AREA HISTORY:  Iron Ore, Heidelberg Township, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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IRON ORE INTERESTS – Page 694

Heidelberg contains valuable and extensive deposits of iron ore.  The discovery 
of it was made by Peter Dicks, who started Spring Forge in 1756.  Most of the ore 
smelted at Mary Ann Furnace, which was built in 1761, by Hon. George Ross, of 
Lancaster, and located in Manheim, this county, was obtained in Heidelberg.  

In 1840 ex-Gov. Porter leased several tracts in this township and began to take 
out and ship ore in large quantities.  The names of some of the leading banks are 
herein given.

The Hanover Bank in northeastern part of township, was opened by J. 
Duttenhoeffer, in 1870, and passed into the hands of the Chiques Iron Company in 
1873.  It has been a very valuable deposit and an area of five acres has been 
excavated.  In all about 45,000 tons of brown hematite ore were taken out, the 
bank being in continuous operation from 1870 to 1885.

A thirty horse-power engine was used.

The ore was lately obtained from a mine eighty-five feet deep.

Samuel Bechtel’s Bank was opened in 1864.  It adjoins the Hanover Bank.  It was 
first owned by George Sprenkle and operated by a gentleman from Lancaster.  Three 
perpendicular shafts were put down.  The ore obtained was 40 per cent pure metal.  
Forty men were at one time employed here.  It continued in operation for a dozen 
years, and several thousand tons of ore were obtained.  In 1871, a bank was 
opened a short distance east of this one, containing a good quality of brown 
hematite lying in yellow clay.

Moul’s Bank, Forry’s Bank (near Smith’s Station), Stambach’s Bank, Mickley’s 
Bank, Sprenkle’s Bank on the farm of Henry L. Bauman, and others, yielded large 
quantities of ore.  Bollinger’s Bank four and a half miles southeast of Hanover, 
for many years was one of the most important in this county.  It was leased and 
operated by the Leesport Iron Company.  At J. Moul’s Bank, for a time, 400 tons 
of ore per month were obtained.  Sprenkle’s Bank was very valuable.

Within the past few years the Ashland Iron Company, Leesport Iron Company and 
Chiques Iron Company have leased and operated a number of banks in this township.