The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-05-12
A GRAND ARSENAL.
Tho City OF Pittsburgh In Timee
OF Trouble 5
Its Resources Drawn Upoa nurin9 the
Civil War - Experiments and Suo-
ceases In tho Building Of
Great Cannon.

Its Resources l)rawn Upoa During the
Civil War - Experiments and suc-
csssss In tho Building Of
0r~ae Cannon.
Pittsburgh has at all times been an
important point from which war sup
plies Of all kinds have been obtained.
In every war engaged in by the United
States our citizens have been active.
Not TO mention the splendid corps of
rangers organized in western Pennsyl-
vania, under Col. Cresap, to help Wash
;ngton in the siege of Boston, the can
non and balls with which Commodore
Perry fought the battle of Lake Erie.
near Putin Bay, were made in Pitts
burgh, as were also the chains, anchors
and other fittings for his feet, at the
foundry of Joseph McClurg, which was
then the great resource and depend
ence of the United States government.
The remarkable fact, says the Chron-
icle-Telegraph, that Gen. Jackson was
onl y enabled to fight the battle of New
Orleans through the supply of war ma
terial of all kinds manufactured here,
is one of the proud points In our local
history. Maj. Foster. United States
quartermaster, induced the whole pop
ulation Of the then borough to engage
in the patriotic work. and on bleak
December evening the second steam,
boat ever built on western waters, the
Enterprise, put of from our shores on
its vital errand.
The Mexican war proved great op-
portunity to show what Pittsburgh
could do In the way OF furnishing
powder and cannon balls, not to mem
tion battery and cavalry furnishments
Of all kinds. A young lieuten-
ant WAS then stationed here on behalf
Of the United States army, and he is
known to every boy. He was the gal-
liant W. T. Sherman, the hero of the
march to the sea. -r
A few years after that time q studi-
GUS ordnance lieutenant was Quartered
at our arsenal, and he had some notion
of improving the artillery. His name
also became famous the world over, and
the experiments carried on, by the per-
mission of Messrs. Knapp & Wade In
their fou n dry, located short distance
above the Fort Wayne railroad bridge
over the Allegheny river, had conse-
Iuences little dreamed of at the time.
The name of the lieutenant was T. ].
Rodman, and every sailor and soldier
of the late war has felt thankf ul for
his grand achievements. Mr.. Rod mans
idea was to cast guns hollow. SO that
they might cooA from the center, and
it is one of th&1 1yidences of the mys-
terious ways II which Providence
moves, when it is stated tn at no less q
person than Jefferson Davis, then sec
retary OF war, very esse ntially helped
the young ordnance officer in perfect
ing and testing his invention, by get
ting from congress an appropriation of
fifty thousand dollars to this end. The
Rodman idea involved complete
in artillery. not only as to
casting. but also as to the very shape
Of cannon. Dahigren afterward took
up the subject for the navy, and thus
were armaments provided ahead of
else in the world. Rodman
paved the way for Armstrong and
Krupp.
The fine charcoal iron of western
with tensile strength
Of &c. 900 pounds, was drawn upon by
Rodman. and after S and 6 inch guns
had stood tests at the proving grounds
located at Turtle creek, being fred
many more times than ever exacted
before, the construction Of monster
cannon of 15-inch bore was under
taken. It was named the Union,
prophetic of the grand instrumentality
shown afterward. Its weight was no
less than Sc, 900 pounds, and that such
= huge mass of iron could be cast
without faw or hitch was long thought
Impossible by the best metallurgists
abroad or at home. The ball fred by
the l5-inch guns weighed TOO pounds.
md the 20-inch gun cast subsequently
served a projectile Of not less than 1000
pounds in weight
The Fort Pitt foundry, organized
when the war came for the specific
purpose of making cannon and their
by Messrs- Knapp,
Wade 4 Co., with Mr.. William Metcalf,
IS manager, proved of stupendous inn
NE tnACC. Az was BEduO SAS nG W 6c0
10 less than twenty-five Of the giant
logs Of war under the lathes at one |
lime. Fully . thousand men we're en-
,loyed, and the casting time was al |
Ways one of spectacular interest; five
'upola furnaces, ranged to pour their |
liquid metal under the intense, and at |
lines vigorously emphatic. superin- |
endence Of Joe Kaye.
No less than three thousand cannon |
we're east and finished at these works !
Turing the war, and hundreds of forts |
nd batteries all over the grand theater
+ conflict belched forth their shot and
hell-a testimony Of the ingenuity
'rit and enterprise of .Pittsburgh's ar
Ulcers. The resources of the works |
we're grsndly illustrated ut the. siege
+ Vicksburg. After months of weary
fort, Gen. Grant and his officers
truck the idea of bombardment.
|rlers were sent in hot haste to Pitts
urgh for thirty Of the hugest mon
ters ever made, and inside of thirty
rorking days they were on their way
outh, floating on specially constructed
arges, built by Monroe & Co. The
a. 4 u a 4. i