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 20
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214
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
by the Carnegie Steel Company and by the Cambria Steel Company.
The first 30-foot rails that were rolled in this country were rolled at the Cambria iron works in 1855. These were iron rails and were perfectly made, but there being no demand for them they were used in the company's tracks. In 1876 these works rolled the largest aggregate tonnage of rails that had been rolled in one year by one mill in this country up to that time. Their production of rails in that year was 92,627 tons, of which 42,538 tons were iron rails and 50,089 tons were steel rails.
The first 60-foot rails that were rolled in this country were rolled at the Edgar Thomson steel works in the fall of 1875 and were made of steel. At the Centennial Exhi- bition at Philadelphia in 1876 the Edgar Thomson Steel Company exhibited a steel rail which at that time was the longest rail that had ever been rolled. It was 120 feet long and weighed 62 pounds to the yard.
When the Edgar Thomson steel works were built they embraced two five-ton Bessemer converters. Their equip- ment to-day includes four fifteen-ton converters. The fol- lowing table gives the annual production of Bessemer steel rails by these works from 1875 to 1907. This table presents the most remarkable record in the manufacture of iron and steel that has ever been printed. In thirty- three years these works produced 11,122,189 tons of rails.
Years.
Gross tons.
Years.
Gross tons.
Years.
Gross tons.
1875
5,853
1886
173,001
1897
477,363
1876
32,226
1887
192,999
1898
561,757
1877
48,826
1888
148,293
1899
604,343
1878
64,505
1889
277,401
1900
626,831
1879
76,044
1890
332,942
1901
708,113
1880
100,095
1891
264,469
1902
709,906
1881
151,507
1892
330,511
1903
734,859
1882
143,561
1893
230,336
1904.
550,945
1883
154,892
1894
220,337
1905
720,562
1884
144,090
1895
324,778
1906.
826,582
1885
126,656
1896
300,776
1907.
756,830
The mechanical genius and the tireless energy of the American people lie, of course, at the foundation of all
STEEL RAILS. 215
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND
our industrial achievements. In the development of our iron and steel industries the possession of all the neces- sary raw materials of manufacture gave opportunity for the employment of these national traits. The rapid growth of the country in population created an active demand for iron and steel for ordinary domestic and mechanical purposes, but the stimulus given to the building of rail- roads after 1850, and particularly after our protective tariff policy was firmly established, gave to the manufac- ture of these products its greatest opportunity. More than one-half of all the iron and steel that has been pro- duced in this country has gone into the construction and equipment of our railroads. We have to-day more miles of railroad than the whole of Europe and more than two-fifths of all the railroad mileage of the world.
Steel rails have been made and are still made at other works in Pennsylvania than those that have been de- scribed in this chapter. Virtually all are in Eastern Penn- sylvania and are well known. It will be remembered that one of the objects of this volume is the presentation of industrial information relating to Western Pennsylvania that has not heretofore been widely known.
Reference has been made in this chapter to the con- solidation in this country in 1866 of the ownership of the various patents which covered the Bessemer, Kelly, and Mushet inventions relating to the manufacture of pneumatic steel, now universally known as Bessemer steel. The credit of accomplishing this important result is due mainly to the tact and good judgment of Daniel J. Mor- rell, one of the owners of the Kelly and Mushet patents.
This is also the proper place to mention that the im- portant invention, in 1877, of Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and Percy C. Gilchrist, two London chemists, which made possible the manufacture of basic steel, either by the Bes- semer process or by the open-hearth process, was intro- duced in this country through the enterprise of Andrew Carnegie, who purchased the control of the Thomas-Gil- christ patents for the United States in 1879, subsequently transferring this control to the Bessemer Steel Company, Limited, which owned the consolidated Bessemer patents.
216
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
CHAPTER XXI.
CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES.
