USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume I > Part 35
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"It is the sunset hour-but stormy clouds Blacker than midnight veil his parting beams, Like the dark pall that some young face enshrouds That erst was fairer than the Poet's dreams. Ah glorious Sun! how oft at eventide I've watched thy setting, when the glowing sky
Seems like the golden path where angels glide From the heaven to earth to waft blest souls on high.
And o'er thy gorgeous coach rich colours rose,
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THE POETS
Painting the clouds with more than limner's art, Till the o'er dazzled eye would tearful close, And fill the scene reflected on the heart; The grateful heart, that felt the love, the Power, Which made for man this calm, delicious hour."
Another poet whose contributions are found in the literary journals was Samuel Dewees Patterson. Though never a resident of Easton, he married Sarah Ann Mott, a daughter of William Beckett Mott of Boston. His writ- ings included five volumes in manuscript, both prose and poetry. His politi- cal satires, the "Salt River Voyage" and "Homeward Bound," with the political sentiment pleasing and pungent, rival the caustic wits of the Revo- luntionary period. The following is the first verse of the Salt River rhymes : "For the head of Salt river! In strength and in pride The good bark 'Democracy' floats on the tide- Her anchors aweigh-her provisions are stored- And all that she needs is the pilot on board. Her decks are all clean, and her rigging all taut, And her crew, men who fear not, and will not be bought-
And aloft from the mast-head her flag is displayed,
With the motto, 'Defeated, but never dismayed!'"
ESTABLISHED 185 ROSENBAUM'S MILLINERY PALACE Theold Reliable Store, 407-409 NORTHAMPTONST.
MONUMENTS D.J.HOWELL'S SOKS GRANITE MO MARBLE CEMETERY WORK.
efreshis
DRINK
SOLD EVERYWHERE 5€
COLONIAL WAREHOUSE ON DELAWARE
RUINS OF THE OLD GLENDON IRON WORKS
CHAPTER XXIV
IRON AND KINDRED INDUSTRIES
The rocks which everywhere underlie the soil or crop out to the surface of Northampton county belong to the oldest formations known in the United States. In that portion of the county lying south of the Lehigh river comprising the townships of Lower Saucon and Williams there is found crystalline rocks, for the most part gneiss and syenite, belonging to the Laurentien formation. Here and there overlying these rocks are small basins of limestone, directly over which are a series of crystalline slates often decomposed to a white or yellow clay. This slate contains valuable deposits of brown hematite or limonite ore which, in the early development of the iron industries of the county, was used in the furnaces of Glendon, Redington, South Easton, Bethlehem, Bingen and Hellertown.
During the eighteenth century hematite iron ore was located in Williams township. The ore beds were at the foot of the mountain stretching the full length of the township near the Hellertown road, leading from the Delaware river to Lower Saucon. The ore was found at a depth of sixty to two hundred feet, required no pumping, and was principally worked by horse-power, though afterwards engines were used. Hematite ore was also found in the southeastern portion of the township, and the Bougher Hills Mines were developed. The Unangst Mines were extensively worked and ore was struck at the depth of forty-five feet; it was shafted to the depth of one hundred and eighteen feet, which was the level of the Delaware river. The first contractor at this mine, Major John Best, in 1858 furnished 5,600 tons of ore to the Durham Iron Company, no pumping being necessary, and it was raised solely by horse-power. At about this time the Saylor Hill Mines, on the north side of Saylor's Mountains, of hematite ore, were opened by the Glendon Iron Works. As early as 1812 magnetic iron ore was mined on the Old Philadelphia road about three and a half miles from Easton.
In Lower Saucon township hematite iron ore mines were developed in 1857, the Gangewere Mines being the most extensive, which were finally leased to the Bethlehem Iron Works. The Hartman Mine was near Kohl- berg and was opened in 1857. Near Ironville the Coleraine Iron Mines operated mines in the middle of the nineteenth century. Iron ore was discovered in Forks township in 1873.
The manufacture of iron in Northampton county dates back to 1809, when William Henry of Nazareth put in operation a forge that he had built the preceding year, and on March 8 of that year produced the first bar of refined iron made in the county. Matthew S. Henry in 1824-1825 erected a blast furnace in Nazareth, and on May 25, 1825, the first ton of pig iron was manufactured in Northampton county. Mr. Henry subsequently manufac- tured tin plate wood-stoves and hollowware, such as pots, kettles and skillets in considerable quantity. The furnace used was of ordinary size; the stack was thirty-two feet in height, the furnace above the boshes eight feet wide.
