MINING INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. cut off in that fatal massacre (of March, 1622), and the project has never been set on foot since, until of late; but it has not had its full trial." This author also refers to the representations of the Board of Trade to the House of Commons, in 1732, as containing notices of the iron works in operation in New England. From various reports of the governor of Massachusetts Bay and other officials of this colony, there appear to have been, in 1731, as many as six furnaces and nineteen forges for making iron in New England, as also a slitting mill and nail factory connected with it. The first blast furnace in the colonies appears to have been built in 1702, by Lambert Despard, at the outlet of Mattakeeset pond, in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, and a number more were afterward set in operation to work the bog ores of that district. Their operations are described in the "Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society" for 1804, by James Thacher, M. D., who was himself engaged in the manufacture. In Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the same kinds of ore were found and worked at about the same period. Alexander gives the year 1715 as the epoch of blast furnaces in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. These enterprises were regarded with great disfavor in the mother country. In 1719 an act was brought forward in the House of Lords, forbidding the erection of rolling or slitting mills in the American colonies, and in 1750 this was made law. THE mineral wealth of the American colonies does not appear to have been an object of much interest to the early settlers. Congregated near the coast, they were little likely to become acquainted with many of the mineral localities, most of which are in the interior, in regions long occupied by the Indian tribes. The settlers, moreover, probably possessed little knowledge of mining, and certainly lacked capital which they could appropriate in this direction. Some discoveries, however, were made by them very soon after their settlement, the earliest of which were on the James river, in Virginia. Beverly, in his "History of the Present State of Virginia," published in London in 1705, makes mention of iron works which were commenced on Falling Creek, and of glass-houses which were about to be constructed at Jamestown just previous to the great massacre by the Indians, in 1622. This undertaking at Falling Creek is referred to by other historians, as by Stith, in his History of Virginia" (1753), p. 279. A Captain Nathaniel Butler, it appears, presented to the king, in 1623, a very disparaging account of the condition of the colony, mentioning, among other matters, that "the Iron Works were utterly wasted, and the People dead; the Glass Furnaces at a stand, and in small Hopes of proceeding." The committee of the company, in their reply to this, affirm that "great Sums had been expended, and infinite Care and Diligence bestowed by In Connecticut, Governor Winthrop was the Officers and Company for setting forward much interested in investigating the characvarious Commodities and Manufactures; as ter of the minerals about Haddam and MidIron Works," etc., etc. Salmon, in his dletown. In 1651 he obtained a license giv"Modern History" (1746), vol. iii, pp. 439 ing him almost unlimited privileges for and 468, refers to the statement of Bever-working any mines of "lead, copper, or tin, ly, mentioning that "an iron work was set or any minerals; as antimony, vitriol, black up on Falling Creek, in James River, where lead, alum, salt, salt springs, or any other they found the iron ore good, and had near the like, to enjoy forever said brought that work to perfection. The iron mines, with the lands, woods, timber, and proved reasonably good; but before they got water within two or three miles of said into the body of the mine, the people were mines.' And in 1661, another special grant VOL. II. 2 * * * Such, in general, was the extent to which this branch of industry had been carried up to the close of the last century. The only coal mines worked were some on the James river, twelve miles above Richmond, and the capacity of these for adding to the wealth ciated. The gold mines were entirely unknown, and the dependence of the country upon Great Britain for the supply of iron had so checked the development of this branch of manufacture, that comparatively nothing was known of our own resources in the mines of this metal. The most important establishments for its manufacture were small blast furnaces, working bog ores, and the bloomaries of New York and New Jersey, making bar iron direct from the rich magnetic ores. was made to him of any mines he might The existence of copper in the region about discover in the neighborhood of Middletown. Lake Superior was known, from the reports It does not appear, however, that he derived of the Jesuit missionaries, in 1660, and one any special advantage from these privileges, or two unsuccessful attempts were made to although he used to make frequent excur- work it during the last century by parties of sions to the different localities of minerals, Englishmen. The lead mines of the upper especially to the Governor's Ring, a moun- Mississippi, discovered by Le Sueur in his extain in the north-west corner of East Had-ploring voyage up the river in 1700 and dam, and spend three weeks at a time there 1701, were first worked by Dubuque, a with his servant, engaged, as told by Gover- French miner, in 1788, upon the tract of nor Trumbull to President Styles, and record- land now occupied by the city in Iowa beared in his diary, in "roasting ores, assaying ing his name. metals, and