IN the early part of its history Pennsylvania owed much of the activity of its iron trade to its possession of the wonderful Cornwall iron ore deposits, and in its later history it owes the pre-eminence of its iron and steel industries largely to the nearness of Lake Superior ores and to its possession of Connellsville coking coal. A brief history of the development of the Cornwall mines and of the opening of the Lake Superior mines, and of the first shipments from these last mentioned mines, will be given in this chapter, accompanied by complete statistics of the shipments from all these mines down to the close of 1907.
The Cornwall ore hills, which comprise three moun- tains of magnetic iron ore near Lebanon, Pennsylvania, were conveyed by John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn, proprietors-in-chief of the province of Pennsylvania and the counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on the Delaware, by their warrant dated London, May 8, 1732, to Joseph Turner, of Philadelphia. Turner assigned the entire tract to William Allen on April 5, 1734, and on the 28th and 29th of November, 1737, Allen assigned the tract to Peter Grubb, to whom a patent was issued on Au- gust 2, 1745. Peter Grubb built Cornwall furnace in 1742. He died intestate about 1754, and his estate descended to his sons, Curtis and Peter Grubb, Curtis receiving two- thirds under the intestate law of that day and Peter one- third. Both sons were colonels in the Revolution. On June 28, 1783, Curtis conveyed a one-sixth interest to Pe- ter Grubb, Jr., his son. By articles of agreement, dated September 26, 1785, Peter Grubb, Jr., grandson of the first Peter Grubb and son of Curtis Grubb, sold to Robert Cole- man his share of the Cornwall ore hills, Cornwall furnace, and appurtenances, reserving the right for a sufficient quantity of ore for one furnace, which right is held and exercised to-day by the proprietors of Robesonia furnace,
217
CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES.
in Berks county. The deed for the share sold to Robert Coleman, signed by Peter Grubb, Jr., and his wife Mary, is dated May 9, 1786. After that year Robert Coleman, through successive purchases from the Grubbs, acquired four additional sixths of the property originally conveyed by the Penns to Joseph Turner. At Robert Coleman's death in 1825 his estate was devised to his four sons.
We need not give the further connection of either the Coleman or the Grubb family with the Cornwall ore hills after the death of Robert Coleman. A detailed ac- count will be found in the annual report of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania for 1885. The interest of these families in the ownership of the Cornwall mines is now comparatively small. A few years ago the Pennsylvania Steel Company purchased from the heirs of G. Dawson Coleman a controlling interest in the Cornwall iron ore mines. Neither the Coleman nor the Grubb family limit- ed its operations to the Cornwall "ore banks and mine hills," but each engaged in the manufacture of iron.
John Grubb, the father of Peter Grubb, 1st, who built Cornwall furnace, was a native of Cornwall, in England, whence he emigrated to this country in 1692, landing at Grubb's Landing, on the Delaware, near Wilmington. Peter Grubb, his son, was born at Grubb's Landing. A tradition in his family says that he built a furnace in 1735 about half a mile from the site of Cornwall furnace. But this supposed furnace was probably a bloomary, which may be regarded as Mr. Grubb's first iron enterprise. The earliest record evidence of his connection with the iron industry in Lancaster county is contained in "ye leace" of Corn- wall ore lands in 1739 by Peter Grubb to Samuel Grubb and Joseph Taylor. In this lease Peter Grubb is styled an "ironmaster," and it says that he " intends to build an iron furnace" on land adjacent to that leased to Samuel Grubb and Joseph Taylor. That furnace was undoubtedly Cornwall furnace, built in 1742.
In Israel Acrelius's History of New Sweden, written about 1756, appears the following statement : " Cornwall, or Grubb's ironworks, in Lancaster county. The mine is rich and abundant, forty feet deep, commencing two feet
218
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
under the earth's surface. The ore is somewhat mixed with sulphur and copper. Peter Grubb was its discoverer."