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The fuel used was charcoal, the weekly production being about twenty tons of pig iron and twelve to fourteen tons of castings. The ore used was the columnar or pipe species of hematite, which was obtained from Lower Mount Bethel township, also the brown hematite from Williams and Hanover town- ships in Northampton county and Whitehall township in Lehigh county.
The discovery of the use of anthracite coal for smelting iron ore is credited to a Mr. Crane of England in 1837, but a few months later, in 1838, John Van Buren, who had interested several parties in establishing a furnace at South Easton, made about twenty tons of pig iron, using anthracite coal as a fuel; this was followed by other attempts at different localities. The first experiments were not, however, wholly satisfactory; the results obtained were not a financial success on account of the inability of keeping the furnaces in blast for only a short length of time. The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company in November, 1838, desiring to find a market for the anthracite coal, sent one of their directors, Erskine Hazzard, to England, and he entered into a five years' contract with David Thomas, general superintendent of the Yniscedwyn Iron Works, in Swansea valley, Wales, to come to the United States. The Lehigh Crane Iron Company was formed by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, of which Mr. Thomas became superintend- ent, and July 9, 1839, the construction of a blast furnace was commenced at what is now Catasauqua in Lehigh county. The first furnace built by the Lehigh Crane Iron Company was put in operation in July, 1840, and Mr. Thomas demonstrated the practicability of producing iron successfully as a commercial commodity by the sole use of anthracite coal.
The early manufacture of pig iron in Northampton county centered around South Easton and Glendon. At the former place in 1839 Barnet Swift and Company erected a blast furnace, using charcoal as a fuel, the blast being driven by the water-power of the canal. The ore smelted was princi- pally of the brown hematite, with a small proportion of magnetic ore, and produced about twenty-five tons per week. The furnace, with a large stone foundry annexed, was purchased in 1844 by Frederick Goddell, who demol- ished the furnace and erected a new one, in which anthracite coal was used as fuel. The property again changed hands in 1852, when B. B. Thomas became proprietor, who erected a new and larger furnace, with a capacity of one hundred tons weekly. This blast was heated by gas taken from the furnace six feet below the tunnel head. The following year Mr. Thomas disposed of his interests to Charles J. Jackson, Jr., who was connected with the Glendon Iron Works, and the production was increased to one hundred and twenty tons weekly. This furnace was in operation in 1873, in which year it produced 100,000 tons of ore, 85,000 tons of coal and 50,000 tons of limestone. The capital stock of the company was $1,000,000 and the pay- roll amounted to about $50,000 monthly. The dullness of the iron trade in the late seventies of the last century and concentration of the iron industries caused the discontinuance of the furnace. The plant at that time consisted of five stacks, and employment was given to one thousand men at the quar- ries, mines and works.
There was also at this period started at South Easton by John Stewart, Charles Rodenburgh, Col. Thomas McKeen, Hopewell Hepburn and Jacob
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Abel an industry to manufacture nails in a small way, under the firm name of Stewart and Company. The production in 1836 was changed to wire, and it was the largest mill of this description at that time in the United States, and manufactured all sizes of wire from a hair thread to a bridge cable. The capital stock of the company was $250,000, and employment was given to two hundred hands. This enterprise was in successful operation until 1876, when it suspended operations.
The Franklin Iron Works were in operation in South Easton in 1860, conducted by F. S. Wells. The plant was founded in 1835; besides regular foundry work, steam engines, mining, well and cistern pumps, horse-power mowing-machines, reapers, threshing machines, corn huskers and other agri- cultural machinery was manufactured. The South Easton Iron and Brass Foundry was erected in 1857 by James Kidd, and an extensive business was done for several years in casting and finishing custom work.
