USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume Three > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
The steel furnace above referred to as existing in 181I was at Bridgeport, adjoining Brownsville, was owned by Truman & Co., and made good steel. It was known as the Brownsville steel factory. In 1811 Truman & Co. advertised that they had for sale "several tons of steel of their own converting, which they will sell at the factory for cash, at 12 dollars per cwt., and 20 dollars per faggot for Crowley." The latter was an English brand. Tru- man & Co. made cemented steel.
The first nail factory west of the Alleghanies was built at Brownsville, about 1795, by Jacob Bowman, at which wrought nails were made by hand in one shop and cut nails were made by machines in another. These machines were worked by the foot of the workman, while his hands guided the flat and thin bar of iron from which the nails were cut.
+
The first rolling mill erected in the United States 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, on the site of Jeremiah Pears's enterprise which has pre- viously been described. The rolling mill was undertaken by Colonel Isaac Meason, of Union furnace, who then had forges
363
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
at Plumsock. This mill was built "for making bars of all sizes and hoops for cutting into nails." Mr. Oliphant says that "the iron was refined by blast and then puddled. It was kept in oper- ation up to 1824, the latter part of the time by Mr. Palmer." A
William Fisher Packer
Editor; auditor general, 1824-1845; speaker State house, 1847-48; State senator, 1849; first president of Susquehanna Railroad company; governor, 1858-1861
flood in the Redstone caused its partial destruction. The machin- ery of the mill was subsequently taken to Brownsville.
Careful inquiry fails to discover the existence 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 iron works, at Boston, the oldest rolling mill super- intendent in the United States, says that the first bar iron rolled in New England was rolled at the Boston iron works, on the Mill
364
Natural Resources
Dam at Boston, in 1825, and that the first puddling done in New England was at Boston, on the Mill Dam, by Lyman, Ralston & Co., in 1835. We cannot learn of any mill in Eastern Pennsyl- vania that either puddled iron or rolled iron bars as early as 1816.
Isaac Meason, who did so much to develop the iron resources of Fayette county, was a native of Virginia. He died in 1819. He was a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Penn- sylvania in 1783, and for many years prior to his death he was an associate judge of Fayette county.
Westmoreland county speedily followed Fayette county in the manufacture of iron. Westmoreland furnace, on a branch of Loyalhanna creek, near Laughlinstown, in Ligonier valley, was built in 1794 by Christopher Lobingier & Brother. In 1798 the furnace was sold to John Probst, who operated it for about four years. On the Ist of August, 1795, George Anshutz, man- ager of Westmoreland furnace, advertised stoves and castings for sale. We have a stove plate cast at Westmoreland furnace in 1800 by John Probst and so marked in raised letters.
General Arthur St. Clair built Hermitage furnace, on Mill creek, two miles northeast of Ligonier, about 1802. It was man- aged for its owner by James Hamilton, and made stoves and other castings. It was in blast in 1806. In 1810 it passed out of the hands of General St. Clair and was idle for some time. In 1816 it was started again by O'Hara & Scully, under the management of John Henry Hopkins, afterwards Protestant Episcopal bishop of Vermont. In October, 1817, Mr. Hopkins left the furnace and it has never since been in operation. Its ruins may still be seen. General St. Clair died a very poor man in 1818, aged 84 years, and was buried at Greensburg.
Several other furnaces and a few forges were built in West- moreland county soon after the pioneer furnaces above mentioned. One of the forges was Kingston forge, erected in 1811 on Loyal- hanna creek, ten miles east of Greensburg, by Alexander Johnston & Co., and going into operation early in 1812. Alexander John-
365
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
ston was the father of Governor William F. Johnston. He was born in Ireland in July, 1773, and died in July, 1872, aged 99 years.
The owners of the early furnaces in Westmoreland county, besides supplying local wants, shipped castings by boats or arks on the Youghiogheny, the Conemaugh, the Kiskiminitas, and the Allegheny rivers to Pittsburg, some of which found their way down the Ohio river to Cincinnati and Louisville. Subse- quently they shipped pig iron by canal to Pittsburg rolling mills.
Shade furnace, in Somerset county, was built in 1807 or 1808 and was the first iron enterprise in this county. It stood on Shade creek, below the junction of Clear Shade and Dark Shade creeks, and was built by Gerehart & Reynolds on land leased from Thomas Vickroy. A sale was made about 1818 to Richards, Earl & Co., of New Jersey, who operated the furnace down to about 1830. In 1820 they built a forge, called Shade, below the furnace, which was operated by various persons for many years. In 1849 it made 30 tons of bars. The furnace was continued at intervals by various proprietors to the close of 1858. We have seen a stove which was cast at Shade furnace in 1818.