Robert Coleman was born near Castle Fin, Ireland, on November 4, 1748. In 1764 he came to Pennsylvania, and after filling various clerical positions became a clerk for James Old, first at Quittapahilla forge, near Lebanon, and afterwards at Reading furnace, on French creek.
About the end of 1773 Mr. Coleman rented Salford forge, near Norristown, where he remained three years. His grandson, G. Dawson Coleman, had in his possession many years ago a document of rare interest, illustrative of Revolutionary experience at Salford forge. It is in- dorsed : "Robert Coleman's memorial, presented August 26th, 1776, asking permission for his clerk and three forge- men to be exempted from marching with the army to Amboy." It represented that the memorialist was an offi- cer in Colonel Potts's battalion and was then on his march to Amboy ; that he had rented a forge for three years at a rental of "two hundred a year," the lease of which would expire in three months ; and that the "principal part" of his workmen were Associators, who, if obliged to march with the militia, would cause him great loss and entirely prevent him from working up his stock in hand. The re- quest of Mr. Coleman was granted the same day by the Council of Safety, to which body it was addressed.
In one of his numerous contributions to Pennsylvania history Dr. F. R. Diffenderffer says that "on October 30, 1777, Colonel Grubb notified the Council of Safety that his furnace was in blast for the purpose of casting salt pans, but he could not proceed because his manager, founder, carpenter, and colliers were absent with the mi- litia. They were ordered to be released forthwith."
For more than a quarter of a century Robert Coleman was the most prominent ironmaster in Pennsylvania. His descendants and those of Peter Grubb are still identified with the manufacture of iron, and the Cornwall ore hills are still relied upon to furnish large quantities of iron ore for furnaces in Eastern Pennsylvania. Prior to the development of the Lake Superior iron ore region the Cornwall mines were annually the most productive group
219
CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES.
of all the iron ore mines in this country, and this dis- tinction they held for several years after Lake Superior ores came into general use.
The following table shows the production of iron ore, in gross tons, by the Cornwall ore mines from their first opening in 1740 to January 1, 1908. Down to the year last mentioned these mines had produced more iron ore than any other single iron ore property in the United States, including the most productive of the Lake Superior mines.
Periods.
Tons.
From 1740 to 1790, three furnaces, each 2,000 tons yearly, about
300,000
From 1790 to 1848, six furnaces, each 2,000 tons yearly, about ..
700,000
From April 1, 1848, to January 1, 1853
173,190
From January 1, 1853, to February 1, 1864, (date of formation of Cornwall Ore Bank Company,) the shipments amounted to
1,351,717
From February 1, 1864, to the end of 1907 the shipments were as follows :
Years.
Gross tons.
Years.
Gross tons.
Years.
Gross tons.
1864
165,915
1879
268,488
1894
371,710
1865
114,802
1880
231,172
1895
614,598
1866
216,659
1881
249,050
1896
463,059
1867
202,755
1882
309,680
1897
419,878
1868
165,843
1883
363,143
1898.
584,342
1869
173,428
1884.
412,319
1899
763,152
1870
174,407
1885
508,864
1900
558,713
1871
176,054
1886
688,054
1901
747,012
1872
193,317
1887
667,210
1902
594,177
1873
166,782
1888
722,917
1903
401,469
1874
112,429
1889
769,020
1904
174,331
1875
98,924
1890
686,302
1905
617,060
1876
137,901
1891
663,755
1906.
763,788
1877
171,588
1892
634,714
1907.
704,004
1878
179,299
1893.
439,705
Grand total
20,366,696
In the above statistics the word production is strictly applicable only down to 1853, but for that year and for all subsequent years the figures represent shipments only. For all practical purposes, however, production and ship- ments may be regarded as convertible terms, as in a se- ries of years production and shipments would be equalized.
