The Iron Furnaces of Western Maryland

DESCRIPTION OF MARYLAND IRON WORKS.

This chapter contains a description of most of the iron works which have existed or still exist in Maryland. The furnaces are first taken up by counties, and as full a description as the information available permits is given of each. A great many of the furnaces are so old and the references to them so scant, and in some cases so conflicting", that the account is not always as full and definite as one might wish.

MARYLAND FURNACES.

Friendsville Furnace —A charcoal furnace and two forges were built in 1828-9 on the north side of Bear Creek, a branch of the Youghiogheny River, a half mile east of Friendsville. This is the only furnace that has been erected in Garrett County and was intended to use the carbonate ores of the Youghiogheny Coal Basin. Lack of transportation facilities made the cost of the iron too high, as it had to be hauled to the National road, and thence to Baltimore ; consequently, the furnace shut down in 1834. The forges were then removed to the west side of the Youghiogheny River, a half mile northeast of Friendsville, and remained in operation until 1845. The site of the old water-wheel at this locality can still be seen, and the walls of the coal house remain.

Mt. Savage Furnaces —At Mt. Savage three steam hot-blast coke furnaces were erected by the Mt. Savage Iron Company. The two older ones were on the south side of the creek just above Mt. Savage, and the newer one opposite them on the other side of the creek. This was on the site of the present clay bank. The ruins of the two older ones are still standing, but are nearly buried under the dump of the clay bank. No. 1 and No. 2 furnaces were built in 1840 and were 50 feet high and 15 feet wide at the boshes. No. 3 was commenced in 1845, but was never lined. The furnaces were built with the intention of using the carbonate ores of the Coal Basin, but they had to depend on the "red fossil" ore around Cumberland, and ores farther east in the State for their supply. The output of No. 2, in 1844, was 4,500 tons on a blast of forty weeks' duration. No. 1, in 1846, in forty-four weeks produced 4,528 tons. The furnaces were shut down a few years before the Civil War, but were operated again during the War, and after that finally abandoned.

At this same locality were the Mt. Savage Rolling Mills, erected by the Maryland and New York Iron and Coal Company, which achieved quite a fame in their time for rolling iron rails. The mill was erected in 1843, and consisted of 37 heating furnaces and two trains of steam driven rolls. In 1855, it produced 8,350 tons of rails out of equal quantities of pig iron and old rails. The mill was shut down in 1856 and dismantled in 1875. This plant was erected to roll iron rails, and in 1844 the first rails made in the United States that were not strap rails were made here. This was an inverted "U" rail weighing 42 pounds to the yard, of which 500 tons were rolled early in 1844, and laid on part of the railroad built from Cumberland to Mt. Savage. This type of rail was known in Wales as the Evans patent of the Dowlais Iron Works at Merthyr Tydvil, and was intended to be laid on a wooden longitudinal sill to which it was fastened by an iron wedge keying under the sill, thus dispensing with outside fastenings. In honor of this event, a silver medal, now in the museum of Ince Blundell of Lancashire, England,1 was awarded in October of that year by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. Later in that same year "T" rails weighing 50 pounds to the yard, ordered by Colonel Borden, of Fall River, Mass., were rolled for the railroad from Fall River to Boston. "T" rails were also sold to Boston purchasers in 1845 and 1846 through the firm of Manning & Lee, in Baltimore.¹

The following interesting account of this plant is given in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine for 1849:

"An English Company was formed about fifteen years ago to manufacture Iron at Mt. Savage, but owing partly to mistaken management, and partly to the alteration of the tariff, they failed in business, and about two years ago were sold out by the sheriff. Their works consist of three blast furnaces, among the largest in the United States, the blast of which is carried on by a monster steam engine erected at a cost of $72,000, a puddling furnace and rolling mill large enough to employ six hundred men, a foundry, a fire-brick yard, a store, 320 houses for workmen, etc... besides Iron and coal mines. From the balance sheets of the company, the works appear to have cost $1,600,000. The whole was sold to a company consisting of citizens of Albany, New York, and Boston for a little over $200,000. This company is now busy making arrangements to open, as soon as the price of railroad Iron shall be such as to admit of successful competition with the English article. At present the high price of labor in this country renders It impossible to compete with the English manufacturers, who deprived of a market in Europe by the suspension of all works of internal improvement on the Continent, send all their stock to America. "The Mt. Savage establishment when in operation employs nearly four thousand workmen, mostly foreigners. These men are so banded together among themselves, and with workmen in other establishments, that they will remain idle or work at other business at one half what the company could afford to give them, rather than abate one cent from their wages. Puddlers, who formerly received three to five dollars per ton, could now earn two dollars and a half per ton, but they prefer to work in mines or on the canal for one half that amount. It is to be hoped that before long a peace in Europe, an alteration of the tariff, or a return to reason on the part of the workmen will bring the superior article made at Mt. Savage into general use on our railroads."