casting gold rings." John Winthrop, F.R.S., grandson of Governor Winthrop, was evidently well acquainted with many localities of different ores in Connecticut, and sent to the Royal Society a considerable collection of specimens he had made. It is supposed that among them Hatchett of the country was not by any means apprefound the mineral columbite, and detected the new metal which he named columbium. At Middletown, an argentiferous lead mine was worked, it is supposed, at this period, by the Winthrops, and the men employed were evidently skilful miners. When the mine was reopened in 1852, shafts were found well timbered and in good preservation, that had been sunk to the depth of 120 feet, and, with the other workings, amounted in all to 1,500 feet of excavation. The oldest American charter for a mining company was granted in 1709, for working the copper ores at Simsbury, Connecticut. Operations were carried on here for a number of years, the ore raised being shipped to England, and a similar mining enterprise was undertaken in 1719, at Belleville, in New Jersey, about six miles from Jersey City. The products of the so-called Schuyler mine at this place amounted, before the year 1731, to 1,386 tons of ore, all of which were shipped to England. At this period (1732) the Gap THE early history of the iron manufacture mine, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in the American colonies has been noticed was first opened and worked for copper, and in the introductory remarks which precede about the middle of the century various this chapter. Since the year 1750 the reother copper mines were opened in New strictions imposed upon the business by the Jersey; also, the lead mine at Southamp-mother country had limited the operations to ton, Mass., and the cobalt mine at Chatham, the production of pig iron and castings, and Conn. In 1754 a lead mine was success- a few blast furnaces were employed in New fully worked in Wythe county, in south- England and the middle Atlantic states. A western Virginia, and this is still productive. considerable portion of the pig iron was exIt is probable that, by reason of the higher value of copper at that period, and the lower price paid for labor than at present, some of the copper mines may have proved profitable to work, though it is certain this has not been the case with them of late years. : The progress of the United States in these branches will be traced in the succeeding chapters, one of which will be devoted to each of the principal metals. CHAPTER I. ported to Great Britain, where it was admitted free of duty, and articles of wrought iron and steel were returned from that country. In 1771 the shipment of pig iron from the colonies amounted to 7,525 tons. By the sudden cessation of commercial relations on the breaking out of the war, the country was thrown upon its own resources, but was illy prepared to meet the new and extraordinary demands for iron. The skill, experience, and capital for this business were all alike wanting, and even the casting of cannon was an undertaking that few of the furnace masters were prepared to venture upon. The bog ores found in Plymouth county, Mass., together with supplies from New Jersey, sustained ten furnaces; and in Bridgewater, cannon were successfully cast and bored by Hon. Hugh Orr, for the supply of the army. They were also made at Westville, Conn., by Mr. Elijah Bachus, who welded together bars of iron for the purpose. The Continental Congress, also, was forced to establish and carry on works for furnishing iron and steel, and in the northern part of New Jersey, the highlands of New York, and the valley of the Housatonic in Connecticut, they found abundance of rich ores, and forests of the best wood for the charcoal required in the manufacture. At their armory at Carlisle, Pa., the first trials of anthracite for manufacturing purposes were made in 1775. But the condition of the country was little favorable for the development of this branch of industry, and after the war, without capital, a currency, or facilities of transportation, the iron business long continued of little more than local importance. The chief supplies were again furnished from the iron works of Great Britain, the establishment of which had in great part been owing to the restrictions placed upon the development of our own resources; and while that country continued to protect their own interest by prohibitory duties that for a long period excluded all foreign competition, the iron interest of the United States languished under a policy that fostered rather the carrying trade between the two countries than the building up of highly important manufactories, and the establishment around them of permanent agricultural settlements through the home market they should secure. Hence it was that the manufacture in Great Britain was rapidly accelerated, improved by new inventions, strengthened by accumulated capital, and sustained by the use of mineral coal for fuel, almost a century before we had learned in the discouraging condition of the art, that this cheap fuel, mines of which were worked near Richmond in Virginia, before 1790, could be advantageously employed in the manufacture. The natural ad vantages possessed by Great Britain powerfully co-operated with her wise legislation and as her rich deposits of iron ore and coal were developed in close juxtaposition, and in localities not far removed from the coast, the iron interest became so firmly established that no nation accessible to her ships could successfully engage in the same pursuit, until, by following the example set by Great Britain, its own mines and resources might be in like manner developed. Thus encouraged and