The first blast furnace erected at Glendon was in 1843 by William Fire- stone. It was forty-five feet high, twelve feet at the boshes, and for several years after it was built was the highest anthracite furnace in the United States. The blast machinery consisted of two cylinders, each sixty-two inches in diameter, eight feet stroke, and was propelled by two water-wheels, the motive power being furnished by waters of the Lehigh canal. The pro- duction was about eighty to ninety tons a week. In 1845 a second furnace was built, with a capacity of one hundred and thirty-five tons per week. The original furnace was dismantled in 1850 and a larger one built in its place forty-five feet high, sixteen feet at the boshes. A 400-horse-power blast engine was installed, the boilers being heated by using carbonic oxide gas taken from the furnace through an aperture about ten feet below the tunnel head.
The Glendon Iron Works, owned by Charles Jackson, Jr., of Boston, Massachusetts, commenced operations at Glendon in the early fifties of the nineteenth century. The works comprised three blast furnaces, blown by water and steam power, built of common brick, circular in form, having six arches, five for the introduction of the iron and one for the purpose of draw- ing off the iron and working the furnace. This industry in 1858 employed at the furnaces one hundred and fifty hands, and 21,928 tons of pig iron were produced. There was used in manufacturing 45,000 tons of coal, sixty to seventy canal boats were used in freighting iron ore, coal and pig iron, giving employment to two hundred men and one hundred and fifty mules and horses. The quarries and mines operated gave work to two hundred and fifty men. This industry, like many others throughout the land, after the panic of 1873, was abandoned.
The oldest foundry and machine shop in the Lehigh Valley was con- ducted by Charles F. Beckel. It was located as early as 1825 on Main street in what is now Bethlehem. Mr. Beckel was the first iron founder in this section of the country, his castings consisting of light articles, such as plough and stove castings, etc. He removed in 1829 to a site on the Lehigh canal, in what is now South Bethlehem, for the purpose of obtaining water- power from the canal, where the business was conducted by himself and his descendants for over half a century.
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Among the early industries of Easton in the iron and kindred trades were Young & Schlough's Foundry on Ferry street, which was established prior to 1859 by Butz and Hayden, and after many vicissitudes was pur- chased in that year by the proprietors mentioned above, who greatly enlarged the capacity of the works. The buildings were of substantial brick con- struction, equipped with most approved labor-saving machinery for iron- working. Employment was given to about thirty-five men. The Delaware Foundry. located in Delaware street above the mouth of the Bushkill creek, was started in July, 1868, by the Wilson brothers. This was an outgrowth of a business started by their father in 1836 at Williamsburg, Upper Mount Bethel township. The business of the firm was general iron castings, and the line of their work embraced rolling-mill castings of every description, ploughs, sledshoes, cellar grates, stove grates, barn-door rollers and hangers. A specialty was made of sashweights, which were manufactured in large quantities. The works is still in evidence at the present day.
The Easton Sheet Iron Works was established in 1871 on the north bank of the Lehigh river by Simon Oliver and Son, and on the death of the senior member the firm became Oliver and Company. The Easton Lock Works was located near the Lehigh river in a building that was formerly a glue factory, afterwards a sad-iron works; still later, locks were manufactured, but the business was soon suspended. The Easton Brass Works was estab- lished in 1871 by William Young. In the foundry department there was a furnace with the capacity of melting one hundred and fifty pounds. The finishing department was on the second floor of the building.
The Thomas Iron Works was founded in 1854, with a fixed capital of $200,000. The prime mover in the organization of the company was David Thomas, who interested parties residing in Catasauqua, Easton, Bethlehem and Mauch Chunk in the enterprise. At a meeting held February 14. 1854, who afterwards became shareholders, the following Northampton county citizens were present : Charles A. Luckenbach, Michael Krause and John P. Scholl of Bethlehem; Dr. Henry Detweiler, Peter S. Michler, John Drake, Derrick Hulick, Russel S. Chidsey, John T. Knight, Daniel Whitesell and Carman F. Randolph of Easton. The site selected for the works was at Hokendauqua in Whitehall township, Lehigh county, where a total area of nearly two hundred and fifty acres was purchased at the cost of $120,502. The erection of two furnaces was begun March 1, 1854; they were sixty feet high, eighteen feet boshes, with two blowing engines of five hundred horse- power each. Furnace No. I was put in blast June 1, 1855, and No. 2 October 23, 1855. They were a complete success from the first blast, and the pig metal was equal to the best in the country. Two additional furnaces were erected in 1861 and 1862; ten years later two more furnaces were added. The two furnaces erected at Alburtus in 1867 became the property of the Thomas Iron Company. The Keystone Furnace, which had been built in 1873 in Williams township at a cost of over $250,000 was purchased in 1882 by the company, which made them nine furnaces and an annual capacity of 120,000 tons. To carry on this wonderful development of business the capital stock of the company was increased and in 1884 it was $2,000,000.
