History: Local: Chapter XXXVII - Part I: Manufacturing Industries : Bean's 1884 History of Montgomery Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Susan Walters USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ BEAN'S HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 562 (cont.) CHAPTER XXXVII. PART - I MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. EARLY IRON MANUFACTURE. -The unfriendly policy of England towards the development of the manufacturing industries of the provinces was early manifested and continuously exerted, and towards none more unwisely, as time has shown, than Pennsylvania. 563 The necessities, not less than the enterprise of the pioneers of the colony induced explorations for minerals, and the large bodies of hematite ores, fluxing materials and matchless forests of hard-wood found in close proximity invited capitalists to build furnaces for smelting and erect forges and stilling-mills for preparing iron for domestic use. Water-power was used in those days to propel crude inventions, aided by the hands of the skilled laborer, to slowly produce the commodities that are now wrought by ingeniously devised machinery, responsive to steam-power. The natural resources of the colony and their variety gave rise to diversified industrial pursuits, and home demands invited convenient sources of supply. Three thousand miles of ocean separated the early settlers from the home country, and their increasing wants were not always supplied at the sea-port city, while the interior settlements were often destitute of the ordinary necessities of life, owing to the limited and costly character of transportation over unimproved highways and unbridged streams. As early as 1750 Pennsylvania led all the colonies in the production of iron and steel. Her pig iron was of superior quality, and deemed of great commercial value in exchange for manufactured articles. Its production, therefore, was encouraged, but the manufacture of bar-iron for use by the skilled ironworker was thought to be injurious to her home industries, and was therefore prohibited. It is a remarkable providence of life that the feeble colony of two hundred thousand souls, less than a hundred and fifty years ago, should now be the most formidable rival of the country who then sought to repress its skilled labor by legislative enactment. Among the selected industries reported in the census of 1880 the annual product of iron and steel in Pennsylvania surpasses the money value of any one manufactured article in the United States, being $145,576,268. The independence of the colonies having been declared, all the repressive measures of the mother country were at an end. The long war that followed created a home demand for supplies that stimulated the manufacture of iron and textile fabrics. Many localities [See NOTE 37-1.] that have since become famous in the annals of manufacture owe their origin to the Revolutionary period and the impetus which it gave to skilled labor Eastern Pennsylvania was deemed remote from the probable field of actual hostilities, and therefore a comparatively sate locality for the establishment of depots for all the material supplies of warfare. Powder-mills, foundries for casting cannon, shot and shell, shops for making muskets, gun carriages and wagons, were in successful operation during the entire period. The necessities of the long and bitter struggle made the colonists self-reliant and encouraged the development of the natural resources of the country. [NOTE 37-1.] LIST OF FURNACES IN PENNSYLVANIA. 1 Warwick *1200 2 Hopewell 700 3 Durham (Maryan) 400 4 German (Codorus) 300 5 Oley (Martick) 200 6 Mount Pleasant (Reading) 50 7 Rebecca (Colebrookdale) 400 8 Berkshire 500 9 Elizabeth 500 10 Cornwell (Herryford) 500 11 Mount Hope 500 12 Carlisle 500 13 Pine Grove 200 14 Chalmbers 300 _____ Total 6150 Average 439 * Probably the number of tons of iron mad at each the year previous. FORGES. Salford Green Lane Valley Pennel (36,000 bar) Sarum Twaddles (1000 tons casting) Doe Run, Brandywine More's Vanleer's Coventry Young's, Glasgow Pine Spring Oley, Millgrove Mount Pleasant Fosh's Birdsburrough Gibraltar Mosealom Charming Windsor T. Old's Martick, Speedwell Hopewell C. Grubb's Cadorn's Spring** Carlisle Mountain, Chalmbers -thirty-four forges. Persons employed in making iron in Pennsylvania, between 10,000 and 12,000; supposed to consume 132,000 bushels of grain; grain consumed by horses, 80,000 bushels; £63,000 expended in grain; £100,500 produce of iron; 5000 tons of pig iron. The above list, found among the family papers, is valuable, as it purports to give not only the names of the furnaces and forges in Pennsylvania, but the amount of iron made, the grain consumed and the number of people employed in the manufacture of this important article. Unfortunately, the paper is without date, but there is internal evidence that it was prepared in 1793. It is in the handwriting of Samuel Potts, and I have little doubt but that he compiled it for the use of the Congress, which enacted the tariff in 1789, whereby the iron interest of the country was protected. -Mrs. Thomas Potts James, "Potts Memorial." ** Probably in York County; not the one named earlier in the column. [FINIS NOTE 37-1.] THE FIRST IRON FURNACE in the province of Pennsylvania is mentioned in one of Jonathan Dickinson's [Logan MSS] letters, written 1717: "This last summer, one Thomas Rutter, a Smith, who lived not far from Germantown, hath removed up in the country, and of his own strength has set up on making iron. Such it proves to be as is highly set by all the smiths here, who say that the best of Swedish iron doth not exceed it, and we have heard of others [John Nutt] that are going on with the iron-works. It is supposed there is ore sufficient for ages to come, and in all likelihood hemp and iron may be improved and transported home, and, if not discouraged, certainly a few years may supply this place for its domestic services, as may be readily supposed." This establishment is located by Bishop, in his "History of Iron Manufactures," who says: "A forge is mentioned, in March, 1719-20, at Manatawny, then in Philadelphia, but now in Berks or Montgomery County. It was attacked by the Indians in 1728, but they were repulsed with great loss by the workmen. [See NOTE 37-2.] [NOTE 37-2.] I think there is every reason to believe that Pool Forge was the scene of the Indian fight. To-day it is more lonely and desolate than it was one hundred and forty-four years ago. No house is visible, but imagination peoples the waving woods and the banks of the beautiful stream with living beings long since passed away, -the painted savages in all their horrid accessories of war; the workmen issuing from their fiery labors at the sound of the Indian war-whoop, their black and grimy faces blanched with fear, yet each strong arm wielding gun, pick or hammer, whatever was nearest at hand; the screaming women and children flying along the path by the water-side to reach a place if safety, while, roused by the news, the venerable Thomas Rutter rides rapidly down from Popodickon and Thomas Potts from Pine Forge, with his son John, in the strength of manhood and youth, armed with rifle and sabre, go forth to stop the fight. Farther on riding in the King's name from his home on the other side of the Schuylkill, comes Samuel Nutt, a fine English gentleman, with no sign of the Quaker garb and plainness the careful appointments of his magnificent horse, his laced ruffles cocked hat, all show that he was a man having authority. But the scene vanishes. I hear no words of query or answer; the summer woods wave as green as on that May day so long ago, and the bright, rippling Manatawny flows on in peace, though to my listening ear it repeats the story this 30th of May, in the year of grace, 1872 that it heard on that memorable May day in 1728. -Mrs. Potts James, "Potts Memorial." [FINIS NOTE 37-2.] 564 Local authority [L.H. Davis, Esq., Pottstown, Pa.] more definitely locates the spot whereon the original furnace or forge (probably both) was built, "at a place called Pool Forge, on the Manatawny." Pool Forge is located on Scull's map 1770. Historians refer to another Pool Forge, built several miles further up the Manatawny, erected possibly after the first was abandoned, as it seem to have been a custom at that time to carry the old name to the new place. These changes were deemed prudent in some instances, in order to be nearer to wood, which at that period, was a supply of the first importance. The Manatawny stream must have watered a region that abounded in minerals and timber prior to and during the Revolution, as we find the following iron-works in operation as early as 1776: Mount Pleasant Furnace and Forge, Spring Forge, Colebrookdale Furnace and Forge, Amity Forge and McCall's Forge. [See NOTE 37-3.] [NOTE 37-3.] All these furnaces and forges were owned and carried on by the united families of Rutter and Potts. [FINIS NOTE 37-3.] Add to these Warwick and Coventry, and others within a radius of ten to twenty miles, and a substantial reason will be manifest for the movement of Washington and the Continental army to Pottsgrove township subsequent to the battle of Brandywine and the affairs at White Horse Tavern and Paoli. Exact data of the cost of these very early iron-works, the capital invested and number of men and animals employed in working them is difficult to obtain. The following statistics are deemed well authenticated and of interest to the public, as showing the facilities of the pioneers of the leading industry in the county and State during that period. In 1731 the following named furnaces and forges were owned by the persons herein named, with shares or proportion of interest annexed: Pool Forge. Anthony Morris 1-8 Alex Wooddrop 1-8 Samuel Preston 1-16 William Attwood 1-16 John Leacock 1-16 Nathaniel French 1-16 George Mifflin 1-16 Tho. Potts and G. Boon 1-16 The other 3-8 belong to the Rutters. Colebrookdale Furnace Nathaniel French 3-12 Alex. Wooddrop 3-12 Samuel Preston 1-12 William Attwood 1-12 Anthony Morris 1-12 John Leacock 1-12 George Mifflin 1-12 T. Potts and G. Boon 1-12 The whole amount subscribed is reported to be five hundred and fifty pounds. The cost of rebuilding the Colebrookdale Furnace is given in detail, copied from the account of Thomas Potts with the company,- Dr. The Furnace. 1733. £. s. d. Xber 19. To a log halled to the saw pitt and squar'd long 16 1/2 fot. broad 2 foot 4 inches. 0 10 0 Xber 19. To paid helping the Sawyers to fitt the Logg 0 0 9 Xber 20. To my 2 Negro Men getting in wall Stones, each 9 days at the rate of 35 s. per month 1 1 0 Xber 22. To paid Expenses When the Company mett at ye Scales 0 5 6 Xber 22. To paid ditto when the Company mett at John Roberts's 0 2 0 Xber 24. To paid Thomas Day for 9 days getting in Wall Stones at the rate of 35 s. per month 0 10 6 1733-4. Jan. 3. To paid William Bird for Cutting Wood for the Lime-kiln 6 days at 2s. 9d. per day 0 16 6 Jan. 3. To paid for 3 lb. steel and sharpening tools 0 3 0 Jan. 5. To paid Daniel Wommeldorfe for steeling 4 stone axes at both ends 0 12 0 Jan. 17. To 10 bushels Lime at 1s. 3d. 0 12 6 Jan. 18. To paid Thomas Gilham for hauling 6 Tonns 2 cwt. 1 q. 14 lb. of inn Wall Stones from Schuylkill to the Furnace 10s. 6d. 3 1 2-1/4 Jan 20. To 10 bushells Lime at 1s. 3d. 0 12 6 Jan 21. To paid Jonas Yocum for haulling 33 cwt. of inn wall stones from Schuylkill to the Furnace at 10s. per Tonn 0 16 4 Feb. 1. To paid Richard Dunckley for haulling 34.8.1.24 of Inn Wall Stones from the Quarry to Schuylkill at 2s 9d per Tonn 4 14 8 Feb. 1. To paid Oliver Dunckley loading Ditto at the Quarry 1 10 0 Feb. 6. To 1/2 Gallon of Rum given to the Workmen at the Limekiln 0 3 0 Feb. 9. To 8 Bushells Lime at 1s. 3d. 0 10 0 Feb 11. To 5 Bushells Lime at 1s. 3d. 0 6 3 Feby. 13. To paid Wm. Jones his bill of labouring Work viz. 23 days pulling down the Furnace at 2s. 9d.. 3£. 