Bowery Furnaces —Two coke furnaces were erected at Midlothian in 1868 by the Cumberland Coal and Iron Company. They used carbonate ores mined on the hill northwest of the furnaces, and brought down to the furnaces in tram cars, and also "fossil ore" from around Cumberland. The coal for the coke was obtained from the company's mines at the furnaces, and the limestone for fluxing purposes chiefly from the hill east of Borden Shaft. After being operated about seven years the furnaces were abandoned.

Lonaconing Furnace —A steam hot-blast coke furnace was erected at Lonaconing, on the west side of George's Creek by the George's Creek Coal and Iron Company in 1837. It seems that there was an older charcoal furnace on this same site, but nothing is known in regard to it. Overman claims this was the first successful coke furnace in the United States. The stack, which is still standing, is 50 feet high and 15 feet wide at the boshes, and is built of sandstone lined with brick. The blast was through two tuyeres blown at a pressure of 2-1/4 pounds per square inch and 3200 cubic feet per minute, by a 60 H. P. steam engine, and was heated to a temperature of 700° F. by stoves near the tuyere arches. Connected with the furnace was a foundry for machine and other castings. The average weekly output for the first few years was 75 tons, and two hundred arid twenty men were employed in the establishment. The principal ore used was the carbonate ore of that section, which was obtained chiefly from the hill back of the furnace, from where it was brought to the furnace on a tram road. The limestone flux was also obtained from this same hill. The tram road was first laid with four foot cast iron rails having the flange on the rail instead of on the wheel. These were satisfactory for one ton cars, but when two ton cars were introduced, they were found to be too light, so in 1854 the road was torn up and wooden tracks put down covered with iron bands.

In the forties, the furnace was leased by Christopher Detmold, by whom a tram road with wooden tracks banded with sugar wood was built from the furnace to Clarysville on the National road. The operations throughout the history of the furnace suffered from an insufficient supply of ore, notwithstanding every effort of the company to locate adequate sources; and consequently the project was finally abandoned in 1855, in which year 1,860 tons of iron were produced.

Lena Furnace —The Lena furnace was built in 1846 by J. F. Penniman, of New York, at the northwest end of Cumberland. The site of the furnace was on the north side of Columbia Avenue, between Lena and Pulaski Streets, and the offices were on the south side of Columbia Avenue. It was built as a charcoal furnace, but was changed to a hot-blast coke furnace. The stack was 28 feet high and 8 feet wide at the boshes. After running for about six years it was shut down until the Civil War, when it, was again put in blast and run until 1807.

Green Spring Furnace —In 1770, Governor Johnson and a Mr. Jacques erected a furnace on Green Spring Run, one mile above its entrance into the Potomac River. The neighboring ore not being of good quality, the furnace was abandoned in 1775.

Licking Creek Forge - At this same time James Johnson built the Licking Creek forge, at the mouth of Licking Creek, to use the pig iron from the furnace. When the furnace shut down, the forge was sold to a Mr. Chambers, of Chambersburg, Pa., who ran it until 1780 with pig iron from his furnace in Pennsylvania.

On this same site, a hot-blast charcoal furnace, 35 feet high and 8 feet wide at the boshes, was erected in 1848 by J. D. Roman and Company and managed by B. F. Roman. The, remains of this stack are still standing. The furnace was supplied with ore from banks a mile or two to the north, and in 1856 produced in thirty-two weeks 677 tons of forge and foundry iron. On the death of Mr. Roman, about 1865, the furnace passed into the hands of J. B. Haines and Company, and was operated by them until 1873.

Rock Forge Furnace —The Rock Forge Furnace was situated on Little Antietam Creek near Leitersburg. It was built in 1770 by Samuel and Daniel Hughes, and operated until 1795. A mile and a half below this furnace, on the same creek, they built a forge known as the Antietam forge, which continued in operation sometime after the furnace shut down, using pig iron from Pennsylvania.

