USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 32
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"The extent and variety of our manufactures, it has often seemed to us, are scarcely known or properly estimated, even in our own community. There is scarcely a department of the mechanical art that has not its industrious repre- sentative in this hugc, dusky workshop in which we live. Iron is perhaps the most important branch of Pittsburg manufactures" (f).
"Does not everyone know that if home protection were repealed the forges and furnaccs, the workshops and factories of Pittsburg would be closed and the rich country around this flourishing city would be greatly impaired in value?" (g)
The iron shipyard of Mr. Tomlinson was a prominent industrial feature here in 1845-6. He had at work 150 men. He built the iron revenue steamer Walker, which was on the stocks in June, 1846; and the iron sea steamer Hunter, which went to sea early in 1846; and the iron steam frigate Allegheny, nearly finished in June, 1846. Livingston, Roggen & Co. operated the Pittsburg Novelty Works in 1846, making coffee-mills, scalcs, castings, etc. Griffiths & Co. made spades, shovels, hoes, forks, picks, ctc. Joseph Long was an extensive manufacturer of chain cables in 1846. The manufacture of gun cotton was commenced here in 1846 by Mr. Townsend.
In October, 1847, there werc in operation in and around Pittsburg eleven rolling-mills, eight of which, when running full time, could produce annually 4,000 tons each. An average of about 150 hands was employed in the eleven mills. Shoenberger's works turned out 2,000 kegs of nails per week. At this time also there were in operation in this vicinity over twenty foundries, seven flint- glass factories, six window-glass factories, five green-glass factories and one black-glass factory (h).
"We have an engine with two thirty-inch cylinders, twelve-feet stroke, built in this city; also one with a fifty-inch cylinder and nine-fcet stroke. James Hall is now building a new foundry and plow factory in Allegheny. Voegtly's new cotton factory was put in operation last week. This is the third estab- lishment of the kind started in the full tide of successful cxperiment within a few months in our sister city" (i).
In 1847 there was introduced into the ironworks here for the first time Burden's patent revolving forgc hammer, designed to make blooms ready for the rollers by a new and comparatively silent process. It was placed in the works
(e) Harris' Directory.
(f) Commercial Journal, December 20, 1845. (g) Commercial Journal, February 5, 1846.
(h) Commercial Journal, October, 1847. (i) Commercial Journal, April, 1846.
288
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
of Lyon, Shorb & Co. and of Cuddy, Jones & Co., among others. "These iron works are most admirably arranged" (j).
The patent on plows granted to Jethro Woods yielded the owner in twenty- eight years from Pittsburg manufacturers alone over $10,000 per year. The heirs of the patentee continued to collect royalty long beyond the expiration of the life of the patent (k). They failed to secure a renewal of the patent. Hall & Speer of this city made in 1848 a splendid iron plow, to be presented to the con- gressman who had done so much to prevent the heirs of Jethro Woods from securing a continuance of this patent on that implement.
The tariff of 1842 put new life into iron manufactures and stimulated all other pursuits. The tariff of 1846 and the failure of crops in Europe and the con- sequent financial revulsion and hard times there made it possible for the English to place their iron in this market in spite of the low tariff of that year. The result was disastrous to many manufacturers of iron here, and was followed by the cutting of wages and the shutting of shops. From 1843 to 1846 millions of dollars were invested in iron manufactures in Pennsylvania. From September to December, 1847, pig-iron rose about 30 per cent. in price per ton, and then fell back to its original quotations.
The tariff of 1842 afforded a protection on bar-iron of $25 per ton, and on pig-iron of $10 per ton, and on the smaller kinds of iron a still higher duty. The tariff of 1846 reduced this more than one-half. In consequence of the low tariff of 1846 English iron began to flood the American markets. In 1848 English agents made offers to deliver in Pittsburg 10,000 tons of Scotch pigs at less than $25 per ton. English vessels to New Orleans sought this iron for bal- last, carrying it for about $2 per ton. At this time the "Allegheny region" had in operation eighty-five furnaces-all in the counties of Armstrong, Clarion and Venango-capable of making 100,000 tons of metal annually (1).
The condition of things in 1848 actually enabled the producer of iron as a raw material in England to enter the American markets and undersell pro- ducers here. The manufacturers of Pittsburg welcomed this state of affairs so long as they could buy crude iron of a foreign brand cheaper than of the domestic brand. But it meant death to the furnaces and forges. By 1852 about a dozen furnaces in Clarion County alone had failed and been closed up (m).