3s. 3d. Feby. 13. One day at the lime-kiln 2s. 9d.. 2s. 9d. 3 6 0 Feby. 15. To 8 Iron Hoops for the Girders w12.80 lb. at 8d. 2 13 4 Feby. 26. To 1/2 Gallon of Rum Given to the Workmen helping up with the Girders 0 3 0 March 12. To paid Adam Widenner for 500 bricks at 1s. 6d. 0 12 6 March 13. To paid Thomas Hill for labouring Work pulling down the Furnace, Serving his Masons and Getting Sand and Stones, in all 23 1/2 days at 3s. per 3 10 6 March 12. To Paid Ditto for getting the 1/2 part of Lime Stone for one Kiln per agreement 0 15 0 1734. April 5. To paid Joseph Miller for canoeing over Schuylkill 34 t. 8 cwt. 1qr 24 lb. of Inn Wall Stones at 1s. per 1 14 5 1/2 April 5. To paid ditto for Sharpening Mason Tools 0 9 0 April 5. To paid Timothy Miller for dyett and the allowance of Rum to the Workmen when Getting Inn Wall Stones over Schuylkill 1 8 0 April 5. To paid Sundrys for hauling Inn Wall Stories, viz. To George Hollobaugh for a Tonn 10s. 0d. To Daniel Shinar for ditto 10s. 0d. To Jno. Dunkley for ditto 10s. 0d. To Francis Epley for ditto 10s. 0d. To Thomas Smith for 33 cwt. Ditto 16s. 6d. 2 16 6 April 5. To my Teams Hauling Inn Wall Stones from Schuylkill to the Furnace in all 21 Tonns at 10s. per 10 10 0 April 5. To paid Samuel Osborne 13 1/2 days attending ye Masons at 2s. 9d. per day 1 15 9 April 5. To paid Emanuel Goulding for 181/2 days Carpenter's work making a mould for the Inn walls etc., at 3s. 6d. 2 14 9 April 5 To paid ditto for making 4 pair Girders per agreement 2 10 0 April 5. To paid Derick Cleaver for 1/2 of 315 Bushells of Lime at 6d. per 3 18 9 April 5. To paid Ditto for 50 Bushells Ditto at 6d. per 1 5 0 April 5. To my Servants and Negroes helping to pull down ye Stack, getting Stones and attending mason etc. in all 207 days at 2s. 9d. per day 28 9 3 April 5. To my Teams haulling Stones, lime and Stone, in all 51 days 10s. per day 25 10 0 April 5. To paid Jonathan Chapman for cutting the Inwall Stones 5 0 0 April 5. To paid Ditto for 5 days Work at the Charge and line Kiln at 6s. per day 1 10 0 April 5. To paid Dyett and a Mason he had sometime to assist in all 17 weeks at 5s. per 5 5 0 April 5. To my Smith for Sharpening Mason Tools 3 0 0 ________________ £190 11 10" 565 The absence of dates in the above interesting paper leaves the time occupied in the construction of the furnace a matter of conjecture; but as has been stated in the Potts memorial, "by the item of the diet of a mason for seventeen weeks, covering a period of between four and five months," we may infer that the greater part of the year was occupied in its construction. Some conception of the importance that woodland bore to the early manufacture of iron will be understood from the following extract of the proceedings of those in interest: "To the persons in this minitt named, viz.: Alexd Woodrupps Wm. Attwood Wm. Pyewell for Thos. Rutter Anth. Morris George Mifflin Tho's Potts, Being a majority of the proprietors of Colbrook ffurnace mett This 16 day of 6 mo. 1736. And on a complaint yt some of the ownrs of ad [aforesaid] ffurnace were deficient in finding their proportion of Wood for Coal for the carrying on the Blast of ad furnace, according to articles of agreement with Thomas Potts, Therefore made Inquiry Thereunto, and find that there is a deficiency .Chargable upon the Persons under named, and it is now agreed and concluded that they and every of them immediately find and Provide the Quantity of woodland annexed to their names and yt yy possess Thos. Potts with the wood thereon standing for the use of the sd Colbrook furnace the next ensuing blast. On failure whereof 'tis Concluded and Agreed yt the sd Thomas Potts reserve and sell so much of their part and share of the Pig Iron Cast, or to be runn and cast as shall or may fully purchase or pay for their full proportion of wood according to the undr Estimate made the day and date above, viz.: Thomas Rutter, deceased to make good 55 acres of land John Rutter, deceased and Thos. Potts 75 Ditto [NOTE: These were the two sons of Thomas Sr, Thomas Jr, died in 1735, and John in 1734.] Samuel Preston 75 Ditto Edward ffream 75 Ditto Nath'l ffrench 75 Ditto Jno. Leycock 75 Ditto Geo. Boon 37 1/2 Ditto __________ 417 1/2 Captain Attwood "Taken from the minutes of sd Compy and signed by us, "ANTHO. MORRIS. "ALEXANDER WOODDROP. "WILLIAM PYWELL "GEORGE MIFFLIN "WM. ATWOOD. "THOMAS POTTS." The consumption of wood by these early furnaces was enormous. Warwick, when in full blast, is said to have used six thousand cords of wood annually, or all equivalent to the product of two hundred and forty acres. These facts bring back to our vision vast regions of stump-land, teams of oxen, mules and horses, old-fashioned winter scenes when axemen camped out on the forest hills of the Schuylkill, Manatawny and Perkiomen. It is not surprising rising that the Indian tribes, still-hunting within sight of these inroads upon the primitive forest, became disaffected and alienated and sought upon slight pretexts to repel further invasions of their hunting- grounds. To their far-sighted chiefs this wholesale destruction of woodland must have presented a melancholy picture. Mount Pleasant Furnace is said to be the second [see NOTE 37-4.] [NOTE 37-4.] Following the order of time, we must now cross the Schuylkill and look in at the French Creek Iron-Works. Those in operation there about 1734 were, as far as I can learn, Redding Furnace, [NOTE: The name is so spelled on old plans and maps. Two furnaces were erected, bearing that name, about a mile from each other.] Coventry Forge and the Vincent Steel-Works; though the place once occupied by the last two has been pointed out to me, I was unable to trace any remains of the buildings that once stood there. The mines that supplied these works are Situated a few miles above, and consist of surface deposits of brown and other hematite ores; they are worked in an open quarry over several acres, and by it shaft one hundred and eighty feet deep. This rich mineral deposit was partly included in the grant of eight hundred acres to Samuel Nutt in 1718, and of one thousand more in 1733. That copper, well as iron, was extensively mined at French Creek is proved by a letter from Richard Peters, secretary to the Board of War, August 19, 1777, wherein he asks that a load of copper, which had been sent to Philadelphia from that place, and is said to belong to the State, may be appropriated to the use of a furnace which had been casting cannon, and was standing still for want of that metal. He also mentions that the affairs of French Creek, etc., were unsettled. Mr. Nutt, who had no children to inherit his name and property, appears to have been particularly attached to his wife's daughter, Rebecca Savage. Having a nephew and namesake in England, of a proper age, he sent for him to come over and marry her, arranging the matter according to the English fashion of those days. Both parties, so far as we can learn, were quite willing to enter into the engagement made for them by their elders. Samuel, Jr., probably arrived here in 1733, and they were married either in that or very early the following year, as Rebecca's name and that of her husband are signed to the marriage, certificate of her sister Ruth and John Potts, April 11, 1734. At this date she could not have been sixteen years of age. Tradition asserts that she was a very beautiful girl and that her rich dowry was far out-weighed by her personal and mental charms. Her wedding-dress, of very elegant brocade, with high-heeled buckled shoes to match, were imported from England (as well as the bridegroom), and are still in possession of the family of the writer. The first house built by Samuel Nutt at Coventry, and where, probably, both Rebecca and Ruth Savage were married, has long since been, taken down, but it was described to me as similar to the ancient houses in the old English town of Coventry. The frame was of immense hewn logs, between which were cemented stones. It was built beyond the present mansion-house, and higher up the hill, and was standing until after the Revolution, for during that time Mrs. Grace formerly Mrs. Nutt, Jr.) entertained three officers of the army of Valley Forge. It is still spoken of as Coventry Hall. The house was built it is supposed, by Robert Grace for Thomas Potts, on his marriage with Anna Nutt. We knew that their daughter Henrietta was married there, and that sixty years after that last event her husband, still living at the advanced age of ninety six, stood upon the same spot in the parlor where more than half a century before he had received the marriage benediction. The 15th day of March, 1736, Samuel Nutt and William Bronson entered into an agreement with John Potts to carry on their furnace called Redding, recently built near Coventry, and of which they are styled "joint owners." He was "to cast the quantity of twenty-eight hundred weight of Cart Boxes, Sash Weights or any other Particular small castings every month during the continuance of the said Blast. . . . And they also covenant that they, ye said owners, or their Clerks or Agents for the Time being, shall deliver no quantity of Rum to any of the People Belonging to the Furnace, or therein concerned, without a note or Token front the Said John Potts or his Agents or Assistants." [Potts Memorial.] NOTE. -Franklin, in his autobiography, relates the following: "In order of time, I should have mentioned before that having in 1742 invented an open fire place for the better warming of rooms and the same time saving of fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in entering, I made a present of the model to Robert Grace, one of my early friends, who, having an iron furnace, found the casting of the plates for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in demand. During a visit to Warwick in the summer of 1868, the writer saw at Coventry one of these original stoves. In an inventory, made in 1796, of the personal estate of Colonel Thomas Potts' widow, the step-daughter of Robert Grace, one room in her house was designated as the "stove-room." I had hoped to find this parlor, with the Franklin stove surrounded by the ancient tiles, remembered by her children, but they had been taken away when the house was refitted and one part rebuilt, in 1803, but I was able to trace the stove to a house about half-a-mile distant, where I saw it. The pattern was of more antiquated design than that given by Lossing as probably an original, and so clumsy and massive in structure that no doubt remained in my mind that the great philosopher had sat beside its hearth admiring his new invention. The words "Warwick Furnace" were cast on the front in letters two inches long, but I searched in vain for any date. On my return to Warwick, I inquired of Mr. Nathaniel Potts (the present owner) for the old models, but he told me that they had all been destroyed long ago, and added that he remembered two of the old stoves in the Warwick mansion which were taken out more than fifty years since and melted up, giving place to more modern improvements. As the same fate seems to have overtaken all the other old Franklin stoves in the neighborhood, I endeavored to persuade the owner of this one to give it to the Pennsylvania Historical Society as a relic, but did not succeed. Franklin often visited his friend Robert Grace at Coventry, and it is quite probable that he superintended the setting of this one himself. Having traced it, history so clearly as an original Franklin stove I hope it may be carefully preserved. -Potts Memorial. [FINIS NOTE 37-4.] 