USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume I > Part 16
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210 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENE.ILOGY
which unite at Pittsburg, forming the Ohio. Each valley and stream has its historie reminiscences, tragic and pathetic. Each one, too, with its unsurpassably picturesque groupings of hill and vale, of forest and stream, has inspired poet and painter, and figures in song and story and upon canvas, as witness the delightful umsings of a Read and a Taylor, and the glowing colors of a Cropsey. So superb are the works of the All-Creative Hand that not the smoke of countless factories, the noisy whirr of myriads of wheels, can altogether mar the scene or still reflec- tion, and it may be that these incongruous settings even accentuate the beauties of nature.
The agricultural resources of the state and its manufacturing indus tries give to it a position of commanding importance. Their recapitula- tion would make of this narrative a lengthy statistical chapter, and they may only be spoken of in general terms. The principal valley regions have been under cultivation for now nearly two centuries, and the manner in which the soil has been rejuvenated by rotation of crops and use of fertilizing material has proven an object lesson to farmers of the central and far western regions who have at last come to learn that the carth cannot continually be robbed of its grain-making properties with impunity, but that adequate return must be made. In these long cultivated places are farms of rich fertility, viekling heavy cereal crops : market gardens of rare productiveness : large tracts given to floriculture. whose plants and flowers are known the world over; and orchards and dairies, pleasing to the eye and remunerative to the possessor. Yet of the nearly 28.800,000 acres (45.000 square miles) contained in the state, less than one-half is in cultivated farms, and only one million of the people, less than one-sixth of the entire population (6.302.115) live in separate farm houses. In the decade ending with the year 1900 the number of farms in Pennsylvania was almost two thousand less than in
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the decade preceding. but it is to be remarked that this was a smaller loss than in the other eight states comprising the North Atlantic division, which exceeded 37.000. In the year 1900 the entire cereal products of Pennsylvania amounted to 117.810,179 bushels, divided as follows : Corn. 31.2 per cent : wheat. 32 per cent : oats, 24.8 per cent : barley. 0.2 per cent : rye, 6.5 per cent : buckwheat, 5.3 per cent. In flax products Pennsylvania stood ninth in the average value per acre, but sixteenth among the twenty-eight states reporting a production of either fibre or seed or both. Of 41.502,620 pounds of tobacco produced in the state, Lancaster county yielded 28.246,160 pounds.
Stock raising, long an important farm industry, has shown marked improvement during the ten years covered by the last United States census. The number of work oxen on farms was materially increased during this period, and the gain in number of milch cows, due to the larger demand of the great cities for dairy products, was 16.518. The number of mules was 38,635. constituting 68.9 per cent of the entire number in the nine states in the North Atlantic division. The number of swine and sheep respectively was 1. 107.981 and 959.483.
It is, however, in its iron and coal interests that Pennsylvania holds acknowledged preeminence. As an iron producing state it surpasses any other in the Union. This is more the result of the thorough develop- ment and skillful use of ores than of any advantage in quantity or quality. The states of New York, New Jersey and Virginia are far more liberally endowed by nature in this respect, each containing more iron than Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, that last named produces more manufactured iron than all the others combined ; it has always furnished one-half of the total amount of pig iron cast, and rolled more than one- half of the iron and steel rails in the United States, and Pittsburg has produced by far its larger part. The iron industries of Pennsylvania
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have always competed with the cotton growth of the southern states and the cotton industry of the eastern states for political power in Congress. to save themselves against a foreign importation of rolled iron, and the ironmasters of Pennsylvania have led in every debate in favor of a protective tariff. The mainspring of their effort lies far back in the historie past. The ambition which led the American colonists into other fields of industry than those of producing grain and meat for their own consumption and the attempt of the mother country to throttle that ambition at its birth was one of the causes underlying the Revolutionary war. The world seemed to be in conspiracy against permitting the people of the colonies to be aught else than a community of self-expatriates who would esteem it a privilege to be permitted to merely maintain an animal existence. Even so stanch a friend of America as William Pitt frowned upon the idea of permitting its people to lessen in any degree their servile dependence upon England, and declared that they had no right to make so much as a horse-shoe nail. but should be compelled to purchase all products of skilled labor in the British markets; and, to compel acquiescence in such doctrine, taxes were imposed by parliament which were virtually in prohibition of American manufactures.