In March, 1848, a magnificent welcome was tendered by Pittsburg and Allegheny to Henry Clay, the great commoner, the idol of protectionists, who passed through here on his way to his Kentucky home. While here he visited the glassworks of Bakewell, Pears & Co., the novelty works of Livingston, Roggen & Co., the ironworks of Knapp & Totten, the ironworks of Mr. Shoen- berger, and the ironworks of Frederick Lorenz of Allegheny City.
Products.
Tariff 1842.
Tariff 1846.
Sheet-iron. .
61 per cent.
30 per cent.
Hoop-iron.
61 per cent.
30 per cent.
Pig-iron.
109 per cent. 30 per cent.
Scrap-iron.
49 per cent.
30 per cent.
Bar, rolled iron
49 per cent.
30 per cent.
Bar, hammered iron
76 per cent. 30 per cent.
Chain cables.
87 per cent. 30 per cent.
Butt-hinges.
42 per cent.
30 per cent.
"It is nothing but a question of freights and labor, and any reduction in the rate of protection must come from the hard-working laborer" (n).
(j) Gazette, January 19, 1848.
(k) Gazette, January 28, 1848.
(1) Kittaming Free Press, January, 1848.
(m) Congressional debate, 1853.
(n) Gazette, March 28, 1848.
289
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
The ironmasters' convention in Harrisburg in March, 1848, took measures to collect exhaustive statistics relative to the iron productions of the State, with the view of placing the same before Congress preparatory to an attack upon the low tariff of 1846. Six committees were appointed to examine into the condition of the several branches of iron manufactured. John Shoenberger and James Cuddy were on the committee on merchant bar and rolled iron; Fred- erick Lorenz on the committee on boiler, sheet and flue iron; Peter Shoen- berger on the committee on blooms, bar and hammered iron, and W. M. Lyon on the same (o).
"For some time we have noticed that the rolling-mills on the Monongahela side of the river were stopped, and upon inquiry learn that nearly one-half of the mills are idle. It was not so last year at this time. Then our furnace chim- neys ceased not to belch forth smoke day and night. One set of industrious, toiling men succeeded another in the workshop, and production, pushed to its utmost, was equal to the demands upon us. Now our old and powerful rivals are in the field, and instead of a tariff of 79 to 100 per cent., find a 30 per cent. rate only to oppose them. Nor can we look for better times until we have a change of policy" (p).
At this time the Post took an entirely different view of affairs and threatened to publish figures and statistics exhibiting the immense profits made by local iron manufacturers under the tariff of 1846 (q). Instead of idle mills, the Post said, "we hear iron manufacturers say that they can hardly meet the demand" (r). The Gazette denied this, and said: "Last year manufacturers could not fill the orders because they had not the iron. This year they cannot fill the orders for they have not the orders. We leave the public to say when they appeared to be most flourishing-when waiting orders, or when orders were waiting to be filled" (s).
The Pittsburg Novelty Works of Livingston, Roggen & Co. became famous in 1847-8 for their manufacture of malleable iron-first as garden rakes and potato hoes. Soon the material was used in the manufacture of innumer- able small articles, and hence the name of the works. Two cupolas were employed and produced about two tons of the iron daily, and employment was given to about 150 men and boys. Among the products were platform scales (t). In 1848 the cost of making a ton of iron on the Allegheny River was estimated as follows (u) :
280 bushels charcoal at 35 cents $9.80
Three tons ore at $2.50. 7.50
Limestone.
Two ore burners and pounders, two fillers . 50
Two keepers, one pounder, gutterman.
6.75
One smith and helper, one clerk and manager
Wear and tear.
1.00
Hauling to river and freight to Pittsburg. 2.00
Six per cent. on works and land, works producing 800 tons annually
1.50
$29.05
In August, 1848, Captain Wood put in part operation his new rolling-mill at the mouth of Saw Mill Run. His pigs were made at his own furnaces, and his coal obtained from his own mines.
(o) Gazette, March 28, 1848.
(p) Gazette, April 1, 1848.
(q) Post, April and May, 1848.
(r) Post, April 7, 1848.
(s) Gazette, April 8, 1848.
(t) Gazette, May 1, 1848.
(u) Gazette, May 24, 1848.
290
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
Hussey & Avery built a furnace in 1848 on the Monongahela, near the first dam, for the smelting of copper ore brought by them from Lake Superior. The ore was broken up on the lake, washed clear of the rock portions and then shipped in barrels or otherwise to this city, and here smelted, yielding from 70 to 90 per cent. pure copper. The stampede to the copper regions of Lake Superior by speculators and adventurers was begun in 1842, and had reached an enormous scale in 1846-8. Many Pittsburgers secured valuable holdings in that region. About 660 tons of pure copper were taken from that locality and put in market- able condition in Pittsburg in the summer of 1848.