566 built within what is now Montgomery County. Early accounts locate it "on the Perkiomen, thirteen miles (above) northeast of Pottstown. No remains of it are now visible." Subsequently new works were erected there, and operated by Thomas Potts and his sons. In 1748 David took title to one-sixth interest. The following data of this furnace show the extent of its production from 1738 to 1741: "Account, Pig Metal and other castings made at Mount Pleasant Furnace During the Following Blasts, viz: t. c. q. lb. First blast, commencing October 12, 1738; hove off December 11. Made the said blast. Pigs 85 . . . Country castings 6 1 2 2 Forge ditto . 7 3 6 _____________________ 91 9 1 8 Second blast, commencing March 14, 1738-39; hove off July 12, 1739 Made the said blast. Pigs, July 173 14 3 . Forge castings . 10 2 . _____________________ 174 5 1 . Third blast, commencing October 22,1739; blowed out December 1739 Made the said blast. Pigs. 92 6 1 24 Country casting 5 4 . 23 1/4 Forge ditto 1 10 1 19 A short blast, from August 28 to September 7, 1739, included in ye above _____________________ 99 11 . 10 1/4 Fourth blast, commencing March 3, 1739-40; blowed out day 26, 1740. Made the said blast. Pigs. 153 10 . . Country castings 8 3 2 7 Forge ditto 1 5 1 14 ______________________ 162 18 3 21 Fifth blast, commencing August 28,1740; blowed out November 16. Made said blast. Pigs. 86 10 . . Country castings 12 3 . 3 1/2 Forge ditto . 13 3 . ______________________ 99 6 3 3 1/2 Sixth blast, commencing May 16, 1741; blowed out July 20. Made the said blast. Pigs. 60 . . . Country castings 2 4 . 15 Forge ditto 1 2 2 1 ______________________ 63 6 2 16 These early furnaces and forges were not only fruitful sources of commercial value in time of peace, but they became indispensable factors in war. The mother country was sensitive of the fact, and, therefore, in her prohibitory laws, she aimed not only to augment her home strength but also to cripple the rising colonies, and retard their pretensions in seeking separation and independence. Early in the Revolution Samuel Potts and Thomas Rutter contracted with the Council of Safety to furnish cannon and munitions of war. [See NOTE 37-5.] The following certified account is found among many others similar in character referred to in the colonial records. The clock-weights mentioned are those made in obedience to a general order issued, iron clock-weights to be substituted for the leaden ones in use, the government requiring the surrender of all lead in domestic use for bullets. The Council of Safety in Account with Rutter & Potts. Dr. 1776. t. c. q. lb. £. s. d. To 151 shot of 32 lb each Wd 2 3 0 16 T. c. q. lb. £. s. d. To 573 Shot of 24 lb each Wd 6 2 3 4 To 1260 Shot of 22 lb each Wd 12 7 2 To 6247 Shot of 18 lb each Wd 50 3 3 26 To 1420 Shot of 12 lb each Wd 7 12 0 16 __________________ 78 19 2 6 @ £20 1579 11 0 To 1522 Shot of 9 lb each Wd 6 2 1 6 @ £22 134 10 10 To 3153 Shot of 8 lb each Wd 11 5 0 24 @ £23 259 0 8 To 1472 Shot of 6 lb each Wd 3 18 3 22 @ £24 94 14 7 To 3006 Shot of 4 lb each Wd 5 7 9 12 @ £25 134 4 3 To Clock Weights Wd 4 11 @ £25 113 15 0 ______________ 2115 16 4 [NOTE 37-5.] In April, 1776, Benjamin Loxley made proposals for casting brass eight-inch mortars howitzers, cannon and shells for Congress or the Committee of Safety. Some of the brass guns of Major Loxley were tested by Daniel Joy of the Reading Furnace, who was also engaged in casting and boring iron nine-pounders at the rate of one daily, to be followed by another of larger size. The iron pieces appear to have stood the proof better than the brass. Joy, in the same year proposed a method of constructing fire-rafts for the defense of the Delaware. Congress in the following April called upon all the Legislatures or executives of the States to exempt from military duty all persons employed in casting shot and manufacturing military stores of any kind: and in June the Board of War recommended that eleven men employed by Mark Bird in the cannon foundry and nail-works in Berks County, carried on by him for the use of the United States be discharged from the militia duty into which they were drafted. During the same year James Byer who had cast brass guns for the government was required to hold himself in readiness to remove his apparatus and utensils at a moment's notice warning on the approach of the British. Morgan Busteed, Samuel Potts, and Thomas Rutter each made proposals to cast cannon in the course of the year. There was at this time a cannon foundry in Southwick, but we do not know who owned it. In August 1776, The Board of War informed President Wharton that the furnace for casting cannon stood idle for the want of cooper, and requested permission to use the a load which had been sent from French Creek, but was claimed by the State. There was also some dispute respecting the furnace as well as the material. -Bishop, "History of American Manufacturing." [FINIS NOTE 37-5.] 567 £. s. d. To 7584 half pound shot Wd 3792 lb @ 8d 126 8 0 To 952 lb Grape Shot @ 8d 31 14 8 To Cash pd Wm. Hutchinson for haul Powder 10 0 T. c. q. lb. To 203 Shot of 22 lb each Wd 1 10 2 18 @ £20 39 13 7 To 282 Shot of 4 lb each Wd 0 10 0 8 @ £25 12 12 0 To 374 Shot of 6 lb each Wd 1 0 0 4 @ £24 24 1 0 To 747 Shot of 3 lb each Wd 1 0 0 1 @ £26 26 0 3 ______________ 2576 15 10 Certified 26th October, 1776. ROBERT TOWERS. To Balance on Cannon Acct 379 5 9 _______________ 2956 1 7 Cr. £. s. d. By 18 lb. Powder By Cash Paid 1500 0 0 "In the Act of Assembly ["Felt's Massachusetts Currancy."] passed by Massachusetts in 1727, regulating the prices of merchantable articles, the rate of bar-iron is put down at 48s.; cast-iron pots and kettles 48s. a hundred. In 1777 another act passed by the same State places good refined iron at 50s. per. cwt. and Bloomery iron in 30s. per cwt. at the place of manufactury." It has been some trouble to look out from the original papers the prices of iron at the Potts furnaces and forges during the period covered by the figures given as the prevailing prices in Massachusetts. From 1731 to 1781 they were, however, as follows: In 1731 pig-iron was sold at Colebrookdale Furnace in large quantities at £5 10s. per ton. [Pennsylvania currency, a pound being equal to $2.60?.] In 1765 pig-iron brought £7 per ton. In 1765 pig-iron brought £8 10s. per ton. In 1774 pig-iron brought £7 5s per ton. This was a quantity of 725 tons. In 1775 pig-iron brought £7 5s. per ton. In 1776 pig-iron brought £7 5s. per ton. In 1781 pig-iron brought £10 per ton. For 100 tons, hard money to be paid for it. In 1784 pig-iron brought £11 10s. per ton. In 1762 bar-iron brought £34 per ton. In 1781 twenty-five tons bar-iron well drawn for slitting purposes, £35 per ton in hard money. For castings, which seem to have been divided into two kinds, -namely forge castings and country castings, -the last including all articles of domestic use, the following prices are noted: In 1774 anvil and forge casting brought 14s. per hundred weight. In 1774 a Dutch oven brought 15s. In 1774 two large Moravian stoves brought £9 apiece. In 1779 a ton of pots bought £700. In 1779 five tons of stoves brought £400 per ton. In 1785 Franklin Stoves bought at retail bought £5 10s apiece. In 1785 ten-plate stoves bought £10 apiece. In 1785 large six-plate stoves bought £7 apiece. IN 1785 small six-plate stoves bought £5 apiece. Iron works were established at Valley Forge as early as 1750. These works were purchased by John Potts in 1757 and by him improved. This forge was known previous to the Potts purchase by the name of "Mount Joy," and so appeared in the old title papers of that locality. In 1765 John Potts conveyed the works to his two sons Samuel and John. From an inventory made by them, when they came into possession, personal property at the forge was valued at £1214 6s. 9d. John in 1768 sold his interest to his brother Joseph, who with David Potts, another brother, and Thomas Hockly, a cousin, operated this forge under the firm-name of Potts, Hockly & Potts up to and during the Revolution. This forge was supplied with pig-iron from the Warwick Furnace. When converted into wrought iron for domestic use it was transported to Philadelphia in wagons. These teams, of six horses each, were in constant use in hauling wood and charcoal to supply this forge and in transporting the product to market. The greatest amount of pig-iron used in one year is reported to be fifty-one tons. This capacity appears to have been increased under the subsequent management of Isaac Potts & Co., who in "1786 received from the Warwick Furnace eighty-five tons of pig-iron "all which appears to have been manufactured into bar-iron, and sold at prices ranging from twenty-four to thirty pounds per ton. The site of this early forge has been the subject of dispute among local antiquarians some contending that it was located in Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County, others that it was within the lines of Chester County. The works were burned by the British in the campaign of 1777 and it seems that the adjudication of damages sustained by the owners took place in the courts of Chester County, and this circumstance is relied upon to fix the site of the forge within that county. We think this circumstance has misled the antiquarian. The better opinion seems founded upon the description of the real estate upon which the forge was situated. The dividing line between Philadelphia and Chester County was on the southwest shoreline of the Valley Creek. Mrs. Thomas James Potts says, "The site of this old forge which was burned by the British more than two months before the American army encamped there is now covered by water and is at the foot of Mount Joy (Mount Joy is on the east shore), and more than a half-mile above the Valley mill. The new dam, which was built lower down the creek after the Revolution, raised the water-level and covered the foundations. The new works, erected soon after the close of the war, were built near where the present factory stands." The manufacture of iron and steel has been a leading industry in Pennsylvania since the establishment of the early works herein referred to. Every census from that of 1790 to 1880, shows the steady and enormous increase of the product. The discovery and application of anthracite coal to the manufacture of pig-iron, during the first quarter of the present century gave us a new impetus to the trade. [See NOTE 37-6.] [NOTE 37-6.] In 1812 Colonel George Shoemaker, of Pottsville, loaded nine wagons of coal from his mines at Centreville, and with these proceeded to Philadelphia, hoping to find a market, but the experience of Philadelphians with anthracite or stone coal was very unfavorable and the persistent attempt to impose rocks on them roused their indignation, and Colonel Shoemaker was denounced as a knave and a scoundrel; he sold two loads and gave the rest away, and some of the purchasers obtained a writ from the authorities of the city for his arrest as an imposter and a swindler. -Potts' Manual. NOTE. -Colonel Thomas Potts was versed in metallurgy, and an early purchaser of coal lands in Schuylkill County, Pa. [FINIS NOTE 37-6.] 