Nevertheless, American manufactures had made their beginnings. and in those beginnings Pennsylvania was a prime leader. Its first industries were the making of lumber and salt. and the digging of ore and the building of furnaces for its working. and in these latter it was destined to become the most supremely important producing center in al! America. Unwittingly, in the development of these interests, the people of the colony were already arming themselves for the conflict which was to win for themselves political liberty, and, at a later day. acknowledged preeminence in manufacturing and commercial affairs. I rom their forests were builded vessels which harassed the commerce
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of an arrogant crown: in their rude furnaces were cast the guns which thundered at Brandywine and Germantown, and the cannon balls which swept those glorious fields: at cross-road smithies were welded the swords which flashed in battle and pointed the way to victory: and even the miserable salt from their marshes was a boon to the illy pro- visioned patriot army. Had the forges and shops of Pennsylvania been blotted out at the close of the Revolutionary war, even then they were worthy of an honorable place in history for sake of their great achieve- ments.
But the arts of peace came before those of war, and it is curious to note that a nefarious transaction marks the carly annals of the times. Charles Pickering, whose name is preserved in that of the creek in Chester county upon whose banks he located, was one of the first miners. AAssisted by one Samnel Buckley he mined lead and some little silver, out of which the two "quined" (coined) "Spanish bitts and Boston money." For this they were brought to trial at the instance of Governor William Penn, and, being found guilty, were sentenced: Charles Pick- ering to make full satisfaction of good and current pay to every person that within one month should bring in any of this false, base and coun- terfeit "coyne," according to their respective proportions, the base money to be melted down into gross before it was returned to him, and that he pay a fine of fo into the court toward the building of a new court honse : to stand committed until the fine was paid : and to find security for his good "abearance." Samuel Buckley. "being considered more En- genious than he that went before," was fined fro toward the court house. Minting. however, soon began in a legal fashion, for in Philadelphia. in 1791, was set up the United States Mint which is to-day, as it was then, the parent mint, all others in the country being branches. Here. too, was erected the first shot-tower in the United States, and. also, the
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first drug and chemical manufactory marking the beginning of an enter- prise for which Philadelphia has ever since enjoyed a worldwide fame.
The mining of iron ore in Chester county was begun in 1716, by Thomas Rutter, at Pool Forge, three miles above Pottstown, and shortly afterward was established the celebrated Warwick Furnace, where were made, in 1776, the first year of the Revolutionary war, sixty cannon of eighteen- and twelve pounder calibre for the patriot army. These works were already famous for the making of the famous old "Franklin Stove," which was at one time very common in the better class of houses. Its manufacture was continued for many years, and it is known to the writer of this narrative that not a few are yet in use in farm houses in Ohio and Illinois, whether they were taken by settlers from Pennsylvania prior to the Civil war and shortly afterward. This stove was the invention of Benjamin Franklin, who this refers to it in his " Autobiography":
"In order of time ! should have mentioned before that having in 1742 invented an open fireplace for the better warming of rooms, and at the same time saving inel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in entering. I made a present of the model to Robert Grace, one of my early friends, who, having an iron furnace, found the casting of the plates for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in demand."
Robert Grace, who was then in charge of the Warwick Furnace, had married the widow of Sammel Nutt, Jr., who was heir to the prop- erty upon which the furnace was located, the lands having been originally granted to the elder Nutt.
In 1742 iron works were established by John Crosby and Peter Dicks. on Crum Creek, in what is now Delaware county, and these are presumably the works referred to by Peter Kalm, the Swedish naturalist. when he passed over the ground in 1748, stopping at Chichester, "a
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borough on the Delaware, where travelers pass the river in a ferry, and where they build every year a number of small ships for sale, and from an iron work which lies higher up in the country they carry iron bars to this place and ship them. About two English miles behind Chester I passed an iron forge. The ore, however, is not dug here, but thirty or forty miles hence, where it is first melted in an oven and then carried to this place." This was evidently the forge on Crum Creek, before men- tioned, and the ore must have been dug in what is now Chester county.
