USA > Pennsylvania > Progressive Pennsylvania; a record of the remarkable industrial development of the Keystone state, with some account of its early and its later transportation systems, its early settlers, and its prominent men > Part 18
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
Cemented steel was made at Caledonia, near Bedford, a few years before the close of the eighteenth century, by William McDermett, a native of Scotland. His daugh- ter Josephine was married in 1820 to David R. Porter, afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania for two terms.
The first iron manufactured in Pennsylvania west of the Alleghenies was made in Fayette county by John Hayden early in 1790 "in a smith's fire." " It was about as big as a harrow-tooth." The first furnace in Western Pennsylvania was, however, built by Turnbull & Marmie, of Philadelphia, on Jacob's creek, between Fayette and Westmoreland counties, on the Fayette county side of the creek, a few miles above its entrance into the Youghio- gheny river. It was first blown in on November 1, 1790, and produced a superior quality of metal both for cast- ings and bar iron, some of it having been tried the same day in a forge which the proprietors had erected at the same place. The furnace and forge were called the Alli- ance iron works. Craig, in his History of Pittsburgh, gives an extract from a letter written by Major Craig, deputy quartermaster general and military storekeeper at Fort Pitt, to General Knox, dated January 12, 1792, as follows : " As there is no six-pound shot here I have taken the liberty to engage four hundred at Turnbull & Marmie's furnace, which is now in blast."
Union furnace, at Dunbar, on Dunbar creek, four miles south of Connellsville, in Fayette county, was built by Isaac Meason in 1790 and put in blast in March, 1791. It was succeeded in 1793 by a larger furnace of the same name, built near the same site by Isaac Meason, John Gibson, and Moses Dillon. An advertisement in the Pitts- burgh Gazette, dated April 10, 1794, mentions that Meason, Dillon & Co. have for sale "a supply of well-assorted cast- ings, which they will sell for cash at the reduced price of £35 per ton"-$93.33 in Pennsylvania currency. There was a forge connected with this furnace, called Union
192
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
forge. In 1804 a large order for kettles, to be used on the sugar plantations of Louisiana, was filled at Union furnace, which was a famous furnace in its day.
In 1792 John Hayden and John Nicholson built a bloomary forge on George's creek, a few miles south of Uniontown, and in 1797 John Hayden built Fairfield fur- nace, also on George's creek. John and Andrew Oliphant and Nathaniel Breading bought an interest in this furnace in 1798 and in a few years the Oliphants became its sole owners. Fairchance furnace, on George's creek, six miles south of Uniontown, was built in 1804 by John Hayden and bought by J. & A. Oliphant about 1805. It was kept in operation until 1887. The Oliphants built Sylvan forges on George's creek, below Fairfield and Fairchance furnaces. While the Oliphants operated Fairfield furnace they cast a quantity of shot which was used by General Jackson's artillery in the battle of New Orleans, on January 8, 1815.
Rolling and slitting mills, for the manufacture of sheet iron and nail rods, were established west of the Alleghe- nies after the first furnace and forge were built in 1790. Prior to 1794 Jeremiah Pears built a forge at Plumsock, in Menallen township, Fayette county, which was the forerunner of a rolling and slitting mill built by Mr. Pears at the same place before 1804. In 1805 the rolling and slitting mill and the remainder of Mr. Pears's property were sold by the sheriff. This was probably the first rolling and slitting mill west of the Alleghenies. In 1811 there were three such mills in Fayette county, one of which, on the right bank of the Youghiogheny river, be- low Connellsville, was built by John Gibson in 1805. An- other was on Cheat river, just over the Pennsylvania line in the present State of West Virginia, on the road from Uniontown to Morgantown. It was owned by Jackson & Updegraff. This enterprise embraced a furnace, forge, rolling mill, slitting mill, and nail factory.
All the rolling and slitting mills of that day and of many preceding days neither puddled pig iron nor rolled bar iron, but rolled only sheet iron and nail plates from blooms hammered under a tilt-hammer. Plain rolls were used. The nail plates were slit into nail rods by a series
THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 193
of revolving disks. The sheet iron was used for various purposes, including the making of salt pans.