In November, 1849, the National Ironmasters' Convention was held in this city. Delegates were here from all parts of the Union. It continued in session several days. Resolutions were introduced denouncing the tariff of 1846, dis- couraging the introduction of foreign labor and recommending measures likely to benefit the iron trade. Judges Wilkins and Shaler and other citizens of Pitts- burg were invited to address the convention, and did so. At the close the citi- zens tendered the convention an elaborate supper, on which occasion Judge Wilkins presided. Messrs. Wilkins, Shaler, Myers, Moorhead, Stewart, Kerr, Lorenz and others replied to toasts (v).
During the big strike of February, 1850, the puddlers and boiler-makers refused to allow any reduction in their wages, and made strong efforts to prevent others from taking their places. The strikers marched through the streets on the 16th and again on the 18th, with music and banners, making a strong demon- stration. On the 18th the Shoenbergers, Graff, Lindsay & Co. and Bailey, Brown & Co. started their works with new men. This greatly incensed the strikers, who continued to parade and resist until the 28th, when the strike culminated in an attack by a large number of men and women on the works of Graff, Lindsay & Co., where the new men were driven out. A similar attack on the works of the Shoenbergers and Bailey, Brown & Co. was thwarted. The Sheriff issued a riot proclamation and made preparations to use the militia. Several leading strikers, men and women, were arrested, and upon trial were convicted, and two of the men were sentenced to eighteen months each by Judge McClure. The Post denounced this proceeding in strong language. Indignation meetings were held by sympathizers. The strikers failed to gain the concessions demanded (w).
The decade of the '50s was one of the hardest to survive ever encountered by the iron interests of this community. The depression was continuous, save where the panics of 1854 and 1857 afforded the anxious manufacturers the variation of a total destruction of market and credit.
"How striking the contrast between the Pittsburg of the present day and the Pittsburg of 1814, as described in Niles' Register of May 28 of that year. Then our manufactures were estimated to amount to the value annually of $2,000,000; now they exceed $60,000,000. The transit trade of the East, so vauntingly stated at 4,000 wagon-loads a year, would be but 8,000 tons all told, an amount we often ship down the Ohio in one week. The 396 tons of iron- mongery manufactured in 1812 have an exceedingly trifling look when com- pared with the thousands on thousands of tons of bar-iron and nails alone turned out now by our fifteen rolling and slitting mills" (x).
"There are in Pittsburg and its vicinity thirteen rolling-mills, with a capital of about $5,000,000 and employing 2,500 hands. These inills consume about 60,000 tons of pig-metal and produce bar-iron and nails amounting to $4,000,000 annually. There are also thirty large foundries, together with a great many smaller ones, having a capital in all amounting to about $2,000,000 and employing
(v) Commercial Journal, November, 1849.
(w) Commercial Journal, February, 1850.
(x) Commercial Journal, August 30, 1850.
291
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
not less than 2,500 hands. These foundries consume 20,000 tons of pig-metal annually and yield, with the labor employed, various articles amounting to about $2,000,000. There are two establishments manufacturing locks, latches, coffee- mills, patent scales, with a great variety of other malleable iron castings, with a capital of $250,000 and employing 500 hands, consuming 1,200 tons pig-metal and producing goods amounting to $300,000 annually. There are also a number of manufactories of the smaller sizes of iron, several extensive manufactories of axes, hatchets, spring steel, axles, anvils, vises, saws of all kinds, gun-barrels, shovels, spades, forks, hoes, cut tacks, brads, etc. There are also in full and successful operation an establishment manufacturing cast, shear and blister steel and files, all said to be of a very superior quality, besides a great variety of manufacturing establishments not enumerated in our list. There is one copper smelting establishment producing 660 tons refined copper annually, valued at $380 per ton, amounting to $250,000. There is also a copper rolling-mill now in operation, producing 300 tons sheeting and braziers' copper, amounting to $150,000 annually" (y).
"It is only within a year or two that our mechanics have been able to supply the finished machinery required in cotton and woolen manufactures, but now they do it readily and as cheaply as the Eastern towns can furnish it. Painter & Co. of this city have been filling an order for cotton machinery for a Memphis house, which is worthy of note" (z).
Under the tariff of 1842 the iron-mill owners agreed upon a certain scale oi wages (an advance of 20 per cent. over those previously paid), to be given employes in 1845; but they found themselves unable to pay such increase after the passage of the tariff of 1846. However, they continued to pay the advance until January, 1850, when they demanded a reduction in the scale. The employes at first demurred and then took time to consider the proposition. In the mean- time all the iron mills, except those of Lyon, Shorb & Co. and Miller, Car- rothers & Co., closed down (a).
