History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 95

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 95

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481

TOPOGRAPHY.

westward to near the Harrisburg Pike, is a woodland ridge of white sandstone, known as Hellam Hills. Between this and Conewago Hills there is a wide extent of red sand-stone.

Pidgeon Hills extend through the western part of the county, to within eight miles of York, and are of elliptical formation. The southeastern portion of the county contains slate ridges and hills, and extensive quarries are worked in Peach Bottom Township, yield- ing roofing slate in the very best quality. The Martic Ridge crosses the Snsquehanna from Lancaster County, on which ridge there are many high bluffs along the river. There are banks of calcareous rock south of York and valuable quarries. This ridge extends westward to Jefferson. The southern and southwestern portion of the county is undu- lating, containing here and there woodland hills.

Conewago* Creek is a large stream, which, with its branches; Little Conewago, Bermu- dian Creek, Beaver Creek and Stony Run, etc., drains the northern part of the county. Codorus Creek, with its two branches, flows through the central part, past York. Muddy Creek, with two large branches, drains the southeastern section. These streams provide a plentiful irrigation.

The surface of the county furnishes a variety of scenery-rugged and fair, mouu- tain and river, hill and plain, glen and dale, purling and dashing streams. The climate is changeable but salubrious. The people who inhabit this fair land are well adapted to the cultivation of the means of enjoyment and prosperity so bounteonsly afforded them.

The county has the shape of an irregular quadrangle. It borders on Maryland and lies on the parallel of latitude, 39º 43' 26.3" (Ma- son and Dixon's line), and extends northward nearly to Harrisburg or about 15' above the 40th parallel, which crosses the county through Emigsville. The county is crossed by the meridian of Washington, and with refer- ence to that, its extreme eastern and western points are in longitude respectively 45' east and 10' west. It extends along the Maryland line about forty miles, bordering on the coun- ties of Harford, Baltimore and Carroll. It adjoins on the north and west the counties of Cumberland and Adams, the latter of which was formerly a part of it. It con- tains an area of 921 square miles. The Susquehanna River flows for nearly fifty-five miles along the eastern boundary, and the extreme eastern point of its southern boun- dary is about fifteen miles north of Havre De

Grace, at the head of the Chesapeake Bay, with which it is connected by means of the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canals.

ELEVATIONS ABOVE THE SEA LEVEL.

The accompanying tables and specifications of true altitudes above the ocean level of many points in York County were gathered from various sources, many from observations with transit or barometer; some were gath- ered from altitudes measured by practical geologists of the two different State surveys, and still others from the profiles of railroads. The average elevation of York County above the sea level is about 500 feet.

The highest point in the county is the isolated peak called "Round Top," on ac- count of its shape. It is located in the northern part of Warrington Township and its elevation above tide water at Philadel- phia, as taken by the barometer, is 1,110 feet. Its base is four miles in circumference. The geodetic and coast survey had a signal sta- tion and an observatory on its summit during the year 1884, and their observations accu- rately taken and furnished upon application, conform to the foregoing statement. The exact latitude of this peak is 40° 6' 13" longitude, 76° 55' 34" west of Greenwich, azimuth, 248° 16' 27" back azimuth, 68° 34' 39.2." Stations under the same authority were located, and observatories erected on "Pulpit Rock," the summit of the Pidgeon Hills in the western part of the county and near the village of Winterstown.

The following is a table of elevations of various points in the county above mean tide at Philadelphia:

Round Top. 1,110

Base of Round Top 605

Rossville. . 501

Mount Royal. 547

Conewago Hills, highest point. 800

Dover .. 431

Wellsville. 489

580

Emig's Mills

550

Dillsburg. 601

Lewisberry

385

Shunk's Hill

880

Longstown. 637

Innersville 680

Loganville

734

Jefferson.

600

Hanover Fountain Square

601

Maryland line south of Hanover

820

Dallastown. 656

Bangor .. 500

Fawn Grove. 810

Castle Fin. 190

New Park. 812

Bryansville

210

*Conewago is an Indian name meaning "at the rapids." It flows into the Susquehanna at the foot of the rapids.

Franklintown

540

York (Center Square)

482

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

NORTHERN CENTRAL RAILROAD.

Feet.

Baltimore

000

Parkton.

420

New Freedom.

827

Seitzland.

611

Glen Rock.

551

Hanover Junction

422

389

Glatfelter's.

335

Spring Garden

431

York.

372

SUSQUEHANNA CANAL. The elevations here given are estimated above mean tide at

Feet.