About 1811 Joseph Vickroy and Conrad Piper built Mary Ann forge, on Stony creek, about five miles below Shade furnace and half a mile below the mouth of Shade creek. Pig iron to supply this forge was sometimes packed on horseback from Bed- ford county, the horses taking salt from the Conemaugh salt works and bar iron as a return load.
Bar iron was shipped to Pittsburg from these forges. Much of the iron from the forges was hauled to Johnstown for shipment down the Conemaugh, but some of it was shipped on flat boats directly from the forges. Pig iron was also hauled to Johnstown from Shade furnace for shipment by flatboat to Pittsburg. Rich- ard Geary, the father of Governor John W. Geary, was the man- ager of Mary Ann forge for about one year, and was supercargo of a load of bar iron which was shipped from the forge down the Stony creek and other streams to Pittsburg.
366
Natural Resources
Several other furnaces and a few forges were built in Somer- set county in the first half of the nineteenth century, but they have all disappeared.
The first iron enterprise in Indiana county was Indiana forge, on Findley's run, near the Conemaugh, built about 1837 by Henry and John Noble, who also built Indiana 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 Alleghany furnace, in Blair county. Some iron ore for the fur- nace was obtained from the Alleghany furnace mines and brought to the furnace by the Pennsylvania Canal and Portage Railroad. About 1837 John Noble owned a farm of about 200 acres in the heart of the present city of Altoona, which he sold to David Rob- inson, of Pleasant Valley, for $4,500, taking in payment the con- tents of Mr. Robinson's country store, which he removed to Findley's run and added to the capital stock of Henry and John Noble. The 'Altoona farm is now worth many millions of dol- lars. A few other furnaces were soon built in this county, but all the Indiana furnaces and its solitary forge have long been abandoned.
About 1809 John Holliday built a forge on the north bank of the Stony creek, near the mouth of Bedford street, in Johnstown, which was soon known as Cambria forge, Cambria county hav- ing only recently been organized. Like all the iron enterprises of that day, the power used in operating the forge was water power and the fuel used was charcoal. A dam was built across the Stony creek above the forge. In 1811, or about that year, the Stony creek dam was washed away, and soon afterwards the forge was removed to the Conemaugh river, where it was oper- ated down to about 1822, Rahm & Bean, of Pittsburg, being the lessees of the forge at this time. It was abandoned about this year. It was used to hammer bar iron out of Juniata pig iron and blooms. In 1817 Thomas Burrell, the proprietor, offered wood- cutters "fifty cents per cord for chopping two thousand cords of
367
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
wood at Cambria forge, Johnstown." This was the first iron enterprise in Cambria county.
About 1810 the second iron enterprise at Johnstown was es- tablished by Robert Pierson. It was a small nail factory. Mr. Pierson's nails were cut out of what was called "nail iron" with a machine worked by a treadle, but without heads, which were afterwards added by hand. The "nail iron" was obtained from the small rolling mills in the Juniata valley and was hauled over the Frankstown road. About 200 pounds of nails, valued at $30, were made at Johnstown in 1810, and probably by Mr. Pierson.
Cambria county has been noted as an iron centre since its first furnace, Cambria, was built by George S. King and others in 1842, on Laurel run, near Johnstown. It was followed in the next few years by five other charcoal furnaces. All these fur- naces have been abandoned. The extensive works of the Cam- bria. Iron Company, at Johnstown, were commenced in 1853 by a company of which Mr. King was the originator and Dr. Peter Shoenberger was a member. They were built expressly to make coke pig iron and to roll iron rails, the Pennsylvania Railroad, passing through Johnstown, having been completed from Phila- delphia to Pittsburg in the preceding year. Dr. Shoenberger had previously become a half owner of Cambria furnace and a part owner of several other furnaces and of large tracts of land near Johnstown.
A furnace named Mary Ann was erected at an early day in Greene county. It was located on Ten-mile creek, opposite Clarks- ville, and about twenty miles from Uniontown. It was abandoned early in the nineteenth century. An advertisement for its sale, by "Samuel Harper, agent for the proprietors," dated July 23, 1810, styles it "The Iron Works," late the property of Captain James Robinson. 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 long been idle and are falling to decay." This reference is to Robinson's works.