Large beds of iron ore were secured in Lehigh and Berks counties,
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IRON AND KINDRED INDUSTRIES
Pennsylvania, also in New Jersey. To provide for its transportation the company united with the Crane Iron Company in building the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad in 1856 and secured in 1882 the complete ownership of the Ironton Railroad. The furnaces at Hellertown and Redington, North- ampton county, were purchased. In 1904 the company celebrated its semi- centennial anniversary. The company properties at Hokendauqua are six furnaces ; Alburtus, two furnaces ; Island Park, one furnace ; and Hellerstown, two furnaces. They own about 6,000 acres of mining properties in New Jersey, 1,600 in Pennsylvania, and at their foundries about 600 acres. The company maintains an office in Easton.
The two furnaces located in Hellertown, mentioned above as having been acquired by the Thomas Iron Company, formerly belonged to the Saucon Iron Company, which was established in 1866 mainly through the influence of Jacob Riegel, a dry-goods merchant of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The authorized capital of the company was $300,000, with the privilege of increas- ing it to $1,000,000. The capital stock was increased to $600,000. The first stack was blown in March 23, 1868, the second May 28, 1870. The stacks wcre each fifty feet high and sixteen feet in diameter at the boshes; they were iron shells lined with brick and supported by iron columns; the hot blast ovens were built on the top of large stone arches, making them on a level with the tops of the furnaces. The capacity of each stack was about 10,000 tons of foundry pig iron per annum.
In April, 1869, a meeting was held at Hellertown for the purpose of organizing a company to operate a furnace near the village. The North-Penn Iron Company was organized in 1870, and established at Bingen with a capi- tal stock of $100,000. The works went into operation that year, the company in 1872 suffering a loss of $20,000 by an explosion. The company finally became a bankrupt and at a sheriff sale $28,000 of their second mortgage bonds were sold for five dollars.
The Northampton Iron Furnace, located in the borough of Freemans- burg, with offices at South Bethlehem, was organized in 1867 with a capital stock of $200,000. A consolidation was effected with the Bethlehem Iron Works, April 2, 1868. Building construction was commenced along the line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and in that year one hundred tons of railroad rails were produced. In the summer of 1869 a new rolling mill was erected, 400 by 900 feet, which was at that time the largest in the United States.
The agitation for the establishing of an iron works in Bethlehem com- menced in 1857, mainly through the exertions of Augustus Wolle, who ob- tained an act of incorporation of the Saucona Iron Company. The financial panic of that year prevented the building of the works or even the organiza- tion of the company. No further steps were taken until 1861, when an organization was completed, and the title was changed to the Bethlehem Rolling Mills and Iron Company, and in May, 1861, to the Bethlehem Iron Company. The first officials of the company were Alfred Hunt, president, and Charles B. Daniel, secretary and treasurer; the superintendence of the works devolved on John Fritz, who planned and erected the plant, and to whose skill and energy is largely due the success of the company.
Land having been purchased consisting of eleven acres on the south side NORTH .- 1-18.
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of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and six acres on the opposite side of that road, ground was broken for the erection of buildings July 16, 1860; but owing to the disturbances of the Civil War little progress was made. The first blast furnace was blown in January 4, 1863, and the first rails of puddled iron were rolled September 26, 1863. Furnace No. I continued in blast for thirty- four weeks and was then blown out for repairs, after which it was again put on and remained in blast for three hundred and sixty-three weeks, about seven years, producing in that time 63,007 tons of pig metal. The first iron was drawn from Furnace No. 3 December 18, 1868. The erection of the steel rail-mill was commenced in September, 1868.
