Evening star., 1916-01-02

taking of large operations such as were
formerly carried on at many points.
Anne Arundel iron mining has been
done for the greater part by open cut
ting, but there has been somewhat ex-
tensive underground mining carried on
where there is a large "overburden.
The open GUS have always been
worked with pick and shovel. and the
clay hauled out of the banks in carts.
The underground mining is usually
done through shafts. \ shaft is sunk
to the ore bed and from il a drift run
out into the bed. The clay and ore are
hauled out of the shaft by means of
windlass. After opening one such drift
others are run out in different direc-
tionS from the shaft, and the clay filled
into the old ones, so that only the ore
has to be hoisted. In other cases where
the overburden in the open cut be-
comes too great the bank is further
worked by means of tunnels into the
sides. This was one of the favorite
methods of "gouging."
= =
The Maryland geological survey says
that probably the most f1ourishing
period in the history of the mining of
these ores was during the civil war,
when they brought as high as S8, or
even more, per ton. After the war they
brought from IS to Sc ton. and then
gradually decreased in price until n
sudden drop in the early nineties
brought them down to So a ton This
practically destroyed the industry, as
the subsequent rise in price has not
been sufficient to bring about more
than the desultory operations of today.
The original MuirlSirk furnace was
built at Murkirk in 1s47 by William
and Elias Ellicott. who at tnat time
owned the Patuxent furnace in Anne
lnl.
was bought by William E. Coffin &
Co. in 1855, and was leased by them
to other operators until 1852. when
they assumed operation of il. The
plant was taken oversin 1853 by George
r. Burroughs and Charles E. CONN Its
output was then thirty three tons of
pig iron week. In 1864 Burroughs
sold his interest to Coffin. who operated
the furnace for many years. and this
old furnace is still in operation
In Anne Arundel county there were
two famous furnaces. One was the
Curtis Creek furnace, which was also
known as the Marley furnace The
ruins of its stack were long a land
mark in the Furnace Creek region of
the county. The furnace dates back to
115S and was started by Cabel Dorsey,
Edward Dorsey and Alexander Lawson.
There is an old record which shows
that in 1878 the furnace was the prop
erty of Samuel Dorsey. jr.; Charles
Ridgely, Michael Poe, William Good
win and William Buchanan. About
that time man named Barker bought
the plant. A foundry was built in 1929
and for long time the works were op-
Grated by j. Barker & Son. The plant
was abandoned in 1851, when il was
under the ownership of wilkins Glenn
One of the ancient iron furnaces of
Maryland was on the Little Patuxent
river at the Old Forge bridge in Anne
Arundel county. within an easy dis
tance of Laurel Far back in colonial
times that plant was in operation as
Snowden's iron works An iron manu-
facturer named John England once
conducted the plant and he died in
1874. In 1881 the works were in oper-
alton under the ownership of Thomas
Richard and Edward Snowden, and in
that year were bought by Evan T. Ell
lott & Co. The record is that on ac-
count of lack of wood and ore the
plant was dismantled in June 1856, at
which time 1t was owned by William
wilkins Glenn. John Glenn, jr., and
Robert Lennon.
Iron making is one of the old indus
tries of Maryland. 1t is thought that
Capt John Smith discovered iron ore
on the banks of the Patapsco river in
1908. He sent two barrels of iron ore
to England, bur W neither of Virginia or
Maryland ore is not known. The man
ufacture of iron in Maryland no doubt
began before 1851, for in that year the
assembly passed act to prevent the
expectation of old iron and to encour-
age the smiths by imposing a duty on
such expectation.
The general assembly of MARYLAND
passed an act in 1919 designed to en-
courage the iron industry within the
province, giving a man desiring to set
up furnace the right to bring about
the condemnation of bearing
lands. 1t is Known that iron works
were in operation in Maryland before
the date of that act.