Austinville, in Columbia township, Bradford county.
Should it ever become necessary, Pennsylvania can add greatly to
her present production of iron ore, and of fuel to smelt it there
never can be any scarcity.
FIRST COKE PIG IRON IN THE UNITED STATES. 71
First Use of Bituminous Coke in the Manufacture of American
Pig Iron. Pig iron manufactured from bituminous coke is claimed
to have been first made as a regular product in the United States
by F. H. Oliphant, at Fairchance furnace, near Uniontown, Fayette
county, Pennsylvania, in 1836. Mr. Oliphant sent to the Frank-
lin Institute of Philadelphia samples of the metal produced and of
the various materials used at his furnace. He did not, however,
long continue to make coke iron, and resumed the manufacture of
iron with charcoal. William Firmstone was successful in 1835 in
making good gray forge iron for about one month at the end of a
blast at Mary Ann furnace, in Trough Creek valley, Tod township,
Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, from coke made from Broad
Top coal. This iron was taken to a forge two miles distant and
made into blooms. We have been unable to verify the statement
in French's Iron Trade of the United States (1858) that "coke was
employed a few years before the Revolution in the manufacture
of pig and refined bar iron." Undoubtedly, however, various at-
tempts were made to use it before the successful experiments of
Mr. Firmstone and Mr. Oliphant were made. We have recorded
an unsuccessful attempt to use coke at Bear Creek furnace in
1819.
The Legislature of Pennsylvania passed an act June 16, 1836,
" to encourage the manufacture of iron with coke or mineral coal,"
which authorized the organization of companies for the manufac-
ture, transportation, and sale of iron made with coke or coal. Be-
tween 1835 and 1839 attempts were made at Karthaus, in Clear-
field county, at Farrandsville, in Clinton county, on the west branch
of the Susquehanna river, and at Astonville furnace, near Frozen
run, in Lycoming county, to use coke, but the experiment was
unfortunate in each instance. At Karthaus several hundred tons
in all of white iron were produced at irregular intervals in a fur-
nace which was built in 1836 by Peter Ritner (a brother of Gover-
nor Ritner) and John Say, and it ran spasmodically upon coke with
cold blast until 1838. In that year Henry C. Carey, Burd Patter-
son, John White, and others, constituting the Clearfield Coal and
Iron Company, employed William Firmstone to take charge of the
furnace. In 1839 he put in a hot blast and raised the stack nine
feet, making it 45 feet high, with boshes 13 feet in diameter. The
furnace was blown in in September, and made several hundred tons
of good foundry iron by the close of the year, when the whole en-
terprise was abandoned, owing to the lack of proper transportation
72 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
facilities. At Farrandsville, as we are informed by General Daniel
Tyler, 3,500 tons of iron were made, but at such great cost, owing to
the impurity of the coal and the distance of the ore, that further
efforts to make iron with coke were abandoned. The furnace was
blown in, according to General Tyler, in the summer of 1837, and
ran probably until 1839. It was fitted up with a hot-blast apparatus,
made in Glasgow, and the best known at that time in Scotland. The
furnace at Frozen run made some iron from coke, but how much is
not stated. In September, 1839, it was using charcoal. Lonaconing
furnace, in Alleghany county, Maryland, was built in 1837, by the
George's Creek Company, to use coke, and in June, 1839, it was
making about 70 tons per week of good foundry iron. In the Frost-
burg coal basin of Maryland, nine miles northwest of Cumberland,
two large blast furnaces were built in 1840, by the Mount Savage
Company, to use coke. This enterprise was also successful. But
the use of coke did not come rapidly into favor, and many experi-
ments with it were attended with loss.
In 1849 there were only four furnaces in Pennsylvania which
were classed as coke furnaces those of the Brady's Bend Iron
Company, and they made no iron in that year. In 1853 the
Cambria Iron Company built four coke furnaces at Johnstown,
which were blown in successfully, and have been in almost constant
operation to this day. In 1854, so slowly had the whole country
progressed in the manufacture of pig iron from raw bituminous
coal and coke, that the total production from these two kinds of
fuel in that year was only 54,485 net tons, Pennsylvania making
29,941 tons; Ohio, 15,000 tons; and other States, 9,544 tons. In
1876 the make of bituminous coal and coke pig iron in the whole
country exceeded that of anthracite, and was more than treble
that of charcoal. In that year the production of pig iron was as
follows : bituminous coal and coke, 990,009 net tons ; anthracite,
794,578 tons; charcoal, 308,649 tons: total, 2,093,236 net tons.
First Use of Anthracite Coal in the Manufacture of Pig Iron.
Down to 1838 all the blast furnaces in the United States, with
the exception of a few coke furnaces, used charcoal for fuel. In
that year pig iron was successfully made in Pennsylvania from
anthracite coal. We present below a complete account of the first
steps that were taken to use the new fuel in blast furnaces.
In 1840 Jesse B. Quinby testified, in the suit of Farr & Kunzi
against the Schuylkill Navigation Company, that he used anthra-
FIRST ANTHRACITE PIG IRON IN THE UNITED STATES. 73
cite coal at Harford furnace, Maryland, mixed with one-half char-
coal, in 1815. He believed himself to be the first person in the
United States to use anthracite coal in smelting iron. In 1826 the
Lehigh Goal and Navigation Company erected near Mauch Chunk
a small furnace intended to use anthracite in smelting iron. The
enterprise was not successful. In 1827 unsuccessful experiments
in smelting iron with anthracite coal from Rhode Island were made
at one of the small blast furnaces in Kingston, Plymouth county,
Massachusetts. These experiments failed because the blast used
was cold. About 1827 a similar failure in the use of anthracite
took place at Vizille, in France. Doubtless other unsuccessful
attempts than those here recorded were made to smelt iron ore
with anthracite coal, but these were probably the earliest.
In 1828 Ja'mes B. Neilson, of Scotland, obtained a patent for the
use of hot air in the smelting of iron ore in blast furnaces, and in
1837 the smelting of iron ore with anthracite coal by means of the
Neilson hot-blast was successfully accomplished by George Crane,
at his ironworks at Ynyscedwin, in Wales. Mr. Crane began the
use of anthracite with hot blast on the 7th of February, 1837, in a
blast furnace, obtaining 36 tons a week. In May of that year Solo-
mon W. Roberts of Philadelphia visited his works and witnessed
the complete success of the experiment. Mr. Crane had taken out
a patent on the 28th of September, 1836, for smelting iron ore with
anthracite coal. Upon the recommendation of Mr. Roberts, after
his return from Wales, the Lehigh Crane Iron Company was organ-
ized in 1838 to manufacture pig iron from the anthracite coal of the
Lehigh valley. In that year Erskine Hazard went to Wales for
the company, and there made himself acquainted with the process
of making anthracite iron. He ordered to be made such machin-
ery as was necessary, under the direction of George Crane, the
inventor, and engaged David Thomas, who was familiar with the
process, to take charge of the erection of the works and the manu-
facture of the iron. Mr. Thomas arrived in the summer of 1839, and
to his faithful and intelligent management much of the success of
the enterprise is due. The first furnace of this company was suc-
cessfully blown in on the 4th of July, 1840. But it was not the
first successful anthracite furnace in this country, as will presently
appear.
On the 19th of December, 1833, a patent was granted to Dr. F.
W. Geissenheimer, of New York, for smelting iron ore with anthra-
cite coal, by the application of heated air. Dr. Geissenheimer made
74 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
experiments in smelting iron ore with anthracite at the Valley
furnace, northeast of Pottsville, but they were not successful,
although the results achieved were highly encouraging.
In 1836-7 John Pott experimented at Manheim furnace, at
Cressona, in Schuylkill county, with anthracite coal as a fuel for
smelting iron ore. The experiment was so far successful as to
satisfy Mr. Pott that the scheme was practicable, but for some un-
explained reason the furnace was not operated for some time after
the experiment was made. It was then remodeled and enlarged to
better adapt it to the use of anthracite coal, but before the furnace
was quite ready to be blown in an ice freshet in the early spring of
1841 swept away furnace, forge, and all. This was the end of
Manheim ironworks. Mr. Pott is certainly entitled to the honor of
having been one of the first to satisfactorily experiment with
anthracite coal in the blast furnace. Of the character of the blast
used by him we are not advised.
In 1837 Jar vis Van Buren, acting for a company, built a furnace
at South Easton, in Northampton county, for the purpose of experi-
menting with anthracite coal as a fuel. Early in 1838 he was suc-
cessful in making twenty tons of pig iron, when further operations
were stopped in consequence of the blast being too weak. We are
not informed whether the blast was hot or cold.
Late in 1837 Messrs. Joseph Baughman, Julius Guiteau, and
Henry High, of Reading, experimented in smelting iron ore with
anthracite coal in the old furnace of the Lehigh Coal and Navi-
gation Company at Mauch Chunk, using about eighty per cent,
of anthracite. The results were so encouraging that they built a
small water-power furnace near the Mauch Chunk weigh-lock,
which was completed in July, 1838. Blast was applied to this
furnace August 27, and discontinued September 10, the tempera-
ture being heated up to about 200 F. The fuel used was mainly
anthracite, but not exclusively. A new heating apparatus was
procured, consisting of 200 feet of cast-iron pipe, 1 2 inches thick,
placed in a brick chamber at the tunnel head, and heated by a
flame therefrom. Blast was applied late in November, 1838, the
fuel used being anthracite exclusively, and " the furnace worked
remarkably well for five weeks," up to January 12, 1839, when it
was blown out for want of ore. Some improvements were made, and
on July 26, 1839, the furnace was again put in blast and so con-
tinued until November 2, 1839, Mr. F. C. Lowthrop, of Trenton,
being one of the partners at this time. For " about three months "
FIRST ANTHRACITE PIG IRON IN THE UNITED STATES. 75
no other fuel than anthracite was used, the temperature of the blast
being 400 to 600 F. Open tuyeres were used. About 100 tons of
iron were made.
The next furnace to use anthracite was the Pioneer, built in 1837
and 1838 at Pottsville, by William Lyman, of Boston, under the
auspices of Burd Patterson, and blast was unsuccessfully applied
July 10, 1839. Benjamin Perry, who had blown in the coke fur-
nace at Farrandsville, then took charge of it, and blew it in
October 19, 1839, with complete success. This furnace was blown
by steam-power. The blast was heated in ovens at the base of the
furnace, with anthracite, to a temperature of 600, and supplied
through three tuyeres at a pressure of 2 to 2 2 Ibs. per square inch.
The product was about 28 tons a week of good foundry iron. The
furnace continued in blast for some time. A premium of $5,000
was paid by Nicholas Biddle and others to Mr. Lyman, as the first
person in the United States who had made anthracite pig iron
continuously for one hundred days. Danville furnace, in Montour
county, was built by Biddle, Chambers & Co., and was success-
fully blown in with anthracite in April, 1840, producing 35 tons of
iron weekly with steam-power. Roaring Creek furnace, in Montour
county, built in 1839 by Burd Patterson & Co., was next blown in
with anthracite, May 18, 1840, and produced 40 tons of iron weekly
with water-power. A charcoal furnace at Phoenixville, built in
1837 by Reeves, Buck & Co., was blown in with anthracite, June 17,
1840, by William Firmstone, and produced from 28 to 30 tons of
pig iron weekly with water-power. The hot-blast stove, which was
planned and erected by Julius Guiteau, of the Mauch Chunk fur-
nace, was situated on one side of the tunnel head, and heated by
the escaping flame of the furnace. This furnace continued in blast
until 1841. Columbia furnace, at Danville, was built in 1839 by
George Patterson, and blown in with anthracite by Mr. Perry on
July 2d, 1840, and made from 30 to 32 tons of iron weekly, using
steam-power. The next furnace to use anthracite, and the last one
we shall mention, was built at Catasauqua, for the Lehigh Crane
Iron Company, in 1839, by David Thomas. It was successfully
blown in by him on the 4th of July, 1840, as we have stated, and
produced 50 tons a week of good foundry iron, water-power being
used. Mr. Thomas was born in Wales in 1794, and is still living in
the full enjoyment of all his faculties.
Mr. Firrnstone writes that, at three of the above-mentioned fur-
naces, the Mauch Chunk, Phoenixville, and Columbia, the hot-blast
IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
ovens were heated by the flame escaping from the furnace ; at the
others the ovens and boilers were on the ground, and heated by inde-
pendent fires. At that early day the plan, now so general, of con-
veying the escaping gas in air-tight conduits to the boilers and ovens
was not adopted. It was introduced by C. E. Detmold, a German
engineer, now of New York, two or three years later. This method y
which has since been greatly improved in American practice, was
patented in France by Thomas & Laurens, and in Germany by Faber
du Faur. Mr. Detmold was the agent of the last-named gentleman.
It will be observed that, while Mr. Neilson invented the hot blast,
Dr. Geissenheimer was the first to propose the use of anthracite coal
by means of heated air for the manufacture of pig iron, and that
Mr. Crane was the first to successfully apply the hot blast of Mr.
Neil son to this purpose. Dr. Geissenheimer experimented as early
as 1833 with ovens for heating air before its introduction into the
blast furnace in which anthracite was used as a fuel, and his patent
bears date in that year; but his invention was not successfully
applied until after Mr. Crane had made iron at Ynyscedwin. Dr.
Geissenheimer is entitled to the honor of having proposed what
Mr. Crane was the first to accomplish. His patent, limited to the
United States, was purchased by Mr. Crane, who, in November,
1838, patented some additions to it in this country. The patent
was never enforced here, but Mr. Crane compelled the ironmasters
of Great Britain to pay him tribute. Dr. Geissenheimer died at
Lebanon, Pa., where he had long resided.
The discovery, in 1839 and 1840, that anthracite coal could be
successfully used in the manufacture of pig iron gave a great
impetus to the iron industry in Maryland, New Jersey, and New
York, as well as in Pennsylvania. The rich magnetic ores of New
Jersey were first smelted with anthracite coal by Edwin Post, Esq.,
at Stanhope, in 1840. On the 1st of January, 1876, there were
225 anthracite furnaces in the country ; 161 in Pennsylvania.
It is claimed that anthracite coal for the generation of steam was
first used in this country in 1825 under the boilers of the rolling-
mill at Phoenixville. It is also claimed that, two years later, in
1827, the first use of anthracite coal in the puddling furnace in this
country was at the same rolling-mill. Jonah and George Thomp-
son were the proprietors at the time. The use of anthracite for
puddling did not become general until about 1840. In 1839 Ralph
Crooker puddled with anthracite at the Boston Iron Company's
works. About 1836 Thomas and Peter Cooper, brothers, used an-
FIEST BITUMINOUS PIG IRON IN THE UNITED STATES. 77
thracite in a heating furnace at their rolling-mill in Thirty-third
street, near Third avenue, New York, and about 1840 they began to
puddle with anthracite.
First Use of Raw Bituminous Coal in the Manufacture of Pig
Iron. The bituminous coal of Eastern Ohio and Western Penn-
sylvania was the first that was successfully used in this country in
its raw state for the reduction of iron ore in the blast furnace.
In 1843 Day writes that the coal in the vicinity of Sharon, without
coking, " has been tried successfully for smelting iron in a common
charcoal furnace." Doubtless only an experimental trial is here
alluded to. The further history of the beginning of this branch
of our iron industry is circumstantially and we believe correctly
stated in the following extract from a pamphlet entitled Youngs-
town, Past and Present, printed in 1875.
In July, 1845, Himrod & Vincent, of Mercer county, Pa., blew in the Clay
furnace, not many miles from the Ohio line, on the waters of the Shenango.
