Evening star., 1921-12-18
THE RAMBLER WRITES OF FAMOUS OLD
IRON MINES OF SOUTHERN MARYLAND

patentee and the purchaser"
Writing Of Montpelier. the Rambler
said: Perhaps these giant box bushes
that have been growing at Montpelier
for $50 years came from Birmingham.
a grand old house across the Patuxent
In Anne Arundel which was prob
ably built by and certainly was the
home OF Richard Snowden. son of the
immigrant, and who is said to have
described himself as Richard Snow
den the tronmaster' because OF tre
iron furnaces which he operated In
the neighborhood OF his home"
\ y y
THE conjunction "and" following
"son OF the immigrant" shows
the Rambler that when this matter
was fresh in his mtmory he meant
to say that it was Richard Snowden,
"a. and not Richard Snowden, Ist. who
called himself "ironmaster." But #
Is clear that the son inherited this
iron land from his father, and it
would be strange if furnace were
not built on 'the iron mine" tract. in
the time OF its ownership by Richard
the immigrant, and rather strange
that one were not there when George
Yates owned the land prior to 1863.
You have the fact that the tract was
called THE Iron Mine" in 1869. and
the deed or patent to Yates would
probably show at what time the
name. Iron Nine" was given to il.
The Rambler makes the guess that il
was about 1850. and without doubt
the richness and extent Of the iron
ore was discovered before the patent
was taken out. The object of Snow
den's later patents in the same neigh
borhood was to get possession of
more iron land and great extent of
forest for the purpose of making
charcoal. In fair reasoning, there
must have been an iron furnace on
these lands not later than 1876, and it
is very probable one was there be-
fore 1863.
The Rambler is going to pursue
further the subject Of old iron fur
naces near Washington, because he
believes it will be interesting to you.
In some histories it is set down that
the first successful iron works and
foundry falls to MASSACHUSETTS. on the
Saugus river. near Lynn, in 1643" 1t
may be SO, but ii will be worth while
to examine into the matter as closely
as We can. New England historians
have been great historians-for New
England!
This old furnace. called Muirkirk.
goes back to about 1s47. when it was
set up by member Of the Ellicott
family. 1t was then one of those
crude affairs called a hillside fur
mace. The pig iron produced at Muir
kirk became celebrated for its good
qualities. 1t was about 1860. or it may
have been a year or two later, that the
furnace and the appurtenant ore and
charcoal lands were bought by Will
liam e. Comm. New England iron
manufacturer. He had come to know
this furnace because of its distinction
in the iron trade. Mr.. Coffin and
Enoch Pratt of Baltimore were friends
and while visiting Mr.. Pratt at Balti-
more Mr.. Coffin learned that the fur
mace and its lands were for sale. He
bought them.
X
THREE generations Of the Coffin
= family have operated the proper
ty. William E. Coffin. his son. Charles
e. Coffin. and his son. Ellery F. Coffin.
The Rambler. in a following story.
will tell of Charles E. Coffin. Every
body in southern Maryland knew him.
and his acquaintance was wide in
Washington. He was a republican
lead in southern Maryland for
thirty odd years and served in both
branches of the state legislature and
served two terms in Congress. That
was back in the days when Sidney
Mudd the elder of Gallant Green and
Barnes Compton of Laurel were i'm
portant figures in Maryland politics.
and particularly in politics of the
fifth congressional district. But of
that anon.
The Rambler has before him three