The New York herald., 1921-03-06
The Iron for PARROTS Guns.

In the Palisades interstate 1aTh,
a great playground Of New York city
and State, lies tract OF 10000
acres, once called Greenwood and
owned by ROBERT P. PARRoTT, the
inventor Of the PARROT gun, and his
brother, which had a not unlmportant
role in the civil war. On this tract
was produced the iron, dug from
mines and smelted in a cold blast
charcoal furnace, which, transported
over the hills to the West Point foun-
dry at Cold Springs, was made into
cannon. The most Important prod
uct of this foundry was the Parrott
gun, an effective weapon of longer
range than any the South could make
or buy, and which IN officer of the
Confederacy who suffered from the
deadly precision of its first fire de-
scribed as "excelling any artillery
ever before brought on the field In
siege operations"
The early iron industry Of Orange
county Is almost forgotten to-day.
Few traces of 1t remain except the
stacks of the old Greenwood furnace
and of the Greensboro furnace built
In the latter part of the eighteenth
century and still to be seen near the
road from Bear Mountain Inn to
Tuxedo. We are indebted to Il. ID.
A. PARRoTT, a nephew OF ROBERT +.
PARROT, for the little known history
of his uncle's part in developing the
mineral resources of this region.
| ROBERT p. PARRoTT was graduated
from the United States Military
Academy in 1924; he was assigned to
the Ordnance Department, and after
some service in the Creek Indian
wars was stationed at West Point.
He resigned from the army to take
over the cannon factory, and he
finally succeeded In acquiring 1000
acres OF land In Orange county with
the mineral rights and the Green
wood furnace.
The furnace was on the edge of a
small lake in the midst of a vast
wooded tract. The houses Of the fur
mace men. miners and wood choppers
we're scattered through the noun
tains. The labor Of these men was
irregular. the free use of the land
for grazing, the opportunity for Sc
fn
as well as for making baskets, spoons
and ladies', and the use OF the woods
for hunting and fishing "all tended"
writes Mr.. PARRoT-r, ito make the
mountaineers Indifferent to dlsci-
pllne." Nevertheless, many OF them
enlisted and went to the front In the
civil war, and those who remained
did yeoman service ut the iron mines
and furnace. An important branch
Of the work was the cutting Of 10000
cords Of wood and turning II into
charcoal.
The Greenwood charcoal iron was
selected for making guns on account
OF 1Lb TpuhThuUlt LtHsllt slEGnklus
This quality was the achievement Of
years Of experiment and investi-
CATION by ROBERT P. PAHRoTT. To him
the production OF strong iron was a
task and at the same time means
to patriotic end. Because he used
this superior metal he was able to
have guns Of high effectiveness at
the front when the civil war began.
And he kept on furnishing them as
fast as the West Point foundry could
make them until the end of the war.
Writing OF the PARROT gun II. -.
A. PABRorT quotes his uncle's words
describing it:
II was led TO the construction OF
my gun wholly by my own experi-
ments and conclusions IL is a hoped
gun Of the simplest kind, composed
OF one piece OF cast iron and one OF
wrought iron. II has no taper, no
screws, no successive layers OF hoops.
Il Is. however, no hasty expedient;
but devised upon tho result Of years