568 sources were never more conveniently located, with reference to the uses mankind has sought to make of them than the beds of ore, fields, of coal and bodies of fluxing materials, and on the banks of a water-way upon which to float them to tide-water for distribution. The use of steam and railroads further augmented the product, while the introduction of wrought- iron into the land and naval architecture of peace and war has created a largely increased demand, to supply which Pennsylvanians (enterprising capitalists, inventors and laborers) have always been foremost, in peace and in war. Figures from the census of 1850 and that of 1880 may here be compared with advantage. In 1850 the total value of the annual iron product of the United States was $60,486,153. Pennsylvania's product was valued at $20,650,650, or one-third of the whole amount. In 1880 the total value of the annual iron product of the United States was reported to be $333,810,054. The product of Pennsylvania for the year 1880 was valued at, $158,033,697, or 46 percent of the entire amount. Thus it will be seen that within one generation the annual product of iron had increased 500 per cent. in the United States, yet the increase in, Pennsylvania is greater by 200 per cent. than in the whole country, or over 700 per cent. within the period of thirty years. What proportion of capitalized labor engaged in manufacturing in Montgomery County is employed in the production of iron we are unable to state to with official exactness. About 33 percent of the total value of the annual production of the county's manufactures, which in 1860 exceeded $20,500,000, is derived from iron. [See statistics elsewhere in this chapter.] PRESENT CONDITION OF THE IRON TRADE. -Following is statistics concerning the iron-works of the county, compiled from the directory published by the American Iron and Steel Association: BLAST FURNACES. -Anvil Furnace, Pottstown Iron Company, Pottstown. One stack, sixty-five by sixteen feet, built in 1867; two iron hot-blast stoves; annual capacity, twenty thousand net tons. (See Rolling Mills.) Edgehill Furnace, Joseph E. Thropp & Co., lessees, Edgehill. One stack, sixty-four by sixteen feet, built in 1872; two iron hot-blast stoves; annual capacity, eighteen thousand net tons. Merion and Elizabeth Furnaces, Merion Iron Company, West Conshohocken. Two stacks: Merion, forty-eight by sixteen feet, built in 1847 and enlarged in 1876; Elizabeth, fifty by sixteen feet built in 1872; both stacks remodeled 1883; Merion has three Player ovens and Elizabeth five Ford ovens; combined capacity about seven hundred net tons per week. Montgomery Furnace, Montgomery Iron Company, Port Kennedy. One stack, fifty by fourteen feet, built in 1854, remodeled in 1863 and in 1869; three iron hot- blast stoves; two roasters for magnetic ores were added in 1880; annual, thirteen thousand five hundred net tons Norristown Iron-Works, Norristown, James Hooven & Son. One stack, fifty-five by sixteen feet, built in 1869 and 1871; four eighteen-pipe Player hot-blast stoves; annual capacity, thirteen thousand five hundred net tons. Plymouth Furnaces, Conshohocken, Plymouth Rolling-Mill Company. Two stacks, fifty-five by fifteen feet and fifty-six by thirteen feet, built in 1845 and 1864 respectively; total annual capacity, with Lucinda Furnace, thirty thousand net tons. (See Rolling-Mills.) Lucinda Furnace, Norristown, Plymouth Rolling Mill Company. One stack, forty by thirteen feet, capacity stated with Plymouth Furnaces. Warwick Furnace, Warwick Iron Company, Pottstown. One stack, fifty-five by sixteen feet, built in 1875; two iron hot-blast stoves; annual capacity twenty-four thousand net tons. William Penn Furnace, William Penn Post-Office, D. 0. Hitner. One stack, forty by twelve and one half feet, built in 1854; estimated annual capacity, sixty thousand net tons. Swede Furnace, Swedeland, Philadelphia and Reading, Coal and Iron Company. One completed stack, seven-three by fourteen feet built in 1850, rebuilt in 1881; closed top; annual capacity, fifteen thousand net tons. ROLLING-MILLS AND STEEL WORKS. -Pencoyd Iron-Works, opposite Manayunk, A. & P. Roberts & Co. Built in 1852; sixteen double puddling furnaces, thirteen heating furnaces, rotary squeezer and five trains of rolls; annual capacity (in either iron or steel) thirty thousand net tons. Conshohcken, Pennsylvania and Corliss Irons-Works, Conshohcken, J Wood & Brothers. Built in 1832, 1852 and 1854 respectively, rebuilt in 1882-83; six double puddling furnaces, seven twenty-inch trains of rolls; annual capacity (plate and sheet iron), seven thousand net tons. Ellis & Lossing, Pottstown. Building in 1884 a rolling-mill and nail-factory, to contain fifty nail-machines, two heating and six puddling furnaces, and two trains of rolls. Glasgow Iron-Works. Glasgow Iron Company, Pottstown. Puddle-mill built in 1874; six double puddling furnaces and one train of muck-rolls; annual capacity eight thousand tons. Plate-mill built in March 1876; three heating furnaces and one train of rolls; annual capacity (boiler-plate) eight thousand net tons. 569 Longmead Iron-Works, Conshohocken, Jawood Lukens. Built in 1882; five double puddling furnaces and (Me train of rolls; annual capacity (muck-bar), six thousand six hundred net tons. Norristown Iron-Works, Norristown, James Hooven & Son. Built in 1846; six double puddling furnaces, three heating furnaces, three trains of rolls and one hammer; annual capacity (skelp-iron, part of which is made into butt-welded pipes), five thousand net tons. (See Furnaces.) Plymouth Rolling-Mill Company, Conshohocken. Built in 1881-82. (See Furnaces.) Pottsgrove Iron-Works, Pottstown, Potts Brothers Iron Company (Limited). Built by Henry Potts & Co. in 1846; six double puddling furnaces, three heating furnaces and two trains of rolls; annual capacity, eight thousand net tons of muck-bar and eight thousand tons of plate-iron. Pottstown Iron Company, Pottstown. Built in 1863 and extended in 1867; twenty-nine double puddling furnaces, four Siemens heating furnaces, six forge fires, ninety-five nail-machines, one hammer, three squeezers and seven trains of rolls; annual capacity, thirty-five thousand net tons of muck-bar, two thousand five hundred tons of blooms, twenty-four thousand tons of plate-iron and three hundred and sixty thousand kegs of nails. The company is erecting A twenty-four-inch universal mill, with two Siemens heating furnaces. (See Furnaces.) Schuylkill Iron-Works, Conshohocken, Alan Wood & Co. Built in 1858; fifteen double puddling furnaces, twelve heating and four grate furnaces, seven trains of rolls, one hammer and two rotary squeezers; annual capacity, fifteen thousand net tons of sheet and plate-iron. Standard Iron Company (Limited), Norristown. Built by William Schall in 1857; eleven double puddling furnaces, one rotary squeezer and two trains of puddle-rolls; annual capacity, fourteen thousand net tons of puddled bar. Stony Creek Rolling Mill, Norristown, J. H. Boone. Built in 1849 and rebuilt in 1879; four double puddling and three heating furnaces, and two trains of rolls; product, plate-iron. MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURES. -The manufacture of textile fabrics in America appears to have been a necessity recognized by the earliest settlers on the Atlantic coast. Food they could obtain from forest, field and river, but a wholesome pride of raiment induced efforts to spin and weave and fashion garments for man and woman, with garnishments for the comfort and adornment of the household and home. The first mention in history of American textile manufacture is in 1608, and in connection with the English settlement on the James River. As the mechanic arts in the manufacture of fabrics have contributed greatly to the civilizing power and elevation of the masses of mankind in this and other countries, and as we propose to show the magnitude and importance of this industry in Eastern Pennsylvania and the county of Montgomery, a retrospective glance will perhaps give us a keener appreciation of our present advantages and future possibilities. The subject carries us back to a period anterior to the discovery and application of all those scientific instrumentalities and mechanical inventions which have revolutionized the industrial conditions of the world, and affected the social, moral and political status of mankind. When the Jamestown settlers in Virginia began to spin and weave, the latent energy of steam and the subtle agency of the electric fluid were scarcely suspected; the cotton-gin, power-loom, mule and spinning jenny were unheard of; the universal law of gravitation was unknown and the man who discovered it was unborn. Brief as the intervening period now seems, it covers nearly all the great improvements, which in the present century are thought most essential and important in the mechanic arts. Those great agencies of mechanical power which have augmented the productive capacity of man and proportionately increased his comforts, as the use of coal and the blast furnace in the smelting of iron, of explosives and steam in mining, of the flying-shuttle, spinning-frame, power-loom and carding-machines, improvements in the process of bleaching, dyeing, stamping, together with the marvelous discoveries in chemistry, all belong to a subsequent period. Cotton, which now employs millions of people and hundreds of millions of capital in its growth and manufacture, was at that period regarded more in the light of a curious exotic than a substance of utility. In short, whatever proficiency may have been attained in the mechanic arts of civilization in the very early ages, it must be said in truthfulness that their present development from a state of almost barbaric rudeness has been contemporaneous with American history. It was not till 1810, two hundred years after the first colonization of Virginia, that any systematic attempt was made to collect general statistics of manufactures. The few particulars which call now is gathered as to the progress made during those two centuries are scattered through numerous memorials, local histories, records of councils and statutes of assemblies. These are nevertheless interesting and instructive, as showing from what feeble beginnings our ancestors conducted their infant manufactures through numerous difficulties, and laid the foundation of their present success. Comparing their condition, even up to the close of the last century, with the state of productive industry in our time, or with the progress made during the last half century, in which many new agencies of great power have added intensity to every form of intellectual and: material progress, the product makes but a small figure in the annals of history. But it is to be remembered that their advance was at that time equally slow in most parts of the world. Even at the present day, many 570 countries, which were reckoned elders in the family of nations ere the ring of the axe was heard in the forests of America, are essentially less independent in