supported, the iron interest of Great Britain has prospered at the expense of that of all other nations, till her annual production amounts to more than one-half of the seven millions or eight millions of tons produced throughout the world; and the products of her mines and furnaces have, until quite recently, been better known, even in the extreme western states, where the cost of "Scotch pig iron" has been more than doubled by the transportation, than has that of the rich ores of these very states. And thus it is the annual production of the United States has only recently reached 2,000,000 tons, notwithstanding the abundance and richness of her mines, both of iron ores and of coal, and the immense demands of iron for her own consumption. So great are the advantages she possesses in the quality of these essential materials in the production of iron, that according to the statement of an able writer upon this subject, who is himself largely engaged in the manufacture, less than half the quantity of raw materials is required in this country to the ton of iron, that is required in Great Britain, "thus economizing labor to an enormous extent. In point of fact, the materials for making a ton of iron can be laid down in the United States at the furnace with less expenditure of human labor than in any part of the known world, with the possible exception of Scotland." ("On the Statistics and Geography of the Production of Iron," by Abram S. Hewitt, N. Y., 1856, p. 20). The tables presented by this writer, of the annual production, show striking vicissitudes in the trade, which is to be accounted for chiefly by the fluctuations in prices in the English market depressing or encouraging our own manufacture, and by the frequent changes in our tariff. "In 1810 the production of iron, entirely charcoal, was 54,000 tons. In 1820, in consequence of the commercial ruin which swept over the country just before, the busi ness was in a state of comparative ruin, and viz: ores, fuel to reduce them, and a suitnot over 20,000 tons were produced. There was a protective duty on iron from 1825 to 1837, but none from 1837 to 1843. From 1843 to 1848 there was protection, but none from 1848 to 1863. The high protective duty was modified in 1866, and since that time the protection has been more and more moderate as the premium on gold declined. The tariff of 1870 reduced the duty from nine to seven dollars per ton on pig iron, and from eight to six dollars per ton on scrap iron. Until the year 1840, charcoal had been the only fuel used in the manufacture of iron; and while it produced a metal far superior in quality to that made with coke, the great demands of the trade were for cheap irons, and the market was chiefly supplied with these from Great Britain. The introduction of anthracite for smelting iron ores in 1840 marked a new era in the manufacture, though its influence was not sensibly felt for several years. MATERIALS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE. Before attempting to exhibit the resources of the United States for making iron, and the methods of conducting the manufacture, it is well to give some account of the materials employed, and explain the conditions upon which this manufacture depends. Three elements are essential in the great branch of the business-that of producing pig iron, able flux to aid the process by melting with and removing the earthy impurities of the ore in a freely flowing, glassy cinder. The flux is usually limestone, and by a wise provision, evidently in view of the uses to which this would be applied, limestone is almost universally found conveniently near to iron ores; so also are stores of fuel commensurate with the abundance of the ores. The principal ores are hematites, magnetic and specular ores, the red oxides of the secondary rocks, and the carbonates. Probably more than three-quarters of the iron made in the United States is from the first three varieties named, and a much larger proportion of the English iron is from the lastfrom the magnetic and specular ores none. Hematites, wherever known, are favorite ores. They are met with in great irregular-shaped deposits (apparently derived from other forms in which the iron was distributed), intermixed with ochres, clays, and sands, sometimes in scattered lumps and blocks, and sometimes in massive ledges; they also occur in beds interstratified among the mica slates. Although the deposits are regarded as of limited capacity, they are often worked to the depth of more than 100 feet; in one instance in Berks county, Penn., to 165 feet; and when abandoned, as they sometimes are, it is questionable whether this is not rather owing to the increased expenses incurred in continuing the enormous excavations at such depths, than from failure of the ore. Mines of hematite have proved the most valuable mines in the United States. At Salisbury, in Connecticut, they have been worked almost uninterruptedly for more than 100 years, supplying the means for supporting an active industry in the country around, and enriching generation after generation of proprietors. The great group of mines at Chestnut Hill, in Columbia county, Penn., and others in Berks and Lehigh counties in the same state, are of similar character. The ore is a hydrated peroxide of iron, consisting of from 72 to 85 per cent. of peroxide of iron (which corresponds to about 50 to 60 per cent. of iron), and from 10 to 14 per cent. of water. Silica and alumina, phosphoric acid, and peroxide of manganese are one or more present in very small quantities; but the impurities are rarely such as to interfere with the production of very excellent iron, either for foundry or forge purposes-that is, for castings or bar iron. It is |