About three months afterwards, in consequence of a short supply of charcoal,
as stated by Mr. Davis, their founder, a portion of coke was used to charge
the furnace. Their coal belongs to seam No. 1, the seam which is now used
at Sharon and Youngstown, in its raw state, variously known as " free-burning
splint," or "block coal," and which never makes solid coke. A difficulty
soon occurred with the cokers, and, as Mr. Himrod states, he conceived the
plan of trying his coal without coking. The furnace continued to work well,
and to produce a fair quality of metal. At the same time Messrs. Wilkinson,
Wilkes & Co. were building a furnace on the Mahoning, at Lowell, Mahoning
county, Ohio, intending to use mineral coal from seam No. 1, on which they
owned a mine near Lowell. The credit of making the first iron with raw
bituminous or semi-bituminous coal, in the United States, belongs to one of
these firms. An account of the blowing in of the Lowell furnace, on the 8th
of August, 1846, may be seen in the Trumbull Democrat, of Warren, dated
August 15, 1846, where it is stated that to "these gentlemen (Wilkinson,
Wilkes & Co.) belongs the honor of being the first persons in the United States
who have succeeded in putting a furnace in blast with raw bituminous coal."
According to Mr. Wilkes, writing from Painesville, April 2, 1869, this furnace
was run with coke several months, but at what time it does not state. It is
admitted that Mr. David Himrod, late of Youngstown, produced the first metal
with raw coal, about the close of the year 1845, and has continued to use it ever
since. The friends of Wilkinson & Co. claim that it was an accident, and a
necessity, while their works were built and intended for raw coal.
In 1850 there were only four furnaces in the Mahoning valley
and only seven in Pennsylvania (in Mercer county) which used raw
bituminous coal. In 1876 there were in the country 206 furna-
ces using either raw or coked bituminous coal when in blast.
78 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
First Use of Lake Superior Iron Ore in the Blast Furnace.
The honor of having first used the iron ore of Lake Superior in
a blast furnace is clearly due to David and John P. Agnew,,
brothers, proprietors of the Sharps ville furnace, at Sharpsville,
Mercer county, Pennsylvania. This occurred in 1853, the same
year in which three or four tons of the ore were shipped to the
World's Fair at New York. The ore used at Sharpsville was
procured from the Jackson mine, the pioneer of all the Lake
Superior iron mines, and was mined and shipped before the com-
pletion of the railroad to the mine or the building of the docks
at Marquette. The following extract from a letter which we have
received from Mr. David Agnew gives the leading facts of the
important experiment :
I claim that D. & J. P. Agnew were the first to use Lake Superior iron ore
in a blast furnace, (the Sharpsville,) and that the experiment was successful.
The facts are as follows: A small amount of Lake Superior ore was brought
from Lake Superior before the completion of the canal and locks at the outlet
of the lake, at a heavy expense, merely for trial. The first small canal-boat
load from Erie was by request brought to the Sharpsville furnace, and there
used as stated. The second boat-load was intended to be left at Clay furnace
but in mistake was brought on to Sharpsville, and the next day was reshipped
back to Clay furnace. The Sharon Iron Company, owning and controlling
this ore, (the Jackson mine,) had purchased the Clay furnace, and very natur-
ally wished to try it in their own furnace. These two small boat-loads carried
all the ore received from Lake Superior until the following year. (1854,) when
our connection with the Sharpsville furnace had ceased. The quantity used
by us was small, yet sufficient to establish our claim.
Mr. Frank Allen, who was the manager of Clay furnace in
1853, has published a statement which corroborates the above in
all essential particulars, but also shows that the Clay furnace was
the first in the country to make the manufacture of iron from
Lake Superior ore a regular business and a commercial success.
This result was not accomplished until 1856. Mr. Allen says :
On the last day of November, in 1853, Samuel Clark boated a load of said
ore from the Sharpsville furnace to the Clay furnace landing. We put it
through the furnace and sent the product to Sharon. The next season all
the Lake Superior ore left .over at the Sharpsville furnace was sent to us, and
during the years 1854-5, and until August, 1856, we had used in all about
400 tons of Lake Superior ore some of it alone, but most of it mixed with
other ores, and up to that date the working of it was not a success.
In October, 1856, we gave the Clay furnace a general overhauling, put in a
new lining and hearth, and made material changes in the construction of the
FIKST CAST STEEL IN THE UNITED STATES. 79
same, put her in blast late in the fall, and in a few days were making a beau-
tiful article of iron from Lake Superior ore alone, and this was then consid-
ered to be the first real and successful working of said ore in a blast furnace.
Beginning of the Manufacture of Cast Steel in the United States.
German or blister steel was made at an early day in several of the
American colonies, and the steel made in Pennsylvania during the
last century and the early years of the present century was of this
description. Steel of this quality was used in the manufacture of
plowshares, scythes, shovels, spades, cross-cut and mill saws, etc.
In 1805 there were two steel furnaces in Pennsylvania, producing
annually 150 tons of steel. One of these was in Philadelphia coun-
ty. In 1810 there were produced in the country 917 tons of steel, of
which Pennsylvania produced 531 tons in five furnaces one each
in Philadelphia city, and in Philadelphia, Lancaster, Dauphin, and
Fayette counties. In 1813 there was a steel furnace at Pittsburgh,
owned by Tuper & McKowan. In 1829 an Englishman named
Broadmeadow and his son made blister steel at Pittsburgh, and
about 1831 they melted cast steel of low grade in pots of their own
manufacture. Their establishment was located at Bayardstown,
near the old Fifth Ward market-house. Josiah Ankrim & Son, file-
makers, at Pittsburgh, are said to have succeeded in making their
own steel about 1830. In 1831 Messrs. Whitmore & Havens suc-
cessfully produced blister steel at Pittsburgh. In this year there
were in the country fourteen steel furnaces for the manufacture
of low-grade steel two in Pittsburgh, one in Baltimore, three
in Philadelphia, three in New York, one in York, Pa., one in Troy,
two in New Jersey, and one in Boston. Their united capacity was
1,600 tons of steel annually. No crucible cast steel was then made
in the United States, although there had been various unsuccessful
attempts to make it. In 1833 the firm of G. & J. H. Shoenberger
commenced to manufacture blister steel at Pittsburgh, and in 1841
they attempted the manufacture of crucible cast steel, but only to
add another to the list of failures. About 1840 the firm of Isaac
Jones & William Coleman was formed at Pittsburgh to manufac-
ture blister and spring steel, which business they successfully
prosecuted until 1845, when they were succeeded by Jones &
Quigg, who built the Pittsburgh steel works. In 1846 Coleman,
Hailman & Co. commenced the manufacture of blister and plow
steel at Pittsburgh. Both of these firms were successful in making
80 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
all but first quality cast steel. The first slab of cast plow steel
ever rolled in America was rolled by William Woods, at the steel
works of Jones & Quigg, in 1846, and shipped to John Deere, of
Moline, Illinois. About 1846 the firm of Tingle & Sugden, file-
makers, at Pittsburgh, made their own steel. In 1850 the manu-
facture of American steel, all of low-grade quality, cast and blister,
was confined to a few establishments, nearly all of which were in
Pennsylvania. In that year thirteen establishments in Pennsyl-
vania made 6,078 tons of steel, of which only 44 tons were cast
steel. Of the thirteen establishments, six were in Pittsburgh.
The following is a list of all the works in the State engaged in
the conversion of steel in 1850, with their product : James Row-
land & Co., Kensington, Philadelphia, 600 tons ; J. Robbins, Ken-
sington, 500 tons ; Earp & Brink, Kensington, 100 tons ; Robert S.
Johnson, Kensington, 400 tons ; W. & H. Rowland, Oxford, Phila-
delphia, 700 tons ; R. & G. D. Coleman, Martic, Lancaster county,
400 tons ; R. H. & W. Coleman, Castlefin, York county, 100 tons ;
Singer, Hartman & Co., Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, 700 tons ;
Coleman, Hailman & Co. , Pittsburgh, 800 tons ; Jones & Quigg,
Pittsburgh, 1,200 tons; Spang & Co., Pittsburgh, 200 tons; G. &
J. H. Shoenberger, Pittsburgh, 200 tons; S. McKelvy, Pittsburgh,
178 tons, these works having been in operation only six months :
total, 13 works, with an annual product of 6,078 tons. Of this
quantity only 44 tons were cast steel, as already stated.
In 1852 McKelvy & Blair, of Pittsburgh, made cast steel of
good quality, but not of the best. In 1853 the firm of Singer, Nim-
ick & Co., of Pittsburgh, which had been organized in 1848, and
in 1855 Isaac Jones, then doing business in his own name, were
successful in producing the higher grades of cast steel for saw,
machinery, and agricultural purposes, but they did not make tool
steel of the best quality as a regular product. That honor was
reserved for a new firm, beginning business in 1859. In that year
the firm of Hussey, Wells & Co. was successful in making cruci-
ble cast steel of best quality as a regular product at Pittsburgh,
and three years later the firm of Park, Brother & Co., also of
Pittsburgh, accomplished the same achievement. These were, we
believe, the first firms in the country to meet with complete success
in this difficult department of American manufacturing enterprise.
Hussey, Wells & Co. were also the first in the country to fully
demonstrate the fact that American iron is equal to the best
Swedish iron in the manufacture of best cast steel.
INTRODUCTION OF THE BESSEMER PROCESS. 81
The manufacture of crucible and other steel in this country has
received an immense impetus since 1860. In that year there were
thirteen steel-making establishments in the country, and in 1870
there were thirty, all devoted to the manufacture of steel other
than Bessemer. In 1876, omitting Bessemer works, there were
sixty steel works in the United States, of which thirty-nine made
crucible cast steel, and the remainder made puddled steel, open-
hearth steel, or steel from steel scrap. Of the thirty-nine which
made crucible steel, seven also made German or blister steel. Of
these thirty-nine works, nineteen were located in Pennsylvania,
most of them in Pittsburgh and its vicinity.
Introduction of the Bessemer Process into the United States. The
origin of the pneumatic or Bessemer process for converting pig iron
into steel, through which a complete revolution in the manufacture
of iron has already been effected, is scarcely twenty years old, al-
though experiments looking to this result were commenced about
twenty-six years ago. The process has been briefly explained to
consist in forcing into molten pig iron, contained in a suitable vessel
called a converter, streams of air under a high pressure, and, by the
combination thus effected between the oxygen of the air and the
carbon and silicon in the iron, decarburizing and desiliconizing the
metal to the extent necessary to produce the desired temper of steel ;
the product thus made being cast into ingots or other forms, and
treated in like manner as is customary in working cast steel.
The first person to suggest and to experiment upon the blowing of
air into and through molten crude iron in a crucible or vessel with-
out the use of fuel to retain the metal in the molten condition is
believed to have been William Kelly, an ironmaster of Eddyville,
Kentucky, who began at his furnace (Suwaunee) a series of experi-
ments based upon this theory as early as 1851, a theory or principle
which he patented in 1857. Henry Bessemer, of England, whose
name has been given to the pneumatic process, secured his first pat-
ents for the manufacture of steel in 1855, but he did not announce
his discovery of the pneumatic process until February 12, 1856, when
it was patented. Mr. Bessemer secured patents in this country in
the same year, but Mr. Kelly's claim of priority of invention was
subsequently allowed by the Patent Office. But neither Mr. Kelly
nor Mr. Bessemer was successful in making steel by the method
each had respectively adopted.
82 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Mr. Bessemer's process having failed to produce any successful
result in the manufacture of steel, Robert F. Mushet, then of the
Forest steel works, and now of Cheltenham, England, took out, on
the 22d of September, 1856, a patent for his process of adding to
molten pneumatized iron a molten triple compound of iron, carbon,
and manganese, of which compound spiegeleisen was at that time
the cheapest and most convenient form. The addition of from one
to five per cent, of this compound to Bessemerized cast iron at once
overcame the obstacle which had been fatal to the success of Mr.
Bessemer's invention. Pending the publication of Mr. Mushet's
patent, early in 1857, and during the erection for him of a blowing
apparatus and small converter, provided by the late Samuel Holdeii
Blackwell, of Dudley, Mr. Mushet obtained from the Ebbw Vale
Iron Company a supply of Bessemerized hematite cast iron. This
he melted in ordinary steel melting-pots, adding to the forty-four
pounds' charge of each pot, when melted, two pounds of melted
spiegeleisen. From this mixture ingots of from 500 to 800 pounds
were cast, and one of these ingots was rolled at the Ebbw Vale iron-
works into a double-headed rail, which was sent to Derby railway
station, on the Midland Railroad, to be laid down there at a place
where iron rails had sometimes to be renewed within three months.
This was early in 1857. Sixteen years afterwards, in June, 1873,
the rail referred to was taken out. This was the first Bessemer steel
rail ever laid down, and during its life-time about 1,250,000 trains
and a like number of detached engines and tenders passed over it.
Having, early in 1857, obtained the already-mentioned blowing
apparatus and converter, Mr. Mushet was enabled in that year to
cast small ingots of tool steel by the direct Bessemer process, with
the addition of spiegeleisen by his own process. The first charge of
Bessemer steel ever made with the addition of spiegeleisen was tapped
from the small converter at Mr. Mushet's Forest steel works by a
young workman, William Phelps, an iron miner, who is now, if
living, a citizen of the United States.
In 1858 Mr. Goran Goransson, a Swedish ironmaster, operating
upon fine manganesic Swedish pig iron, w r as enabled to produce
Bessemer steel of excellent quality without adding spiegeleisen.
Since then the Bessemer process has made rapid progress. Except
in a few instances, when pure manganesic pig iron can be obtained,
Mr. Mushet's process still continues to be absolutely essential in
the manufacture of Bessemer steel. But Mr. Mushet, from adverse
causes, over which he had no control, never received in his own
INTRODUCTION OF THE BESSEMER PROCESS. 83
country, nor in any European country, the reward which was fairly
due to him. The Iron and Steel Institute of England, however, in
1876 awarded to him the Bessemer gold medal for that year, in
recognition of the great value of his discovery.
While the Bessemer process was being perfected abroad, Mr,
Kelly was experimenting with his invention in this country. These
experiments were largely conducted in 1857-8-9 at the Cambria
ironworks, at Johnstown. The first pneumatic converter in Amer-
ica was built at Johnstown for Mr. Kelly, but no true steel was con-
verted in it, although refined iron was successfully produced.
In May, 1863, E. B. Ward, of Detroit, Hon. Daniel J. Morrell,
of Johnstown, William M. Lyon and James Park, Jr., of Pittsburgh,
and Z. S. Durfee, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, having obtained
control of the patents of William Kelly, organized the Kelly Pro-
cess Company, under an agreement which gave the inventor and
his representatives an interest which has proved to be valuable.
The company resolved to establish experimental works, and also to
acquire the patents in this country of Mr. Mushet for the use of
spiegeleisen. Experimental works were accordingly established at
Wyandotte, Michigan, and Mr. Durfee was sent to England to
procure an assignment of Mr. Mushet's patents. The latter pur-
pose was effected on the 24th of October, 1864, upon terms which
admitted Mr. Mushet, Thomas D. Clare, and John N. Brown, of
England, to membership in the Kelly Process Company. On the
5th of September, 1865, the company was further enlarged by the
admission to membership of Charles P. Chouteau, James Harrison,
and Felix Valle, all of St. Louis.
The control in this country of Mr. Bessemer's original process,
with all of the machinery necessary to its application, was obtained
in 1864 by John F. Winslow, John A. Griswold, and Alexander L.
Holley, all of Troy, New York, Mr. Holley visiting England in the
interest of himself and associates. In the fall of that year the licen-
sees of the Kelly patents succeeded in making Bessemer steel at
their experimental works at Wyandotte, the works being under the
general direction of William F. Durfee, who then made the first
Bessemer steel in America. In February, 1865, Mr. Holley was
successful at Troy in producing Bessemer steel at experimental
works which he had constructed at that place in 1864 for the
licensees of the Bessemer patents, Messrs. Winslow, Griswold and
Holley. But as the licensees of the Kelly patents could not achieve
success without Mr. Bessemer's machinery, and as the owners of
34 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
the right to use this machinery could not make steel without Mr.
Mushet's improvement, an arrangement was effected by which all
the patents were consolidated early in 1866. Under this arrange-
ment, the titles to the Kelly, Bessemer, and Mushet patents were
vested in Messrs. Winslow, Griswold, and Morrell, the first two
being owners of two-thirds of the property, and Mr. Morrell hold-
ing the other third in trust for the members of the Kelly Process
Company. This arrangement continued until the formation of the
Pneumatic Steel Association, a joint-stock company organized under
the laws of New York, in which the ownership of the consolidated
patents was continued, Mr. Morrell being the president and Z. S.