368
Natural Resources
A blast furnace was built at Beaver Falls, Beaver county, then called Brighton, on the west side of Beaver river, in 1802, by Hoopes, Townsend & Co., and blown in in 1804. A forge was connected with it from the beginning and it was in operation in
Felix Reville Brunot
Civil engineer; manufacturer; philanthropist; president of the Board of Indian Commission- ers appointed by President Grant, 1865. Re- produced especially for this work from portrait belonging to The Western University of Penn- sylvania
1806, according to Cramer's "Pittsburgh Almanac." Both the furnace and the forge were in operation in 1816. The whole enterprise was abandoned about 1826, after frequent changes of ownership. The ore used at the furnace was picked out of gravel banks in the neighborhood in very small lumps. The fuel used was charcoal. There was another early charcoal furnace in this
3-24
369
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
county, named Bassenheim, built by Detmar Bassé. This furnace was located on the Conoquenessing creek and about a mile west of the Butler county line. In February, 1818, $12 per ton were paid for hauling pig metal from this furnace to Pittsburg, 30 miles dis- tant, over a bad road. The furnace was abandoned about 1824.
The admirable water power furnished by the Beaver river and the facilities for shipment afforded by the Ohio river and subsequently by the Beaver Canal presented special inducements to manufacturers of iron and steel products and to other manu- facturers. In 1828 Robert Townsend & Co. built at Fallston, on the opposite side of Beaver river from New Brighton, in Bea- ver county, a mill for the manufacture of iron wire, which is still in operation. About 1852 the manufacture of rivets was added to the business and in 1887 the manufacture of wire nails was commenced. In the meantime the Harmony Society promoted the establishment of various iron and steel enterprises at Beaver Falls. As the result of its own enterprise and that of others the manufacture of cutlery, files, saws, axes, hoes, shovels, etc., which technically consume iron and steel, was soon established, and sub- sequently the manufacture of steel itself was added. The promi- nence of Beaver county in the manufacture of iron and steel dur- ing the last quarter of the nineteenth century and at the present time has been largely due to the development within its borders of an ample supply of natural gas. There are to-day many iron and steel enterprises of modern date at Beaver Falls and in other parts of Beaver county.
Prior to 1846 there were a few furnaces in the Shenango val- ley, all using charcoal, one of which was Springfield furnace, half a mile from Leesburg and seven miles southeast of Mercer, built in 1837 and active in 1849, while another was Temperance fur- nace, about six miles east of Greenville, built about 1840. Day, in 1843, says: "Two furnaces were wrought formerly, but have since been abandoned." In 1806 the geographer Joseph Scott says that "a forge and furnace are now nearly erected" at New
370
Natural Resources
Castle. About 1810 there was a forge on Neshannock creek, "midway between Pearson's flour mill and Harvey's paper mill," for the manufacture of bar iron from the ore. The Shenango valley, embracing Lawrence and Mercer counties, is now one of the country's great iron and steel centres.
The first furnace in the once important but now nearly neg- lected ironmaking district composed of Armstrong, Butler, Clar- ion, Venango, and other northwestern counties was Bear Creek, in Armstrong county, which was built in 1818 and went into operation in that year. It was built to use coke, with steam power, and its first blast was with this fuel, but charcoal was soon substituted. The furnace was abandoned long before 1850, but was running in 1832, in which year Gordon says that it was owned by Henry Baldwin, Esq., and was reputed to be the larg- est furnace in the United States, having made forty tons of iron in a week. This furnace had a tramroad, with wooden rails, in 1818.
Slippery Rock furnace, in Butler county, and Clarion furnace, in Clarion county, were built in 1828, the latter by Christian Myers, of Lancaster county, who built another furnace about 1844, which he called Polk. Allegheny furnace, at Kittanning, in Armstrong county, and Venango furnace, on Oil creek, in Ve- nango county, were built in 1830. From 1830 to 1850 this sec- tion of the State produced large quantities of charcoal pig iron. In 1850 there were II furnaces in Armstrong county, 6 in But- ler, 28 in Clarion, and 18 in Venango : 63 in all. In 1858 there were 18 in Armstrong, 6 in Butler, 27 in Clarion, and 24 in Ve- nango: 75 in all. All these were charcoal furnaces, except four coke furnaces at Brady's Bend. Many of these furnaces had, however, been abandoned at the latter date, and every one has since been abandoned. Most of them were built to supply the Pittsburg rolling mills with pig iron.