regard to some products of manufacture than were the American colonies at the period of the Revolution. Equally with the sister arts of agriculture and commerce, our manufactures have, from the first settlement of the country, advanced with the increase in population. During the colonial period the efforts to establish manufactures of textile fabrics were feeble and met with discouragement from the Governors, who presided in the interest of royalty, and who heartily cooperated with the home government in making the settlers dependents for all the products of art and skilled labor. So great was their dependence that Beverley of Virginia, who wrote in 1706, reproaches his countrymen and laments their want of industry and enterprise. He says: "They have their clothing of all sorts from England, as linen, woolen and silk, hats and leather. Yet flax and hemp grow nowhere in the world better than there. Their sheep yield good increase and bear good fleeces, but they shear them only to cool them. The mulberry-tree, whose leaf is the proper food of the silkworm, grows there like a weed, and silk-worms have been observed to thrive extremely and without any hazard. The very furs that their hats are made of perhaps go first from thence, and most of their hides lie and rot, or are made use of only for covering dry goods in a leaky house. Indeed some few bides with much ado are tanned and made into servants' shoes, but at so careless a rate that planters don't care to buy them if they can get others; and sometimes a better manager than ordinary will vouchsafe to make a pair of breeches of a deer-skin. Nay, they are such abominable ill husbands that though their country be overran with wood, yet they have all their wooden-wire from England,-their cabinets, chairs, tables, stools, chests, boxes, cart-wheels and all other things, even so much as their bowls and birchen brooms-to the eternal reproach of their laziness." The colder climate of the Middle and the New England States quickened habits of industry in the sturdy men who were exiled for conscience sake, and who clearly foresaw at a very early day the necessity of providing for themselves. A stern necessity incited the colonists of Massachusetts to provide raiment for themselves while the liberality of Penn induced the skilled laborer of all nations and tongues to join him in his colony on the Delaware. Slowly, but with great certainty, these two colonies emerged from conditions of dependency and united the agricultural interests with those of the factory; hence it was against these two colonies before and after the Revolution, that England legislated. In 1774 it was enacted (21 George III. chap. 37) "that any person who packed or put on board, or caused to be brought to any place in other to be put on board any vessel, with a view to exportation, ally machine, engine, tool, press, paper, utensil or implement, or any part thereof, which is now or hereafter may be used in the woolen, cotton, linen or silk manufacture of this kingdom, or goods wherein wool, cotton, linen or silk are used, or any model or plan thereof, should forfeit every such machine and the goods packed therewith, and two hundred pounds, and suffer twelve months' imprisonment." This act was amended in 1782, increasing the number of its prohibitory clauses and increasing the penalty to five hundred pounds, and by a further supplement made perpetual in 1790. [See NOTE 37-7.] The improved machinery, of which England possessed a monopoly at the above date wits the power-loom, brought into use in 1774 by Cartwright; the mule-jenny, by Compton, in 1775; carding, by Arkwright, [See NOTE 37-8.] about the same period; and by the application of the steam-engine of Watt, in 1783. Cylinder printing was invented by Bell in 1785, and the use of acid in bleaching was introduced by Watt in 1786. [NOTE 37-7.] A set of complete brass models of Arkwright machinery was made and packed in England by the agent of Mr. Tench Coxe, of Philadelphia, in 1786, but was seized on the eve of its shipment and the promising importation defeated. [FINIS NOTE 37-7.] [NOTE 37-8.] Samuel Slater, having completed, under many difficulties, and chiefly with his own hands, on the 18th of January, 1790, the entire series of Arkwright machinery, at Pawtucket, R. I., started at that place the first complete and successful water-spinning mill for cotton in the United States. The machinery operated by the water-wheel of an old fulling-mill, embraced three carding, one drawing and roving-machine and seventy two spindles. -Bishop's "Hist. American Manufactures," vol. ii. [FINIS NOTE 37-8.] Notwithstanding the difficulty of obtaining improved machinery, or patterns from which to make it, a "jenny" found its way to Philadelphia, and was used during the Revolution by Mr. Wetherill in the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods. In April, 1782, he advertised for sale, at his factory in South Alley, "Philadelphia Manufactures, suitable for all seasons, viz.: jeans, fustians, everlastings, coatings, etc." This is said to be the first product of the kind made in this country. [See NOTE 37-9.] The Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts, was formed as early as 1778. This society was open to every citizen of the United States. It was governed by a president, four vice-presidents, two secretaries, a treasurer, and a board of twelve managers. and a committee for manufactures; all except the committee were chosen annually by ballot. Subscriptions of ten pounds or upward, to constitute a manufacturing fund, were received from individuals. or companies for the purpose of establishing factories, the subscribers to be entitled to the profits of the same. The operations of this society extended throughout the Middle States, and aided the pioneers, throughout the interior of New England not only in capitalizing labor, but also in the improvement of machinery and the dissemination of scientific and useful knowledge. Under its auspices Mr. Tench Coxe, an ardent and influential friend of the manufacturers of [NOTE 37-9.] Bishop's, Hist. Amer. Manuf. vol. i, p. 328. [FINIS NOTE 37-9.] 571 the period, delivered an address at the University of Pennsylvania on the 9th of August, 1787. [NOTE 37-10.] Mr. Coxe's effort was indorsed by David Rittenhouse and others of extended influence, and Benjamin Franklin aided in giving publicity to the timely paper. The manufacturing committee, S. Wetherill, Jr., chairman, made a report at the close of the first year's operations. [NOTE 37-10.] It appears from his remarks that after giving relief to the industrious poor, which was one object of the society, the employment of machinery as much as possible in their operations was contemplated by its friends. This purpose was urged in reply to the objection which, among many others appears to have been made against the establishment, of manufactories and were severally combated by the speaker, that they were injurious to the health of the working-people. A proper regard of the interest of agriculture, as the most important, was recommended in any measures that might be adopted for the advancement of manufactures. In this connection the cultivation of cotton in the Southern States was recommended as an article from which the best-informed manufactures expected the greatest profits, and upon which the established factories depended. It thrived as well as there, he, said, as in any part of the world, and those States raised it formerly when the price was not half of what it had been for several years past. It was then worth double the money in America which it sold for before the Revolution, European nations having prohibited its exportation from their colonies to foreign countries. The great progress made in agriculture and manufactures particularly in Pennsylvania, since the year 1762, and still more since the late wars was adverted to, and a lengthy list of article their made in the state was given. These included hosiery, bills and gloves, wearing apparel course linens and woolens, some cotton goods, wool and cotton cards etc. The advantages of America in having the raw materials and market at home in exemption from duties, in the ability to sell for cash by the piece instead of large invoices, on long credits, as imported goods were then sold, in the superior strength of American linens, in the benefits of a better atmosphere for bleaching linen and cotton, were severally urged as; so many inducements to undertake manufactures. He recommended the exemption from duties of raw materials, dye, stuff and certain implements; premiums for useful inventions and processes; the invitation of foreign artists to settle by grants of land, and that every emigrant ship should be visited as to ascertain what person were on board capable of constructing useful machines or of conducting manufactures. The wasteful use of foreign manufactures was illustrated by the fact that the importation into Philadelphia alone of the finer kinds of coats, vest and sleeve- buttons, buckles and other trinkets was to suppose to amount in a single year to ten thousand pounds, and cost the wearers sixty thousand dollars. In urging the benefit to the agriculture interests of manufactures in their midst, he ventured the assertion that the value of American production annually consumed by the manufacturing of the State, exclusive of makers of flour, lumber, and bar-iron was doubled the aggregate amount of all its exports in the most plentiful year. -Bishop's "Hist. Manuf.," vol. i. [FINIS NOTE 37-10.] The contributions received in "hard specie" amounted to £1327 10s. 2d. and the expenditures for machinery, utensils and fitting up factories to £453 10s. 2d. leaving a circulating capital of £874. To employ the poor, they had purchased flax, and employed between two and three hundred women in spinning linen yarn during the winter and spring, and engaged, workmen to make a carding-machine, four jennies of forty, forty-four, sixty and eighty spindles, for spinning cotton. Owing to the difficulty of finding artisans and making machines without models, or with imperfect ones, and obstructions by foreign agents, they did not get the first loom at work until April 12, 1788. By August 23d of the same year they had, however, twenty-six looms in operation; by November 1st they had manufactured of jeans, corduroys, flowered cottons, flax linens, tow linens and bird's-eye four thousand and sixteen yards, of which two thousand and ninety-five were cotton. The entire product from the beginning amounted to eleven thousand three hundred and sixty-seven yards. The committee stated, in conclusion, that, being impressed with the conviction of the importance of the cotton branch, they "beg leave to recommend in the strongest term the prosecution of the manufacture by fresh subscriptions, until a knowledge and the sense of its value shall induce, some proper persons either citizens or foreigners, to undertake the business." [See NOTE 37-11.] [NOTE 37-11.] Public sentiment upon the subject had reached and sensibly affected the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and as early as 1778 an act was passed entitled to an "Act to encourage and protect the manufacturer of the State." This act, which was limited to two years, prohibited under certain penalties, the exportation of manufacturing machines the scarcity of which great obstacle to such undertakings. This act is stated by the editor of