On June 24. 1750. James Hamilton, deputy governor, issued his proclamation requiring the sheriffs of the several counties to make return to him of "every mill or engine for slitting or rolling iron, every plating forge to work with a tilt-hammer. and every furnace for making steel which were erected within their several and respective counties." In response, John Owen, then sheriff of Chester county (prior to its division and the creation of the county of Delaware). certified that "there is but one mill or engine for slitting and rolling iron within the county afore- said, which is situated in Thornbury township. and was erected in the year 1746 by John Taylor," and that there was not any plating forge to work with a tilt-hammer nor any furnace for making steel within the county of Chester. This return would seem to indicate that the works seen by Peter Kahm, and undoubtedly others, had gone into disuse.
Among other prominent iron works of their day were those at Valley Forge, near the mouth of Valley Creek, in Chester county. These were operated by members of the Potts family from the spring of 1757 until they were destroyed by the British, in 1777, about two months before Washington established his cantonment there. Rentgen's iron works, in Pikeland township, Chester county, established in 1793, ob- tained considerable celebrity from the attempts made there to manufac- ture German steel. It is said that Rentgen obtained a patent for forging
2. COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
round iron in 1796, and that in isto he obtained a patent for rolling iron in round shapes. The Phoenix iron works were opened in the latter part of the eighteenth century for the manufacture of nails. In 18.10 was added a rolling mill for the manufacture of railroad iron, and for some years this mill was the equal of any in the country, and the quality of its product was not surpassed by that of any similar English mill. During the rebellion the works turned out about five hundred pieces of wrought iron artillery, as efficient as were known in that period, and which were the invention of John Griffen, the general superintendent of the company. In recent years the Phoenix works have produced large quantities of structural iron, including the greater part of the rib- and deck-work for ships built on the Delaware river, including the iron boats of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company and of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
The present great Lukens Iron and Steel Company grew out of the Federal Slitting Mill, set up in 1790 by Isaac Pennock, an ancestor of the present owners, and the property has never passed out of the hands of descendants of the founder. The mill was originally established at Rokeby, on Buck Run, about four miles south of Coatesville, in Chester county. In 1810 Pennock removed to the present location, on the Bran- dywine, at Coatesville. At the first the iron was heated in an open char- coal fire. rolled out into plates (hence called charcoal slabs) and then -lit up into rods for general blacksmith use. The plate rolls of that time were only sixteen to eighteen inches in diameter, and from three to four fect between the housings, and an overshot wheel provided the power. It was not uncommon for the mill to come nearly to a stop, and in this event the workmen would climb out upon the rim of the wheel, and with their combined weight effect the passage through the rolls. It was before the days of railroads, and the coal used in the works was wagoned from Columbia, thirty-five miles distant, while the finished product was simi-
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larly transported to Philadelphia or Wilmington, distances of thirty- eight and twenty-six miles respectively. The property passed into the charge of Dr. Charles Lukens, a son-in-law of Isaac Pennock, who ( be- tween 1816 and 1825) produced the first steam boiler plates made in the United States.