In 1805 there were five furnaces and six forges in Fayette county. In 1811 the county had ten furnaces, one air furnace, eight forges, three rolling and slitting mills, one steel furnace, and five trip-hammers. At a later date there were twenty furnaces in this county. For many years Pittsburgh and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys were largely supplied by it with all kinds of castings and with hammered bar iron. In 1849 only four of its fur- naces were in blast. Connellsville was a prominent ship- ping point for Fayette county iron.
The steel furnace above referred to as existing in 1811 was at Bridgeport, adjoining Brownsville, was owned by Truman & Co., and made cemented 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."
The first nail factory west of the Alleghenies 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.
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, but better known as Plumsock, in Fayette county, on the site of Jeremiah Pears's enterprise which has previously been mentioned. The rolling mill was undertaken by Isaac Meason, owner of Union furnace, who then had forges at Plumsock. This mill was built "for making bars of all sizes and hoops for cutting into nails." F. H. Oliphant says that "the iron was refined by blast and then puddled. It was kept in operation up to 1824, the latter part of the time by Mr. Palmer." Isaac Meason, who did so much to develop the iron resources of Fayette county, was a native of Virginia. He died in 1819.
In the manufacture of iron Westmoreland county speedily followed Fayette county. Westmoreland furnace,
13
194
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
on a branch of Loyalhanna creek, near Laughlinstown, in Ligonier valley, was built in 1794 by Christopher Lob- ingier & Brother. In 1798 the furnace was sold to John Probst, who operated it for about four years. On the 1st of August, 1795, George Anshutz, manager of Westmore- land furnace, advertised stoves and castings for sale. We have a stove-plate that was cast at Westmoreland furnace in 1800 by John Probst and is so marked in raised letters.
General Arthur St. Clair built Hermitage furnace, on Mill creek, two miles northeast of Ligonier, about 1803. It was managed for its owner by James Hamilton and made stoves and other castings. It was in blast in 1806. General St. Clair died a very poor man in 1818, aged 82 years, and was buried at Greensburg. The following ad- vertisement appeared on November 21,1806, in The Farm- ers Register, printed at Greensburg by John M. Snowden. It had for its caption " Hermitage Furnace in Blast," and was signed by Henry Weaver & Son and dated at Greensburg, on September 12, 1806. It read as follows : " The subscribers, being appointed agents by Gen. A. St. Clair for the sale of his castings generally, and for the borough of Greensburg exclusively, give notice that they will contract with any person or persons for the delivery of castings and stoves, for any number of tons, on good terms. Samples of the castings and stoves to be seen at their store in Greensburg any time after the 20th instant."
Several other furnaces and a few forges were built in Westmoreland county soon after the early furnaces above mentioned. One of the forges was Kingston forge, erected in 1811 on Loyalhanna creek by Alexander Johnston & Co., and going into operation in 1812. Alexander Johns- ton 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 West- moreland county, besides supplying local wants, shipped pig iron and castings by boats or arks on the Youghio- gheny and other streams to Pittsburgh, some of the cast- ings finding their way to Cincinnati and Louisville and even to New Orleans. Subsequently they shipped pig iron by canal to Pittsburgh.
THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 195
Shade furnace, in Somerset county, was built in 1807 or 1808 and was the first iron enterprise in that county. It stood on Shade creek, and was built by Gerehart & Reynolds. About 1818 the furnace was sold to Richards, Earl & Co., who operated it down to about 1830. In 1820 they built a forge, called Shade, below the furnace. In 1849 it made 30 tons of bars. We have seen a stove that 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. Pig iron to supply this forge was sometimes packed on horseback from Bedford county, the horses taking salt from the Con- emaugh salt works and bar iron as a return load. Other furnaces and a few forges were built in Somerset county at an early day but they have all disappeared. Bar iron was shipped to Pittsburgh from Shade and Mary Ann forges by flatboat on the Stony creek and the Conemaugh river. Pig iron was also hauled to Johnstown from Shade furnace for shipment by flatboat and afterwards by canal to Pittsburgh.