Durfee the secretary and treasurer. The consolidation, in 1866, of
the various interests, which was effected mainly through the exer-
tions of Mr. Morrell, was followed by a large reduction in the fees
and royalties charged to licensees, and thenceforward the business of
making Bessemer steel was rapidly extended in this country. The
Pennsylvania steel works, at Harrisburg, were the first works in
the country, after those at Troy, to make Bessemer steel as a com-
mercial product, their first blow taking place in June, 1867. The
fourth Bessemer steel works in the country were erected near Lew-
istown, Pa., and were known as the Freedom iron and steel works.
They made their first blow May 1, 1868. They did not produce
a good quality of steel, and in 1870 the company failed and the
works were abandoned. To-day Pennsylvania possesses five out of
eleven Bessemer steel establishments in the United States.
Important improvements upon Mr. Bessemer's machinery have
been invented and patented by Mr. Holley and other American en-
gineers, and the blooming mill for the reduction of steel ingots,
erected first at the Cambria ironworks by George Fritz and patent-
ed by him, has proved to be of great value. The Bessemer process
has also been improved by the professional chemists connected
with the American works, who are gradually emancipating the do-
mestic manufacture from all dependence upon foreign metals and
ores. It is universally admitted that in the United States this
industry has been brought to a higher state of perfection than it
has attained in any other country.
The first Bessemer steel rails ever rolled in this country were
rolled at the North Chicago rolling-mill, on the 24th day of May,
1865, from hammered blooms made at the Wyandotte rolling-mill
from ingots of steel made at the experimental steel works at Wyan-
dotte. The American Iron and Steel Association was in session at
INTRODUCTION OF THE SIEMENS GAS FURNACE. 85
Chicago at the time, and several of its members witnessed the roll-
ing of these rails. One of the rails was taken to the hall occupied
by the Association, and exhibited, and was subsequently placed on
exhibition in the lobby of the Tremont House. The rolls upon
which the blooms were rolled at the North Chicago rolling-mill
were those which had been in use for rolling iron rails, and, though
the reduction was quite too rapid for steel, the rails came out sound
and well shaped. Several of these rails were laid in the track of
one of the railroads running out of Chicago, and were still in use
in 1875. The first steel rails rolled in the United States upon
order, in the way of regular business, were rolled by the Cambria
Iron Company, at Johnstown, Pa., in August, 1867, from ingots
made at the works of the Pennsylvania Steel Company, at Harris-
burg, Pa. ; and by the Spuyten Duyvil Rolling-Mill Company, at
Spuyten Duyvil, N. Y., early in September of that year, from ingots
made at the Bessemer steel works, at Troy, N. Y., then owned by
Messrs. Winslow & Griswold.
Introduction of the Siemens Gas Furnace and Siemens- Martin Pro-
cess into the United States. In 1856 Dr. C. W. Siemens, of London,
England, the present president of the Iron and Steel Institute of
that country, gave his attention, in conjunction with his brother,
Frederick Siemens, both of whom were natives of Hanover, in Ger-
many, to the construction of a gas furnace for the manufacture
of iron, steel, glass, and other products which require a high and
uniform heat. These gentlemen were successful in inventing the
Siemens regenerative gas furnace, which has since been largely
adopted in Europe and in this country. In 1864 Messrs. Emile and
Pierre Martin, of the Sireuil Works, in France, with the assistance of
Dr. Siemens, erected one of these furnaces to melt steel. In this
furnace they produced cast steel of good quality and various tempers,
and at the Paris Exposition of 1867 their product secured for them
a gold medal. The Messrs. Martin subsequently obtained patents for
various inventions of their own which were applicable to the manu-
facture of steel by the Siemens furnace.
Dr. Siemens had given his attention to the production of cast
steel upon the hearth of a Siemens furnace since 1861, but had en-
countered great practical difficulties in establishing the process at
the works of licensees of his furnace, namely, Charles Attwood, at
Tow Law, in 1862, and the Barrow hematite works and the Four-
chambault works in 1863 and 1864. Dr. Siemens claims, in a letter
IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
that is now before us, that, both at Tow Law and Fourchambault,
oast steel had been produced upon the open hearth of a Siemens
furnace, which had been specially constructed by himself for that
purpose, from pig metal, spiegeleisen, and scrap iron, previous to
Messrs. Martins' connection with the process. The furnace at Tow
Law was a small one, and several such furnaces are still working
there in the manner originally designed by Dr. Siemens.
In 1865 Dr. Siemens commenced the erection at Birmingham,
in England, of steel works of his own, in which the regenerative
furnace should be used in producing steel. These works, which
were fully equipped for service in 1867, have produced most satis-
factory results. The Messrs. Martin gave their attention, in the
language of Dr. Siemens, to the production of steel by the dissolu-
tion of wrought iron and steel scrap in a bath of pig metal, while
his efforts were more especially directed to the production of steel
by the use of pig metal and iron ores, either in the raw state or in
a more or less reduced condition, which latter process is the one
mostly employed in the United Kingdom to-day. The former, or
Siemens-Martin process, is the one that is chiefly used in this
country, and the credit of introducing it is due to Hon. Abram S.
Hewitt, of New York, who was favorably impressed with it when
visiting the Paris Exposition in 1867 as a commissioner of the
United States. By his request, Mr. Frederick J. Slade, his busi-
ness associate, went to Sireuil to study the process in order to put it
into practice in this country.
On the 1st of December, 1862, Park, McCurdy & Co., of Pitts-
burgh, sent Mr. Lewis Powe, the manager of their copper mill, to
England to study the manufacture of tin plates. While there he
visited Birmingham, and saw a Siemens gas furnace and procured
one of the Siemens pamphlets containing a full description of it.
On his return home he called the attention of Mr. James Park,
Jr., to the advantages of the furnace. Immediately after July
4, 1863, the erection of a Siemens gas furnace was commenced at
the copper works. This furnace was erected for the purpose of
melting and refining copper, and was completed on the 14th day
of August, 1863. It worked well. It was constructed after the
drawings contained in the Siemens pamphlet. In the fall of 1863
Mr. Powe revisited England, and while there had an interview
with Dr. Siemens. Soon afterwards the firm of Park, Brother &
Co. built a Siemens furnace to heat steel, but it was not long in
use. In 1864 James B. Lyon & Co., of Pittsburgh, built a
INTRODUCTION OF THE SIEMENS GAS FURNACE. 87
Siemens gas furnace for making glass. The enterprise, however,
although mechanically successful, met with an accident which
suddenly brought it to an end. It is proper to state that the
introduction into this country of the Siemens furnace by the
above-named firms was accomplished in an irregular manner,
without first obtaining a license from Dr. Siemens, who had pat-
ented his invention.
The first Siemens gas furnace which was regularly introduced
into this country for any purpose was built by John A. Griswold
& Co., at Troy, New York, and used as a heating furnace in their
rolling-mill, the license having been granted on the 18th of Septem-
ber, 1867. The next gas furnace which was regularly introduced
was used as a heating furnace by the Nashua Iron and Steel Com-
pany, of New Hampshire, the license for which was granted on the
26th of September, 1867. The next furnace which was regularly
introduced was built by Anderson & Woods, of Pittsburgh, for
melting steel in pots, the license for which was dated in November,
1867. About 1869 the Lenox plate-glass works in Massachusetts
also built a Siemens gas furnace. All of these furnaces gave
satisfaction.
The first open-hearth furnace introduced into this country for the
manufacture of steel by the Siemens-Martin process was built in
1868 by Cooper, Hewitt & Co., proprietors of the works of the
New Jersey Steel and Iron Company at Trenton, New Jersey.
The building of this furnace was commenced by this company in
the spring of 1868, and in December of the same year it was put
in operation.
The first successful application in this country of the Siemens
furnace to the puddling of iron was under the direction of Mr.
William F. Durfee, at the rolling-mill of the American Silver Steel
Company, at Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1869. Prior to this an
unsuccessful attempt was made to accomplish the same result at
the Eagle rolling-mill of James Wood & Company, at Saw Mill
run, near Pittsburgh.
On the 1st of May, 1877, there had been built in this country
187 Siemens gas furnaces for use in the manufacture of steel and
of iron and steel products, 88 of which were in Pennsylvania. Of
the whole number, 35 were used in the production of crucible
steel, 30 of which were in Pennsylvania, and 21 were used in
the production of open-hearth steel, of which 5 were in Pennsyl-
vania. In the year 1876 there were produced in the United States
88 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
21,490 net tons of open-hearth steel, of which Pennsylvania made
7,547 tons.
Experimental works have been erected at Pittsburgh in 1877, by
Messrs. Park, Brother & Co., in conjunction with Messrs. Miller,
Metcalf & Parkin, for the manufacture of wrought iron by a direct
process invented by Dr. Siemens, and successfully tested by him at
his experimental works at Towcester, England. The process em-
bodies the application of the Siemens gas furnace.
The Whitwell Hot Blast was first applied in this country to the
Rising Fawn furnace, in Dade county, Georgia, June 18th, 1875.
The first application of this hot-blast in Pennsylvania was made at
the Dunbar furnace, in Fayette county, in February, 1877.
First Iron Rails Made in the United States. It has been stated
by an English writer that the first rails used upon the Stockton
and Darlington Railroad, the first complete railroad in the world,
which was opened in 1825, were of wrought iron, rolled fish-bellied,
with half-lap joints and weighing 28 pounds per yard : a small
portion of the line was laid with cast-iron fish-bellied rails.
The first iron rails of any kind that were made in this country
were made of cast iron. Solomon W. Roberts gives us this infor-
mation concerning them: "The Lehigh Coal and Navigation
Company made a short section of experimental railroad in the
summer of 1826, at its foundry at the upper end of the town of
Mauch Chunk, and a car was run upon it. The idea then was to
make a road with rails and chairs of cast iron, like those in use at
the coal mines in the North of England. After casting a good
many rails, each about four feet long, the plan was given up on
account of its being too expensive."
Many years elapsed after the first railroad was built in this coun-
try before iron rails were made in American rolling-mills. Among
the proposals to furnish rails for the Columbia and Philadelphia
Railroad, received in May, 1831, there were none for American
iron, and the whole quantity was purchased in England. Previous
to the passage of the tariff act of 1842, rails were admitted into
this country virtually free of duty. On the passage of that act
some American capitalists began to think about making our own
rails.
A few flat rails had been rolled prior to 1842, but such rails
were only bar iron. On the Mauch Chunk Railroad, built in 1827,
FIRST IRON RAILS MADE IN THE UNITED STATES. 89
the wooden stringers were strapped with common merchant bar
iron, the flat bars being about one inch and a half wide and three-
eighths of an inch thick. The holes for the spikes were drilled by
hand. The flat rails which were afterwards made differed from
merchant bars of the same size only in this, that the rail in its last
passage through the rolls became indented, or countersunk, at regu-
lar distances. The centre of the countersunk surface was after-
wards punched through for admitting the spike. As late as 1837,
when the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad was in course of construc-
tion from Toledo to Adrian, it was proposed to put down wooden
rails, of oak studding four inches square, and to draw the cars by
horses. But wiser counsels prevailed, and by great exertions suffi-
cient funds were obtained to enable the management to iron the road
with flat rails five-eighths of an inch thick. Flat rails continued
in use in this country, notwithstanding the introduction of heavier
rails, down to about 1850. "It was not until 1850 that the longitu-
dinal sill and the flat rail were entirely removed from the Utica and
Schenectady Railroad, the most important link in the New York
Central line."
In 1844 the manufacture of heavy iron rails in this country was
commenced at the Mount Savage rolling-mill, in Alleghany county,
Maryland, erected in 1843 especially for rolling these rails. The
first rail rolled at the Mount Savage rolling-mill, and for which
the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia struck a silver medal, was
a U rail, known in Wales as the Evans patent, of Dowlais iron-
works, Merthyr Tydvil. It was intended to be laid on a wooden
longitudinal sill, and was fastened to it by an iron wedge, keying
under the sill, thus doing away with outside fastenings. This rail
weighed 42 Ibs. to the yard, and about 500 tons of it were laid in
1844 on a part of the road then being built between Mount Sav-
age and Cumberland, a distance of nine miles. It was understood
at the time to be the first heavy railroad iron made in America.
The Montour rolling-mill, at Danville, Pa., was built in 1845
expressly to roll rails, and here were rolled in October of that year
the first T rails made in the country. The first T rail rolls made
in this country were made for the Montour Iron Company by the
firm of Haywood & Snider, proprietors of the Colliery ironworks
at Pottsville, the work being done at their branch establishment at
Danville. The Boston ironworks were started in January, 1824,
to manufacture cut nails, hoops, and tack plates, but they subse-
quently rolled rails, and on the 6th of May, 1846, they rolled the
90 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
first T rails in Massachusetts, Ralph Crocker being superintendent.
In 1845 the rolling-mill of Cooper & Hewitt was built at Tren-
ton, N. J., to roll heavy rails, and on the 19th of June, 1846,
their first rail was rolled. About the 1st of September, 1846,
the New England Iron Company, at Providence, Rhode Island,
commenced to roll T rails. The first lot of these rails rolled
by the company was delivered to the Providence and Worcester
Railroad, September 11, 1846. T rails were rolled in November,
1846, at Phoenixville, Pa.; in the fall of the same year at the
Great Western ironworks at Brady's Bend, Pa.; early in 1847
at the Bay State rolling-mill, in Massachusetts, then owned by
the Massachusetts Iron Company; in January, 1848, at the Rough-
and-Ready rolling-mill at Danville, Pa. ; and in the same year at
Safe Harbor, Pa. All the T rails made at the mills above men-
tioned were rolled with a base or flange similar to that of the
present T rail. A few other mills rolled heavy rails before 1850,
but at the beginning of that year, owing to low duties, only two out
of fifteen rail-mills in the country were in operation. It has been
claimed that heavy rails in this country were first made at
Brady's Bend; but this is a mistake, as the dates above fully
show. The mill at this place was built in 1841, as a merchant
bar mill, and any rails that it may have made prior to the fall
of 1846 were flat rails. The first shipment of T rails made by
the company was in June, 1847, by keel-boat on the Allegheny
river to Pittsburgh.
The first T rails imported into this country were made to be fitted
into cast-iron chairs, resting upon square stone blocks, but in a few
years wooden cross-ties were used instead of the blocks. On the
Boston and Lowell Railroad, which was completed in 1835, stone
cross-ties were at first laid, some of which were in use as late as
1852. A thin wedge or key of wrought iron was driven between
the inside of the chair and the rail, to keep the latter firmly in
its place, and the operation of " driving keys " had to be repeated
almost every day, owing to the tendency of moving trains to loosen
them. Rails of this pattern were used for many years upon the
Allegheny Portage Railroad in Pennsylvania, and many of the
stone blocks can now be seen in its abandoned bed. A writer on
railroads, in Johnson's Cyclopaedia, states that the first T rails intro-
duced into this country were laid on the New Orleans and Pont-
chartrain Railroad in 1831. Assuming that the statement is cor-
rect, the pattern used was undoubtedly that which we have just
IRON SHIPBUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES. 91
described. Rails made with the broad base now found in all T
rails are said to have been first made in England about 1836, for
the Camden and Amboy Railroad of New Jersey, and the inno-
vation is also said to have been the result of a futile effort to
roll a rail and chair in one piece. In a notice of Robert Livings-
ton Stevens, in the American Cyclopaedia, it is stated that " in
1836 he introduced the T rail on the Camden and Amboy Rail-
road, of which he was president for many years." The refer-
ence here is doubtless to the present form of the T rail. It
seems strange that this form of rail should not have become
generally popular in this country until many years after 1836.
The first thirty-foot rail rolled in this country is claimed to have
been rolled at the Cambria ironworks at Johnstown, Pa., in 1855.
These rails were perfectly made, but there being no demand for them
they were used in the company's tracks. It is claimed that the first
thirty-foot rails rolled in the country on order were rolled at the
Montour rolling-mill, in January, 1859, for the Sunbury and Erie
Railroad Company.