The existence of iron ore on the southern border of Lake Superior was known to white traders with the In-
220
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
dians as early as 1830, but the first discovery by white men of the iron ore of this region was made on the 16th of September, 1844, near the eastern end of Teal lake, in Michigan, by William A. Burt, a deputy surveyor of the United States Government. In June, 1845, the Jackson Mining Company was organized at Jackson, Michigan, for the purpose of exploring the mineral districts of the southern shore of Lake Superior, and later in the summer of that year this company secured possession of the since celebrated Jackson iron mountain in the Marquette dis- trict, near the place of Mr. Burt's discovery. Iron ore is still taken from the Jackson mine.
The first shipment of iron ore from the Marquette dis- trict of the Lake Superior region, the first district to be developed, occurred in 1850, in which year A. L. Craw- ford, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, took to that place about ten tons of Jackson ore, a part of which was con- verted into blooms and these blooms were rolled into bar iron. Mr. Crawford's shipment of iron ore was hauled around the Sault Ste. Marie on a strap railroad about one and a quarter miles long. Shipments from this district for commercial purposes did not begin until 1853, when about 70 tons were used in two blast furnaces in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. The next Lake Superior iron ore district to be developed was the Menominee district, from which the first shipments were made in 1877, aggregating 10,405 tons. In 1884 the first shipments were made from the Vermilion district, aggregating 62,124 tons. Next followed the development of the Gogebic district, from which the first shipments were also made in 1884, aggregating 1,022 tons. In 1892 the development of the Mesabi district be- gan. Shipments in that year amounted to 4,245 tons.
.
In 1853 a few tons of Jackson ore were shipped to the World's Fair at New York. On June 18, 1855, the first steamer passed through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal from the lower lakes to Lake Superior. The vessel was the side-wheel steamer Illinois. The steamer Baltimore passed down on the same day and was the first steamer to make a continuous trip in the opposite direction. The editor of the Marine Review, Ralph D. Williams, says that the first
221
CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES.
shipment of iron ore through the Sault Canal was made on the brig Columbia on August 17, 1855, and consisted of 132 tons, shipped by the Cleveland Iron Mining Com- pany and consigned to itself. He further says that all the ore that left Lake Superior that year, amounting to 1,449 tons, was shipped by the same company.
In the following table the shipments of iron ore from the Lake Superior iron ore region are given from the be- ginning of shipments in 1853 and 1854 to the end of 1907. The word shipments is not synonymous with production. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota comprise the Lake Superior iron ore region, and strictly speaking include only the Marquette, Menominee, Gogebic, Vermilion, and Mesabi iron ore districts, which are near the great lake. The figures for 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1907 include the shipments from the Iron Ridge mine in the southern part of Wisconsin. Shipments from the Baraboo district, which is also in the southern part of Wisconsin, are in- cluded in the figures for 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1907.
Years.
Gross tons.
Years.
Gross tons.
Years.
Gross tons.
1853-54
3,000
1872
900,901
1890
9,012,379
1855
1,449
1873
1,162,458
1891
7,062,233
1856
36,343
1874
919,557
1892.
9,069,556
1857
25,646
1875
891,257
1893
6,060,492
1858
15,876
1876.
992,764
1894
7,748,932
1859
68,832
1877.
1,015,087
1895
10,438,268
1860
114,401
1878.
1,111,110
1896
9,916,035
1861
49,909
1879
1,375,691
1897.
12,469,638
1862
124,169
1880.
1,908,745
1898
14,024,673
1863
203,055
1881.
2,306,505
1899
18,251,804
1864
243,127
1882
2,965,412
1900
19,059,393
1865
236,208
1883.
2,353,288
1901
20,593,537
1866
278,796
1884
2,518,692
1902
27,571,121
1867
473,567
1885
2,466,372
1903
24,289,878
1868
491,449
1886.
3,568,022
1904
21,822,839
1869
617,444
1887
4,730,577
1905
34,353,456
1870
830,940
1888.
5,063,693
1906
38,523,439
1871
779,607
1889
7,292,754
1907
42,245,070
The grand total of the shipments of iron ore from the Lake Superior region down to the close of 1907 amounted to 380,649,446 gross tons-a stupendous aggregate.