About 1809 John Holliday built Cambria forge on the north bank of the Stony creek at Johnstown. About 1811 it was removed to a site on the Conemaugh at Johnstown and was abandoned about 1822. 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 wood at Cambria forge, Johnstown." About 1810 the second iron enterprise at Johnstown was established by Robert Pierson. It was a small nail factory. About 200 pounds of nails, valued at $30, were made at Johnstown in the census year 1810, doubtless by Mr. Pierson. Cambria county has been noted as an iron centre since its first fur- nace, Cambria, was built by George S. King and others in 1842, on Laurel run, near Johnstown. It was followed in the next six years by five other charcoal furnaces, all of which have been abandoned. The extensive works of the Cambria Steel Company, at Johnstown, were commenced in 1853 by the Cambria Iron Company.
The first iron enterprise in Indiana county was Indiana
196
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
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. A few other furnaces were soon built in this county, but all the pioneer Indiana furnaces and its solitary forge have long been abandoned.
A furnace named Mary Ann was built at an early day in Greene county. It was located on Ten-mile creek, op- posite Clarksville. It was probably built about 1800. It was abandoned early in the nineteenth century. Gordon, in his Gazetteer, (1832,) says that "there were formerly in operation on Ten-mile creek a forge and furnace, but they have been long idle and are falling to decay."
A blast furnace was built at Beaver Falls, in 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 begin- ning and it was in operation in 1806. Both the furnace and the forge were in operation in 1816. The whole en- terprise was abandoned about 1826. The ore used at the furnace was picked out of gravel banks in the neighbor- hood in very small lumps. There was another early fur- nace in this county, named Bassenheim, built in 1814 by Detmar Bassé, who operated it until 1818, when he sold it to Daniel Beltzhoover and others. This furnace was located on the Conoquenessing creek, about a mile west of the Butler county line. It was abandoned about 1824. In February, 1818, $12 per ton were paid for hauling pig iron over a bad road from this furnace to Pittsburgh, 30 miles distant. Mr. Bassé's homestead, "Bassenheim," stood on the hillside near Zelienople, in Butler county. Zelienople was so named after Mr. Bassé's daughter Zelie, who became the wife of Philip Passavant and the mother of the noted philanthropist, Rev. William A. Passavant. In 1828 Robert Townsend & Co. built at Fallston, in Beaver county, a mill for the manufacture of iron wire which is still in operation. About 1852 the manufacture of rivets was added and in 1887 the manufacture of wire nails was commenced. In the meantime the Harmony Society promoted the establishment of various iron and
197
THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
steel enterprises at Beaver Falls, which has been one of the leading iron and steel centres of Pennsylvania.
Prior to 1846 there were a few furnaces in the She- nango valley, all using charcoal. In 1806 the geographer Joseph Scott says that "a forge and furnace are now nearly erected" at New 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 first furnace in the once important ironmaking district composed of Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Venango, and other northwestern counties was Bear Creek, in Arm- strong county, built in 1818 to use coke, with steam pow- er, 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 and was reputed to be the largest furnace in the United States, having made forty tons of iron in a week.
Slippery Rock furnace, in Butler county, and Clarion furnace, in Clarion county, were built in 1828. Allegheny furnace, at Kittanning, in Armstrong county, and Venango furnace, on Oil creek, in Venango county, were built in 1830. From 1830 to 1855 this section of the State pro- duced large quantities of charcoal pig iron. In 1850 there were 11 furnaces in Armstrong county, 6 in Butler, 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 Venango : 75 in all. All were charcoal furnaces, except four coke furnaces at Brady's Bend. Many of these fur- naces had, however, been abandoned at the latter date, and every one has since been abandoned. Most of them were built to supply the Pittsburgh rolling mills and foundries with pig iron. The Great Western iron works, at Brady's Bend, embracing a rolling mill and four fur- naces to use coke, were built 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 to roll bar iron but it afterwards rolled iron rails.
Erie charcoal furnace, at Erie, was built in 1842 and
198
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
abandoned 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 Pittsburgh on keel boats, arks, and rafts, the business of transporting it by water being very extensive down to about 1855. Corn- planter Indians, from Warren county, were among the raftsmen of those days.