It is worthy of notice that, in 1876, one rolling-mill in Pennsyl-
vania, the Cambria ironworks, rolled the largest aggregate of rails
ever rolled in one year by one mill in this country. Its produc-
tion of rails in that year was 103,743 net tons, of which 47,643 tons
were iron rails and 56,100 tons were steel rails. Beginning busi-
ness in 1853, it has since that year manufactured one-tenth of the
total product of American rails.
Iron Shipbuilding in the United States. The business of iron
shipbuilding in this country may properly be said to date from the
year 1839, when an iron steamboat was built at Pittsburgh, being
the first enterprise of the kind in the United States. The vessel
was called the Valley Forge. For general navigation purposes it
was completely successful. Other iron vessels were subsequently
built at Pittsburgh which fully realized the hopes of their builders,
among them an iron schooner for ocean service, and an iron steam-
er, the Michigan, for service on the lakes both built by order of the
government about 1842. In that year Captain John Ericsson, of
New York, furnished designs for four freight propeller iron steamers
which were built for the Delaware and Raritan Canal, each 96 feet
long, 24 feet beam, and 7 feet deep. In 1843 there were also built
after his designs the propeller iron steamer Legare, for the revenue
92 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
service, 150 feet long, 26 feet beam, and 10 feet deep, and four pro-
peller boats for the Erie Canal, each 80 feet long, 14 feet beam, and
6 feet deep. In the same year Captain Ericsson built two steam
passenger boats of iron to run on the James River Canal, in Vir-
ginia, and about the same time other small iron vessels were built
after his designs. In 1846 an iron passenger steamer, the Iron
Witch, 220 feet long, 27 feet beam, and 13 feet deep, was built at
New York, after a design furnished by Captain Ericsson, to run on
the Hudson river to Albany. About 1844 R. B. Forbes, of Boston,
built a powerful iron wrecking vessel of 1,200 tons burden. The
building of iron vessels made but slow progress, however, until after
1860.
During the civil war monitors and other iron vessels were
built by the government, and Pittsburgh furnished many of the
armor-plates which were required for them. The contract for
the construction of the first turreted iron-clad vessel in the world,
Ericsson's Monitor, was made by the United States Navy Depart-
ment on the 4th of October, 1861, with Captain Ericsson, and on
the 9th of March following it met and vanquished the Confederate
iron-clad Merrimack. The Monitor foundered on the 13th of De-
cember, 1862, in a storm off Cape Hatteras, the accident being
caused by mismanagement of the turret.
The history of the construction of this historic vessel and of
other monitors built during the war is worthy of preservation,
although not embracing all the monitors, and we give it as follows
in an extract from a letter we have received from Captain Ericsson.
We sought in vain for this information in all the histories of the war.
The Monitor was built under contract between the Secretary of the Navy
and John Ericsson, whose sureties were John F. Winslow and John A.
Griswold of Troy, and C. S. Bushnell of New Haven. The Monitor in all its
parts was designed by me hull, turret, steam machinery, anchor-hoister, gun-
carriages, etc., all were built from working drawings made by my own hands,
furnishing the rare instance of such a structure in all its details emanating
from a single person. In carrying out the contract I employed the N Novelty
ironworks to build the turret; the Delamater ironworks to build the
motive-engines, propeller, boilers, turret-gear, anchor-hoister, gun-carriages,
and all other machinery ; while I employed Thomas F. Rowland, of Green-
point, to build the hull, attach the side armor, and launch the vessel a
difficult undertaking, which he carried out with much skill. The turret-
plating and armor-plating, composed of a series of plates one inch thick,
were rolled by H. Abbott & Son, of Baltimore.
Six monitor iron-clads of the Passaic class, viz., the Passaic, Montauk,
IRON SHIPBUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES. 93
Catskill, Patapsco, Sangamon, and Lehigh, were also built under contract
between the Secretary of the Navy and myself, the sureties being the gentle-
men already mentioned. Of these six vessels, three were built in New York
and three on the Delaware. I also built, under direct contract with the
Secretary of the Navy, the large monitor iron-clads, Dictator and Puritan,
the hull of the latter being built by Thomas F. Kowland, at Greenpoint,
while the hull of the Dictator was built in New York by the Delamater iron-
works. This establishment also built the turrets and furnished the entire
machinery for both vessels, likewise from working drawings prepared by me.
Four other monitor iron-clads of the Passaic class were also built by other
parties, viz., Weehawken and Camanche, built at Jersey City, and the Nahant
and Nantucket at Boston. The working drawings were, however, furnished
by myself. The entire armor-plating and nearly the whole of the hull-
plating of the several monitor iron-clads built by me were rolled by H. Abbott
<& Son, of Baltimore. The heavy forgings employed in constructing the
turrets and steam machinery of the foregoing iron-clads were furnished by
the Bridgewater ironworks, of Massachusetts.
The following monitor iron-clads were also built after my plans : Catawba
and Oneota, built at Niles Works, Cincinnati; Tippecanoe, built by Miles
Greenwood, Cincinnati ; Mahopac and Tecumseh, built by Secor & Co., Jersey
City ; Manhattan, by Ferine, Secor & Co., Jersey City ; Canonicus, by Harrison
Loring, Boston, Mass. ; Manayunk, by Snowden & Mason, Pittsburgh ;
JSaugus, by Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Del.
The Umpqua, another monitor, was built at Pittsburgh in 1863.
Among the iron vessels additional to the monitors which were
built during the war may be mentioned the New Ironsides and the
Dunderberg, the armor-plates for which were rolled at Pittsburgh.
In 1868 five iron steamships were built for ocean service. Since
that year over two hundred iron vessels have been built in this
country, and of these Pennsylvania has furnished the largest ton-
nage. The total tonnage of all the vessels built up to the begin-
ning of 1877 is officially stated to be 197,500, the whole number
of vessels being 251. Of these, 61 were rated from 1,000 to 2,000
tons; 9 from 2,000 to 3,000 tons; 8 from 3,000 to 4,000 tons;
and 2 over 5,000 tons; the remaining 171 were under 1,000 tons.
One firm, that of John Roach & Son, at Chester, Pa., has built
33 iron steamers since 1872, having a total tonnage of 68,150.
The same firm has in the same time paid $14,890,000 for ma-
terials and labor.
Some of the finest iron steamships the world has yet seen have
been built on the Delaware. The only line of passenger steamships
plying between this country and Europe which is wholly owned by
Americans, and carries the American flag, is the American Steam-
ship Company's line, composed of four magnificent iron vessels, the
94 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, built at Philadelphia of
Pennsylvania iron by Cramp & Sons, and running regularly be-
tween that port and Liverpool. No finer passenger vessels plow
the Atlantic. Their length is 355 feet, breadth of beam, 43 feet,
and depth of hold, 33 feet. They can accommodate 76 first-class
passengers and about 800 intermediate and steerage passengers.
Their tonnage capacity is 3,100 tons each ; capacity of coal-bunk-
ers, 720 tons each. Most of the European visitors to the Centennial
Exhibition came to Philadelphia and returned to their homes in
the vessels of this line. They have made so favorable an impression
on the English underwriters that they have been accorded a rate of
insurance lower than that of any other steamers in the Transatlan-
tic trade, except two of the Cunard ships, and these two pay the
same rate as the American line. In 1874 John Roach & Son built
at Chester, Pa., for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, two iron
steamships of immense size and superior equipment, which fully
equal in all respects the best of British-built iron steamers. These
were the City of Peking and the City of Tolcio twin vessels in every
respect. Their registered tonnage is 5,000 tons each. Each ship
will accommodate 150 cabin passengers and 1,800 steerage passen-
gers, and each vessel's coal-bunkers will carry 1,500 tons. The
total weight of iron used in constructing each steamship was
5,400,000 pounds, and the cost of each was over $1,000,000.
The cost of building iron steamships on the Delaware is now as
low as vessels of equal excellence can be built on the Clyde. In
addition to the firms above named, the Harlan & Hollingsworth
Company, and Pusey, Jones & Co., of Wilmington, and others on
the Delaware, have extensive iron shipyards, and have built many
iron vessels for ocean service. Up to 1876, owing to the popu-
larity of iron steamships, only one iron sailing ship had been
built in the United States. The statement that iron vessels can
be built as cheaply in this country as abroad has attracted wide
attention, and an increase in the orders for their construction
may be speedily expected to follow.
Exports of Pennsylvania Iron Before the Revolution. The ex-
portation of pig iron from the colonies to Great Britain began in
the years 1728-9, according to the most reliable records. In these
years the colonies exported to England 1,156 tons, of which Penn-
sylvania contributed 274 tons. From 1728-9 to 1755 the exports
to England from the iron-producing colonies aggregated 57,404
BRITISH OPPOSITION TO AMERICAN IRON MANUFACTURES. 95
tons, including shipments to Scotland. Of this total, Pennsylvania
shipped 4,604 tons. The exportation of bar iron from America
began in 1717, when 2 tons of bars were sent to England from
the British West India Islands of Nevis and St. Christopher, but
which had evidently been taken there from the colonies. In 1718,
3 tons and 7 cwt. of bars were shipped from Virginia and Mary-
land to England. In 1735 Pennsylvania exported 10 tons, 17
cwt., and 3 qrs. of bar iron. From 1735 to 1755 the total ex-
ports of bar iron from the colonies to England and Scotland were
1,430 tons, of which Pennsylvania's share was 416 tons. From
1761 to 1776 the colonies exported 54,453 tons of pig iron and
18,723 tons of bar iron to England, of which the quantity exported
by Pennsylvania can not now be ascertained. The amount of iron
exported from Philadelphia in the year ending April 5, 1766, was
882 tons of bar iron at 26 per ton, and 813 tons of pig iron at 7
10s. per ton. In the three years preceding the war, ending January
5, 1774, the total exports from Pennsylvania were respectively 2,358,
2,205, and 1,5<64 tons. The proportions of pig and bar iron are not
stated.
The above figures represent only colonial shipments of iron to
the mother country, and no other export figures are obtainable-
But it is known that the colonies also exported iron to the British
West Indies, in exchange for their products, some of which iron
found its way to the mother country, as we have seen above. Some
of the colonies also exported iron to sister colonies. All of the
colonies were prohibited, by acts of Parliament, from exporting
their products to any foreign country except Great Britain. In
1756 Acrelius, the Swedish historian, wrote as follows :
Pennsylvania, in regard to its ironworks, is the most advanced of all the
American colonies. When New Jersey is added to it, one can safely say that
from the Delaware the greatest part of the iron in America is taken. Here-
with, however, the provinces of Maryland, Virginia, and New York deserve
to be mentioned. . . . Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland supply
more iron than their inhabitants need. From Maryland some pig iron is
carried to Philadelphia in exchange for West India goods, as Maryland has
but little commerce with the Islands, and no other offset against Philadelphia.
The export is made to London, the West India Islands, and other English
colonies on the continent of America.
British Measures to Prevent the Manufacture of Iron and Steel in
the United States. In 1749 an act of the British Parliament was
96 IRONWORKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
passed which encouraged the importation of American pig and bar
iron into Great Britain by repealing the duties thereon, the object
being to aid in the development of the finished iron trade of the
mother country by supplying it with cheap raw iron, and to stimu-
late the exportation of woolen and other British manufactures to
the colonies in exchange for their iron. The act did not contem-
plate the encouragement of finished iron manufactures in the colo-
nies, but just the reverse, for it provided as follows :
"That from and after the twenty-fourth day of June, 1750, no mill or
other engine for slitting or rolling of iron, or any plating forge to work with
a tilt-hammer, or any furnace for making steel, shall be erected, or, after such
erection, continued in any of His Majesty's colonies in America ; and if any
person or persons shall erect, or cause to be erected, or, after such erection,
continue, or cause to be continued, in any of the said colonies, any such mill,
engine, forge, or furnace, every person or persons so offending shall, for every
such mill, engine, forge, or furnace, forfeit the sum of two hundred pounds
of lawful money of Great Britain." And further : " That every such mill,
engine, forge, or furnace so erected or continued, contrary to the directions
of this act, shall be deemed a common nuisance," to be abated by " every
governor, lieutenant-governor, or commander-in-chief of any of His Majesty's
colonies in America, where any such mill, engine, forge, or furnace shall be
erected or continued."
This oppressive and tyrannical act was enforced. In Pennsyl-
vania the' Lieutenant-Governor, James Hamilton, Esq., issued a
proclamation, dated August 16, 1750, commanding the owners of
every rolling and slitting mill, plating forge, and steel furnace in
the province to appear before him, on or before the following 21st
day of September, with " sufficient proofs whether the said mills,
engines, forges, and furnaces respectively were used on the said
24th day of June, or not ; " also commanding the sheriffs of all the
counties in the province to furnish lists, on or before the 21st of
September, of all such establishments within their respective juris-
dictions, and to certify " whether they or any of them were used on
the said 24th day of June, or not, as they and each of them will
answer the contrary at their peril." Responses to this proclamation
were made and are preserved. We have been shown in the library
of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania an original copy of the
proclamation, which was printed by Benjamin Franklin. In 1756,
six years after this proclamation was issued, Acrelius stated that
the Vincent steel works were not then in operation, and he after-
wards added : " No one is allowed to make nails. The trip-hammers
BRITISH OPPOSITION TO AMERICAN IRON MANUFACTURES. 97
which were erected some years since were condemned on account of
their interference with the importation from England."
The enactment of this law, which will forever remain a stain
upon the good name of the British people, was only one of a series
of oppressive measures which eventually led to independence. They
all interfered with the development of the manufactures of this
country, the act from which we have quoted exercising a depressing
effect upon the iron industry of Pennsylvania and other colonies
down to the Revolution.
When the war of the Revolution was over, and the political in-
dependence of the United States was secured, Great Britain still
sought, by means of restrictive measures, already enacted or spe-
cially devised, to prevent the industrial development of this country,
so that its people might continue to be dependent upon the mother
country for many crude and manufactured articles which, with
proper encouragement from their own government, they could them-
selves produce. These restrictive measures, it is true, applied to other
countries as well as to the United States, but upon no other country
did they operate with such oppressive influence as upon this country.
Skilled mechanics were prohibited from emigrating from Great
Britain to other countries, and the exportation of tools or utensils
used in the silk, linen, cotton, or woolen manufacture was also
prohibited the penalties in both cases being severe. In 1785 the
emigration from Great Britain of iron and steel artificers and
workmen and the exportation of tools used in the manufacture
of iron and steel were specifically prohibited, and in 1795 the
prohibition of the exportation of tools and machinery used in the
manufacture of iron and steel was reaffirmed with emphasis. In
the same act the prohibition of the exportation of tools and ma-
chinery was extended to other manufactures. The first of these
restrictions was not wholly repealed until 1825, and the exporta-
tion of machinery for manufacturing was not relieved of all
restrictions until 1842. The alien efforts that have been made to
control the legislation of this country in the interest of British
manufacturers are well known and need not be recited. They
have been more or less successful until this day, and but for the
courage and patriotism of Pennsylvania ironmasters, who have
steadily opposed them, they would have been completely so, and
the manufacturing and all the other industries of the country
would have failed of the magnificent achievements that astonished
the world at the close of the first century of our national existence.
98 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Statistics of the Production of Iron and Steel in Pennsylvania in
1805. In 1806 Joseph Scott published A Geographical Description
of Pennsylvania, in which an attempt was made to collect the
statistics of the iron industry of the State in the preceding year.
Palpable errors and omissions appear in this part of Mr. Scott's
book, but his statements are nevertheless worthy of preservation
because of their antiquity. We condense them as follows, correct-
ing transparent errors.
There were in the State, in 1805, 31 furnaces, 72 forges, 12 tilt-hammers,
2 steel furnaces, 11 slitting-mills, besides the slitting and rolling machinery,
then abandoned, connected with the water-works of Philadelphia. The fur-
naces manufacture annually upwards of 21,000 tons of pig and castings, con-
sisting of stoves, kettles, pots, pans, ladles, etc. The forges manufacture
12,960 tons of bar iron, and the slitting-mills upwards of 2,750 tons annually.