222
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.
The iron ores of Missouri received at one time a great deal of attention from iron and steel manufacturers at Pittsburgh and at other points in the Ohio valley, but more than thirty years ago they were overshadowed in importance by the iron ores of Lake Superior. The best known Missouri mines are located at Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob. The former were operated as early as 1845 and the latter as early as 1847. Iron Mountain has pro- duced over 3,000,000 tons of ore and Pilot Knob has pro- duced over 1,000,000 tons. In 1872 there were mined and shipped from Iron Mountain alone 269,480 tons. A large part of the shipments from Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob was taken forty years ago to points on the Ohio river. The receipts of Missouri ore at St. Louis in 1873, largely for shipment to other localities, amounted to 349,- 357 tons. Of the total receipts in that year 113,327 tons were shipped by river and 63,717 tons by rail. In those days Pittsburgh was the leading purchaser of Missouri ores, her blast furnaces and rolling mills taking 35,440 tons in 1871, 68,420 tons in 1872, and 113,069 tons in 1873. The production of iron ore by all the mines of Missouri in the census year 1870 amounted to 159,680 tons, in the census year 1880 to 344,819 tons, and in the calendar year 1889 to 265,718 tons. The production has since declined. In 1905 it amounted to 113,012 tons, but in some previous years it had fallen considerably below 100,000 tons an- nually. In 1907 the shipments amounted to 104,815 tons.
In late years shipments of southern pig iron to north- ern and western markets have constituted a leading fea- ture of the home iron trade, but only a little more than thirty years ago these shipments were almost unknown and southern men were looking to the North for a mar- ket for their ores. In 1872, 1873, and 1874 considerable quantities of iron ore from Tennessee, Alabama, and Geor- gia were shipped to furnaces in Indiana and Ohio. The trade began in 1872, reached its culmination in 1873, and came to an end in 1874. In 1873 George H. Hull, of Louis- ville, shipped to the North about 25,000 tons of Alabama and brown hematite iron ore mined on the Selma, Rome, and Dalton Railroad, and about the same number of tons
223
CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES.
of red fossiliferous iron ore mined near Birmingham. A considerable part of these ores was shipped to Brazil, Knightsville, Terre Haute, and Harmony in Indiana, and to Mingo Junction and Steubenville in Ohio. These ores when delivered cost from $7.75 to $9.25 per ton, and two tons of ore were required to make one ton of pig iron.
Fifty years ago Lake Champlain iron ores were. very popular for fettling in puddling furnaces as far west as Pittsburgh, but their use for this purpose is now confined to eastern rolling mills. From June to December of 1872 20,580 tons of these ores were received at Pittsburgh. Soon after that year Missouri and Lake Superior ores su- perseded Lake Champlain ores at Pittsburgh for the pur- pose mentioned.
The following details were given to us by the late Jacob Reese : " I sold more than 10,000 tons of Champlain ore for fettling in Pittsburgh in 1856 and 1857, and it was in use in Pittsburgh many years prior to my sales. In 1856 I bought from the Cleveland Iron Mining Company the first cargo of 800 tons of Lake Superior iron ore that they had brought to Cleveland. I shipped the ore to Pittsburgh and sold it for fettling, and from 1856 to 1860 I sold over 50,000 tons of that ore for that purpose."
In a subsequent chapter credit will be claimed for Pennsylvania capital and enterprise in the development of the iron ores of Cuba. Two companies, both controlled entirely by Pennsylvania capital, are now operating the iron ore mines of Cuba-the Juragua Iron Company and the Spanish-American Iron Company. The total ship- ments by all companies from Cuba to all countries from the opening of the mines in 1884 to the close of 1907 were as follows, in gross tons : the Juragua Iron Company, Limited, and the Juragua Iron Company, 4,- 565,491 tons ; the Sigua Iron Company, 20,438 tons ; the Spanish-American Iron Company, 4,018,494 tons ; and the Cuban Steel Ore Company, 41,241 tons : total since 1884, 8,645,664 tons. Nearly all of this total was shipped to the United States. The mines of the Sigua Iron Com- pany and the Cuban Steel Ore Company were abandoned several years ago.