"The first sheet copper that was ever rolled in the Western country was rolled by Mr. B. Lutton at G. & J. H. Shoenberger's rolling-mill, last August was a year. A number of persons had expressed an opinion that it could not be done in this city after the article was produced. The rolling was done for the Pittsburg and Boston Mining Company, and we take pleasure in announcing that the same company has now, in our immediate vicinity, a fine large manu- facturing establishment in full and successful operation, for which the working- men are financially indebted to Thomas M. Howe" (b).
The copper-smelting furnace was owned by the Pittsburg and Boston Min- ing Company, and the copper rolling-mill by C. B. Hussey & Co. The works stood on the banks of the Monongahela, above Dam No. I. Ingots were cast for market and bought by founders. Immense cakes were made, to be rolled into sheets or bars. Large quantities of copper bottoms were made for smiths and tinners. About thirty men were employed in June, 1851. The manufacture of brass was soon to be added. Refined copper in ingots and cakes was sold at 20 cents a pound (c).
Hope Foundry, in Allegheny, owned and conducted by Cochran, McBride & Co., employed about thirty hands in May, 1851. They manufactured iron rail- ings, vault doors, iron castings, hollowware, stoves, etc., and consumed about three tons of pig-metal per day. Lippincott & Barr manufactured Phoenix fire-
(y) Fahnestock's Directory, 1850. (It will be observed that one authority places the number of rolling and slitting mills here in 1850 at thirteen and another at fifteen.)
(z) Commercial Journal, October 23, 1850.
(a) Commercial Journal, January, 1850.
(b) Commercial Journal, September 13, 1850
(c) Commercial Journal, June 16, 1851.
292
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
proof safes in 1851. The business had been previously conducted by J. S. Strickler & Co. They made one for the Recording Regulator's office in 1849-50 which weighed 7,500 pounds. John Quinn of the National Foundry manufac- tured hollowware mainly for Southern and Western trade to the amount of from 350 to 400 tons per annum. Their patent biscuit-baker, in sizes from 6 to 8, Dutch ovens, stoves, grates, fenders, etc., were well known to the market in 1851.
James Thompson and Joseph Tomlinson, by May, 1851, had invested $60,000 here, preparatory to the manufacture of locomotives and cars. They proposed to duplicate the cars and locomotives built East, and asked for patronage. At the above date they were engaged in building handcars, gravel-cars, rail and lumber cars, and employed thirty men. They had just built a large foundry with a cupola and furnace. They built their own engines, besides large ones for crushing rock in California and for the Cliff Mining Company's Copper Roll- ing Mill. Newspapers called upon railway companies to give them a trial. Knapp & Co. were also nearly ready for the same class of work (d).
"Resolved, That the present depressed state of the iron trade has its origin and is entirely caused by the low rate of duty at which English iron is admitted into this country under the tariff of 1846 and its injudicious ad valorem prin- ciples" (e).
The Pennsylvania Forge and Rolling Mill, owned and operated by Ever- son, Preston & Co., was one of the notable manufactories here in 1851. They employed about fifty hands and made all kinds of shafts, cranks, piston-rods, etc. They made for a steamboat a shaft that weighed 4,950 pounds, cranks weighing a ton each for others, pitman jaws weighing 900 pounds, and large numbers of wrought-iron railroad axles.
The nail manufacturers here, in May, 1851, were Graff, Lindsay & Co., Lewis, Dalzell & Co., Bissell & Semple, Lorenz, Sterling & Co., Miller, Church & Co., James Wood & Co., Brown, Phillips & Co., Wood & McKnights, Cuddy, Tones & Co., G. & J. H. Shoenberger, Spang & Co., Coleman, Nailman & Co., Lyon, Shorb & Co., Bailey, Brown & Co., and Stewart, Lloyd & Co. At this time Wheeling pretended to be a rival of Pittsburg in the nail market, though the latter turned out more nails in five hours than the former did in a week (f).
The forge branches of ten of the great Pittsburg ironmills stood idle in January, 1850, about 1,800 men having been thrown out of employment. Wages to the amount of $18,000 per week were thus stopped.
The steam and fire engine manufactory of W. P. Eichbaum, in Allegheny, turned out engines, hydraulic and letter presses, sugar-mills, sawmill machinery, etc., to the amount of $54,500 in the year 1849. Henry J. Demler manufac- tured tin, copper and sheet-iron goods to the amount of $12,000 during 1849.