About 150 tons of steel are yearly manufactured. The distribution of the
ironworks of the State by counties was in part as follows ' Philadelphia
county (1805) 1 small forge, 2 furnaces, 1 tilt-hammer, 1 steel works. Chester
county (1800) 4 slitting-mills, 2 furnaces, 8 forges, 12 tilt-hammers. Lancas-
ter county (1805) 3 furnaces and 8 forges in the north end of the county.
The furnaces usually manufacture about 1,200 tons annually of pigs, and the
forges an equal number of tons of bar iron. Two of the forges were in the
neighborhood of Church town. York county (1805) 2 forges. Cumberland
county (1805) 2 slitting-mills and 3 furnaces. Berks county (1805) 1 slit-
ting-mill, 8 furnaces, 20 forges, and 9 tilt-hammers. Fayette county (1805)
In the mountains are found large quantities of iron ore, for the manufacturing
of which several furnaces and forges have been erected. They manufacture
pig, bar iron, hollow ware, etc. Four forges and 3 furnaces are near Con-
nellsville, and 2 forges and 2 furnaces are on George's creek. Franklin county
(1805) furnaces and forges have been erected, which manufacture pig, bar
iron, hollow ware, etc. Montgomery county (1805) 4 forges. Dauphin county
(1805) 2 furnaces and 2 forges have been erected. Luzerne county (1805)
2 forges have been erected, using bog iron ore. Allegheny county (1805)
a furnace has been erected within a few miles of Pittsburgh. Delaware county
(1805) 7 forges and 1 slitting-mill. Greene county (1805) a furnace in the
neighborhood of Waynesborough. Centre county (1805) in the mountains
are found abundance of iron ore, which is manufactured into pig, bar iron,
and hollow ware. Mercer county (1805) a forge and furnace are now nearly
erected at New Castle.
Statistics of the Production of Iron and Steel in 1810. In 1814
there was published A Statement of the Arts and Manufactures of
the United States of America, as they existed in 1810, prepared by
Tench Coxe, under the authority of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of
the Treasury. From this document we glean the following infor-
STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL.
99
mation concerning the condition of the iron industry of Pennsyl-
vania and of the country at large in 1810. In the totals for the
United States we believe the values to be correct, as they include
returns from every State, but some of the quantities given are not
strictly accurate, because some of the States did not report quanti-
ties, although at the same time they reported values. We believe,
however, that the quantities are approximately correct.
Number of Blast Furnaces in U. S., ~
Number of Air Furnaces in U. S., /
Tons of Cast Iron made in U. S.,
153
in Pennsylvania, 44
in Pennsylvania, 6
53,908; in Pennsylvania, 26,878
Value of Cast Iron made in U. S., $2,981,277 ; in Pennsylvania, $1,301,343
$16,000
78
10,969
in Pennsylvania,
in Pennsylvania,
in Pennsylvania,
330; in Pennsylvania,
24,541 ; in Pennsylvania,
in Pennsylvania, $1,156,405
in Pennsylvania, 50
600; in Pennsylvania
$327,898; in Pennsylvania,
34 ; in Pennsylvania,
in Pennsylvania,
9,280 ; :
in Pennsylvania,
Number of Bloomaries in U. S ...... 135
Tons of Iron made in U. S .......... 2,564
Value of Iron made in U. S ........ $226,034
Number of Forges in U. S ............
Tons Bar Iron, etc., made in U. S.,
Value of Bar Iron, etc., made in U. S. $2,874,063
Number of Trip Hammers in U. S., 316
Product of Trip Hammers in tons,
Value of Product of Trip Hammers,
Rolling and Slitting Mills in U. S.,
Tons of Rolled Iron made in U. S.,
Product in Tons of Slit Iron in U. S.,
Value of Rolled and Slit Iron in U. S., $1,215,946 ; in Pennsylvania,
Number of Naileries in U. S ......... 410; in Pennsylvania,
Pounds of Nails made in U. S ...... 15,727,914; in Pennsylvania,
Value of Nails made in U. S ....... $2,478,139; in Pennsylvania,
The product of Steel Furnaces in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina was 917 tons, valued at
$144,736. Of the whole number of Steel Furnaces, Pennsylvania contained
5, of which Philadelphia City, and Philadelphia, Lancaster, Dauphin, and
Fayette counties each contained one. The product of Pennsylvania was
531 tons, valued at $81,147.
The following-named counties in Pennsylvania produced the iron
accredited in this table to this State : Philadelphia, Montgomery,
Bucks, Northampton, Delaware, Chester, Lancaster, Dauphin, Berks,
Luzerne, Northumberland, Lycoming, Erie, Armstrong, Centre, Mif-
flin, Cumberland, York, Adams, Franklin, Bedford, Huntingdon,
Cambria, Fayette, Westmoreland, Washington, Beaver, Butler, Alle-
gheny, Mercer, and Crawford : thirty-one counties in all.
$73,496
18
4,502
98
$606,426
175
7,270,825
$760,862
Statistics of the Production of Iron and Steel after 1810, and
down to 1870. In 1820 the value of all the manufactures of pig
100
IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
iron and castings in the United States was $2,230,275, of which Penn-
sylvania produced $563,810 worth. In the same year the country
produced "manufactures of wrought iron" to the amount of .$4,640,-
669, of which Pennsylvania's share was $1,156,266.
In 1830 the value of the pig iron and castings manufactured in
the United States was $4,757,403, of which the share of Pennsylva-
nia was $1,643,702. In the same year the country's production of
"manufactures of wrought iron" amounted in value to $16,737,251,
of which Pennsylvania produced $3,762,847 worth. Gordon in 1832
claimed about 60 furnaces and a production of 50,000 tons of cast
iron and 40,000 tons of bar iron in Pennsylvania.
In 1840 there were in the United States 804 furnaces, which pro-
duced in that year 286,903 tons of "cast iron." Pennsylvania had
213 furnaces, and produced 98,395 tons of " cast iron." In the
same year there were 795 bloomaries, forges, and rolling-mills in
the country, of which Pennsylvania had 169. The number of tons
of bar iron produced in that year was 197,233, of which Pennsyl-
vania's share was 87,244.
In 1842 there were 213 blast furnaces in the State, 169 forges
and rolling-mills, and 151,885 tons of pig iron were produced.
The production of pig iron in the State in 1843 was 190,000 tons,
and in 1844 it was 246,000 tons. In 1846 there were 317 blast
furnaces in the State, producing 368,056 tons of pig iron, and in
1847 there were the same number, producing 389,350 tons of pig
iron. In 1849 the pig iron product of the State fell to 253,000
tons. The following statistics for that year are compiled from the
valuable report of Charles E. Smith, Esq., published in 1850.
BLAST FURNACES IN
PENNSYLVANIA.
No.
Investment.
Present
capacity.
Tons.
Make 1847.
Tons.
Make 1849.
Tons.
Anthracite coal . .
57
7
4
85
145
6
$3,221,000
223,000
800,000
3,478,500
5,170,376
28,700
$12,921,576
221,400
12,600
12,000
130,705
173,654
600
151,331
7,800
10,000
94,519
125,155
545
109,168
4,900
58,302
80,665
335
Coke
Charcoal hot blast .
" cold blast
Totals
304
550,959
389,350
253,370
FORGES AND
ROLLING-MILLS IN
PENNSYLVANIA.
No.
works.
Investment.
No.
forge
fires.
No.
pud-
dling
fur.
Capacity.
Tons.
Actual
make 1847.
Tons.
Actual
make 1849.
Tons.
Charcoal forges
Rolling-mills
Totals/
121
79
$2,026,300
5,554,200
402
436
50,250
174,400
39,967
163,760
28,495
108,358
200
$7,580,500
402
436
224,650
203,727
136,853
STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL. 101
The six bloomaries mentioned in the tal?le; wefts 'ali in
Monroe, and Northampton counties, and all Used 'the rich magnetic
ores of New Jersey. They had 12 fires,r,7 hammei^ajld:,]ft$46. ,6$^,,
tons of bars in 1849. They have all been abandoned.
In 1850 there were produced in the United States 563,755 tons
of pig iron by 377 " establishments," of which Pennsylvania pro-
duced 285,702 tons of pig iron in 180 " establishments." In the
same year the country produced " wr ought-iron manufactures" to
the amount of $22,629,271 in 552 "establishments," of which Penn-
sylvania produced $9,224,256 worth in 162 "establishments." These
meagre statistics of production of iron in 1850 are from the census
for that year, and the word "establishment" must not be con-
founded with single furnaces, forges, or rolling-mills. One estab-
lishment might embrace several separate ironworks.
In 1860 the United States, in 97 establishments, produced 51,290
tons of blooms, worth $2,623,178 ; Pennsylvania, in 57 establish-
ments, produced 24,700 tons of blooms, worth $1,467,450. In the
same year the United States, in 286 establishments, produced 987,-
559 tons of pig iron, worth $20,870,120; Pennsylvania, in 125 estab-
lishments, produced 580,049 tons of pig iron, worth $11,262,974.
In 256 establishments the United States produced 513,213 tons of
rolled iron worth $31,888,705 ; Pennsylvania, in 87 establishments,
produced 266,253 tons of rolled iron worth $15,122,842. In 13
establishments the United States produced 11,838 tons of steel, worth
$1,778,240; Pennsylvania, in 9 establishments, produced 9,890 tons
of steel, worth $1,338,200.
In 1870 the United States, in 82 establishments, produced 110,808
tons of blooms, worth $7,647,054; Pennsylvania, in 43 establish-
ments, produced 68,238 tons of blooms, worth $4,881,431. In 386
establishments the United States produced 2,052,821 tons of pig
iron, worth $69,640,498 ; Pennsylvania, in 136 establishments, pro-
duced 1,033,272 tons of pig iron, worth $32,636,410. In 310 estab-
lishments the United States produced 1,468,312 tons of rolled
iron, worth $120,311,158 ; Pennsylvania, in 120 establishments,
produced 713,331 tons of rolled iron, worth $56,811,975. In 2
establishments the United States produced 19,403 tons of Bessemer
steel, worth $1,818,220; Pennsylvania, in 1 establishment, produced
13,500 tons of Bessemer steel, worth $1,405,000. In 28 establish-
ments, not including Bessemer steel works, the United States pro-
duced 30,354 tons of steel, worth $7,791,766; Pennsylvania, in 17
establishments, produced 21,806 tons of steel, worth $5,560,238.
102 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
gt&tistics of the Pfoilwtion of Iron and Steel in 1876. In 1876 the
United States, in '39 bloomaries, produced 20,784 net tons of blooms
aiicL-hUjecs from; the Q-PB, and in 59 forges produced 23,844 net tons
of blooms from pig and scrap iron : total, 98 forges and bloom-
aries, producing 44,628 net tons of blooms and billets of all kinds.
Pennsylvania, in 39 forges, produced 13,401 net tons of blooms
from pig and scrap iron, and none from the ore. In 714 blast fur-
naces the United States produced 990,009 net tons of bituminous
coal and coke pig iron, 794,578 net tons of anthracite pig iron, and
308,649 net tons of charcoal pig iron : total production, 2,093,236
net tons of pig iron. It is proper to state, however, that in 1876,
in consequence of the panic of 1873, only a part of the ironworks
of the United States were in operation. Pennsylvania, in 279 blast
furnaces, produced 1,009,613 net tons of pig iron. Of this total,
588,829 net tons were anthracite pig iron, of which the Lehigh
valley produced 261,274 net tons ; the Schuylkill valley, 144,969
net tons; the Upper Susquehanna district, 79,217 net tons; and
the Lower Susquehanna district, 103,369 net tons: 397,685 net
tons were bituminous coal and coke pig iron, of which the Shenango
valley produced 138,495 net tons ; Pittsburgh and Allegheny coun-
ty, 128,555 net tons ; and districts outside of Allegheny county and
the Shenango valley, 130,635 net tons : 23,099 net tons were char-
coal pig iron, made in various localities.
In the United States in 1876 there were 338 rolling-mills, con-
taining 4,488 single puddling furnaces, counting each double fur-
nace as two single ones. Of these, 98 were built to make rails 60
heavy and 38 light rails, and 64 included cut-nail factories. The
total production of rolled iron was 1,921,730 net tons, classified as
follows : bar, angle, bolt, rod, and hoop iron, 668,956 net tons ; plate
and sheet iron, 165,255 net tons ; cut nails and spikes, 207,890 net
tons, or 4,157,814 kegs of 100 pounds each ; and rails, 879,629 net
tons, of which 412,461 net tons were Bessemer steel rails, and 467,-
168 net tons were iron and all other kinds. In Pennsylvania in
1876 there were 137 rolling-mills, containing 2,153 single puddling
furnaces, counting each double furnace as two single ones. Of
these, 35 were built to make rails 20 heavy and 15 light rails,
and 25 included cut-nail factories. The total production of rolled
iron in the State was 824,260 net tons, classified as follows: bar,
angle, bolt, rod, and hoop iron, 301,350 net tons ; plate and sheet
iron, 100,576 net tons ; cut nails and spikes, 68,409 net tons, or
1,368,163 kegs of 100 pounds each ; and rails, 353,925 net tons, of
STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL. 103
which 203,750 net tons were Bessemer steel rails, and 150,175 net
tons were iron and all other kinds. Few mills ran full time.
In the United States there were 11 Bessemer steel establishments,
which produced 525,996 net tons of ingots and rolled 412,461 net
tons of rails, consuming 539,474 net tons of pig iron, of which
45,980 net tons were spiegeleisen. In Pennsylvania there were 5
Bessemer steel establishments, which produced 258,452 net tons of
ingots and rolled 203,750 net tons of rails, consuming 260,487 net
tons of pig iron, of which 25,180 net tons were spiegeleisen.
In 60 establishments, only 47 of which were active, however, the
United States produced 71,178 net tons of puddled, open-hearth,
blister, and crucible steel, of which 39,382 net tons were crucible
steel, 21,490 net tons were open-hearth steel, and 10,306 net tons
were puddled and blister steel. Including 525,996 net tons of
Bessemer steel ingots, the total production of steel of all kinds in
the United States in 1876 was 597,174 net tons. In 24 establish-
ments Pennsylvania produced 43,365 net tons of puddled, open-
hearth, blister, and crucible steel, of which 28,217 net tons were
crucible steel, 7,547 net tons were open-hearth steel, and 7,601 net
tons were puddled and blister steel. Including 258,452 net tons of
Bessemer steel ingots, the total production of steel of all kinds in
Pennsylvania in 1876 was 301,817 net tons.
The average price per gross ton in Philadelphia in 1876 of No. 1
anthracite foundry pig iron was $22.25. The average price per
gross ton in Philadelphia of American iron rails was $41.25.
The average price per gross ton of American Bessemer steel rails
at the works in Pennsylvania was $52. The average price per
gross ton of American best refined rolled bar iron in Philadelphia
was $49.28.
The following-named counties in Pennsylvania contained iron or
steel-making establishments in 1876, which were either in operation
in that year or were ready to be put into operation : Adams, Alle-
gheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Bucks,
Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clarion, Clinton, Columbia, Cum-
berland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Huntingdon,
Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer,
Mifflin, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland,
Perry, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, Tioga, Union, Westmoreland, and
York : total, 42 counties. The counties containing no iron or steel
making establishments in 1876 were as follows : Butler, Cameron,
Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Forest, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson,
104
IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Juniata, McKean, Monroe, Pike, Potter, Snyder, Somerset, Sul-
livan, Susquehanna, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, and
Wyoming : total, 24 counties.
Table of States and Territories containing Iron and Steel Works in
1876, with their Production, showing the Position of Pennsylvania.
In the following table is presented a statement showing the number
of iron and steel works in 1876 in each of the United States and
Territories which made iron or steel in that year, together with the
quantity of iron and steel produced by each State or Territory.
The position of Pennsylvania in the list is so prominent that fur-
ther attention need not be called to it.
STATES.
Number of Iron and Steel
Works in 1876.
Production of Iron and Steel in 1876,
in net tons.
Forges
and
Bloom-
aries.
Blast
Furnaces
Rolling-
Hills.
Steel
Works,
including
Bessemer
Blooms.
Pig Iron.
Rolled Iron
of all kinds.
Steel, inclu-
ding Besse-
mer Ingots.