224
PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. .
CHAPTER XXII.
COAL AND COKE IN PENNSYLVANIA.
THE history of the development of the anthracite and bituminous coal industries of Pennsylvania has been so fully presented in various publications that it need not be here repeated, but some of the recent features of this de- velopment are important and will be presented in this chapter. (See Iron in All Ages, pages 467 to 478.)
It has been shown in a previous chapter that in 1905 Pennsylvania produced 49.9 per cent. of all the coal that was mined in the United States. Of this large percentage the anthracite production of the year supplied approxi- mately 19.77 per cent. and the bituminous production sup- plied about 30.15 per cent. These proportions were ma- terially altered in 1906, the anthracite production largely decreasing and the bituminous production largely in- creasing. In 1907 anthracite production again increased.
The production of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania in 1905 by counties is given in the following table by Hon. Edward W. Parker, statistician in charge, division of min- ing and mineral resources of the United States Geological Survey. The production in 1906 was 63,645,010 gross tons.
Counties-1905.
Gross tons.
Counties-1905.
Gross tons.
Susquehanna
607,273
Columbia
1,097,944
Lackawanna
17,525,995
Sullivan
274,167
Luzerne
26,216,518
Northumberland
4,920,098
Carbon
2,193,229
Dauphin
724,513
Schuylkill .
15,779,415
Total
69,339,152
Of the above total production of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania in 1905 there were shipped to market 61,- 654,432 tons, sold to the local trade and to employés 1,402,644 tons, and used at mines for steam and heat 6,282,- 076 tons : total, 69,339,152 tons. The first shipments of anthracite coal for which exact statistics are available were made from the Lehigh region in 1820, when they
225
COAL AND COKE IN PENNSYLVANIA.
amounted to 365 tons. The production in 1905 was the largest that had been recorded down to that year.
The production of bituminous coal in Pennsylvania in 1905 and 1906 by counties is given in the following table in net tons of 2,000 pounds, for which we are also indebted to Mr. Parker. The net ton of 2,000 pounds is in univer- sal use in the coal trade in Western Pennsylvania and the West, while throughout the East all coal, both bitumi- nous and anthracite, is sold by the gross ton. The pro- duction of bituminous coal in Pennsylvania in 1905 was 118,413,637 net tons and in 1906 it was 129,293,206 tons. The table specifies the coal made into coke at the mines ; coal consumed in making coke elsewhere is not indicated.
Counties-Net tons.
Production in 1905.
Made into coke at mines in 1905
Production in 1906.
Made into coke at mines in 1906
Allegheny
13,662,610
16,823,027
Armstrong
2,497,314
6,844
2,574,758
8,594
Beaver
82,676
81,531
Bedford
752,715
213,811
734,855
155,611
Blair
348,749
67,918
402,438
78,619
Butler
550,589
803,499
Cambria
12,600,891
1,292,574
12,439,152
1,205,491
Centre
810,441
895,434
1,002
Clarion
714,478
719,548
Clearfield
7,248,305
225,491
5,944,745
252,414
Elk
1,249,337
77,328
944,367
57,334
Fayette.
24,250,989
16,112,687
27,044,451
18,608,461
Huntingdon
559,039
630,155
Indiana
4,477,431
303,083
4,657,457
226,089
Jefferson
6,393,985
1,310,108
5,160,195
1,165,598
Lawrence.
267,470
257,716
Mercer
707,964
Somerset
6,412,672
81,075
842,648 6,674,191
41,307
Tioga.
706,723
826,925
Washington
10,609,051
67,183
12,714,405
188,871
Westmoreland
22,998,726
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