"There are in Pittsburg and suburbs fourteen rolling and slitting mills, giving employment to over 2,000 operatives. Of these mills we have the fol- lowing report for this day: Running full time-None. Running half time- Lyon, Shorb & Co., G. & J. H. Shoenberger, Spang & Co., Semple, Bissell & Co., Graff, Lindsay & Co., Coleman, Hailman & Co., Lewis Dalzell & Co., Stewart, Lloyd & Co. Idle-Cuddy, Jones & Co., A. Miller & Son, Wood & McKnight, Lorenz, Sterling & Co., James Wood & Co., Bailey, Brown & Co. Men thrown out of employment in Pittsburg by the stoppage of iron mills under the operation of the tariff of 1846, 1,450. By the stoppage of six of our mills and the shortened time of eight, $14,000 a week hitherto paid as the wages of workingmen is now withheld from them. In the neighboring counties of Arm-
(d) Commercial Journal, May, 1851.
(e) Resolution of a big iron meeting here in 1851.
(i) Commercial Journal, May 22, 1851.
..
293
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
strong and Clarion about one-half of the furnaces are closed and in possession of the sheriffs and of the other half the majority are idle. The stoppage of these mills about Pittsburg has deprived the workingmen of more than $750,000 a year for wages, which they were in the habit of receiving, and would still receive but for the tariff of 1846" (g).
The Post denied this condition of affairs, and said: "The iron manufactur- ing establishments here are stopped once a year for repairs, etc., and whenever this is done the Federal presses commence telling the people about the ruin which was prophesied to follow the adoption of the tariff of 1846 (h).
"The process of manufacturing the common blister steel is common enough among us, but that of cast-steel is novel, and the Cast Steel and File Works of McKelvy & Blair in the Fifth Ward are the only establishment in which it is carried on in Pittsburg. They employ about fifty hands and turn out incred- ible quantities of files, from the smallest rat-tail to the heaviest mill-saw file. This is another and interesting branch of Pittsburg manufacture which has been scarcely known and has certainly not been duly appreciated. They are building new works on a much more extensive scale and will then employ over 100 men and turn out over three times the product of the old works" (i).
"You will recollect that no tariff to protect the industry of the country ever was passed without the assistance of Pennsylvania, and I regret to say that no tariff law that took away protection from the industrial pursuits ever was passed unless it was through the agency of some recreant Pennsylvanian" (j).
In 1853 there were in this immediate vicinity seventeen rolling-mills, twelve large foundries, twenty engine and machine shops, and it was estimated that all these, when in operation, consumed 7,515,000 bushels of coal per annum (k).
In the autumn of 1853 the Renton Iron Company, with a capital of $150,000, became the owner of the Renton and Dickerson patents for making iron direct from the ore and of converting ore into wrought-iron at about the cost of con- verting ore into pig-iron. In the furnace of W. Dewees Wood, at Mckeesport, the process was first put in operation in Western Pennsylvania.
"We are pleased to learn that the rolls in the Clinton Mill (Messrs. Bennett, Marshall & Co.) were put in operation for the first time on Thursday afternoon. They were found to work admirably and produce a number of T-rails of superior quality. ' The works will be in full operation next week and are expected to turn out about thirty-five tons of rails per day. This is a new branch of busi- ness in Pittsburg" (1).
The Clinton Rolling Mill was thus built and put in operation in 1853. A considerable number of rails were made in 1854 but not proving profitable the owners, for the time being, dropped that branch and made merchant bar-iron and nails.
On June 17, 1854, the iron puddlers of this city struck for an advance of wages, which was refused by the employers in the rolling-mills. Men were brought from the East to take their places. In 1854 there were shipped from Pittsburg iron and nails to the value of $7,500,000 (m).
"As we look about us we cannot but be struck with the idea that iron is entering more extensively every day into the make of buildings for which stone or wood was formerly used. Already the most elegant mantelpieces of iron are taking the place of wooden and marble ones. Iron pillars for halls, pilasters, capitals of columns, window sashes, etc., have already ceased to excite particular
(g) Commercial Journal, September 12 and 25, 1851.
(h) Post, September 26, 1851.
(i) Commercial Journal. August 0, 1851.
(j) Speech of Governor Johnston in 1851.
(k) C. S. Eyster, in Philadelphia Register, December 17, 1853.
(1) Commercial Journal, September 3. 1853.
(m) Commercial Journal, January, 1855.
294
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
attention, and not only the house itself but its furniture and interior ornamenta- tion is of this same material. The establishment of Knapp & Wade, in this city, is providing a large amount of iron ornaments and pillars of various kinds for the new custom-house, now in process of construction at New Orleans" (n).
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