The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-11-13
Riches of Cornwall.

Riches OF CORNWALL.
THE INEXHAUSTIBLE WEALTH OF THE
FAMOUS ORE HILLS-ROBERT COLE
MANS MILLIONS-ENTERPRIS
AND BUSINESS TACT THAT
HAVE SWELLED AN
ENORMOUS FOR
TUNE.
Special Correspondence Phila. Times.
LEBANON, September 80.
Five miles south of this place lies the
Cornwall estate, which in wealth and
fame has come to rival its namesake in
England. Inexhaustible millions are
promised in the developments of its re-
sources. The stacks of its famous fur
naces envelop the blue hills with an in
cessant volume of sooty smoke. 10
reach them one must pass through an
extended garden-stretch of land pecu-
liarly striking in the eccentricities of
its landscape. We read of manor seats
of historic England and of romantic
domains of Scottish lords and clothe
them with the fancy of poetry and the
stateliness of age, little dreaming that
the Cornwall of America comprises one
of the most extensive estates, unequaled
in picturesqueness, in resources and in
romance of history by any in the world.
Standing upon the border line one can
look east and west for distance of nine
miles, and on either side of ones
shadow extend the Coleman lands.
Think of a IS, 900 acre estate! No less
than 5000 acres of this land reach into
Berks county. In one line of view ex
tend the farms of the richest soil, and
from an eminence in one part of them
sweep of thirty miles falls under the eye
the Swatara Gap and distant points
of Daupin, Schuylkill, Berks and even
Montgomery counties.
ITS EARLY OWNERSHIP.
Around this, as around all accumu
lated family fortunes, the widest kind
of romances and legends have been
woven. The least extravagant of them
can hardly be true, and the story of a
poor boys accidental discovery and
cheap purchase of these hills of mex
haustible wealth is all myth. The
chain of title discloses these facts: The
original tract, about 1000 acres, was
held by John, Thomas and William
Penn. They assigned the land to Jos
Turner. He assigned it 10 William Al
len in 1892. Peter Grub bought 135
acres, the ore banks, in 1887, for 43oo
In 1886 the original Robert Coleman
bought one sixth of two thirds of the
interest. In 1898 he bought the re
naming three-sixths of the two-third:
interest for 429,Ioo. Finally, in 1893
Robert Coleman held five sixths and h
B. Grub one sixth of the whole inter
est. Robert Coleman hailed from
Cornwall, England, and was, upon hi
arrival. considered prominent iror
man. The muniments of title OF TIT
Cornwall estate make volume in them
selves. The transmissions of ownership
were accompanied not only by muta
tons of friendship. Farms, mansion
and other valuable estates, like tlckl
fortunes, tossed from one hand into an
other in the various branches of tn
Grub and Coleman families. But annie
all the litigations the ore hills have re
NAMED intact since 1887, when com
missioners decreed that the ore mine
remain together and undivided as
tenantcy in common. From 1887 t.
1847 the several owners used the or
without accounting. The supply wa
deemed inexhaustible. Surveys esti
mated the deposit of ore above waite
level to be 40, ooo, 900 tons. the over
flowing abundance of the material in tn
hills made the owners magnanimous to
ward each other in the selection of min
Loles. Only where the railroads wind
ing along the hillsides interfered wit
temporary rights, clash of feeling an
strife ensued. In I84o an agreemen
was made by the heirs to account tn
ore at fifty cents per ton.
THE RoBEsoNIA FURNACE.
An interesting episode to the Corr
wall interests grew out of a reservatlo
by Peter Grub for enough ore to SUI
Div one furnace, in the words of an Ii
dian compact, 'as long as grass grow
and water runs This is an incorp(
real hereditament attached to the Rob-
sonia Furnace. This compact was ties
ed at law to determine whether it meal
a supply to furnace of past needs sin
ply and whether it could apply to tt
enlarged capacity of furnaces in tn
day of increased Improvements. III
Supreme Court decided in favor OF tt
latter view. This wonderfully enhance
the value of the Robesonia Furnace an
made of Nicholas Furguson a wealth
man. He had come to this place. for
years before, poor boy from Coleris
township. When the furnace was so
a few years ago to the heirs of Robe
Coleman's estate it rounded the sum
$500, 900.
The Mount Hope Furnace fell und
the same disposal of rights. But the
extra favors can make but little inro
upon that piled-up mass of solid OF
| The twelve furnaces that blaze throuI
the valley consume about 1900 tons
ore per day and produce 900 tons
. pig-iron. Yet even if a thousand fl
& naces were to blaze thousand We;
/. those hills, which have made millionail
out of scores of families, would stand
. their inexhaustible greatness to enri
thousands more.
BOLD YOUNG MILLIONAIRE.
Il Passing over the lineage of the Co