George Anshutz, the pioneer in the manufacture of iron in Allegheny county, was an Alsatian by birth, Alsace at the time being a part of France. He was born on No- vember 28, 1753, and died at Pittsburgh on February 28, 1837, aged over 83 years. In 1789 he emigrated to the United States and soon afterwards located at Shady Side, in the present East End of Pittsburgh, where he built a small furnace, probably completing it in 1792. In 1794 it was abandoned. It had been expected that iron ore could be obtained in the vicinity but 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 Kiskiminitas, in the southeastern corner of Armstrong county, from which supplies were received in arks on the Allegheny river. Some ore was also brought by wagon from the vicinity of Fort Ligonier and Laughlinstown, in Westmoreland county. Mr. Anshutz's furnace was built on a stream called Two-mile run, on the bank of which Colonel Jonas Roup had previously at an early period erected a grist and saw mill. The enterprise was largely devoted to the casting of stoves and grates.
The first iron foundry at Pittsburgh was established in 1805 by Joseph McClurg on the northeast corner of Smith- field street and Fifth avenue. Joseph Smith and John Gormly were associated with Mr. McClurg in this enter- prise. They retired, however, before 1807. The enterprise was styled the Pittsburgh Foundry. On February 12, 1806, Joseph McClurg advertised in the Commonwealth that "the Pittsburgh Foundry is now complete." In 1812 it supplied the Government with cannon, howitzers, shells, and balls. Commodore Perry's fleet on Lake Erie and
199
THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
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 Pittsburgh, Mc- Clurg's and Anthony Beelen's, and one cemented steel furnace, owned by Tuper & McCowan. In the following year there were two additional foundries in Pittsburgh. Mr. Beelen's foundry was put in operation in November, 1810. Like George Anshutz he was a native of France.
There were three nail factories at Pittsburgh in 1807, Porter's, Sturgeon's, and Stewart's, "which make about 40 tons of nails yearly." In 1810 about 200 tons of cut and wrought nails were made at Pittsburgh. In the same year the manufacture of shovels, hatchets, augers, and similar articles was extensively carried on at Pittsburgh.
The first rolling mill at Pittsburgh was built by Chris- topher Cowan, at the corner of Penn street and Cecil's alley, in 1811 and 1812. This mill had no puddling fur- naces, nor was it built to roll bar iron. It was intended to and did manufacture sheet iron, nail and spike rods, shovels, spades, chains, hatchets, hammers, etc. It em- braced a rolling mill, slitting mill, and tilt-hammer, "all under the same roof."
The Union rolling mill was the second mill that was built at Pittsburgh. It was located on the north side of the Monongahela river, was built in 1819, and was acci- dentally blown up and permanently dismantled in 1829, the machinery being taken to Covington, Kentucky. This mill had four puddling furnaces, the first in Pittsburgh. It was also the first to roll bar iron. It was built by Baldwin, Robinson, McNickle & Beltzhoover.
Other rolling mills at Pittsburgh and in its vicinity soon followed. At Etna, on Pine creek, Belknap, Bean & Butler manufactured scythes and sickles with water power as early as 1820, but in 1824 steam power was in- troduced and blooms were rolled. A rolling mill on Grant's Hill was built in 1821 by William B. Hayes 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 south side of the Allegheny river in 1824
200
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
by Dr. Peter Shoenberger. Sligo rolling mill was built on the south side of the Monongahela in 1825 by Robert T. Stewart and John Lyon. The Dowlais works, in Kensing- ton, were built in 1825 by George Lewis and Reuben Leonard.
The condition of the iron industry of Pittsburgh at the close of the first quarter of the nineteenth century is sum- med 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 making iron from the pig, besides rolling, slitting, and cutting into nails."
In 1829 Allegheny county had eight rolling mills, us- ing 6,000 tons of blooms and 1,500 tons of pig iron. In the same year there were nine foundries which consumed 3,500 tons of pig iron. In 1828 the iron rolled amounted to 3,291 tons, in 1829 to 6,217 tons, and in 1830 to 9,282 tons. It is said that in 1830 one hundred steam engines were built in Pittsburgh. In 1831 there were two steel cementation furnaces at Pittsburgh. In 1836 there were nine rolling mills in operation and eighteen foundries, en- gine factories, and machine shops.
