Pennsylvania's Iron History
The history of iron in Pennsylvania began early with William Penn's
first visit in 1692. He recognized the vast mineral resources of
the land and expressed his desire that those resources be
exploited. Iron production began with the construction of the first
forge, by Thomas Rutter, in 1716 in Berks County, near present day
Pottstown. A few years later, the forge was followed by the
construction of an iron blast furnace, named Colebrookdale. Blast
furnaces and forges were soon being built throughout the eastern
part of the colony. By 1755, the ironworks east of the mountains
were exporting 836 tons of iron a year.
West of the Mountains
The rapid expansion of iron production in the east led to depletion
of the resources necessary to manufacture it, and thus there was
impetus to construct furnaces in the western part of the state,
across the mountains. The first such furnace to be established was
Bedford Furnace, on the present site of Orbisonia (about 40 miles
south of Centre Furnace) in 1785. Centre Furnace was the second to
be established west of the mountains.
Establishment of Centre Furnace
Cols. John Patton and Samuel Miles built and operated Centre
Furnace; however, iron making was not their original intent. The
two men were initially involved in real estate, buying lands in the
early 1770s and renting to farmers. An assay of the ore that the
farmers were plowing up in their fields showed that it was of high
quality. The abundance of the raw materials necessary to smelt iron
led these two men to begin to search for a spot to convert ore into
iron, finding this to be ideal site to start such a venture. Cols.
Patton built the furnace with the help of the skilled but
out-of-work ironworkers from eastern PA. In addition to the
furnace, many other structures were built, including a store,
gristmill, sawmill, school, and church; thus making the Centre
Furnace Village a self-sufficient community.
Smelting the Iron
Laborers dug the iron ore from the company holdings surrounding the
furnace, with the bulk of the ore coming from the nearby region
known as the Barrens. Once raised from the ground, the ore was
transported to the furnace, there to be broken up, and then washed
to remove the clay and dirt that surrounded it. The cleaned ore was
either charged into the furnace or stored on site. It required two
tons of ore to produce each ton of iron.
The plentiful forests surrounding the furnace provided the fuel
supply. The men who made the charcoal, known as colliers, cut wood
to size, and place it in pits. The pile was ignited and then
covered with earth to prevent it from burning to ash. The burning
process took about a week and required great attention and skill.
Colliers were some of the best-paid workers at the furnace. The
charcoal was then transported to the furnace by wagons and stored
on site. The furnace needed a substantial amount of fuel to smelt
the iron; requiring the charcoal made from two acres of land per
day.
The charcoal and iron were put into the furnace in layers, the
charcoal providing heat as well as reducing the iron oxide to iron.
The furnace ran 24 hours a day seven days a week, with the furnace
being tapped twice a day. Each furnace tapping produced 2 tons of
cast iron. The iron was poured into molds on the floor of the
casting house. Since the molding patterns looked similar to piglets
suckling a sow, the smaller ingots were known as pig iron. In
addition to those pigs, iron was cast in to a variety of other
goods such as pots, stoves, skillets for home use, as well as
gears, cogs, and cams for machinery. Pig iron was transported to
nearby forges to be manufactured into wrought iron.
Ends and Beginnings
Ill health led to Col. Patton retiring from the furnace in 1798,
with Col. Miles buying his interest in the furnace. Col. Patton
passed away in 1804 and is buried in Huntingdon. Col. Miles
continued to run the furnace until his passing in 1805. Ownership
of the furnace was transferred to his sons, and went out of blast a
few years later.
The furnace was restarted anew by Messer's Miles and Green in
1826. It was during this second era that the current mansion was
built. Ownership passed hands several times, but by 1838 Gen. James
Irvin became the sole owner of the furnace. Moses Thompson, who had
married Gen. Irvin's sister, bought a share of the furnace and
became its manager after 1842. Under the management of these two
men, the furnace kept smelting iron for many years, making the area
and themselves prosperous.