Maine
2
1
27
5
39
1
7
9
1
3
3
1
2
6
10
57
18
279
24
33
8
11
13
1
12
23
24
100
9
12
34
14
1
19
!
!
2
1
1
22
2
7
23
17
137
8
5
5
o'
2
1
8
10
5
48
10
10
3
1
6
2
1
1
1
4
1
4
4
8
29
1
2
1
8
5
1
151
20,202
2,828
13,401
4,256
1,800
493
100
1,397
3.002
550
5,040
10,160
181,620
25,349
1,009,613
19,876
13,046
400
10,518
24,732
426
41,165
34,686
24,585
403,277
14,547
54,168
95,177
51,261
68,223
1,750
65
10,814
1,900
9,183
78,576
7,394
10,114
130,707
52,411
824,260
17,598
31,181
17,306
12,001
1,000
49,636
30,874
23,274
249,328
55,262
191,421
5,325
29,980
39,693
14,707
15,465
12,320
1,000
5,085
1,098
35,859
7,458
301,817
470
Q
5
59,936
171,963
12,483
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
Georgia .. >
Texas
West Virginia
Kentucky
Ohio
Illinois
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Missouri
Kansas
California
Utah Territory
Wyoming Territory
Total
98
714
338
69
44,628
2,093,236
1,921,730
597,174
It is proper to state that the 338 rolling-mills above enumerated
include 19 works which both roll iron and make cast steel, one
establishment which makes open-hearth steel and Bessemer steel >
one which makes open-hearth steel and Bessemer steel and rolls
iron and 8 which both roll iron and make Bessemer steel. All
CONCLUSION.
105
these establishments which make steel and the Bessemer one which
makes nothing but steel are included in the column of steel works.
The total production of rolled iron, 1,921,730 net tons, includes
412,461 net tons of Bessemer steel rails. The ingots of which these
rails were made are also included in the column giving the total
product of all kinds of steel. We have made the best possible anal-
ysis of the nature and extent of the iron enterprises of the country.
Comparative Statement by Counties of Pennsylvania Ironworks in
1850 and 1876. The following table shows the number of iron
and steel works existing in Pennsylvania in 1850 and 1876, with
the names of the counties in which they were situated :
COUNTIES.
Blast
Furnaces
Forges
and
Bloom-
aries.
Rolling-
Mills
and Steel
Works.
COUNTIES.
Blast
Furnaces
Forges
and
Bloom-
aries.
Ilolling-
Mills
and Steel
Works.
1850
1
16
3
13
12
2
6
6
4
10
5
29
5
16
7
6
1
5
8
15
1876
1850
1876
1850
1876
1850
4
16
2
6
9
5
3
16
5
6
4
3
5
5
3
1
3
20
6
5
298
1876
15
10
10
28
5
1
23
3
15
7
18
2
3
1
9
1
2
1
2
1850
1
12
3
1
3
2
1
2
1
1
3
6
1
1
3
127
1876
1850
1876
1
11
8
3
27
14
1
6
4
6
3
1
3
3
12
1
5
4
6
3
23
14
6
5
6
1
1
4
2
8
11
1
4
5
3
6
1
1
2
1
1
4
16
2
\
5
14
3
1
1
1
2
1
2
43
3
10
4
1
1
4
I
1
1
5
2
1
1
Indiana
2
3
1
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
4
1
1
8
1
1
1
79
6
3
2
3
1
2
6
2
9
4
3
3
1
14
6
1
156
Armstrong
Beaver
Lawrence
Lebanon
Bedford
Lehigh
Berks
Blair
Lycoming
Bradford
Bucks
Mifflin
Butler
Cambria
Montgomery
Carbon
Centre
j Northampton
Northumberland
j Perry
Chester
Clarion
Clearfield
Philadelphia
Schuylkill
Clinton
Columbia
Cumberland
Tioga
I Union
Venango
Delaware
Erie.
Westmoreland ...
York . .
Fayette
Franklin
Huntingdon
Total
279
39
Conclusion. Such is a brief sketch of the progress of ironma-
king in Pennsylvania down to the close of the first century of our
national existence in the year 1876. If we have seemed to give
undue prominence to the iron enterprises of some sections of the
State, and to give to others less prominence than they deserve, the
explanation is that in the one case we have had ample informa-
tion and in the other case all desirable information could not be
obtained. All apparently unnecessary details have been discarded,
and due diligence has been exercised in seeking for valuable facts
that were hard to find. The statistics we have given are reliable.
106 IRONMAKING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
The development of the iron industry of Pennsylvania has kept
pace with the progress made in the settlement of the State. It
commenced in the Schuylkill valley, forty miles from Philadelphia,
and soon after extended to the northward and southward of the
city, and to the westward into Lancaster county. As the Indians
retired but slowly, many years elapsed after Philadelphia was
founded before the interior of the State was settled even by
pioneers, and it was not until after the Revolution a hundred
years from the time when Penn sailed up the Delaware that
iron was made as far westward as the Juniata valley. But settle-
ments in the extreme western and southwestern parts of the State
were made almost simultaneously with those in the Juniata valley,
and we find that iron was made in Fayette and Westmoreland
counties about the same time that it was made within its bound-
aries. In the Susquehanna and Allegheny valleys iron was made
soon after the tide of immigration rolled over their borders.
Pittsburgh early became noted for its iron enterprises, although
iron ore was not found in its immediate vicinity. Wherever the
adventurous Pennsylvanians went the iron business took root if
there was the least encouragement to establish it. Their furnaces
and forges, and afterwards their rolling-mills, were conducted with
as much skill and with as satisfactory results as characterized like
establishments in the Old World. They showed themselves to be
enterprising and progressively scientific iron makers, so that at
the beginning of the second half of the last century the State
was far in advance of any other in the extent and variety of its
iron manufactures a position which has been steadily strength-
ened until this day, and which for generations to come it must
continue to hold. Not only this, but Pennsylvania enterprise and
capital have aided largely in establishing the iron manufacture in
other States and Territories. But for the part taken by Pennsylva-
nians toward the middle of the last century, the iron industry of
New Jersey would not have had an early and a healthy growth.
But for their example and substantial assistance, the iron industry
of the West and South would not have prospered as it has. But
for their courage in resisting the arrogant trade pretensions of
Great Britain, our own government would have withheld the en-
couragement that was necessary to the development of the iron
industry of the whole country.
There are many features of the iron history of Pennsylvania
which are not only curious but startling. But for the thinning
CONCLUSION. 107
of its dense forests to supply charcoal for its forges and furnaces,
the agriculture of the State would have lagged behind, from lack
of tillable land as well as from lack of purchasers of agricultural
products. But for the building of forges and furnaces and rolling-
mills, which followed closely upon the building of pioneer cabins,
the turnpikes and canals and railroads of the State would not so
soon have become a necessity, for it is a remarkable fact that the
making of iron preceded all of them. The forgeman and the
furnaceman of Pennsylvania have never been far in the rear of
the pioneer with his rifle. But for the great progress made in
the manufacture of iron with charcoal in Pennsylvania, the way
would not have been opened for the magnificent development of
the coal fields of the State. The changes that have taken place
in the iron manufacture of the State within the memory of men
who are yet young astonish us by their magnitude. Down to
about 1840 all the iron in the State was made with charcoal :
now far less iron is made with charcoal than with any other fuel.
Down to about 1835, in addition to making pig iron, many of the
furnaces in the State, cast stoves, pots, kettles, andirons, sadirons,
railroad chairs, and other articles as a regular business : now none
of them do. Down to about 1830 very little iron in the State
was rolled; nearly all was hammered at the forges: now no bar
iron is made at the forges and but little of any other shape. The
first iron made in the State was made in bloomaries : in 1810 but
four were reported ; in 1850 six were reported ; and long before
1876 the last one had disappeared. The introduction of the Besse-
mer and Siemens-Martin processes into the State, and into the
country, dates since the close of the civil war, and the cast-steel
industry of the State and country scarcely had an existence when
the war commenced. As late as 1850 the furnace that would make
fifty tons of pig iron a week with any kind of fuel was doing good
work : now there are many furnaces in the State that make that
much iron in a day, while a few can make seventy-five tons a day
as a regular product, and two the Isabella and Lucy furnaces at
Pittsburgh have made over a hundred tons a day for a week at
a time. The changes that we have noted and others that might
be mentioned have not been the result of accident nor the crea-
tion of necessity, but have resulted from the enterprise and skill
of Pennsylvanians a people who were not born to wait, with halt-
ing steps and timid hearts, with no touch of inspiration and no
whisper of destiny, for others to lead where they could follow.
COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
First Mention of the Existence of Coal in the United States. In
the Statistics of Coal, by Richard Cowling Taylor, (1848), it is stated
that the earliest historic mention of coal in this country is by the
French Jesuit missionary, Father Hennepin, who saw traces of bitu-
minous coal on the Illinois river in 1679. In his journal he marks
the site of a " cole mine," above Fort Crevecoeur, near the present
town of Ottawa. In 1763, nearly a hundred years later, Colonel
Croghan, a British officer, noticed on the south side of the Wabash
river " a high bank in which are several fine coal mines," which is
the earliest reference, says Taylor, to coal in that region. In the
map of the Middle Colonies, published by Lewis Evans in 1755,
we find mention of coal in Ohio, but no mention of it is made any-
where within the present limits of Pennsylvania. In Nicholas
Scull's map of Pennsylvania, published in 1759, coal is not marked.
In William Scull's map of Pennsylvania, published in 1770, coal is
marked in Berks county and at Pittsburgh. In the map of Captain
Hutchins, published at London in 1777, coal deposits are marked
at various places in the basin of the Ohio river. A coal seam near
Pittsburgh took fire in 1765, and is said to have burned for sixteen
years.
Anthracite coal was discovered in Rhode Island and Massachu-
setts about 1760. It has since then been discovered in Virginia,
Arkansas, Oregon, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania in the United
States, and in the State of Sonora in Mexico. It is also claimed
that it has been discovered in Kansas and in Nova Scotia. But in
none of the States named has the mining of anthracite ever been
successfully prosecuted, except in Pennsylvania. In 1840 Virginia
produced 200 tons of anthracite, and down to 1873 the total amount
mined is estimated not to have exceeded 10,000 tons. In 1860 an-
thracite coal in the United States was produced only in Pennsyl-
(109)
110 COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
vania and Rhode Island, and in the latter State the yield was only
1,000 net tons. In 1870 Rhode Island produced 14,000 net tons
of anthracite, and Pennsylvania all the remainder that was mined
in this country. Virtually, the American supply of anthracite coal
is producjed Jby Pennsylvania alone. ""The anthracite deposits In the
other sections of iKe^colifiiient, alluded to above, are small in ex-
tent, unfavorably situated, or inferior in quality.
In 1804 the first discovery of coal west of the Mississippi was
made by the exploring expedition under the leadership of Lewis
and Clarke, who traced brown coal or lignite from about twenty
miles above the Mandan villages, on the Missouri, nearly to the
base of the Rocky mountains, and also upon the Yellowstone and
other streams. In one of the exploring expeditions led by Captain
Z. M. Pike "fine seams of coal" were discovered "far up the Osage
river" in 1806. The existence of coal in Alabama was first noticed
in 1834 by Dr. Alexander Jones, of Mobile. In 1870 coal was
mined in twenty States and Territories of the United States.
The First Coal Mines in the United States Opened in Virginia.
The Virginia coal mines were undoubtedly the first that were worked
in America. Mines of bituminous coal were opened and worked on
the James river, in Chesterfield county, a few miles from Richmond,
probably about 1750. Virginia coal was extensively used during
the Revolution. An air-furnace was built at Westham, on the
James river, six miles above Richmond, which used coal in the
manufacture of shot and shell for the Revolutionary army until the
furnace was destroyed by Benedict Arnold in 1781. Virginia coal
was exported to various cities on the Atlantic coast before the
Revolution. On the 31st of August, 1776, Thomas Wharton, Jr.,
and Owen Biddle, of Philadelphia, were authorized to employ proper
persons to bring coal from Virginia which had been contracted for
by the Committee of Safety. In 1789 Virginia coal sold in Phila-
delphia at Is. Qd. a bushel. In 1846 the price at the same city was
20 to 22 cents a bushel, which was two or three cents per bushel
higher than Allegheny bituminous coal. It was the scarcity of Vir-
ginia coal in the Philadelphia market, especially during the war with
Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815, which largely contributed in the
early part of the present century to the development of the vast an-
thracite coal deposits of Pennsylvania. The exportation of Virginia
coal amounted to 42,000 tons in 1822, and it reached its culmination
in 1833, when 142,000 tons were shipped to neighboring States. In
EARLY COAL MINING IN VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.
Ill
1842 the shipments had fallen to 65,000 tons. Up to about that
year it was the principal source of domestic supply of mineral fuel
in this country, and down to about 1850 it contributed the principal
supply to the gas-works of Philadelphia and other American cities,
for which use it was well adapted. For about twenty years after
1833 the importation of bituminous coal from Great Britain and
the British Provinces into Philadelphia, principally for the gas-
works, steadily increased, owing to the growing scarcity of Virginia
coal. About 1856 the gas coals of Western Pennsylvania began
to be used in Philadelphia, to the practical exclusion of the foreign
supply.
Discovery of Coal in Maryland Statistics of Cumberland Coal.
Coal is improbably said to have been discovered six miles north-
east of Baltimore, by Benjamin Henfrey, in 1801. The Western
Maryland coal basin was soon afterwards opened, and in 1820 the
first shipment of coal from Alleghany county, Maryland, seems to
have been made, when a few thousand tons were sent down the
Potomac in boats. In 1832 the annual shipment of Cumberland
coal down the Potomac had increased to about 300,000 bushels,
most of which was not sent below Harper's Ferry. The price of
Cumberland coal at tidewater at Georgetown in 1838 was 20 cents
a bushel. In 1842 the shipment of Cumberland coal to Baltimore,
by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, commenced, with a total ton-
nage for the year of 1,708 tons. The total shipments of Cumber-
land coal by all routes to the seaboard amounted in 1873 to 2,674,-
101 gross tons, and in 1876 to 1,835,081 tons. The growth of this
trade is shown in the following official table of shipments :
Year.
Tons.
I
Year. ! Tons.
Year.
Tons.
Year.
Tons.
1842
1,708
1851 ! 257,679
1860
788,909
1869
1,882,669
1843
10,082
1852 , 334,178
1861
269 674
1870
1,717,075
1844
14,890
1853 i 533,979
1862
317,634
1871
2,345,153
1845
24.653
1854 ! 659,681
1863
748,345
1872
2,355,471
1846
29,795
1855 ! 662,272
1864
657,996
1873
2,674,101
1847
52.940
1856 ! 706,450
1865
903,495
1874
2,410,895
1848
79,571
1857 ' 582,486
1866
1,079,331
1875
2,342,773
1849
142,449
1858 i 649,656
1867
1,193,822
1876
1,835,081
1850
196,848
1859 724,354
1868
1,330,443
Total,
30,516,538
Development of the Great Coal Seam at Pittsburgh by Thomas
Penn. William J. Buck, in a paper read before the Historical So-
ciety of Pennsylvania on the 4th day of January, 1875, quotes from
the Penn manuscripts to show that the Penns were fully aware as
112 COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
early as 1769 of the existence of coal at Pittsburgh. Thomas Perm,
in a letter of instructions, dated London, January 31, 1769, to his
nephew, Lieutenant-Governor John Penn, says : " We desire you will
order 5,000 acres of land to be laid out about Pittsburgh, including
the town, which may now be laid out, and I think from its situation
will become considerable in time ; and that the land may be laid
out to Colonel Francis and his associates, and other gentlemen of
whom I wrote, as contiguous as it may be, and in regular right-an-
gled tracts, if possible." On the following 12th of May he writes
to Mr. Tilghman respecting this survey, and says : " I would not
engross all the coal-hills, but rather leave the greater part to others
who may work them." The difficulties between the mother coun-
try and her colonies prevented these instructions from being obeyed.