In 1856 there were at Pittsburgh and in Allegheny county twenty-five rolling mills and thirty-three foundries but not one blast furnace. Clinton furnace, on the south side of the Monongahela, in Pittsburgh, built in 1859 by Graff, Bennett & Co., was the first furnace built in Alle- gheny county after the abandonment in 1794 of George Anshutz's furnace at Shady Side. It was built to use coke made from Pittsburgh coal, but Connellsville coke was soon substituted. Clinton furnace was followed in 1861 by the two Eliza furnaces of Laughlin & Co. and soon after- wards by others, all to use Connellsville coke.
Allegheny county made cemented, or blister, steel at an early day. In 1860 Hussey, Wells & Co. established at Pittsburgh the manufacture of crucible steel on a firm basis, and in 1862 Park, Brother & Co. successfully estab- lished at Pittsburgh crucible steel works also on a firm foundation. The first Bessemer steel works in Allegheny
THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 201
county were completed by Andrew Carnegie and his associates at Braddock late in 1875. The manufacture of open-hearth steel in Allegheny county, also by Mr. Car- negie and his associates, soon followed.
In 1906 there were 47 blast furnaces in Allegheny county and 67 rolling mills and steel works. In 1906, as in other preceding years, this county produced more pig iron and rolled more iron and steel than the remainder of Pennsylvania, and it rolled almost as much iron and steel as the production of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In the year mentioned it made over 22 per cent. of the country's total production of pig iron, over 30 per cent. of its total production of steel, and over 29 per cent. of its total pro- duction of rolled iron and steel.
The pre-eminence of Pennsylvania as an iron and steel producing State is largely due to the extraordinary activ- ity of the iron and steel industries of Allegheny county since about 1825. Even before this year the towns and cities in the Ohio valley were mainly supplied by Pitts- burgh merchants and manufacturers with bar iron, nails, pots, kettles, plow irons, and other iron and steel wares. In the early days Pittsburgh rolling mills were mainly supplied with blooms from the Juniata valley and with pig iron from nearer localities, but large quantities of blooms were also brought to Pittsburgh from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
The details above given of the early iron history of Pennsylvania relate almost entirely to the manufacture of iron with charcoal as fuel, no other fuel having been successfully used in American blast furnaces until about 1840, and but little use of any other fuel having been made before that time in any other branches of the American iron industry. The charcoal iron industry of Pennsylvania is now virtually dead. Nearly all of its charcoal furnaces and bloomaries and all of its primitive charcoal forges have been abandoned. In 1905 only five charcoal furnaces were left in the whole State, and not one of these was in Western Pennsylvania. In 1906 one of these furnaces was dismantled. The total production of charcoal pig iron in Pennsylvania in that year was only 2,663 tons.
202
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
CHAPTER XX.
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS.
THIS country leads all other countries in the produc- tion of iron and steel. This prominence in the manufac- ture of these products is only in part due to the bounty of nature in providing liberal supplies of the raw materi- als that are needed; it is largely the result of friendly and patriotic Congressional legislation, first in adopting in 1850 and in subsequently continuing the policy of liberal grants of public lands to railroad companies, and second in more firmly establishing in 1861 the protective tariff policy, which has since been effectively maintained with but brief interruptions. Through the operation of the pro- tective policy the home market has been largely preserved for the home producers of iron and steel, and through the operation of the land-grant system, supplemented by the homestead policy, which policy first became effective in 1862, during the civil war, thousands of miles of railroad have been built in the Western States and Territories that would not otherwise have been built. With the building of these roads and of other roads in the Eastern, Middle, and Southern States the consumption of iron and steel and of other manufactured products has been greatly en- larged, the population of all sections of the country has been rapidly increased, vast mineral resources have been discovered and developed, and the whole country has been phenomenally enriched. Thousands of new farms have been opened, our agricultural products have been many times multiplied, and both home and foreign markets for the sale of our surplus crops and of all other products of the farm, the forest, the fishery, the mine, and the factory have been quickly and cheaply reached.
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.