Cambria County Pioneers, 1910, by James L. Swank, Cambria County, PA - Cambria Iron Works Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ________________________________________________ CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS HON. CYRUS L. PERSHING A Collection of Brief Biographical and other Sketches Relating to the Early History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. by JAMES M. SWANK PHILADELPHIA: No. 261 SOUTH FOURTH STREET, 1910. THE BUILDING OF THE CAMBRIA IRON WORKS. 65 THE BUILDING OF THE CAMBRIA IRON WORKS. FROM THE BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION, AUGUST 1, 1888. IN 1833 George S. King, a merchant of Mercersburg, Franklin county, then 24 years old, came to Johnstown, having heard that it presented opportunities for business that were worthy of his attention. When he saw the town and listened to the sound of the saw and the hammer on every hand he at once concluded that he had been wisely advised and promptly opened a store on Main street. In this and other mercantile enterprises at Johnstown he was very successful during the next few years. In 1839 and 1840, impressed with the necessity of developing the manufacture of pig iron at or near Johnstown, Mr. King diligently searched for iron ore in its neighboring hills and found it in such quantities and of such satisfactory quality as to encourage him to embark in the business of making pig iron. In 1840 or 1841, at Ross furnace, in Westmoreland county, he tested the ore that he had found in the hills near Laurel run, a few miles below Johnstown. In 1841 Cambria furnace was built on Laurel run by George S. King, David Stewart, John K. Shryock, and William L. Shryock. It was successful from the start. It was soon followed by five other furnaces in Cambria county, as follows: Mill Creek, built by John Bell & Co. in 1845; Ben's Creek, built by George S. King & Co. in 1846; Eliza, five miles west of Ebensburg, on Blacklick creek, commenced by Ritter & Rodgers in 1846 and completed by Ritter & Irvin in 1847; Mount Vernon, at Johnstown, built by Peter Levergood & Co. in 1846 and subsequently owned by Lintons & Galbreath and Rhey, Matthews & Co.; and Ashland, six miles north of Gallitzin, built by Joseph A. Conrad and Hugh McNeal in 1847. All these furnaces have long been abandoned. All used charcoal. The divid- 66 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. ing line between Cambria and Indiana counties passed through the stack of Eliza furnace. Having established the pig iron industry in Cambria county Mr. King turned his attention to the conversion into iron rails of the pig iron that was made at the furnaces near Johnstown or that might be made at new furnaces. The building of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was completed to Pittsburgh in 1852, convinced Mr. King that the road itself would furnish a market for a large part of the product of a rail mill if one were built at Johnstown. The rail mill that was then nearest to Johnstown was at Brady's Bend, in Armstrong county. Rails were not then made at Pittsburgh. In 1852, therefore, Mr. King visited New York and Boston to explain to capitalists in those cities his scheme for building a rail rolling mill at Johnstown. In the following letter, written at our request, Mr. King gives the details of his eventually successful but always laborious and often disappointing efforts to establish the Cambria Iron Works. Mr. King writes us as follows: Your letter of May 26th and accompanying copy of your work, Iron in All Ages, are at hand, all of which are of much interest and value to me and for which I thank you. In respect to your request that I give you a history of the origin of the Cambria Iron Works, at Johnstown, I will state that in my effort to do so, for the reason that I am without access to books and memoranda, I can not give dates or enter into the matter as specifically as I would like to do. To properly get at the facts I will go back to my first identification with the iron business, my interest in which finally led to the location and first erection of the Cambria Iron Works, for many years the largest and still one of the most extensive works of their kind in the United States. Owing to the depressed condition of all business, in consequence of the adoption of the compromise tariff of 1833, a great many of the people being out of employment, as well as myself, I concluded that a means might be found to somewhat change this condition through the iron ore deposits in the hills around Johnstown. After a search of THE BUILDING OF THE CAMBRIA IRON WORKS. 67 several months I found, in 1839 or 1840, a deposit of ore, and thought it sufficient to justify the erection of a furnace to work it. For the reason that there was but little or no money in circulation my idea was to take the iron out of the ore and trade it for merchandise with which to pay the workingmen and enable them to live. In the first undertaking I associated with me David Stewart and John K. and Wm. L. Shryock, and I gave the name "Cambria" to our furnace, which we built on Laurel run, about three miles from Johnstown. This being before the day of stone coal for furnace use we used charcoal for fuel. Our first iron was made in 1841. About the latter part of 1843 Dr. Peter Shoenberger, of Pittsburgh, purchased the interest of David Stewart, and in 1844 Dr. Shoenberger and myself purchased the interest of John K. and Wm. L. Shryock, thereby becoming equal owners of Cambria furnace. We sold our pig iron at Pittsburgh. The tariff of 1842 now being in force and effective, as it better protected the industries of the United States, better times resulted and they justified operators in going into new enterprises and increasing their business. Dr. Shoenberger and I concluded to take advantage of the change, and we built two more new furnaces, Mill Creek and Ben's Creek furnaces, situated about four miles from Johnstown in an opposite direction from Cambria furnace. In these enterprises John Bell was associated with us, remaining so for one or two years, when Dr. Shoenberger and I purchased his interest. By this time the tariff of 1846 went into operation and it greatly depressed all business, checking enterprise and breaking up much of the iron manufacturing then done in this country. David Stewart, who was formerly associated with me, taking advantage of the recent good times, had built Blacklick furnace, situated about eight miles northwest of Johnstown, in Indiana county. Because of the