It was in the early seventies that the recent invention of the Bessemer process of making steel rails was taken up by the company, and by this method the first steel rails were made October 4, 1873, being rolled October 18th of that year. The capital stock of the company was increased $350,000 in 1873. In the fall of that year, owing to the money panic, the company was obliged to pay their wage earners one-fourth of their pay in cash, giving short-term notes for the balance, with interest. In this same year ore was imported from Africa; this was of a hematite and magnetic quality and was shipped from a seaport in Algeria. The properties of the North-Penn Iron Works at Bingen were purchased in 1879; the market value of the capital stock of the Bethlehem Iron Company in that year was forty-five dollars a share.
Extensive improvements were made in the plant in 1884, and in that year the company had five blast furnaces in operation. The products of the company were pig iron billets, rails and similar articles. An enlargement of the plant was advocated for the manufacturing of heavy forgings and castings from open hearth steel, also for guns of large calibre. This was followed by the production of armor plate, and for the next score of years the bessemer works and the rail mill were practically abandoned. The company's attention was directed to the development of the armor plate plant, the manufacture of guns and other high grade forgings and castings. These improvements required the outlay of $3,000,000, but in 1887, when Secretary William C. Whitney was laying the foundation for the United States Navy, the Bethlehem Iron Works received a contract for $4,600,000 for guns and armor plate. The capital stock of the company was increased in 1889 from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000.
The first steel castings were made in the forging department of the Bethlehem Steel Company on May 18, 1888. The largest cannon ever turned in America was forged in 1898. It was the first of the sixteen-inch group ordered by the government for Sandy Hook. The cost of forging alone was $70,000. High speed tool steel was exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1900 by the Bethlehem Steel Company.
At the annual meeting held in 1887, Alfred Hunt, who had held the office of president of the company since its organization, was re-elected. Mr. Hunt was born at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1817. His parents belonged to the Society of Friends. The loss of his father in his early boy- hood days threw him on his own resources. On arriving at the age of manhood he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and engaged in commercial
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IRON AND KINDRED INDUSTRIES
business. While on a tour to regain his health in 1888, he died in the South.
The second president of the company, William H. Thurston, was born April 25, 1852. After receiving a liberal education he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, he turned his attention to industrial affairs and entered the employ of the company. Commencing at the lowest round of the ladder, that of sweeper in the machine shop, he rose through the various grades of promotion to the presidency. He died at London, England, on a tour to regain his health, May 13, 1890. He was succeeded as president of the company by Robert P. Linderman.
At the commencement of the present century the Bethlehem Steel Com- pany was laboring under a large indebtedness and was not a successful competitor of the United States Steel Trust that had recently been formed. The president, Charles M. Schwab, of the latter corporation, tendered his resignation in 1902, and the prophets of the day had no hesitancy in giving to the world the information that the days of the Wizard of the steel indus- tries of the United States was over. It was in 1905 Mr. Schwab became identified with the Bethlehem Steel Company. He satisfied a mortgage of $10,000,000 against its properties, extensive improvements were contemplated, and he prophesied that he would make the works the largest in the United States, if not in the world. In that year the company acquired large real estate holdings which put them in possession of all lands between the North-Penn and Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Saucon creek, with the exception of Northampton heights and a small farm. The area of the pur- chase included the Lehigh right of way and aggregate about three hundred acres.
A return was made to the original business of the company in 1906 and an entirely new plant was built and fully equipped for the manufacture of complete armor, armament, ammunition and shafting for the largest battle- ships. All the material manufactured at the plant is produced from the ore. The general office buildings and valuable records were destroyed by fire February 25, 1906, entailing a loss of several hundred thousands of dollars.
A strike of from six hundred to eight hundred machinists took place February 4, 1910. President Schwab publicly announced there did not seem to appear any definite grievance. The strike, however, continued, and on February 26 the sheriff of the county and State officers were called upon to suppress the rioters. President Schwab refused to treat with the strikers; their wives, however, took a hand and escorted their husbands to their work, and on March 8, 1910, there were then 4,200 employees on duty. During the strike statements were sent to Congress, also to the powers of the Argentine Republic and Turkey by the strikers, stating that the company employed unskilled mechanics and paid starvation wages. President Schwab called a meeting of the citizens of South Bethlehem to find out if they endorsed those statements, and if they did he threatened to close the works. The citizens expressed their sympathy with the company and of its ability to execute all contracts in first-class workmanship. The strike was declared off May 18, 1910.
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