Havre De Grace

State Line .:

Peach Bottom (on canal).

101

Muddy Creek.

121

Slate Tavern 130

117

York Furnace.

141

Shenk's Ferry. 152

163

North Bridgevillc. 187

Wrightsville (on canal). 214

By a comparison of all the above tables it will be observed that the elevation of nearly all points in the southern part of the county is higher than in the northern part.

EARLY IRON INDUSTRIES.

HE expedition sent out by Sir Walter T'

Raleigh in 1585 to the Carolinas gave to Europe the first information that iron ore existed in America.

What is known to history as the London Company, in the settlement of Virginia man- ufactured, during the year 1619, the first iron in the limits of what is now the United States. The early English colonists "set up three iron works" on a branch of the James River. These existed until 1622 when they were destroyed by hostile Indians, and no other attempt to make iron in that colony, was attempted for one hundred years. A furnace was erected at Lynn, Mass., in 1643, by a company with John Winthrop as pres- ident, and in 1651 a forge was added to this, the first furnace put in successful operation in this country. The first vessel made in Now England was a small iron pot, cast by Joseph Jenks, at Lynn in 1644. In 1656, the first iron works were established in Con- necticut, at New Haven, by Capt. Thomas Clarke. In 1675, a forge was erected at Pawtucket, R. I., and was soon after de- stroyed by the Indians. Henry Leonard,

YORK & PEACH BOTTOM RAILROAD.

Feet.

Susquehanna River. 85 Peach Bottom, grade 118

Bangor Summit. 511

Delta. 435

Bryansville 241

Woodbine. 294

Bridgeton. 304 Bruce .. 331

Muddy Creek Forks.

366

High Rock.

382

Laurel. 411

Fenmore

434

Brogueville

478

Felton.

536

Windsor 598

Springvale 734

Red Lion 900

Dallastown 657

Ore Valley 570

Enterprise

531

Smyser's

Tunnel .. 299

York, Junction with Fred'k. Div. Penn. R. R.

366

Emigsville. 376

Mount Wolf .. 376

Summit, No. 2 466

Conewago Bridge. 289

York Haven. 291

Goldsboro' 304

307

Marsh Run ...

307

New Cumberland. 312

Bridgeport.

355

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, FREDERICK DIVISION.

Columbia

251 Wrightsville. 257

Hellam. 248

Hiestand's 427

York (depot). 366

Codorus Creek 357

Graybill's 426

Bair's. 452

Spring Forge. 455

455

Iron Bridge. 496 Jacobs' Mill.

504

Railroad Crossing, Hanover Junction and Get- tysburg R. R. Crosses at grade

607

Hanover 599

Conewago Bridge

546

Littlestown. 619

Bridge. 623

540 State Line.

The levels on the line of the Frederick Division Pennsylvania Railroad were copied from a profile in the office at Philadelphia. The datum is mean tide at Baltimore.

HANOVER & BALTIMORE RAILROAD.

Feet.

Lineboro. 682 Valley Junction.

741 Black Rock.

790

Glenville 701

Junction 544

Porter's. 510

Hanover (depot). 590

Abbottstown 457

East Berlin

273

Menges' Mill.

Feet.

Middletown Ferry

McCall's Ferry

Lockport.

Small's Mills 433

483

EARLY IRON INDUSTRIES.

of Lynn, Mass., about 1664 "set up" the first forge in New Jersey. Iron was not made in New York until 1734. The first iron works in that State, of which there is any record, were built in 1740, by Philip Liv- ingstone, ancestor of the signer of the Decla- ration of Independence, who died at York while congress was in session here. In 1715, the iron industry was revived in Virginia by the erection of two furnaces at Fredricksburg. Principio Forge, in Cecil County, Md., was built about the same time.

FIRST IRON WORKS IN PENNSYLVANIA.

Experiments were made in 1692 in a common smith's fire at Philadelphia to make iron, but the industry was not established until 1716. The Swedes and Dutch, who were its first settlers, alternately holding almost entire possession of its territory down to the grant- ing of Penn's charter in 1681. so far as is known, made no iron. In one of William Penn's letters, written 1683, he states that his province contains "mineral of copper and iron in divers places. Gabriel Thomas, an intelli- gent member of the Society of Friends, who came over in the "Welcome," in 1698 pub- lished in London a description of the prov- ince of Pennsylvania in which he says, "there is ironstone, or ore, lately found, which far exceeds that in England, being richer and less drossy." In 1716, two years before the death of William Penn, Thomas Rutter erected Pool forge and blomary, near Potts- town, the first in the State. This forge was attacked by Indians in 1728, but not de- stroyed. Soon after this a number of forges and furnaces were erected in eastern Penn- sylvania.