This furnace had the distinction of casting the first Maryland cannon during the Revolution. Bishop² states that "Daniel and Samuel Hughes were proprietors of an air furnace in Frederick County (afterward made Washington County). On July 1, 1776, the Maryland Convention authorized the Council of Safety to lend the proprietors for nine months the sum of £200 common money, to encourage them 'to prosecute their cannon foundry with spirit and diligence.' They had then nearly completed a contract for casting cannon for the State, and were, a few days after, introduced to the Continental Congress by a letter from the Convention, which stated that the Messrs. Hughes had been at much expense in fitting up their works. Although their first guns did not stand the proof, the foundry was then in condition to make very good ones in greater numbers than the Province would possibly require. They proposed to enlarge their works if Congress would take all the guns they could make during the next year. A contract was made with them for 1,000 tons of cannon toward which $800 were advanced. In the same year, the people of Alexandria, Virginia, applied to Congress for permission to purchase cannon at the Messrs. Hughes' furnace, stating that they were 'the only persons in this part of the continent to be depended on for cannon.' In May, 1777, Congress allowed them $22-2/3 per ton, in addition to the sum mentioned in the contract."

Mount Etna Furnace —The Mount Etna furnace was situated at the fork in the road two miles southwest of Pondsville, and the site is still marked by traces of the old cinder bank. This furnace was built by Samuel and David Hughes subsequent to the erection of the Rock Forge furnace, and was managed by John Horine. A personal communication from Dr. E. Tracy Bishop of Smithsburg places the date of its erection in 1809. It was discontinued a few years after the close of the war of 1812.

Mariah Furnace —The Mariah furnace was located at Mousetown, a quarter of a mile east of the turnpike below Boonsboro. It shut down about thirty years ago, when it was operated by a Mr. McGinley, who had bought it from Samuel Bentz.

Antietam Furnace and Iron Works —These works were on the Potomac River at the mouth of Antietam Creek. The original company consisted of Joseph Chapline, Samuel Beall, Jr., David Ross, and Richard Henderson. The articles of agreement were drawn up February 4, 1763, and recorded October 31, 1765. Joseph Chapline furnished the land warrants and was paid £300 by each of the others. There are seven articles of agreement, in the second of which the limits of the tract are thus described (From an old newspaper clipping In possession of Mr. J. P. Smith of Sharpsburg.):

"Beginning on the Potowmack River, one hundred yards west of the Anti-Eatam Creek and extending parallel to Anti-Eatam Creek until a west course will meet Beaver Creek, and then by the Marsh Branch of Beaver Creek, so as to include all the ore and wood of South Mountain, then down the east side to the Potowmack and up the Potowmack to the beginning."

A second charcoal furnace 50 feet high and 15 feet wide at the boshes was built here in 1845. The production, in twenty weeks during 1857, was 1,465 tons of hard metal, which was sold in Boston and Wheeling. This furnace had to be abandoned during the Civil War, but after the War was restored as a coke furnace by Daniel V. Ahl, of Pennsylvania, and operated until 1878.

A forge was built in connection with the original furnace and operated until the fifties. In 1831 a nail factory with twenty-five nail machines and a small rolling mill with two heating furnaces and two trains of rolls, were erected and operated until 1853.

Mr. T. J. C. Williams, in his history of Washington County, gives the following detailed description of the plant:

"The old nail factory at Antietam Iron Works, owned at the time by John McPherson Brien, was burned on April 25, 1841. It was rebuilt, increased in size, and in operation in two months. These works gave employment in 1841 to two hundred white laborers and sixty slaves.

The head of the fall at these works is about twenty feet. At the time of which we are speaking one water-wheel fourteen feet high and eight feet wide drove an improved saw-mill, and shingle, stave, and jointing machines. The furnace bellows wheel was twenty feet high and four feet wide. The furnace blown by this wheel made 40 to 60 tons of metal a week. Another water-wheel sixteen feet high, drove nineteen nail and spike machines witli the necessary cutters to prepare the plates. Between 400 and 600 kegs of. nails varying in size from two-penny up to seven inch spikes were manufactured each week. Another water-wheel twelve feet high worked a ponderous chaffery hammer. There was a six-fire forge, with a hammer weighing twenty-one tons driven by a sixteen-foot wheel. There were also two forge bellows wheels seventeen feet high. There was a rolling mill for turning rolls of various sizes, nail rods, nail plates, and bar Iron. This machinery was driven by an overshot wheel fourteen feet high and twenty feet wide. There were also three puddling furnaces and an air furnace. Two other wheels, seventeen feet high, drove a merchant grist mill, with four run of French burrs. A1l of these wheels were driven from the same race, supported by a strong wall laid in hydraulic cement. Two hundred and fifty yards away was the canal basin, where coal, lumber and ore were received and the products of the works shipped in boats owned by Mr. Brien.