In 1784, however, the Penns, who retained their proprietary in-
terest in large tracts of Pennsylvania after the close of the Revolu-
tion, including the manor of Pittsburgh, surveyed into building
lots the town of Pittsburgh, and in the same year the privilege
of mining coal in the "great seam" opposite the town was sold
at the rate of 30 for each mining lot, extending back to the
centre of the hill. This event may be regarded as forming the be-
ginning of the coal trade of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh seam of
bituminous coal is probably the most extensively accessible seam in
this country. H. D. Rogers says of it that it spreads uninterrupt-
edly over the whole valley of the Monongahela, from the base of
the Chestnut ridge to the western boundary of the State, and west
of the Ohio river.
The West&rn Pennsylvania Coal Trade Statistics of Shipments.
The supply of the towns and cities on the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers with Pittsburgh coal became an established business at a
very early day after the close of the Revolutionary war. Down to
1850 all the coal shipped westward from Pittsburgh was floated
down the Ohio in large flat-bottomed boats with the spring and
fall freshets, each boat holding about 15,000 bushels of coal. The
boats were usually lashed in pairs, and were sold and broken up
when their destination was reached. In 1850 steam tow-boats
were introduced, by means of which coal barges were towed down
the river, and brought back when empty. This method of trans-
porting coal from Pittsburgh by water has almost entirely super-
seded the primitive method. One tow-boat now tows or pushes
a dozen barges, each barge holding about 12,000 bushels of coal.
THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA COAL TRADE.
113
Some Pittsburgh coal and large quantities of Connellsville coke
are also shipped westward by railroad. Nearly all the coal now
shipped from Pittsburgh is taken from the collieries on the Monon-
gahela river, which is improved by slackwater navigation a distance
of 85 miles from Pittsburgh to New Geneva, the Monongahela
Navigation Company making its first shipments of coal in 1844.
Since that year the total shipments of coal and coke by this com-
pany have been as follows in bushels, each thousand bushels being
regarded as the equivalent of thirty-eight gross tons, which makes
the weight of a bushel 85.12 pounds.
Year.
Bushels.
Year.
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
Bushels.
Year.
Bushels.
Year.
Bushels.
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
737,150
4,605.185
7,778,911
9,645,127
9,819,361
9,708,507
12,297,967
12,521,228
14,630,841
15,716,367
17,331,946
22,234,009
8,584,095
28,973,596
25,696,669
28,286,671
37,947,732
20,865,722
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
18,583,956
26,444,252
35,070,917
39,522,792
42,605,300
30,072,700
45,301,000
52,512,600
57,596,400
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
Total,
48,621,300
57,280,500
58,276,995
65,881,700
63,707,500
68,481,000
79,480,918
1,076,820,914
Large quantities of Western Pennsylvania coal have annually
been shipped eastward by the Pennsylvania Canal and the Penn-
sylvania Railroad, and of late years Connellsville and Westmore-
land coke is finding a market east of the Alleghenies. Below is an
official statement of the number of net tons of bituminous coal and
coke forwarded to market over the Pennsylvania Railroad in the
years 1875 and 1876.
1875.
1876.
Coal.
Coke.
Total.
Coal.
Coke.
Total.
East Broad Top
53567
53567
65,999
65 999
137 684
137 684
93881
93*881
Cumberland
177,081
177,081
147,784
147,784
2870
2 870
574
574
Snow Shoe
Tyrone and Clearfield
62*,426
915 288
286'
62,426
915,574
51,329
1,190,418
51,329
1 190 418
Gallitzin & Mountain regi'n
224 143
74
224 217
210,315
210 315
West Pennsylvania Railr'd.
Southwest "
Westmoreland region
Pittsburgh "
223,184
29,262
733,671
430,572
52,780
549,382
36,273
120,282
275,964
578,644
769,944
550,854
203,354
57,169
896,810
309,846
57,798
539,630
60,465
162,132
261,152
596,799
957,275
471,978
Totals
2.989,748
759,077
3,748,825
3,227,479
820.025
4.047.504
Beginning of the Business of Manufacturing Connellsville Coke.
Small quantities of coke were made in the Connellsville region
early in the present century, and in 1836 pig iron was made with
114 COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
coke by F. H. Oliphant at Fairchance furnace, near Uniontown, in
Fayette county. The beginning of the regular manufacture of
Connellsville coke, celebrated for its excellence and cheapness as a
fuel for blast furnaces and for other manufacturing purposes, and
for locomotives, is said by Dr. Frank Cowan to date from the sum-
mer of 1841, when William Turner, Sr., P. McCormick, and James
Campbell employed John Taylor to erect two ovens for making
coke on his farm lying on the Youghiogheny river, a few miles
below Connellsville. The ovens were built of the bee-hive pattern.
After repeated failures a fair quality of coke was produced in the
early part of the winter of 1841-2. By the spring of 1842 enough
coke had been made to load a coal boat ninety feet long. This
boat was run down the Youghiogheny, down the Monongahela,
and down the Ohio to Cincinnati, where a purchaser was obtained
for the coke after some difficulty. This purchaser was Mr. Green-
wood, a wealthy foundryman, and the price paid was 61 cents a
bushel, half cash and half old mill irons. Others embarked in the
business of manufacturing coke in 1842, Mordecai Cochran and
Richard Brookius among the number, both of whom were success-
ful. In 1844 improved ovens were introduced by Col. A. M. Hill,
whose energy and success gave great impetus to the coke business.
In 1855 there were only twenty-six coke ovens at work on the
Monongahela river, and in all Western Pennsylvania there were
probably not over a hundred ; now their number may be counted
by thousands, most of which are built upon improved models.
To-day Connellsville coke is extensively used in many States and
Territories, its use extending even to Utah and California. It is
free from sulphur. One hundred pounds of Connellsville coal
make sixty-two and a half pounds of coke. Good coke is also
made largely in Westmoreland county and in other sections of the
western part of the State, the quality of which, like that of Con-
nellsville coke, is nowhere surpassed outside of Pennsylvania, not
even by that of the celebrated Durham coke of England.
Beginning of the Bituminous Coal Trade of Clearfield County.
On the 1st of November, 1785, Samuel Boyd patented a tract of
bituminous coal land near Oldtown, in Clearfield county, Pennsyl-
vania, but no coal from this tract was sent east of the Alleghenies
until 1804. In that year William Boyd shipped the first ark-load
of Clearfield county coal down the Susquehanna to Columbia, in
Lancaster county, a distance of 260 miles. The new fuel, we are
BEGINNING OF THE ANTHRACITE COAL TRADE. 115
told, " was a matter of great surprise " to the good people of that
county. Other ark-loads followed the first venture, and all the
towns along the Susquehanna were soon familiar with bituminous
coal. In 1828 the first cargo of Pennsylvania bituminous coal
reached Philadelphia from Karthaus, in Clearfield county. The
coal was taken down the Susquehanna to Port Deposit, at the
head of Chesapeake bay, and thence by vessel to Philadelphia.
About the same time coal was sent to Baltimore from the same
place. The distance from market was too great, however, and the
means of transportation too imperfect to permit the building up of
a large trade in bituminous coal between the Alleghenies and the
seaboard, and the situation was not materially changed for many
years after the completion in 1834 of the Pennsylvania system of
internal improvements. The competition of domestic anthracite,
and of foreign and domestic bituminous coal, the last from Virginia
and Maryland, was too great to be easily overcome, and in the case
of anthracite it has never yet been overcome, although the ship-
ments of Western Pennsylvania coal and coke to the seaboard are
steadily increasing. _
Description of the Anthracite Coal Fields of Pennsylvania. &
Daddow^in the American Cyclopaedia, (1873), gives the total area
of the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania as 472 square miles,
divided into the Wyoming field, 198 miles; the Schuylkill, 146
miles; the Lehigh, 37 miles; and the Middle, 91 miles. We pre-
sent a brief description of the development of each of these divis-
ions, which has been carefully collated from the highest authorities.
The Wyoming Field. Anthracite coal was discovered in the Wy-
oming valley as early as 1766, as appears from a statement by Mr.
Buck. He says that James Tilghman, of Philadelphia, addressed
a letter to the Proprietaries, Thomas and Richard Penn, at Spring
Garden, London, on the 14th day of August, 1766, in which he
stated that his brother-in-law, Colonel Francis, had gone " up the
N. E. Branch as far as Wyoming, where he says there is a consid-
erable body of good land and a very great fund of coal in the hills,
which surround a very fine and extensive bottom there. This coal
is thought to be very fine. With his compliments he sends you a
piece of the coal. This bed of coal, situate as it is on the side of the
river, may some time or other be a thing of great value." By way
of postscript he adds: "The coal is in a small package of the
116 COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Governor's." In a reply from Thomas Penn, dated London, the fol-
lowing 7th of November, to Mr. Tilghman, he says, in acknowledg-
ment : " I desire you will return my thanks to Colonel Francis for
his good services in removing the intruders that were settled on the
Indians' land, and for the piece of coal, which we shall have exam-
ined by some persons skillful in that article, and send their observa-
tions on it." It is further stated by Mr. Buck that the next men-
tion of coal in this section is in a draft by Charles Stewart, from a
survey made in 1768 of a large tract of land on the west side of
the Susquehanna, opposite the present borough of Wilkesbarre,
which has " stone coal " marked thereon. The traveler, Dr. Schopf,
tells us that in 1783 he found specimens of coal in the Swatara
creek, in Lebanon county, and learned of its existence up the west
branch of the Susquehanna.
The Wyoming valley was partly settled by a colony of Connecti-
cut people in 1762, representing "The Susquehanna Company." In
the same year the Indians murdered about twenty of the colony, and
the remainder of the settlers were driven away. Gradually the sur-
vivors and others associated with them returned to the valley, and
in 1768-9 it is claimed that two of the settlers, being two brothers
named Gore, from Connecticut, who were blacksmiths, were the first
in this country to use anthracite coal. This they did in their forge
fire.
In 1776, and throughout the Revolutionary war, anthracite coal
was taken in arks from the Wyoming mines above Wilkesbarre
down the Susquehanna to the United States armory at Carlisle.
Dr. Schopf visited Carlisle in 1783, where he informs us that
just outside the town were situated four rows of old and new build-
ings, in which during the war a number of workmen were engaged
in the manufacture of muskets, swords, and wrought-iron cannon of
great strength. Mr. Buck says of the first shipment, that " two
Durham boats were sent from Harris's Ferry, now Harrisburg, up
the Susquehanna to Wyoming for anthracite coal, and about twenty
tons were purchased from Mr. Geer and brought down to that place,
whence it was hauled to Carlisle in wagons, and which appears was
done annually during the Revolutionary war. This coal, we learn,
was obtained from a bed belonging to Judge Hollenback, one mile
above Wilkesbarre, near the mouth of Mill creek." Mr. Daddow
says that some of it also came from the old Smith mine in the vicin-
ity of Plymouth. The shipment of Wyoming coal down the Sus-
quehanna in arks continued until the completion of the North
BEGINNING OF THE ANTHRACITE COAL TRADE. 117
Branch Canal in July, 1834. The first cargo sent down the Sus-
quehanna constituted the first shipment of anthracite coal that was
made in this country. The price of coal at Wilkebarre in 1790
was $3 a ton.
At Carbondale, in the northeastern section of the Wyoming coal
field, coal was discovered in 1804 by a surveyor named Samuel
Preston, and in 1814 William and Maurice Wurtz commenced to
make arrangements for its development. In 1815 they succeeded,
after many discouraging adventures, in sending one ark-load of coal
to Philadelphia, through the Lackawaxen and Delaware rivers, but
the experiment was not repeated until 1823, after which shipments
to Philadelphia were successfully made.
In 1829 the Delaware and Hudson Canal, 124 miles long, from
Carbondale to the Hudson river, including 16 miles of railroad, was
completed at a cost of $7,000,000, expressly to carry to Eastern
markets the anthracite coal of the Wyoming valley. The railroad
extends from Carbondale to Honesdale, and the canal extends from
Honesdale to the Hudson river. In the same year 7,000 tons of
coal were sent to New York by this route.
The Schuylkill Field. Within the limits of the Schuylkill coal
field anthracite coal appears to have been known to the settlers as
early as 1770. In Scull's map of Pennsylvania, published in that
year, "coal" is marked about the head waters of Schuylkill creek,
thence stretching westward to those of the Swatara, and to "the
wilderness of St. Anthony." This "wilderness," we may mention,
extended from Peters's mountain, in Dauphin county, westward to
the Kittatinny or Blue mountains.
The act of March 15, 1784, for the improvement of the naviga-
tion of the Schuylkill, mentions "the coal mines at Basler's saw-
mill" in Schuylkill county. A Yankee hunter, named Nicholas
Allen, is said to have discovered coal in 1790 at the foot of Broad
mountain, in the same county. No attempt to mine the coal which
Allen had discovered seems to have been made. Reading Howell,
in his map of Pennsylvania, published in 1792, marks the existence
of " coal " near the source of Panther creek, about five miles east of
the present town of Tamaqua, and on the border of Carbon county.
We read that in 1795 a blacksmith named Whetstone used anthra-
cite coal in his "smithery," near Pottsville, while others attempted
to use it and abandoned it in disgust. About 1800 William Morris
took a wagon-load of coal from near Port Carbon to Philadelphia,
118 COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
but nobody wanted it, and Mr. Morris made no further efforts to
mine or sell coal. About 1806 coal was found at Valley Forge, on
the Schuylkill river, and a blacksmith named David Berlin and
others successfully used it. In 1812 Col. George Shoemaker, of
Pottsville, loaded nine wagons with coal from his mines at Centre-
ville, and hauled it to Philadelphia, where with great difficulty he
sold two loads at the cost of transportation, and gave the other seven
loads away. He was by many regarded as an impostor for attempt-
ing to sell stone to the public as coal. Of the two loads sold, one
was purchased by White & Hazard, for use at their wire-works at
the Falls of Schuylkill, and the other was purchased by Malm &
Bishop, for use at the Delaware County rolling-mill. By the
merest accident of closing the furnace doors, Mr. White obtained a
hot fire from the coal, and from this occurrence, happening in 1812,
we may date the first successful use of anthracite coal in the manu-
factures of this country. Up to that time bituminous coal from
Virginia had been exclusively used for manufacturing purposes in
Philadelphia, and largely for domestic purposes. The war with
Great Britain had, however, made Virginia coal very scarce, and it
was very desirable that a substitute should be found. The following
story is told of the success achieved by White & Hazard in the use
of anthracite coal in their wire-works : A whole night was spent in
endeavoring to make it burn, when the hands, in despair, quit their
work, but left the furnace door shut. Fortunately, one of them
forgot his jacket, and on returning to the works half an hour after-
wards he noticed that the door was red hot, and the interior of the
furnace in a white glowing heat. Thenceforward no trouble was
experienced in making the new fuel burn. In 1815 the improve-
ment of the navigation of the Schuylkill river was commenced by
the Schuylkill Navigation Company, but many years elapsed before
coal was taken to Philadelphia by this channel. In 1822 there were
shipped 1480 tons to Philadelphia, but boats did not pass from
Pottsville to Philadelphia until 1825, when 6,500 tons' were, sent
down the Schuylkill. Prior to that year the coal trade of the Lehigh
region had been opened.
The Lehigh Field. The first discovery of anthracite coal in the
Lehigh region is said to have been made in the Mauch Chunk
mountain, about nine miles west of Mauch Chunk, where the village
of Summit Hill is now located, by a poor hunter, named Philip
Ginter, in 1791. Pieces of the coal discovered by Ginter were
BEGINNING OF THE ANTHRACITE COAL TRADE. 119
taken to Colonel Jacob Weiss, at 'Fort Allen, who opened a
"quarry" in the coal mountain that year. The discovery of coal
on the Lehigh was announced as follows in the New York Mag-
azine for February, 1792, in a communication dated Philadelphia,
January 31: "A coal mine has been discovered on the Lehigh,
in the county of Northampton. The coal yet found is small, but
there is every reason to believe that by searching deeper it will
be found larger. The quality is good. If this natural advantage
is improved, it will be a prodigious resource to the city and
cheapen the article of fuel, which now, from the labor of trans-
portation, bears a high price." In 1793 Colonel Weiss, John
Nicholson, Michael Hillegas, Charles Cist, Robert Morris, (of
Revolutionary fame), J. Anthony Morris, and others organized
the Lehigh Coal-Mine Company, which obtained control of
about six thousand acres of coal land, and several tons of coal
were soon "dug up." But there was no market nearer than
Philadelphia, and there existed no means of communication with
that city. It was not until 1803 that the company succeeded in
floating two arks to Philadelphia, through the Lehigh and Dela-
ware rivers, laden with two hundred tons of coal. Five arks
were started, but three of these were wrecked. The coal, how-
ever, could not be made to burn, probably because large lumps
were used, and was thrown away as useless for any purpose
except to "gravel footwalks." In 1806 William Turnbull, of
Philadelphia, floated three hundred bushels of coal from this
region to Philadelphia, in an ark he had constructed at Lau-
sanne. The coal was sold to the Central Square Water- Works,
but it proved to be unmanageable, and Mr. Turnbull's experiment
was not repeated.