To be included among the steel and iron industries is that of ship- building on the Delaware river. This immense interest grew by slow development. The pioneer settlers built such vessels as could be made by the most ordinary workman with saw and axe, giving little attention to symmetry of form or even ease of propulsion, but only to buoyancy. Of such were the sail-scow, used in transporting salt hay from the marshes, and the garvey, which was used in gathering oysters and bring- ing them to shore. The beginning of iron mining led to the building of "the Durham boat." which differed from the scow in being larger, flat-bottomed, and rounded at bow and stern, and was used for transport- ing ore to Philadelphia down the Delaware river from the Durham fur- naces, whence it came. It was in these two classes of boats that Wash- ington's troops made their famous passage across the Delaware river. In the later colonial days large numbers of boats designed for fishing pur- poses were built. and were known as whale-boats. During the Revolu- tionary war, craft of this description but of larger build came into vogne. and nearly every coast neighborhood where was an inland stream had its association of men who owned and manned such a vessel. The boat was usually about thirty feet in length. pointed at bow and stern to facilitate readiness of movement by avoidance of turning, and with high gunwales in order to admit of carrying large loads. The material was cedar and the boat was so light that a few men could conveniently carry it into the woods for concealment. The necessity for thus providing for its safety lay in the fact that British armed boats kept the coast indus-
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triously patrolled. The crew of the whale-boat usually consisted of fifteen men, selected for their physical strength, endurance and courage. They were trained to row noiselessly, and were able to drive the boat at a speed of twelve miles an hour. Each man was armed with a cutlass and pistols. The command was vested in ore who was helmsman aboard and captain on land as well as on deck. Many daring feats were performed by such crews.
With the development of the fishing and lumber industries, the latter through the introduction of the saw mill, came vessels of a larger build, first of the sloop and afterwards of the schooner type, but of lim- ited size, for many years not exceeding thirty tons. At a later day came full-rigged ships, veritable "hearts of oak." These, mastered and manned by old-time sailors who now exist only in song and story such as were sung by Dibdin and told by Marryat and Cooper, sailed in every sea and upon every sort of mission. There were honest merchantmen and whalers, and there were those, too, whose holds were fever infected by cargoes of rotting humans brought from Liberia to the plantations of the south. Many of them survived for scores of years, so honestly were they built, and a few dismantled old hulks yet remain to perform menial duty on river and canal.
Almost on the very ground (at Chester) where were built the first small coasters of the colonial days, the wooden gunboats provided by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for use during the Revolutionary war. and the famous merchant vessels of Archibald Me. Arthur, in 1844, and of Sinex. Hargis and Fortner shortly afterward, were constructed vessels which were the best of their type of the United States navy at the time of the Civil war, and which bore a gallant part during that great struggle. Here are now such mammoth shipyards as those of the Cramps and John Reach, where have been built hundreds of modern war and merchant
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vessels, and many of the most effective marine engines ever constructed. and which have made the Delaware to the United States what the Clyde is to Great Britain.
The splendid watercourses bordering and penetrating the province found early utilization. On the Delaware, small sailing vessels plied constantly until the introduction of steam. Here John Fitch made for himself fame as the first man in America (and probably in the world) who ever carried the idea of steam power to the propulsion of vessels a determinate result. He was a watchmaker by trade, and during the revolutionary war was employed in repairing muskets for the patriot army. His first vessel was fitted with an awkward engine with a hori- zontal cylinder and a piston stroke of three feet. The shaft operated twelve oars, or paddles, six on each side: at each revolution of the shaft six of the paddles entered the water. while. at the same time the other six were raised therefrom. This vessel was sailed in the passenger and freight trade between Philadelphia and ports as far down as Wil- mington. It was well named the "Perseverance," for Fitch persisted in operating it until he was bankrupted, the machinery being of such poor construction that it was constantly in need of repairs. In this venture Fitch anticipated by seventeen years Robert Fulton and his famous "Clermont," which in 1807 made the trip from New York to Albany.
Pennsylvania ship-builders were active on the Ohio river at an early day. In 1806 was launched at what is now Allegheny City the brig "Dean." the first sailing vessel built on western waters, and which found its way to the Mediterranean. Soon after. James Berthone & Co. built two vessels at Pittsburg. The largest of these was wrecked in trying to pass over the Falls of the Ohio, and no further building was done on that river. In 1811 Fulton and Livingston built in their ship- yard at Pittsburg the first steamboat ever floated on an inland American
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stream. This, the "Orleans," was a stern-wheeler, and carried two masts, it being considered unwise to depend upon steam alone. This craft made the trip to New Orleans in fourteen days. In succeeding years Pittsburg became an important boat building point, and there were launched many of the most palatial steamboats which plied the Ohio to Cairo and the Mississippi to New Orleans.