The Antietam Works were erected by Wm. M. Brown, and were operated by Ross, Bell and Henderson, of Baltimore, until they came into the hands of Mr. Brien. In July, 1853, they were sold to William B. Clark for $54,500. In 1855 Clark sold a half interest to Levi Easton for $35,000. Afterwards the property was sold to Daniel V. Ahl of Pennsylvania."

Catoctin Furnaces —These furnaces were situated on the Frederick and Emmitsburg turnpike, three and a half miles south of Thurmont. In 1770, Leonard Calvert and Thomas Johnson received a patent for this tract of seven thousand acres, which in 1774 passed into the hands of the brothers, Thomas, Baker, Roger, and James Johnson, by whom the first furnace was erected in that year. Alexander, writing about 1840, gives the following. account of these works, which he obtained from James Johnson, of Baltimore, a descendant of the original builders:

"The original furnace was built in 1774 by James Johnson and Company, within a mile of the present furnace stack, and carried on successfully until 1787, in which year the same company erected the present furnace, about three-quarters of a mile further up Little Hunting Creek, and nearer the ore banks. This was operated by James Johnson and Company until 1793, when division was made among the brothers by lot. Catoctin fell to Thomas and Baker Johnson, two-thirds and one-third, respectively, who carried it on not very successfully until 1803, when Baker Johnson bought out his brother and rented to Benjamin Blackford for ten years at £1100. At the expiration of the lease, the property was sold by executors to Willoughby and Thomas Mayberry, and was after their dissolution of partnership carried on by Willoughby Mayberry until 1820. when it was sold by trustees to John Brien, who made very extensive improvements. It is now [1840] in the possession of the heirs of Mr. Brien. The furnace was blown out in November or December last, and is not expected to be in blast again this year."

Alexander then adds, "The yield of the old furnace was twelve to eighteen tons per week, and that of the present about the same. The ore is brown hematite, containing in cavities more or less phosphate of iron. It has been represented to me as expensive to raise and the quality of the metal not of first grade. In the ore is associated carbonate of zinc...

Shortly after the erection of the first furnace, the same company built the Bush Creek forge, consisting of a finery and chaffery. on Bush Creek, two miles above its mouth, and made from three to four tons of iron per week. A slitting and rolling mill was also erected at what is now called Reel's Mill, but abandoned after a few years. The forge became the property of Colonel James Johnson and was operated until 1810. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad passes on the site of the hammer wheel."

The statements that follow are based mainly on information obtained from Mr. L. R. Waesche, of Thurmont, at one time manager of the property. The furnace was re-built and soon after came into the possession of Peregrine Fitzhugh. The previous operators had converted their pig iron into hollow ware, as stoves, etc., but Fitzhugh also shipped pig iron to Frederick. In 1859, he erected a steam cold-blast charcoal furnace, but the expense crippled him so that John Kunkle obtained the property, which was then operated for him by his sons, John B. Kunkle and Jacob M. Kuukle, and later came into their possession. The Kunkles abandoned the hollow-ware furnace. In 1867, Jacob M. Kunkle sold out his interest to his brother. A third furnace, an anthracite and coke furnace, with a capacity of thirty-five tons a day, was put up in 1873 by John B. Kunkle. In 1876 he took out letters patent in the United States for the elimination of phosphorus from pig iron by the use of magnesian limestone in the furnace. He also claimed that by the use of this agent pig iron could be freed from phosphorus while being refined into iron or steel. No notable results seemed to have followed the granting of this patent, but it shows that he was running his plant intelligently. The annual output is given at 1200 tons of pig iron at this period, which was used for car wheels, foundry, and milling purposes.