the American Museum, M. Carey, to have owed its existence to the fact that in this year 1778 two carding and spinning machines in the possession of a citizen of Philadelphia, and calculated to save the labor of one hundred and twenty persons, were purchased by the agency of a British artisan, packed up in cases as common merchandise and shipped to Liverpool. A quantity of cotton-seed is also stated to have been soon after purchased in Virginia and burned, in order to prevent if possible the extension of the cotton manufactures in America and their injurious effects upon the importation of Manchester goods. In October 1788, a reward of one hundred pounds was given John Hague, of Alexandria, Va., for a carding- machine completed for the Society in March of the ensueing year, when the Legislature passed "An Act to assist the Cotton Manufactures of this State." The act was designed to assist "The Manufacturing Committee of the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufacturer and the Useful Arts, and under whom a manufactory of cotton articles has accordingly been established great prospect of success in the city of Philadelphia, but the sums subscribed to which are inadequate to the prosecution of the plan upon that extensive and liberal scale which it is the interest of this State to promote." It authorized the treasurer of the State to subscribe in the name of the use of the State for one hundred shares, of ten pounds each, in the manufacturing fund of the said society, which was done accordingly, and an order, drawn upon the treasurer, Dr. Rittenhouse, in favor of Christopher Marshall, Jr., treasurer of the society, for the sum of one thousand pounds, April 9, 1779. The manufactory was burned down on the 24th of March 1790, and evidence having been obtained that it was fired by design, a reward was offered by the State for the detection of the culprit. The earnest recommendation of Mr. Coxe and efforts of the society to introduce the manufacture of cotton are believed to have had much influence with the members of the convention assembled in Philadelphia, at the time of its organization, to frame a constitution, under which a more efficient government could be adopted to remedy the numerous evils arising under the old confederation. The Southern delegates, on returning home, generally recommended the cultivation of cotton and with such success as to secure increased attention to that crop. The same influence and the necessity of a revenue induced the first Congress to protect the raw material and its manufacture by a duty of threepence a pound on foreign cotton and of five per cent., which was soon after increased to twelve and a half, on foreign manufactured cottons. There is little doubt that the first secretary of the Treasury derived important hints in the formation of his fiscal scheme, and much material for his able report on manufactures from the statesmanlike views and accurate knowledge of his assistant, Mr. Coxe. In his recommendation of the cotton culture for the creation of a redundant staple and of manufactures as one of the firmest supports of a prosperous agriculture and commerce, the latter was unremitting and enthusiastic. We learn from the writings of Mr. Coxe that Pennsylvania, within a year or two after, if not before the destruction of the small manufactory above referred to was in the possession of a full set of the Arkwright machinery for spinning cotton, as well as the complete works of water-mill for spinning hemp and worked yarn. He strongly advocated the introduction of manufactures on a larger scale commensurate with the increased abilities and want of the country. He drew up and published the details of a plan for a manufacturing town in the interior of the State, which should be to Philadelphia what Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield were to their respective seaports. A capital of five hundred thousand dollars raised either by the subscription of an associated company, by lottery tickets or by an appropriation of State funds to that amount, was to be invested in the purchase of two thousand acres of land, whereon the factories for all branches of manufacture, dwellings, and other appurtenances of a complete manufacturing village were to be erected to become the great support of the rural population around. Navigable communication with the city and the interior, an ample water-power and access to wood and coal, etc., were the conditions which should determine its selection. The suggestion was afterwards acted upon by a "Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufacturers," which, under the patronage of the Secretary of Treasury, and with a large capital, in shares of four hundred dollars each, chartered in November 1791, by the Legislature of New Jersey, with extensive privileges to carry on all kinds of manufactures at the Falls of Passaic. Although not immediately successful, the enterprise was the foundation of the present active town of Paterson, which, not many years after, became the seat of numerous cotton- factories that had been the first in the State. -Bishop's "Hist. of Manuf." vol. i. [FINIS NOTE 37-11.] 572 During the period of the Revolution and to the time of the adoption of National Constitution of 1787, the colonies were united under certain "Articles of Confederation," by reason of which the colonies, or States, exercised the power of regulating trade and commerce. The conflict of interests, thought to be irreconcilable on account of the want of cheap and rapid transit between distant points, resulted in the passage of laws greatly at variance with the welfare of the whole people. State impost laws proved a feeble barrier to the flood of merchandise that poured into our ports of peace, while in some exceptional cases they almost excluded the products of sister States. Notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions between the period of independence on and that of national unity, manufactures, both of the cooperative and household increased in volume and quality. The adoption of the Federal Constitutional, in 1787, invested the national government with full power, regulate foreign commerce and trade and repel inter-State restrictions thereon. By no class of the community was the new constitution and its adoption by the State more zealously urged than by the friends of American manufacture; with no class was its ratification a subject of greater rejoicing than with the friends of capitalized labor and mechanics of every kind. They saw in the restoration of public and private confidence, through the agency of a national faith, and in the wholesome check to an impoverishing and corrupting use of foreign manufactures by a general revenue system, the first dawn of hope for the young and feeble factories, which, under all the discouraging circumstances of the times, had given hopeful assurance of the future and enduring success. The first national Congress began the work of Legislation, and in laying duties or imports, in July, 1789, had reference, as the preamble to the act declares to the "encouragement and protection of manufactures." No review of the rise and significance of American manufactures will be satisfactory without reference to the legislation, both State and national, and the current State papers intended to encourage and protect the development of the mechanic arts and skilled labor necessary for the success and permanency of this industrial pursuit. The subject in detail is, however, beyond the scope of this chapter and therefore referable to the standard works and authorities wherein is treated "in extenso." The following statistics as reported in be census of 1880, show the present magnitude of the industrial arts of Pennsylvania including those of Montgomery County. Located on the boundary of a large seaport city, with great natural advantages, enhanced by river and railroad transit the county takes ranks second only to Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties. The total number of manufacturing establishments in the State was, in 1880, 31,232; the total capital invested $474,510,993; the value, of materials $465,020,563; of the product $744,818,445. The number of the employees was,- males above sixteen years, 284,359; females above fifteen years 73,046; children and youth 29,667; the amount paid in wages, $134,055,904 The earliest authentic statistics attainable concerning the manufactures of the county are for the year 1810, found in Tench Coxe's statement contributed to the census of 1820, from which the following is condensed: Stocking: mills, 4; pairs 1200 value, $1800 Shirt buttons: dozen 480; value, $30 Cotton and wool spun in mills, 15,600 pounds; value, $15,600 Spinning-wheels in operation, 9987; looms, 325. Carding-machines in operation, 11; pounds carded 42,600; value, $3790 Fulling-mills 4; yards, fulled 18,800 value, $1575. Laborsaving machinery: Billies, 1 Jennies, 1 looms with fly shuttles, 4; spinning-frames, 2; spindles, 292. Cotton manufacturing establishments, 2; mixed and hempen cloth, yards made, 40,000; woolen cloth in families 38,000 total value, of all cloth, $94,200. Hatteries 10; wool and mixed hats, 5148; value, $13,395. Forges 2; tons of iron 310; value, $31,000. Trip-hammer 2; value, $10,000. Naileries 7; pounds of nails 118,720; value, $10,600. Gun Manufactories: 2; guns, 1800; value, $19,287. Blacksmith's shops, 87; value, $44,250. Cutlery's shops, 5; value, $4990. Tin plate produced, 1500 pounds, value (with cooper and brass), $1500. Tanneries 30; value, $60,860. Shoes and Boots: pairs, 37,705; Saddles and bridles, 1100; value, $53,710. Glue: pounds, 500; value, $100. Flaxseed oil: mills, 24; gallons, 46,100; value, $46,100. Distilleries, 63; gallons 55,100; value, $27,500. Cabinet-makers, 8; value of work $2300. Carriage-shops, 1; value, $2600. Cooper-shops, 16; value, $7901. Bark-mills, 4. Paper-mills, 15; reams made, 25,433; value, $130,431. Marble-yards, 4; value, $17,500. Marble saw-mills, 1; value, $10,000. Snuff and tobacco-mills 1; value, $4000; production 56,000 pounds. Dryers, 12; value of work, $2150. Rope-walks 2; tons made, two and one half; value, $1300. Chocolate: pounds, 1200; value, $240. Gun-powder: mills, 5; pounds made, 73,920; value, $28,000. Ginger: manufactories, 1; pounds, 12,000. Printing: offices, 2; value, $2600. Wheat-mills, 97; bushels ground, 446,700; barrels, 27,200; value, $959,700. Saw-mills, 55; lumber sawed, 1,383,000; feet value, $11,512. Brick-kilns, 2; number of bricks, 60,000; value, $480. Lime-kilns 33; bushels of lime, 273,200; value, $42,210. 573 In 1850 the capital invested in manufactures in Montgomery County was $3,178,662 the number of hands employed was 3886, and the value of the total annual product was $4,737,419. In 1860 the number If establishments was 601; the capital invested $4,712,027; the cost of raw material $4,323,233; the number of employs 4966; (3737 male and 1229 females); the annual cost of labor $1,294,248 and the annual value of raw material $7,127,984. Following are the statistics for 1880 (from the tenth United States census) exhibiting forty selected manufactures. | | | AVERAGE NUMBER OF | Total amt. | | | | Number | CAPITAL. | HANDS EMPLOYED. | pd in wages| Value | Value | | of | | Males |Females|Chldrn | during | of | of | INDUSTRIES. | Establishments | |> 16 y.| > 15y.|& Youths| the year. | materials. | products. | Agriculture implements 13 $256,145 138 .... 