reductions in duties in the tariff of 1846 Mr. Stewart, like many others, became dissatisfied with the result of his enterprise, and came to us, offering to dispose of it to us, and we purchased it. We then had four furnaces which we kept alive and in 68 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. operation during depressed times for some years, and that, too, with little or no profit to us. In this situation it became a question as to what move we could make in order to perpetuate the business we had engaged in. Dr. Shoenberger advocated the erection of a large foundry, to put our iron into the shape of castings, such as large sugar kettles for the New Orleans market, these and other castings then seeming most in demand. I advocated the erection of a rolling mill to manufacture railroad iron. Our iron was not adapted for bar iron purposes, and in my opinion was not good for castings, as it was too hard, though in a wrought form I was satisfied that it was good for railroad iron if properly worked, and the result of a trial demonstrated that I was right in this opinion. Finally we agreed upon an effort being made in the direction of organizing a company to erect a rolling mill for the manufacture of railroad iron. I think that it was in February, 1852, when I left Johnstown to go East to get parties to become interested in the new enterprise. I went first to New York City, and being unacquainted with any one there I was placed at a disadvantage. Among those I could hear of as being most likely to invest in the enterprise was Simeon Draper, a broker, and whom I had heard of quite often. When I called at his office I found him absent, but I presented the matter to his chief business man, George W. Hodges. Finding but little encouragement in New York I concluded to go to Boston. My first efforts in Boston were not flattering and resulted in my discovering the fountain-head of a concern that I knew something about before. I was taken by a party to the office of an alleged large and wealthy "iron company," and found the office grandly fitted up and well equipped with advertising material, consisting of pamphlets, circulars, etc., one of which was handed to me. It set forth that this "iron company" represented a capital of $500,000 and their works were said to be located near Hollidaysburg, Blair county, where they owned two hundred acres of land and a furnace under construction. I was aware before this that an attempt had been made to build a furnace as mentioned in the pamphlet, and knew THE BUILDING OF THE CAMBRIA IRON WORKS. 69 all about the matter so well that I got out of that office as soon as possible. I said nothing to them about my matter, nor did I tell them what I knew about theirs. I next met a party, Mr. Daniel Wilde, to whom I talked about the object I had in view. He called on me at the hotel and we had our second talk, and he proposed that we go and see Mr. John Hartshorn, a broker. We went to his office, I taking with me a schedule of the property Dr. Shoenberger and I intended to put into the business. We saw Mr. Hartshorn and acquainted him with the matter, I laying before him our proposition, which was that Dr. Shoenberger and I should put in our four furnaces, with tools, teams, all the firm's property, except goods in stores and metal on hand, and twenty-five thousand acres of land, all valued at $300,000, of which we would retain shares in stock to the amount of $100,000 and the rest to be paid to us by the company. Mr. Hartshorn and Mr. Wilde agreed to get up the company within six months' time from date. I then wrote to Dr. Shoenberger to come on to Boston, and on his reaching there he and I signed the articles of agreement as above stated. Upon me was placed the duty of procuring the charter, and to effect this as soon as possible I went to Harrisburg. In our conversations no mention was made of the name of the company to be organized and the works to be built. Of my own choice and without consulting with Dr. Shoenberger or others I gave the names "Cambria Iron Company" and "Cambria Iron Works." Our capital was placed at $1,000,000 and the works were to be located at Johnstown. When procuring the charter I found a general law existing that limited the quantity of land to be held by such an organization in one county, and our land not lying in accordance with this provision I went to the Legislature, then in session, and procured the enactment of an additional section to the original law, permitting the holding of lands in more than one county without limit as to quantity. This accomplished and the charter secured I next went to Philadelphia and succeeded in procuring subscriptions of about $30,000 in stock on the part of some merchants with whom I had business relations. 70 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. At the expiration of six months our Boston parties had not succeeded as expected and were granted a limit of six months longer to effect their purposes. They transferred their efforts to New York and called on Simeon Draper, whom I had tried to enlist in the matter before I went to Boston. Mr. Draper became a subscriber to the stock and vouched for other subscribers to the amount of $300,000. We then held a meeting to organize the company, resulting as follows: Dr. Peter Shoenberger, president; Simeon Draper, treasurer; George W. Hodges, secretary; and myself, general manager. About this time a change was made in the amount of stock shares to be retained by Dr. Shoenberger and myself, we taking $200,000, instead of $100,000, as first agreed upon, leaving $100,000 to be paid to us in money by the company. I had before this time conditionally contracted with parties in Johnstown for land which I thought most convenient and best adapted for locating the works, and the company now being organized I immediately secured it and began to erect the rolling mill, four hot-blast coke furnaces, and other buildings, also grading for a coke yard, etc. This was in February, 1853, just one year after I went to New York and Boston to get up the company. I have herein given you a brief history of the Cambria Iron Company from its origin up to the first work done in the erection of the works, which I think will cover your request as contained in your letter. Very respectfully yours, GEORGE S. KING. LEWISTOWN, Fulton County, Illinois, June 14, 1888. _____ George Shryock King Was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, on October 28, 1809, and died at Johnstown on December 8, 1903, aged over 94 years.