John B. Kunkle died in 1885, and his children formed the Catoctin Iron Company, which shut down and went into the hands of receivers in 1887. In 1888, the plant was operated by the receiver for a year, and then the Catoctin Mountain Iron Company was formed which lasted until 1892. A paint mill was erected and operated for several years during this time, producing blue, red, and yellow ochre from the banks north of the furnace, which are in operation at the present time. The output of pig iron was about thirty tons a day. In 1892 the price of iron had so declined, that the company was forced to shut down, and in 1899 sold out to the Blue Mountain Iron and Steel Company. This Company began operations in May, 1900, with an output of about forty tons per day, and remained in operation until February, 1903, when it discontinued and the property was sold in court in 1905 to Mr. Joseph E. Thropp, of Earlston, Pennsylvania. Mr. Thropp completely dismantled the old furnaces and is working only the ore banks for his furnaces in Pennsylvania. Figure 2, Plate VIII, is a view of the old furnace just before it was torn down in 1905.

Bishop² states that General Thomas Johnson and his brother were owners in 1777 of a furnace at Frederick, but it was not then in blast. In answer to the Provincial Council, in July, 1777, for cannon, General Johnson stated that they intended to get in readiness to cast such cannon and swivels as were wanted, and if they succeeded in making good guns, they would deliver them in Baltimore for £40 per ton, after they had been proved at the works at public expense. At that time they had on hand and could supply of their manufacture, pots, kettles, and Dutch ovens. This was undoubtedly the Catoctin furnace.

Hampton Furnace —Old Hampton furnace was built between 1760 and 1765 by persons whose names have not survived, on Toms Creek, a mile and a half west of Emmitsburg. Ore from the Catoctin banks was at first used before the Catoctin furnace was built. It was soon abandoned for want of good ore. Fielderia Furnace.—This furnace was built by Fielder Gantt, on the Harpers Ferry road, three miles from Frederick, in 1789 to 1790. It made but one blast, and was then abandoned. The lands were divided into wood lots, and sold out in the years 1791 and 1792, and a grist mill belonging to John Hoffman, of Frederick, was built on the furnace site.

Johnson Furnace —The Johnson furnace was erected by the owners of the Catoctin furnace in 1787. It was located on the south side of Furnace Branch, a tributary of the Monocacy River, about a mile and a half northwest of Dickerson. When the property of James Johnson and Company was divided in 1793, this furnace fell to Roger Johnson, and was operated by him until some years after 1800. The ore was brought from the banks at Point of Rocks in boats on the Potomac and by wagons. The output was from twelve to fifteen tons of good grade pig iron per week.

According to Swank, soon after he obtained the furnace in 1793, Roger Johnson erected the Bloomsburg forge on Big Bennetts Creek, about five miles above its junction with the Monocacy River. The weekly output was four to five tons of finished iron. Alexander states, however, that the forge was erected with a finery and chaffery between 1787 and 1790, and was carried on profitably a year or two by working up "stamp-stuff" from the cinder heaps of the old Catoctin furnace. The forge was abandoned between 1800 and 1805.

Lonaconing Furnace —This furnace was built by Barker and Company, of Baltimore, at Knoxville, in 1848, but was operated for only a short while. In 1868, it was rebuilt by Christian Geiger; and, after being run by him for nearly a year, was sold to a Pittsburg company which operated it about ten years.

OTHER IRON WORKS IN MARYLAND.

To attempt to give a full account of the iron works which have existed in Maryland, other than the furnaces, would carry this report too far afield. Nevertheless, it might be of interest to mention some of the more important enterprises that have existed, since it was to them in large measure, that the product of our furnaces went to be finished into the articles of industry. A number of these iron works were run in connection with the furnaces, and these have already been described in the accounts of those furnaces. The following section describes briefly some of those not yet mentioned.

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Rail Mill —The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built a rail mill in 1870 at Cumberland, with fifteen double puddling furnaces, fifteen heating furnaces, three trains of rolls, and three hammers; and in 1873, a bar mill for making bar iron, bolts, rivets, spikes, and fish plates. The capacity of the two mills was 40,000 tons. The manufacture of rails was abandoned in 1882. and the mill leased to the Cambria Iron Company for rolling steel billets.

FOOTNOTES:
1. J. Swank, Hist. of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages, 1892, 2d ed., p. 434.
2. Bishop: Hist, of American Manufactures, 1864, Vol. 1, p. 589.