5 $63,770 $65,332 $214,581 Brass Castings 1 23,000 14 .... .... 7,000 60,000 75,000 Bread and other bakery products 20 83,400 44 3 5 15,781 82,715 126,997 Bricks and tile 28 168,100 232 .... 41 44,649 34,275 135,184 Carpets other than rugs(see also woolen goods) 1 8,000 21 6 15 4,500 23,538 35,000 Carriages and Wagons 12 63,700 95 .... 3 33,883 35,210 87,050 Cheese and butter (factory) 7 43,705 21 1 1 4,844 96,738 119,621 Clothing, men's 14 67,600 147 823 .... 119,950 941,100 1,107,060 Clothing, women's 3 12,300 6 19 .... 2,475 14,000 21,500 Confectionery 3 20,850 10 1 .... 5,026 25,800 32,879 Cotton goods (see also mixed goods) 7 683,250 209 271 163 133,303 236,902 423,517 Cutlery and edge-tools (see also hardware) 4 109,850 74 .... 2 31,557 31,397 75,908 Dyeing and finishing textiles 1 500,000 78 15 57 50,000 100,000 270,000 Fertilizers 2 33,000 14 .... .... 3,380 20,800 34,680 Flouring and Grist-mill products 115 1,004,100 213 .... .... 52,467 1,640,080 1,866,107 Foundry and machine-shop products 18 178,873 378 .... 2 158,401 207,806 461,052 Glass 1 100,000 70 .... 5 20,000 40,000 72,000 Grease and Tallow 5 5,900 8 .... .... 2,189 81,870 91,376 Gunpowder 2 26,000 5 .... .... 1,500 18,000 22,500 Hardware (See also cutlery) 1 80,000 100 .... .... 35,000 110,000 270,000 Iron and Steel 19 5,245,013 2,927 .... 46 1,301,610 4,643,563 7,194,821 Iron nails and spikes, cut and wrought 1 100,000 37 13 .... 20,000 32,000 56,000 Leather, curried 11 27,500 7 .... .... 1,530 46,471 57,525 Leather, tanned 11 88,500 27 .... 1 9,500 92,658 125,432 Liquors, malt 2 25,000 11 .... .... 3,087 16,680 25,724 Lumber planed (see also sash, doors, etc.) 6 142,750 92 .... .... 33,130 64,228 110,923 Lumber, sawed 20 60,550 33 .... .... 7,510 61,640 91,064 Marble and stone-work 7 36,450 34 .... .... 10,850 22,385 50,750 Mixed textiles (see also cotton and woolen goods) 9 1,100,000 364 500 266 370,078 1,176,937 2,029,640 Oil, linseed 4 18,200 6 .... .... 7,135 18,100 25,220 Paper 6 326,500 134 38 .... 76,650 298,650 537,230 Paved materials 1 50,000 18 .... .... 4,000 12,000 36,000 Printing and publishing 7 80,000 62 .... 7 22,800 25,177 61,404 Sadlery and harness 22 20,850 33 .... 1 7,016 20,000 41,136 Sash, doors and blinds (see also lumber, planed) 6 33,000 24 .... .... 6,057 14,109 25,500 Shirts 2 57,500 52 328 32 53,500 111,480 205,000 Shoddy (See also mixed textiles) 2 35,000 30 6 9 17,944 90,000 142,000 Tinware, cooperware and sheet-iron 21 96,150 63 .... .... 21,716 43,851 88,015 Tobacco, cigars, etc. 50 114,600 378 233 95 145,066 280,685 475,634 Woolen goods (see also carpets and mixed textiles) 14 1,963,000 636 719 342 520,058 1,991,362 3,103,641 TOTALS ____ ___________ _____ _____ _____ __________ ___________ ___________ 840 $13,789,461 7,459 3,073 1,107 $3,596,208 $13,189,707 $20,656,993 [NOTE: Some of the figures were hard to read so totals might not be add up.] In the number of manufactories, Montgomery with 840 stands sixth among its sister counties, those with a larger number of establishments being Philadelphia with (according to the census of 1880) 8567; [The number in 1882 is stated upon good authority to have been 11,844.] Allegheny 1895; Lancaster 1437; Berks 1044; and York 859. When the amount of capital invested in manufactures is taken into consideration however Montgomery comes forward to fourth place with an investment of $13,789,461, the only counties taking precedence of it being Philadelphia with $187,148,857; Allegheny with $70,641426; Delaware with $14,256,720. Berks County has more than a million and a quarter dollars less capital invested in manufactures than Montgomery and Lancaster has more than three and a quarter million dollars less, while York, which as we have shown exceed Montgomery in number of manufactures falls far behind it in capital, having only $3,537,375. In the value of products Montgomery is the third county of the State. The value of the total annual output of its manufactories is $20,656,993, while that of Philadelphia is $324,342,935 and of Allegheny $105,272,739. The county of Berks closely follows with Montgomery in the value of its annual products $20,143164, and Delaware comes next in order with an annual output value at $19,601,493. The value of Cambria's yearly production reaches $16,150,865 and that of no other county exceeds $15,000,000. 574 The following table exhibited the manufacturing statistics of Montgomery in with those of the six adjoining counties: | | | AVERAGE NUMBER OF | Total amt. | | | COUNTIES | ESTABLISHMENTS | CAPITAL. | HANDS EMPLOYED. | pd in wages| MATERIALS. | PRODUCTS. | | | | Males |Females|Chldrn | during | | | | | |> 16 y. |> 15 y.|& Youths| the year. | | | Montgomery 840 $ 13,780,461 7,459 3,073 1,107 $ 4,596,206 $ 13,189,707 $ 20,656,993 Philadelphia 8,567 187,148,857 113,075 56,818 15,634 64,263,966 199,155,477 324,342,935 Bucks 591 3,039,014 2,334 926 349 904,915 4,033,627 6,208,209 Berks 1,944 12,522,140 8,307 890 811 3,077,919 13,026,331 20,143,164 Chester 737 6,411,853 4,141 389 331 1,749,350 6,674,978 10,406,331 Delaware 416 14,256,720 6,569 2,885 1,788 3,839,838 11,262,964 19,601,493 Lehigh 473 12,850,472 4,790 576 377 1,690,776 9,352,199 14,097,475 NORRISTOWN. NORRISTOWN IRON-WORKS, James Hooven & Sons. -This is the largest industry in Norristown, covering four acres of ground fronting four hundred feet on Washington Street, and running back thence to the river Schuylkill. It had its origin in 1846, the pioneers being Moore & Hooven. In 1854, Mr. Moore retired, leaving the business in the hands Mr. Hooven, who has increased the productive capacity of the mill from two thousand five hundred to five thousand tons of finished work per annum. In 1870 he erected a blast furnace in connection with the rolling-mill, and 1878 erected mills for the manufacturer of wrought-iron pipe. The power is derived from seven engines and twenty-two boilers, of combined power of five hundred horses There are six double puddling and three heating furnaces. Two hundred and fifty are employed in the works; the payroll amount to five thousand dollars a week, and the value of the property is estimated at five hundred and five thousand dollars. PLATE-IRON MILLS, J. H. BOONE, PROPRIETOR. -These mills are situated on the close to the Reading Railroad Tacks, on Washington Street opposite Markley Street, The buildings were erected in 1850 by General William Schall, who operated, them successfully for several years. In 1880, Mr. J. H. Boone purchased the property, rebuilt the mill the most substantial manner, and fitted it up with new and improved machinery. There are three engines, of one hundred and twenty, forty and thirty horse-power, and five boilers. The Mills are devoted to the manufacture of plate-iron, the capacity being about five thousand tons a year of finished iron. Nearly a hundred hands are employed at the mills, and over one thousand dollars a week are distributed in wages. The mills are in a very prosperous condition. STANDARD IRON-WORKS (Limited). -These works are situated in the lower section of the borough all were built by the late General William Schall in 1863. They were afterward sold to Samuel Fulton, of Conshohocken, and being put up at sheriff's sale, incorporated under the title of Standard Iron Company (Limited), of which General John W. Schall is the president. The mill and lot are about four hundred feet square, with eleven double puddling furnaces, one one hundred horse-power and one fifty horse-power engine, with boilers to match. The capacity is about ten thousand tons of muck-bar per annum; when in full operation, one hundred and twenty hands are employed; over sixty thousand dollars a year are paid out of wages. The value of the plant is about seventy thousand dollars, and is located on Washington Street, near Ford Street Bridge. PENNSYLVANIA TACK-WORKS. -These works, now of national reputation, are located on Stony Creek, and were established in 1868 by Captain C. P. Weaver, who is still the mainspring and master-spirit of the business. In 1871 the name of the firm was changed to C. P. Weaver & Co., and the buildings which they now occupy were erected making additions from time to time as the pressure of business increased. No. 1 building, filled with new and improved nail and track-machine, has a frontage of thirty feet on Ann Street and one hundred feet on Markley, part three stories in height and two stories; No. 2 building is twenty-five by seventy feet, No. 3 twenty-five by seventy feet, No. 4 is thirty by seventy-eight feet, in which buildings the different processes of bluing, pickling, slitting, annealing and packing are carried on, with a large store-house for the materials required in the manufacture. Over seventy hands are employed, the payroll amounting to nearly $2,000 monthly. Fifteen tons of finished works are produced per week, embracing fully two thousand grades of tacks and nails. These works are amongst the foremost on this continent, are in a most flourishing condition and are estimated in value at about one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The goods manufactured at the Pennsylvania Tack-Works have not only a national reputation, but are exported to England, Germany, Russia, China, Australia an other parts of the civilized world. In 1873 a stock company was organized under a charter of the Legislature, with a capital of $100,000, and the present name assumed. The president is J. K. Ralston; the treasurer and superintendent is Captain C. P. Weaver. CAPTAIN CHARLES P. WEAVER is the son of Ransom and Mary Hogan Weaver, of Pultney, Steuben Co., N. Y., his paternal ancestry being English and his maternal ancestors of Irish and Holland descent. He was born August 1828, and early evinced a marked predilection for the sea. He embarked at he age of fifteen, and for six years acted as sailor, the following nine having been spent as a subordinate officer and eight as a captain. 575 The first ten years of his nautical life were devoted to the European trade, sailing to and from Great Britain and ports on the Continent. Later he made long voyages, having been five times round Cape Horn en route for California. He also made four trips to the East Indies, on which occasions he was several times wrecked. During his life as a mariner Captain Weaver visited, with the exception of the Dutch and Baltic ports, all the principal sea-marts in the world. PICTURE OF CHARLES P. WEAVER, APPEARS HERE. He was for several years master and part owner of the clipper ship "Edwin Flye", as also captain of the "Flying Eagle" and the bark "Columbia." While sailing the bark "Union Jack" he was captured by the rebel pirate Semmes, of "Alabama" fame. This officer burned the vessel and cargo, and landed Captain Weaver, his family and crew at Bahia, Brazil. The loss he sustained was subsequently repaid him on the adjustment of the "Alabama" claims. At the conclusion of this episode in his career he decided to abandon a seafaring life, and in 1865 made Norristown his home establishing at that point the Pennsylvania Tack-Works. Their success was at once confirmed, and a demand created that necessitated removal into more spacious quarters, which he enlarged and refitted. Captain Weaver married, in 1855, Miss Margaret H.; daughter of Morton and Priscilla Pratt, of Weymouth, Mass. Their two sons, Henry P. and George N., are both associated with their father in the management of the tack-works. The captain is a public-spirited citizen with benevolent instincts, which lead him to participate with heart and hand in carrying on good works. 