To encourage the use of their coal, the Lehigh Coal-Mine Com-
pany executed, on the 18th of December, 1807, a lease for twenty-
one years to James Bufland and James Rowland of two hundred
acres of their land in Northampton county, with the privilege of
digging iron ore and coal free for the manufacture of iron. The
enterprise was unsuccessful, and the lease was abandoned about
1814. We regard it as absolutely certain that no iron was made,
and we think no coal was mined. The following extract from the
proposition of Butland & Rowland, dated November 30, 1807, is
worthy of preservation : " The subscribers, having obtained by patent
from the United States an exclusive right of using a natural carbon
or peculiar kind of coal, such as is found in the neighborhood of
120 COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
the Lehigh and Susquehanna rivers, and other parts of the United
States, for the purpose of manufacturing pig, cast, and bar iron,
propose commencing the operation in such a situation as may be
deemed best adapted to the purpose."
In 1814 two ark-loads of Lehigh coal reached Philadelphia
from the mines of the Lehigh Coal-Mine Company, then leased by
the Hon. Charles Miner and Jacob Cist, a son of Charles Cist,- and
this time the coal was sold at $21 a ton and successfully used by
the purchasers, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, who were then
manufacturing wire at the Falls of Schuylkill. After this venire
Miner and Cist abandoned the mining and shipment of anthracite
coal. They had lost money. In 1817 White and Hazard and
George F. A. Hauto became interested in the improvement of the
navigation of the Lehigh river, for the purpose of aiding in the
development of the Lehigh coal mines, and on the 20th of March,
1818, an act of the Legislature was passed authorizing the incorpo-
ration of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. This com-
pany obtained a lease for twenty years of the Lehigh Coal-Mine
Company's lands, then amounting to ten thousand acres, for one ear
of corn a year, if demanded ; with the proviso that, from and after
three years, the latter company should send, on their own account,
at least 40,000 bushels of coal, or about 1,500 tons, per annum to
Philadelphia. The new company commenced work immediately.
In 1820 it sent 365 tons of anthracite coal to market; in 1821,
1,073 tons; in 1822, 2,240 tons; in 1823, 5,823 tons; and in 1826
its trade increased to 31,280 tons, which seemed to be near the limit
of the capacity of the works as then constructed. During the next
year, 1827, the Mauch Chunk Railroad was finished, and the as-
cending navigation was put under contract, soon after which ship-
ments steadily increased.
The Middle Field. The Middle region, occupying a wild
and broken section of country between the Wyoming and Schuyl-
kill regions, and extending on the east to the Lehigh region,
was the last of the four great anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania
to be developed. The Mahanoy and Shamokin basins compose its
principal divisions. Coal pits or mines are marked in the neigh-
borhood of Mahanoy creek, above Crab run, in Scull's map of
Pennsylvania in 1770. But little mining was done in the region
until 1834, owing mainly to its inaccessibility. In that year 500
tons were mined and hauled in wagons to neighboring districts.
FIRST USE OF ANTHRACITE IN STOVES AND GRATES. 121
First Use of Anthracite Coal in Pennsylvania in Stoves and Grates.
It is claimed by Dr. T. C. James, of Philadelphia, in a paper
read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, on the 19th
of April, 1826, that he successfully used anthracite coal in 1804
and thenceforward. Unfortunately, Dr. James does not say wheth-
er he used the coal in a stove or a grate. In the introduction
to the census of the United States for 1860 it is stated that
Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, patented in 1800 a "luminous"
grated stove, with talc light, with special reference to the use
of mineral coal ; " but Dr. Thomas C. James was one of the first
to use it habitually in his house, which he continued to do from
1804 to 1826." In the Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch mention is
made of the first cooking-stove to use anthracite coal, as follows :
In April, 1828, the United States Gazette described an invention which
had recently been perfected by Williamson & Paynter, stove manufacturers,
southwest corner of Ninth and Market streets, Philadelphia. It consisted
of "a cast-iron box, fifteen to thirty inches in length, eight to ten inches
wide, and six or seven inches deep. It has a grated bottom, and is calculated
to burn anthracite coal as readily as charcoal. Upon one edge is placed a
common tin-kitchen, or roaster, in front of which, on the opposite edge, is a
sheet-iron fixture of the same length, which reflects the heat upon the con-
tents of the tin-kitchen. Through the top of the reflector may be placed
boilers for meats and vegetables. By means of false jambs, the size of the
fire is reduced at will. By displacing the reflector and the tin-kitchen, the
box or furnace may be used to heat water, roast coffee," etc. The contrivance
was fixed on four iron wheels, and the cost of it, according to the Gazette,
would not exceed nine dollars. This was undoubtedly the first improvement
of the kind. Such an adaptation could not have been made until after an-
thracite coal came into common use. It was certainly a great addition to
household economy, and was one of the most important improvements in
stoves since Franklin invented the " Pennsylvania fireplace."
Down to 1808 the anthracite coal of the Wyoming valley was
used only in smiths' forges, but in that year Judge Jesse Fell, of
Wilkesbarre, was successful in using it in a grate, as clearly ap-
pears from a memorandum signed with his name and dated Febru-
ary 11, 1808. This may have been the first successful attempt
that had been made to use the new fuel for domestic purposes in a
grate, either in this country or in any other country. Anthracite
coal was not used in Wales until 1813, nor in France until 1814.
Its use in grates soon became general wherever it was mined or could
be transported. "In the year 1788," says Judge Fell, "I used it in
a nailery, and found it to be profitable in that business. The nails
122 COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
made with it would neat the weight of the rods, and frequently a
balance over."
Cost of Developing the Anthracite Coal Fields of Pennsylvania.
In Mr. Daddow's paper in the American Cyclopaedia is a table of
the canals and railroads which have been constructed for the trans-
portation to market of the anthracite coal of Pennsylvania, and of
the capital invested in its mining and transportation. From this
table we learn that the length of the main track of the railroads
built exclusively or mainly for the transportation of anthracite coal
is 1,231 i miles, of which 538f miles are double track : the length of
the sidings and branches, is 52(H miles. The length of the canals
built for the same purpose is 673 miles. The cost of the railroads
is placed at $128,000,000; of the canals at $47,000,000; of the
coal lands at $75,000,000; and of the collieries at $43,700,000;
total, $293,700,000. These figures are for 1873.
Miscellaneous Information About Coal Mining in Pennsylvania.
The well-known Blossburg semi-bituminous coal region of Pennsyl-
vania, which annually produces about a million tons of coal, was
not brought into public notice until after 1832, in which year it was
geologically surveyed by R. C. Taylor. In 1840 its development
began by the building of a railroad to reach Northern markets.
In that year 4,235 "tons were sent to market, followed by 25,966
tons in 1841. The Broad Top semi-bituminous coal section of the
State was but very slightly developed until 1856, when the Hun-
tingdon and Broad Top Railroad was completed and the first coal
sent eastward to market.
Splint, or block, coal is found in the Shenango valley, and is
largely used as it comes from the mine in the manufacture of pig
iron. Mercer county produced half a million tons of this coal in
1871. Small deposits of cannel coal are found in the western part
of the State. Previous to the discovery of petroleum in large quan-
tities in Northwestern Pennsylvania, illuminating oil was distilled
from cannel coal mined along the Allegheny river and elsewhere.
The use of anthracite coal for generating steam was attempted in
Philadelphia very early in the present century, but it is stated that
this use of anthracite was not successful until 1825, when the pro-
prietors of the rolling-mill at Phoenixville used it under their boilers.
It was used successfully about 1827 at the same mill in puddling
iron. In 1837-8 successful experiments in smelting iron ore with
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION ABOUT PENNSYLVANIA COAL. 123
anthracite coal were made at Mauch Chunk, and in 1839 at Potts-
ville.
In the latter part of 1823 the Boston ironworks obtained a full
cargo of Lehigh anthracite coal, for use in heating iron for the rolls
in their mill, and for smith work. This was the first cargo of an-
thracite coal taken around Cape Cod. But, a short time previous
to this transaction, and in the same year, Cyrus Alger of South
Boston obtained a lot of about thirty tons of Lehigh coal, which he
used in a cupola for melting iron for castings. In 1839 anthracite
coal was used in puddling at the Boston ironworks by Ralph
Crooker, the superintendent.
Outside of Pennsylvania the mining of anthracite coal is every-
where conducted on so small a scale that there is nowhere in the
world to be found a single coal-breaker except in the northeastern
part of this State. Of the sixty-six counties in Pennsylvania, only
twenty-five contain no coal. There is practically no coal of any
kind in the United States east or north of Pennsylvania. As no
other country can successfully compete with this State in the pro-
duction of anthracite, the exportation of the finest domestic fuel in
the world should soon become a regular and extensive business.
Statistics of Coal Mining in the United States and in Pennsylvania.
The position of Pennsylvania among the coal-producing States
and Territories of the United States is clearly shown in the statistics
of coal production in the census year 1870, herewith presented, and
in the accompanying statistics of production in 1874 and 1875, the
latter prepared by Richard P. Roth well. The official statistics for
the census year are in net tons, but in compiling the statistics for
1874 and 1875 Mr. Rothwell has used the gross ton, and for the
purpose of comparison he has presented in a parallel column the
production of 1870 in gross tons.
It will be seen by reference to the table that the total production
of coal in this country in 1870 was 29,342,580 gross tons, of which
Pennsylvania produced 20,936,422 tons, or more than two-thirds of
the whole. Of the total production, 13,985,960 gross tons, or almost
one-half, were anthracite, and of this all was produced in Pennsyl-
vania except 12,500 tons. By further reference to the table it will
be observed that, in 1875, with which year the first century of the
American Republic may be said to have closed, the total production
of coal in the country was 47,513,235 gross tons, of which Pennsyl-
vania produced 31,143,509 tons, or about two-thirds of the whole.
124
COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Of the total production by Pennsylvania, 20,643,509 gross tons were
anthracite, and 10,500,000 tons were bituminous.
STATES.
Census
Report
June 1,
1870.
Year
ending
Dec. 31,
1874.
Year
ending
Dec. HI,
1875.
Per-
ofthe
whole,
1875.
9821
45,000
60000
0.13
5000
9 000
002
California post- carboniferous coal
214,600
166 100
0.35
4018
150 000
150000
0.32
Illinois bituminous
2,343,003
3,000,000
3,500,000
7.37
390955
812,000
800000
1.69
Iowa "
235,256
1,500,000
1,500,000
3.16
29410
250,000
275,000
0.58
134 449
360 000
375 000
079
1,624,843
2,410,895
2,342,773
4.94
Michigan '
25 134
12,000
12000
002
Missouri ' '
555,295
714,000
750,000
1.58
Nebraska '
1 272
1,300
1,300
1 000
1000
2,256,504
3,810,344
4,346,653
9.15
43200
28800
006
Pennsylvania anthracite* and bituminousf
20.936,422
32,667,386
31,143,509
65.54
12500
17,000
11,000
002
119,123
350,000
360,000
0.76
5,178
30,000
35,000
0.07
Virgi'nia " "
55 181
73100
79200
17
Washington " "
15,932
27,100
88,900
0.16
543 641
1,000,000
1,100,000
232
Wyoming post-carboniferous coal
44,643
260,000
278,000
0.59
North Carolina, Georgia, and Indian Territory,
bituminous..
60,000
100,000
0.21
13,985,960
21.684,386
20,654,509
43.48
Total bituminous ..
15,231,668
25,330,539
26,031,726
54.78
Total post-carboniferous coal
124,952
799,000
827,000
1.74
Total of all kinds
29,342,580
47,813,925
47,513,235
100.00
* Anthracite
13,973,460
21,667,386
20,643,509
43.44
t Bituminous....
6,962,962
11,000,000
10,500,000
22.10
We present below a table, which we have compiled from reliable
sources, showing the production of mineral coal by all countries in
late years, to which is added the share of Pennsylvania.
MINERAL COAL BY COUNTRIES.
Year.
Gross Tons.
Per
cent, of
total.
Great Britain
1875
131,867,105
47.62
United States
1875
47,513,235
17.16
1874
46,658,000
16.85
187-6
17,047,761
6.15
1876
15,011,330
5.42
1875
12,852,048
4.64
1874
1,346,900
.49
Nova Scotia
1876
709,646
.26
New South Wales
1874
1,304,567
.47
Spain
1873
570,000
.21
India
1875
500,000
.18
150,000
.05
1874
390,000
.14
Chili, China, New Zealand, and other countries
1,000,000
Total..
276,920,592
100.00
HnitPfl qttAQ /Pennsylvania, 31,143,509 tons 1
. btates, | Q tner states 16 369 726 tons j
1875
47.513,235
17.16
Percentage of the world's nroduction bv Pennsylvania....
11.05
STATISTICS OF COAL MINING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
125
The following statistics by districts of coal mined in Pennsylvania
in 187.3, a year of greater production than 1875 or 1876, and the
year of greatest production since the beginning of coal mining in the
State, are taken from Macfarlane's Coal Regions of America.
ANTHRACITE. GROSS TONS.
Grand
Total.
COUNTIES.
Sent to
market.
Official.
Home
consump'n.
Estimated.
Total
Product.
Schuylkill
4,252,043
1,234,070
358,741
449,915
10,047,241
3,243,168
880,000
170,000
25,000
30,000
1,675,000
463,000
5,132,043
1,404,070
383,741
479,915
11,722,241
3,706,168
22,828,178.
2,598,702
9,096,680
Northumberland
Columbia
Wyoming
Lehigh ,
Total anthracite
19,585,178
3,243,000
22,828,178
SEMI-BITUMINOUS.VG
ROSS TONS.
MINvES.
Tons
produced.
Total.
Fall Brook Coal Company, Blossburg
312,466
357,384
321,207
212,462
252,329
85,315
I 991,057
212,462
} 337,644
L 1,057,539
Morris Run Coal Company Blossburg
Blossburg Coal Company, Blossburg
Mclntyre Coal Company Ralston
Towanda Coal Company, Towanda
Fall Creek Coal Company, Towanda
Total Northern Pennsylvania
1,541,163
95,257
612,036
350,246
Snow Shoe, Centre county
Clearfield county
Broad Top, Huntingdon county
2,598,702
2,593,702
BITUMINOUS. GROSS TONS.
LOCALITIES.
Tons
produced.
Johnstown, used in ironworks, etc. (estimated
Allegheny Mountain region, Pennsylvania Rai
West Pennsylvania Raiiroad
250,000
220,409
259,340
255,355
878,944
685,611
81,742
436,650
529,496
132,118
315,044
111,169
159,057
125,109
846,374
2,000
447,855
99,091
3,733
2,157,583
600,000
500,000
.. .
Iroad
Westmoreland gas coal
Philadelphia and Erie Railroad .
Allegheny Valley Railroad
Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad (block coal).
Lawrence Railroad
Newcastle and Beaver Railroad
Little Sawmill Run Railroad
Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad
Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad. .. .
Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Charleston Rail
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad
Shenango and Allegheny Railroad
Wheeling, Pittsburgh and Baltimore Railroad.
Monongahela Navigation .. .
Used by railroads, not in above
Mined on rivers and in country pits, not in ab<
Total bituminous coal
>ve .
9,096,680
Total production of Pennsylvania in 1873
34,523,560
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