The celebrated Crozer cotton mills at Chester grew out of a grist mill. the first mill set up in Pennsylvania after Penn became the pro- prietor. This was the second in the province, the first being the Swedish water mill built by Governor Printz. on Cobb's creek, near the noted Blue Bell Tavern, at Paschalville, in the county of Philadelphia. This. however, had fallen into disuse before the coming of Penn. The first mills in the county of Chester were brought by him in the "Welcome." ready for putting together and setting up. Penn had numerous partners in this enterprise, and they made Caleb Pusey their agent and manager. The land for the mill was patented to Pusey. second month. 5. 1690, but the mill was set up in 1683. on Chester creek. Pusey made two short removals, the dams having been carried away by overflowing of the stream, and the mills afterwards passed through various hands. The Chester Mills, as they were widely known, were well equipped at the time of the Revolutionary war. In 1777. by order of General Wash- ington, the millstones were removed to prevent their use by the British army, but where they were secreted has never been learned. The mills eventually came into the possession of John P. Crozer, who there laid the foundations for the great cotton manufactory with which his family name has since been identified.
It is not within the province of the writer of these pages to follow in detail the history of manufacturing in all its multitudinous ramifica-
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tions, but only to hint at the beginnings, afford an idea of the present mammoth proportions of the work carried on by some of the foremost captains of industry in the world. Suffice it to say that, after the Revo- lutionary war, Pennsylvania workmen set an example in mechanical ability and inventive genius that provoked the wonder and conquered the admiration of the world. . At each decennial governmental census since the eighth, Pennsylvania has ranked second among the states in the gross valne of manufactured products, net value of the same, average number of employes, and amount of wages paid. The census of 1900 gave the number of establishments at 52,185, the aggregate capital invested at $1.551.548.712: the cost of material at $1 042.434.599: the value of the finished products at $1.834.790.860: and the number of persons employed at 781.273. The iron and steel industry leads, with its prod- nets amounting to the vast sum of $434.445.200. Foundry and machine shop products are next. amounting to $127,292.440. The value of the products of other manufacturing branches, excluding such as do not exceed $20,000,000 in any given industry, were, in round numbers, as follows: Leather, tanned and curried, upwards of $55.000,000: Houring and grist mill products, upwards of $36.000.000: sugar and syrup refin- ing, upwards of $36.000.000: printing and publishing. upwards of $36,000,000: lumber and timber upwards of $35.000,000; tobacco. upwards of $33.000,000: silk and silk goods, upwards of $31.000.000 : malt products, upwards of $29,000,000: woolen goods, upwards of $25.000,000: cotton goods upwards of $25.000,000; clothing. men's factory products, upwards of $23.000,000; carpets and rugs; upwards of $23.000,000: boots and shoes, upwards of $23.000,000; glass, up- wards of $22.000,000: worsted goods, upwards of $22,000,000; hosiery and knit goods upwards of $21,000,000.
In this connection it is to be remarked that the radical changes in
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the processes of manufacturing that have taken place within the last decade have opened the way for the employment of female labor in many lines of industry that were formerly closed to them. Much hard and disagreeable work, which required the strength and endurance that only men possess, is rapidly being made a thing of the past by the intro- duction of improved machinery and methods, under which deftness of touch and intelligent perception on the part of the operative takes the place of importance formerly held by the more rugged qualities peculiar to men. There is, therefore, every indication that similar changes will open yet wider fields for the introduction of female labor. These condi- tions afford ample opportunity for the speculations of a certain class of social economists and moralists who are satisfied that already the founda- tions of society have been undermined by neglect of the marriage relation through the reduced ability of the more poorly paid male wage-carner to provide for a home, and through the more independent status of the female wage-earner who, deriving her livelihood through her own effort. would rather bear the ills she has than fly to those she fears may come in company with one of her own station who cannot much exceed her in wage-earning capacity.
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