The Great Western iron works at Brady's Bend, Armstrong county, embracing a rolling mill and four furnaces to use coke,
371
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
were built by Philander Raymond and others in 1840 and 1841. The furnaces were finally blown out in 1873 and the rolling mill was abandoned in the same year. It was built in 1841 to roll bar iron, but it afterwards rolled iron rails, which were at first flat bars, with holes for spikes countersunk in the upper surface. The mill continued to make rails until after the close of the civil war. There was a large amount of Boston capital invested at one time in these works.
Erie charcoal furnace, at Erie, was built in 1842 and aban- doned in 1849. It used bog ore. Liberty furnace, on the north side of French creek, in Crawford county, was built in 1842 and abandoned in 1849.
The iron manufactured in the Allegheny valley was taken down the Allegheny river to Pittsburg on keel-boats and arks, sometimes on rafts, the business of transporting it by water be- ing quite extensive down to about 1850. Cornplanter Indians, from Warren county, were among the raftsmen of those days.
We have left to the last the history of the early iron and steel enterprises of Allegheny county and a summary of the present extraordinary development of its iron and steel industries.
George Anshutz, the pioneer in the manufacture of iron at Pittsburg, was an Alsacian by birth, Alsace at the time being part of France. He was born on November 28, 1753, and died at Pittsburg on February 28, 1837, aged over 83 years. He ac- quired some knowledge of the iron business by having the man- agement of a foundry in the vicinity of Strasburg. In 1789 he emigrated to the United States and soon afterwards located at a place now known as Shady Side and in the East End of Pitts- burg, where he built a small furnace, probably completing it in 1792. In 1794 the furnace was abandoned. It had been ex- pected that iron ore could be obtained in the vicinity, but this ex- pectation was not realized. The neighborhood produced 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 south-
372
Thomas Buchanan Read
Cigar maker; sign painter; artist; sculptor; poet; author of "Sheridan's Ride;" born, 1822; died, 1872
*
Natural Resources
eastern corner of Armstrong county, from which supplies were received in arks at a point on the Allegheny river near to the fur- nace. Some ore was also brought by difficult wagon transporta- tion 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 continued working of the furnace.
Anshutz's furnace was built at a point about four miles east of the site of Fort Pitt, on a stream known 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. The enterprise seems to have been largely devoted to the casting of stoves and grates. When the road-bed of the Pennsylvania Railroad was graded at Shady Side, in 1851, a portion of the furnace building was demolished and a part of its foundation was removed. Subsequently, in digging the cellar of Alexander Pitcairn's house, a portion of the cinder bank was exposed.
Clinton furnace, on the south side of the Monongahela, in Pittsburg, built in 1859 by Graff, Bennett & Co .. and blown in on the last Monday of October in that year, was the first furnace built in Allegheny county after the abandonment in 1794 of George Anshutz's furnace at Shady Side. This furnace was built to use coke made from coal from the Pittsburg vein, but its use was not satisfactory and coke from the Connellsville region was soon substituted. Clinton furnace was followed in 1861 by the two Eliza furnaces of Laughlin & Co. and soon afterwards by others, all to use Connellsville coke.
The first iron foundry at Pittsburg was established in 1805 by Joseph McClurg on the northeast corner of Smithfield street and Fifth avenue. Rev. A. A. Lambing says that Joseph Smith and John Gormly were associated with Mr. McClurg in this en- terprise. They retired, however, before 1807. The enterprise was styled the Pittsburg foundry. On February 12, 1806, Joseph
375
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
McClurg advertised in the "Commonwealth" that "the Pittsburgh Foundry is now complete." In 1812 it was converted by Mr. McClurg into a cannon foundry and supplied the Government with cannon, howitzers, shells, and balls. Commodore Perry's fleet on Lake Erie and General Jackson's army at New Orleans received their supplies of these articles in part from this foundry. In 1813 there were two iron foundries in this city, McClurg's and Anthony Beelen's, and one steel furnace, owned by Tuper & McCowan. In the following year there were two additional foundries. Mr. Beelen's foundry was put in operation in November, 1810. An- thony Beelen, as well as George Anshutz, was a native of France.