576 He affiliates with the Republican Party in politics, but frequently votes independently, having been in 1882 a member of the Independent State Committee. Aside from his Norristown enterprise, he is identified with the Central Manufacturing Company of Boston as a director. Captain Weaver is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Norristown, and is an active member of the Young Men's Christian Association, of which he was president and to which he was a generous donor. THE GLOBE TACK-WORKS. -These works are located on Oak Street, near Arch Street, in the borough of Norristown, and were established by Messrs W. E. Thomas and M. Kenworthy, January, 1844, under the firm-name of Thomas & Kenworthy. The main building fronts on Oak Street thirty-five feet, with a depth of one hundred and twenty-five feet, two stories in height. Attached to or surrounding the main building are an iron-house, twenty-eight feet by eighty feet; a pickling-house, eighteen by twenty-four feet, and an engine and boiler-house, twenty-four by thirty-two feet. In this latter building is a thirty horsepower engine and a forty horsepower boiler, which furnish the motive-power. There are thirty tack-making machines, and over thirty hands employed in the mill, manufacturing about one ton of finished tacks per day, ranging in size from a tack one-thirty-second of all inch to two and one-half inches in length, including between these extremes over seven hundred varieties. The monthly pay-roll of the hands averages fifteen hundred dollars. THE EAGLE WORKS, R. S. NEWBOLD & SON. -This old-established firm is famous as founders, engine builders, machinists and manufacturers of rolling-mill and blast-furnace machinery, rotary shears, saw and grist-mill machinery, boilers and every description of iron and brass castings. The old building, erected by Thomas Saurman in 1839, is still in use by the present firm. It was built for the manufacture of mill machinery upon a very small scale, and was run by the proprietor with a few apprentices, with the occasional help of journeymen or two. The works were bought by R. S. Newbold in 1861, and up to 1867 the firm was in his name, at the last-named date his son, John D. Newbold, became a partner, and the firm has been R. S. Newbold & Son, although the senior member of the firm has been dead for some years. Since 1861 the establishment has increased in size, capacity and importance, until today it has a national reputation. The frontage on Washington Street is two hundred and sixty feet, with a depth of three hundred and fifty feet, extending to the Schuylkill River. The buildings are as follows: No. 1 is the main building, a machine-shop, thirty-five by one hundred and thirty feet, fitted up in the best style with all the modern inventions and appliances known to this branch of mechanics. It is three stories in height. No. 2 is the foundry, fifty by ninety feet, in which castings of 16,000 pounds are frequently made. No. 3 is the boiler and blacksmith's shop, thirty-five by one hundred and tall feet, also fitted up with every appliance and convenience for work. No. 4 is the pattern storehouse, fitly by one hundred feet, in which is kept thousands of dollars worth of valuable patterns from which castings are made. When in full operation there are about seventy men employed and $35,000 a year paid out in wages. Some enormous contracts of heavy and complicated machinery have been filled at the Eagle Works. The large five hundred horsepower blowing-engine of the new furnace of the Merion Iron Company, J. B. Moorhead & Co., at West Conshohcken, was made here. All the machinery for the boiler-plate mills of the Pottstown Iron Company, of the Plymouth Rolling Mills, Fulton's and Alan Wood & co.'s mills, of East Conshohocken, were made at tile Eagle Works. They produced the machinery used in Marshall & Brothers' roiling-mills, Philadelphia, and those for a large ironworks in Duchess County, N. Y. They made three large blowing-engines for Morris, Tasker & Co., of New Castle, Del. The firm has been the first to make a machine successful in the manufacturing of asphalt, paving-blocks, producing a pressure of one hundred tons on each block. They have a specialty for this, and ship their machines to New York, Baltimore, Chicago and New Orleans, where this description of pavement is coming into extensive use. This gives name and reputation to our local mechanics, for which they deserve the highest credit. One million five hundred thousand pounds of finished work are produced here annually, and the value of the works, stock included, is about one hundred thousand dollars. ROBERT CASCADEN. -Robert Cascaden, the grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch, was a native of Drum Connaer, County Donegal, Ireland, and followed the fortunes of the sea as captain of a sailing- vessel. He immigrated to America prior to the war of 1812, in which he participated. He married Mary Cascaden, whose only child was a son Thomas, born in Drum Connaer, where he was engaged in the agricultural pursuits. Thomas married Betty Long, and had children- Robert George Alexander Thomas James Isabella. Mr. Cascaden came to America in 1855, where he was actively employed for many years. His son Robert was born in Drum Connaer, County Donegal, Ireland on the 27th of October and in 1847 sailed from Londonderry for the United States, having in his native country received such an education as the common schools afforded. On his arrival he found employment in the coal-mines situated in Schuylkill County, Pa., after which he removed to New York City and engaged in the labor incident to boiler-making, where he remained seven years. Having become proficient in this department of mechanics, he made Philadelphia his residence, his skill readily commanding a lucrative position as foreman of the caulking department in the Baldwin Locomotive Works. In 1869 he removed with his family to Norristown, and assumed charge of the Norris Works. 577 He later accepted and still fills the position, of foreman in connection with the Eagle Works, located in that borough, having exclusive charge of the boiler department of that establishment. Mr. Cascaden has for some years been an influential representative of the principles of the Republican Party. He has been for ten years an active member of the Borough Council. In his religious convictions he is a Methodist, and member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Norristown. PICTURE OF ROBERT CASCADEN, APPEARS HERE. THE STAR GLASS-WORKS, J. M. ALBERTSON & SONS. -The manufacture of glass into Norristown by a Philadelphia company about the year 1868. The enterprise was a failure in their hands, but in 1870 the plant was purchased by J. M. Albertson, banker, of Norristown, and has been a success under his management. The first year five pots were run. There are now twenty pots running, giving employment to about one hundred and forty hands. The buildings, six in number, front on the Norristown Branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. The grounds, four acres in extent, lie between the railroad and the river Schuylkill. RITTENHOUSE & SONS. -This well-known firm was established in 1836 by the senior member of the firm, and at first only manufactured stagecoaches. They belong to a family famous for scientific mechanical ingenuity, of which the celebrated astronomer, David Rittenhouse, of Norriton Township was a distinguished member. In 1878, Mr. Rittenhouse admitted his sons into partnership, under the firm name of C. Rittenhouse & Sons. Their establishment is on Main Street, having a frontage of fifty feet and a depth of three hundred feet. They manufacture agricultural implements, iron and brass castings, horsepower threshers, feed-cutters, corn-shellers, and do all kinds of mechanical work, both new and repairing. They employ thirty hands all the year round, and have recently added a new and extensive foundry, which will materially increase their facilities for production. CHRISTOPHER RITTENHOUSE. -Henry Rittenhouse, the grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch, resided in Worcester township, Montgomery Co. By his marriage to Miss Sophia Ernhart were born children Christopher William Wilhemina David Joseph Henry. David, who settled in Norriton township as a prosperous farmer, married Rachel Zimmerman, daughter of Wm. Zimmerman, and had children,- Charlotte Susan (Mrs. Joseph Ernhart, deceased) William Christopher Sophia (Mrs. John Shannon) Henry David (deceased) 578 Christopher Rittenhouse was born on the 1st of February, 1806, in Norriton township, and spent his boyhood upon the farm of his father, where he enjoyed such limited opportunities of education as were obtainable in the country at that early date. He preferred a trade to the life of a farmer, and learned that of a wheelwright and coach-maker at Jeffersonville, on the completion of which he removed to Germantown township, and for eight years found steady employment. He was, in 1835, married to Catharine, daughter of George Markle, of Roxborough, Philadelphia Co. Their children are Mary (Mrs. John C. Snyder) Charles M. George M William Henry Charlotte Ella Frank. PICTURE OF CHRISTOPHER RITTENHOUSE, APPEARS HERE. Mr. Rittenhouse, in 1836, removed to Norristown, and pursued his trade until 1852, when a wider field was opened in the manufacture of threshing machines. He associated with him in this enterprise a partner, whose interest he soon after purchased and became sole owner. Finding that his productions by their superior quality commanded a ready market, he, in 1861, erected his present capacious and convenient shops, and having enlarged the business, engaged in the general manufacture of machinery for all purposes. His sons, all of whom are practical machinists, were some years since admitted to the firm, and the business is now conducted under the name of C. Rittenhouse & Sons. Mr. Rittenhouse interests himself no further in the political events of the day than to vote the Republican ticket, his life having been devoted to mechanical labor. He is a supporter of the Protestant Episcopal Church, his family being among the congregation of St. John's Church of that denomination in Norristown. PENN BOILER-WORKS. -J. & G. Gibbons have established the above-named works in the old Norris Works machine shops, and have fitted up the place admirably for the manufacture of boilers. They are practical workmen, and during the seven years in which they have been engaged in the business they have increased their trade and made a good reputation for their work. They are located well, close to the Reading Railroad track, at the corner of Washington Street. They employ about six hands, and are rapidly extending their business. ENTERPRISE FOUNDRY AND MACHINE-SHOP, JOHN F. ELLIOTT, PROPRIETOR. -These works are located at the corner of Main and Ford Streets, and were erected by the proprietor in the fall of 1879. The foundry has a frontage on Main Street of forty feet and a depth of sixty feet, two stories in height. The machine-shop is twenty by forty feet. There are from eight to ten hands employed, and about nine tons of raw material are used every week. About five thousand dollars a year are paid in wages, and the plant is worth in the market about twenty thousand dollars. END PART I