FIRST IRON INTEREST IN YORK COUNTY.

Sir Wm. Keith became governor of the prov- ince of Pennsylvania in 1717, and his admin- istration continued until 1726. He had iron works in New Castle County, then in Pennsyl- vania but now in Delaware, as early as 1730, and turned a great deal of his attention to developing the iron interests of the province. In 1725 he wrote to the London Board of Trade that he had "discovered great plenty of ore in Pennsylvania." On April 4 and 5, 1722, Gov. Keith, accompanied by his sur- veyor-general located for Keith's benefit, a tract of land in the northern portion of York County, with the belief that it contained large deposits of "iron and copper ores and other minerals." It is known to history as "Sir William Keith's tract called Newberry" and was the first surveyed tract of land west of

the Susquehanna River, under Pennsylvania's title, the survey being made nearly fourteen years before the Indian treaty of 1736, which extended the boundary of the province "west to the setting sun." That the first tract of land in York County should have been located for its mineral deposits, is a significant fact of history. It was claimed at the time by Philip Syng, a silversmith of Philadelphia, that he had 200 acres of this land granted him under the Maryland title, some months before. Singularly, there never was any valu- able mineral obtained on this tract even though many other sections of York County have yielded an abundance of iron ore.

Previous to 1838, charcoal made from chestnut wood or coke was invariably used in smelting or blooming the ore, and in the manufacture of wrought iron. The process of manufacturing wrought iron, at first, was to burn the ore and then pulverize it, then it was placed in an open fire, about eighteen inches square by fifteen inches deep, formed of stone, having a tuyere five inches 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. Work commenced by filling the open fire with char- coal; the blast was applied to the tuyere, and pulverized ore put in from above with a shovel; as it melted, the iron ran down be. low 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 pounds in weight, and taken to a hammer weighing about 500 pounds, driven by a water-wheel at the rate of rom 50 to 200 strokes per minute. The chunk was then 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. Workmen then enlarged the fire to twenty inches square and twenty 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 under way and pig metal was being made, old fashioned Dutch fires were used to work the pig metal into anchonies, and draw it out into bars. This was the work of the forge.

There were several charcoal furnaces and forges in York County which manufactured iron, as has just been described, or on a very similar plan. A description of each one of these follows in chronological order. They have all long since ceased to exist.

484

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

SPRING FORGE AND BLOOMARY.

As early as 1756 an enterprising iron man - ufacturer, from Delaware County, Penn., named Peter Dicks, came to York County, and according to a description of Acrelius, a Swedish clergyman and historian, about that time "Dicks found a valuable mine of iron, near which he erected a bloomary, and im- mediately began the manufacture of iron. The ore he found must have been the rich vein along the Pidgeon Hills. He was the first person to engage in the iron business within the present limits of York County, and here made the first iron west of the Susque- hanna River. This is an intensely interest- ing and valuable fact of history. The breast of the present paper-mill dam is largely com- posed of cinders which yet contain consider- able iron in them. This is faithful evidence that a bloomary once existed at this place, even though there is now no tradition of it among the oldest citizens of the neighbor- hood. There are no records to show how successful he was with his enterprise. The bloomary was discontinued and a forge was erected in the year 1770, which was given the familiar name of "Spring Forge." There were two forge fires and two hammers. The greatest amount of bar iron made in any one year at this forge was 223 tons. It was made in many forms and varieties, for the use of blacksmiths and other mechanics. About the time of the beginning of the Revolution, 1775. the property was purchased by Daniel Shireman. It then contained the forge and 1,000 acres of land. It was purchased by John Brien, Esq .. of Philadelphia, in the year 1800, and then contained a forge, 180 acres of cleared land, and 700 acres of woodland, all of which were then valued at £2,100 in Pennsylvania money.

Hon. David Eaton, of Philadelphia, be- came the owner of forge property, and 980 acres of woodland in 1807, and sold it to Rob- ert Coleman in 1815 for $9,000. From the year 1817 to 1850, it was owned by his son, Thomas Burd Coleman, who, during which time in connection with his brother, did a large business. When he became the owner, in addi- tion to the forge property, there were 1,093 acres of woodland on Pidgeon Hills belong- ing. The entire valuation was $11,000. During the year 1832, it was assessed $32,- 000.