Arms, 1870
According to Cramer's "Pittsburgh Almanac" there were three nail factories in Pittsburg in 1807, Porter's, Sturgeon's, and Stewart's, "which make about forty tons of nails yearly." In 1810 about 200 tons of cut and wrought nails were made at Pitts- burg. The condition of the iron industry at Pittsburg in 1810 is thus summed up by a writer in "The Navigator" for 1811 : "The manufacture of ironmongery has increased in this place be- yond all calculation. Cut and wrought nails of all sizes are made in vast quantities, about, we think, 200 tons per year. Fire shovels, tongs, drawing knives, hatchets, two-feet squares, augers, chissels, adzes, axes, claw hammers, door hinges, chains, hackles, locks, door handles, spinning-wheel irons, plough irons, flat-irons, &c .; tons of these, together with a number of other articles in the iron way, are exported annually. Abner Updegraff attempted the making of files, which he finds he can do to advantage. He also
376
Natural Resources
makes gimlets, and by way of experiment made a neat penknife, which, he says, could be made here as cheap as those imported." The making of screws for butt hinges is also noted.
The honor of having erected the first rolling mill at Pittsburg is undoubtedly due to Christopher Cowan, who built a mill at the corner of Penn street and Cecil's alley in 1812, completing it in 1813. This mill had no puddling furnaces, nor was it built to roll bar iron. It was intended to and certainly did manufacture sheet iron, nail and spike rods, shovels, spades, etc. Cramer's "Pitts- burgh Almanack" for 1813 says of this enterprise: "C. Cowan is erecting a most powerful steam engine to reduce iron to vari- ous purposes. It is calculated for a seventy horse power, which [will] put into complete operation a Rolling-mill, a Slitting-mill and a Tilt-hammer, all under the same roof. With these Mr. Cowan will be enabled to furnish sheet iron, nail and spike rods, shovels and tongs, spades, scythes, sickles, hoes, axes, frying- pans, cutting knives. In addition to Mr. Cowan's already exten- sive nail business he makes a great supply of chains, plough irons, shingling hatchets, clew hammers, chissels, screw augers, spin- ning wheel irons and smiths' vices of superior quality."
The Union rolling mill was the second mill built at Pitts- burg. It was located on the Monongahela river, was built in 1819, and was accidentally blown up and permanently dismantled in 1829, the machinery being taken to Covington, Kentucky. This mill had four puddling furnaces-the first in Pittsburg. It was also the first to roll bar iron. It was built by Baldwin, Robinson, McNickle & Beltzhoover. It is claimed that the first angle iron rolled in the United States was rolled at this mill by Samuel Leon- ard, who also rolled "L" iron for salt pans.
Other rolling mills at Pittsburg and its vicinity soon fol- lowed the Union rolling mill. On Pine creek, on the site of the present works of Spang, Chalfant & Co., at Etna, Belknap, Bean & Butler manufactured scythes and sickles as early as 1820, but in 1824 steam power was introduced and blooms were rolled. A
377
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
rolling mill on Grant's Hill was built in 1821 by William B. Hays and David Adams, near where the court-house now stands. Water for the generation of steam at this mill had to be hauled from the Monongahela river. The Juniata iron works were built on the Allegheny river in 1824 by Dr. Peter Shoenberger. Sligo rolling mill was built on the south side of the Monongahela by Robert T. Stewart and John Lyon in 1825. The Dowlais works, in Kensington, were built in 1825 by George Lewis and Reuben Leonard.
The condition of the iron industry at Pittsburg at the close of the first quarter of the nineteenth century is summed up in Cramer's "Magazine Almanac" for 1826: "The manufactures of Pittsburgh, particularly in the article of iron, begin to assume a very interesting aspect. Not less than five rolling mills are now in operation, and a sixth will soon be ready, for the various manufactures of iron. Four of the mills are capable of mak- ing iron from the pig, besides rolling, slitting, and cutting into nails."
In 1829 Allegheny county had eight rolling mills, using 6,000 tons of blooms, largely from the Juniata valley, and 1,500 tons of pig iron. In the same year there were nine foundries that con- sumed 3.500 tons of iron. In 1828 the iron rolled was 3,291 tons : in 1829 it 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 at Pittsburg 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 at Pittsburg and in Allegheny county twenty-five rolling mills and thirty-three foundries, but not one blast furnace. In 1890 there were twenty-five blast furnaces and sixty rolling mills and steel works in Allegheny county. In 1901 there were thirty- seven large blast furnaces and sixty-three rolling mills and steel works in this county.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.