After many years of wresting iron from the ore, changes came to
the industry. Increased transportation costs for the charcoal,
importation of cheap British iron, and the establishment of
improved manufacturing methods led to the stack being closed for
the last time.
But that is not the end of the story of Centre Furnace. The
State Agricultural Society was interested in establishing a school
with the goal of improving the state's agricultural capabilities.
Irvin and Thompson worked hard to arrange for that farmer's school
to be established near Centre Furnace. Gen. Irvin offered 200 acres
of land and $10,000 with the promise of selling an additional 200
acres for the establishment of the Farmer's High School. Many in
the local community lobbied strongly for the school as well, with
meetings with members of the Agricultural Society being held in the
Centre Furnace mansion. This site was chosen over several others in
1855. That Farmer's High School continued to prosper over the years
and was eventually renamed Penn State University.
There are a number of plaques and markers around the site. Use
the information that you find to answer the following questions.
You may make the trip around the site any way that you choose. The
answers should be easy to find, based on the descriptions; however
waypoints are provided. The listed coordinates are for the parking
lot.
Centre Furnace Historical Marker (40° 48.363 N,
77° 50.598 W)
At this historical marker you can find the answers to the following
questions:
1) When did Cols. John Patton and Samuel
Miles operate the first charcoal iron furnace?
2) When was the present stack in use?
3) Based on that information (add the answers from questions 1 and
2), how many years was the furnace in blast?
The Furnace Stack (40° 48.319, 77° 50.611
W)
Here you can see the stonework that comprised the furnace up close.
You will need to take a photo of yourself with the furnace
and post it on your log. In addition there are few
questions you will need to answer from the information found at the
stack.
1) What are the four ingredients needed to
manufacture iron at the site?
2) By what names was the stream used to power the furnace
known?
Akin to Another Metal (40° 48.389 N, 77° 50.542
W)
1) Central Pennsylvania's excellent quality
iron ore, discovered in the late 1700s, has been likened to another
metal. Which one?
Living History (40° 48.414 N, 77° 50.550
W)
1) Based on the information here, what is the
minimum age of this particular item?
Based on the information that you learned from the tour, you can
estimate the amount of materials used and the amount of iron
produced at the site. This is an estimate, as the furnace did not
run at full capacity at all times, nor were the yields exact for
the raw materials or produced iron. [Other than the number of years
that the furnace was in operation, all other information for these
calculations can be found in the text above.]
Amount Of Iron Produced:
The number of years the furnace was in
operation:
X days per year
X the amount of iron for each tapping in tons
X number of tappings per day
= Tons produced
Iron Ore Needed To Produce The Iron:
The number of years the furnace was in
operation:
X days per year
X the amount of iron for each tapping in tons
X number of tappings per day
X amount of iron ore needed for each ton of iron
= Tons of iron ore needed
Forest Needed To Produce The Charcoal For The
Furnace:
The number of years the furnace was in
operation:
X days per year
X acres of forest needed per day to be converted to charcoal
÷ 640 acres per square mile
= Square miles of forest cut and converted to charcoal
Post your photo to the log, and send the answers to the
above questions (in blue) to me via
email.
All of the information required to log this cache is located
outside, so you do not need to seek the answers when the mansion is
open. However, if you haven't had the opportunity to visit the
Centre Furnace Mansion before, I strongly encourage you to seek
this cache at time when the mansion is open, the guides provide an
excellent tour and provide a more in-depth explanation of the site
than can be provided here. The mansion is open for tours on M, W,
F, and Sunday and closed on some holidays, Additional information
about the Centre Furnace Mansion and the iron furnace as well as
availability of tours can be found at the
website.
Thanks to the Centre Historical Society for allowing this
earthcache.
Research materials used for this cache:
"The Centre Furnace Story: A Return to Our Roots", Sylvester K.
Stevens, edited and expanded by Philip S. Klein, The Centre County
Historical Society, 1985.
http://centrecountyhistory.org/