In 1849 there were 190 tons of bar iron made, forty workmen were employed, and twenty-five horses and oxen were used. The Colemans built a handsome residence and a number of tenement houses for their em- ployés at the forge and a number of bouses on

Pidgeon Hills for their wood-choppers. Chestnut wood was burned with charcoal for the forge. From 1,000 to 1,500 cords an- nually were used. The forge and bloomdry were in active operation for ninety-four years, during which time the same chestnut timber- land was cleared at least three times. One strong Irishman, it is asserted, cut seven cords of wood a day, and on a wager once, lifted 525 pounds of iron. A man named Wilkinson could daily cut seven cords of chestnut wood. When the Colemans owned the forge, the pig iron was brought from Columbia and York by teams, and was manu- factured into saw plates, forge iron for wagons, and a variety of forms of wrought iron for general purposes. The pig iron was placed in a brilliant charcoal fire, and melted, and from this a bloom was made; this was through another refining process, more of the carbon being removed by heating, and pure wrought iron formed.

A fire in 1830 cansed considerable damage, but in the year 1840 almost the entire forge was destroyed by a second fire; all except the water-wheel and coal-shed were burned. It was immediately rebuilt, and continued in operation until 1851.

Jacob Haner, who came from the celebrated Colebrook Furnace in Lebanon County, also owned by the Colemans, located at Spring Forge in 1835, and was manager of it until he purchased the interests. He then had the large tracts of woodland on Pidgeon Hills surveyed into smaller tracts, and sold them. On several occasions there were destructive fires in these woodland hills. The forge ceased to be operated in 1850, and a paper- mill was started.

MARY ANN FURNACE.

In June, 1750, John Hunsicker, a German emigrant, obtained from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania a grant for land within the present limits of West Manheim Township, four miles south of the site of Hanover. William Matthews, the Quaker surveyor, called this tract "Friendship." A level meadow four acres in area, of this land, was crossed by the head-waters of what has since been known as Furnace Creek. George Ross, a lawyer of Lancaster, and Mark Bird, of Philadelphia, in 1762, leased the four acres mentioned, and on it in the same year began the erection of Mary Ann Furnace. In 1763 they petitioned the York Court for a public road from their "furnace lately built at a great expense " to the road from the Cone- wago settlement to Baltimore. This was one year before the founding of Hanover, and

Spring Grov.

485

EARLY IRON INDUSTRIES.

the Conewago settlement mentioned was on that portion of "Digges' Choice," in and around the present site of Hanover. The same company, in 1766, petitioned for a road from their furnace to the Monocacy Road at Frederick Eichelberger's tavern, which was on the present road from Hanover to York, about four miles southeast of the former. This petition was granted and the road opened by Richard McAlister, Marks Forney, Michael Danner, Adam Eichelberger and Jacob Bollinger. According to facts fur- nished the writer by James M. Swank, secre- tary of the American Iron and Steel Associa- tion. this was the first furnace erected in Pennsylvania, west of the Susquehanna River. Peter Dicks had started his bloomary at Spring Forge in 1756, and opened ore mines along the southeast slope of Pidgeon Hills. The Mary Ann Furnace Company obtained much ore on the south slope of those hills, about four miles northeast of Hanover, and also some a short distance south of Hanover. The cause of the building of Mary Ann Furnace where it was must have been on ac- count of the abundance of chestnut timber in the vicinity, which was burned into char- coal and used in smelting the ore. In 1780 the company was assessed with 5,000 acres of wood-land, 16 horses, 8 cows, 1 slave, all valued £666 13s. 4d., and an additional rent of £600. The land was all located in Manheim Township, which then extended north to Pidgeon Hills. How much business was done by the original firm cannot be stated. In 1790 the land and furnace were purchased by John Steinmetz, a prominent merchant of Philadelphia, and John Brinton, a lawyer of the same city.

In 1801, John Steinmetz was assessed with 3, 150 acres of land, in Manheim and Pidgeon Hills, and a furnace, all valued at $14,260. The former soon after became the sole owner, who; in 1806, transferred the property to David Meyer, a farmer. It was a few years before this time that the furnace ceased operation. There are now no traces of the furnace; but the pits, where the char- coal was burned, are indicated by the black soil along the hillside near by, and the race, through which passed the water used as a motive power, is still observable.

