The daily gazette., 1880-02-07
From the Phils. Press,
The First Furnace Ever Built In
America.

America.
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO
AT PRINCIPIo-THE FOUNDERS OF
PRINcIPIo. r..s A
The walls they erected have been
leveled TO the ground by a foreign foe,
and the crumbling stones have long
been hidden under the grass and
weeds but from. the ashes Of the
old a loftier stack has arisen to
meet with prosperity of which
those long dead adventures
possibly dreamed but never realized.
Cecil, in which county the furnace
stands, forms part of the boundary OF
Pennsylvania, and many Pennsylva-
mans early came here in search of for
tune. Soon after the furnace was built
in 1721t John Copson of Philadelphia
took up a tract of land of 5,743 acres
here, which afterward became the
property Of the Principle Company,
but this founders of Principle were
Englishmen. They were iron-masters,
mercha ants and capitalists. One of
them was Sir Nicholas Hackett Carew
ofBeddington, in The county of Surrey,
BaroDet, who was at the head Of q
branch of the great house Of Carew,
one of England's oldest and most illus
trious families. Stephen Onion and
Thomas Russells, Sr., of Beddington,
(nearly all the members of the compa-
ny seem to have been relatives and to
have come from one neighborhood in
England) were the most active pro-
moters of the enterprise. The former
was practical iron master. They
came to America and, after prospect
ing leased and opened ore-banks, pur-
chased wood land for making charcoal,
built this furnace and made arrange
ments for selling the iron. y
Leaving the ful mace In charge OF Jonn
Eugland, together they returned to
Great Britain in the same ship with
Benjamin Franklin, who, In his me-
Doirs, speaks of his first voyage to
England. and OF his fellsw-voyagers. He
says. 81 quilted Philadelphia in the
,hip which anchored at Newcastle. Mr.
Andrew Hamilton, ceIebrated lawyer
OF Phi |adelphia, had taken voyage IN
,he same ship y
and M essrs Onion and Russell, masters
IT au iron work in Maryland, who had
eng aged the great cab D." Russell stayed
~ Eng Ia nj, but Onion returned and in
1926 was again In charge at PnEcipio.
II is probable that the first pig-iron ever
exported from tAmeripa TO Engiaud-a
small lot OF three and one-half tons In
the year. l7lS-was male at Principle.
pr,0r 10 the Revolution Maryland and
Vlrg d ia mad aud exported more iron
tDaD any of the colonies. In the custom
hpuseIreturns in England the two colo
uies are always coupled together, be-
cause the Maryland iron was fiqt sent
90 Virginia in small boats to be reshi pped
10 En- gland, and IL is therefore impossi-
,l.1to allot'to each colony its proper shsre
If iron exported under the fostering
care Or the proprietary government. The
production of irou Increased Ia Mary
land until 1851; 1t, with Virginia, ex-
ported t. England $3.50 tons OF pig-iron
against 1919 tons from Pennsylvania, 33
tons from New York, 8 tons FROM New
England and IL tons from Carolina.
In 1851 the eight furDaces and ten
forgey In Maryland made $500 tons of
pigs aud $40 tons OF bar iron, while the
tnnuhl production of England herself at
that period was only IL 900 tons OF pig
iron. Some OF the ore banks worked by
the FriEcipio Company were on the
Pata pseo river, below The site of the fu-
tnre Baltimore, and were first discover
I'd BY that wonderful man Captain j oh %
smith, in 1906. In 1870 the country about
PrindiLio was covered by
ADENsl FukEsT
md charcoal, consequently, was very
cheap. At that time wood-cutters were
paid D., 81. per cord for cutting, eolliers
received aud shilnDgs per load for
coahhg aud The wood leave" or price
of the wood on the stump was reckoned
AT a shilling a cord. The ledger OF Prin-
cipid Furnace for the year 1727 shows
the cpst of making pigiron then, and to
lho d familiar with the preseut cost OF
making charcoal iron 1t will be interest
ing 50 compare the two.
Account of pigs at furnaces, August
l727:
Iron ore, 50 tons, ~ 15s........ 81 10
Charcoal, so loads III $50 brsh-
els at los.-.... ............... OIL U
OS sth r-shells and limestone,
Quhutity not vi Riven........... q
Wages-JohB Sharker. found
or, 40 tups, at 2s. 6d.......... 8 o
Other labor, 40 tons, at o.. 6J... IL o
Misce llaneous Disbursements. 2 O
III 10
Total production, 40 tons pig iron at a
cost per ton El IS. 90, amt the iron
sold at the furnace for f10 per ton.
Blooms we're valued at f25, and bar
IRON Mt an average of f35 per ton. The
forgt men received Fl per ton Tor max
log blooms. Slaves were often employed
1t ihe work, and on the books there Is
an entry of a payment to "IDdian jack
rhe white forgeman received twenty
shiIlings per ton wages, aud the slave
got d bonus of one shilling for the same
work.
Ia i754 the cost of making 2,240 pound
of bar iron was Ell los. The slaves
were fed on corn and pork, and they