Cannon Balls for the Revolutionary War. -At the foot of this race, some years ago, nearly a cart-load of balls were found while excavating the alluvial soil that had accumu- lated. The history of this singular incident is as follows: During the war of the Revolu- tion, while the Continental Congress was in session in York, in the winter of 1777-78,

this furnace and Hellam Iron Works, at the mouth of the Codorus, were put to use in manufacturing cannons and balls for the American Army. Some of these balls are yet found, scattered over the farm on which this furnace was located, which farm is now owned by Mr. Dusman, and "his plowshare turns them out." They vary from the size of a minie ball, to the four-inch cannon ball. Years ago, school boys amused them- selves searching for them, and in innocent play carried them away, which explains why they are found scattered over the surround- ing country. A huge pile of cinders seven feet thick, and covering an area of at least an acre of land, adjoins the site of the historie old furnace, which as a business venture, even though it existed about forty years, was doubtless a financial failure. Judging from the size of the stream, one would not think it large enough to furnish sufficient motive power for a large furnace. A great many stoves were made at this furnace. The firm that built the furnace in 1761-62, was George Ross & Co.

George Ross, the principal owner, was born in New Castle County, Del., in 1730, moved to Lancaster, and was admitted to the bar in 1750. From 1768 to 1770, he was in the colonial assembly of Pennsylvania. For his excellent career while there, Lancaster County voted him £150, which he declined to accept. From 1775 to 1777 he was a mem- ber of the Continental Congress, and thus he became one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In 1779 he was appointed judge of the court of admiralty, at Philadel- phia, but died suddenly of gout a few months later.

HELLAM IRON WORKS.

On the south side of the Codorus Creek, near its junction with the Susquehanna River, and in the extreme northeast cor- ner of Hellam Township, is the site of a very important early iron industry in Pennsylvania It was variously known as the "Hellam Iron Works," "Hellam Forge," and later as the "Codorus Forge." There are now no vestiges of these works, and the place where they once stood is but dimly shown. A forge and furnace were erected here in 1765 by William Ben- nett, who continued the business until May 21, 1771, when the works, unfortunately, fell. into the hands of Samuel Edie, sheriff of York County, who sold them to Charles Ham- ilton, and he transferred the property soon after to Hon. James Smith of York, signer of the Declaration of Independence, who

486

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

seems to have been poorly qualified to con- duct the iron business. He lost by these works, about £5,000. Of the two different managers whom he employed to run them, and who were the cause of his misfortune, he once said with his wonted pleasantry, "one was a knave and the other was a fool." He disposed of them on April 16, 1778, (while congress was in session in York and he a member) to Thomas Niel a merchant of York. These works were used during the Revolutionary war, for casting cannons and cannon balls for the Continental Army. During the winter of 1777-78 a great many were made. In 1793, Thomas Niel owned 1,500 acres of woodland, forge and saw-mill at an as- sessed valuation of £2,029; in 1800 he start- ed a bloomary, in connection with the forge and owned 3,275 acres of land, valued at $15,875. About this time Samuel Iago be- came the owner; Thomas Kettera, a promi- nent lawyer, and member of Congress from Lancaster, had an interest in the works for a time. The entire property was purchased in 1810 by Henry Grubb who enlarged the works and after that date the place was known as Codorus Forge; he paid $17,810 for them. John Shippen late president of the Miner's Bank of Pottsville Penn .. was manager from 1818 to 1825; one of the managers of the forge was John T. Ubil who afterward became a "slave catcher," and several times got a reward for returning them. He lived in Liverpool. The other managers were Henry P. Robertson, Elijah Geiger. now an old citizen of Lancaster City, Mr. Trego, Henry Feltenberger, David Lockard, William Moore, John McIlvaine and Robert S. King; during the year 1837 a furnace was built. Most of the ore used was obtained from the famous Chestnut Hill mines in Lancaster County, part of which mines are still owned by the Grubbs. The ore was towed across the river in flat-boats. "Wood right," to large tracts of timber-land, was purchased by the Grubbs' in Hellam, Cone- wago and in Newberry Township above York Haven.

The furnace and forge ceased operation in 1850, after an existence of eighty five years. For many years, sixty men were regularly employed. A large charcoal house was built by the Grubbs above York Haven, which was taken down the Susquehanna in 1848, and thus $5,000 of prepared char- coal and chestnut wood, floated down the stream and was lost. Vast quantities of pig- iron, were made at the furnace; this was made into bar iron and blooms, at the forge. Much of the manufactured iron, was loaded

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 95

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104