The Monmouth inquirer., 1926-12-02
The Old AIIaire
Iron Works
Why it Stopped.

At the time of the starting of the AL
laire Works in 1885, after they removed
from Brooklyn, was the logical sequence
of the introduction of new agencies in
the merchantile world, were just Begin
ming. The electric telegraph, the rail-
road, the extended use of steam as q
power. and the introduction of improv-
ed machines, were all making new con
ditions in the Industrial world New
competition were springing up every
where in every business; competition
was becoming clearer and keener. Those
Industries which were disadvant agely
placed In any way in the new order of
things, were being pushed slowly but in
evitably to the wall.
1t was the mill-race against the steam
engine, the conestoga wagon against the
freight car. No such revolution bad
been before in the business world; SON
|seouentIy it's force and power were not
Quickly grasped by all the business men
of the period. Because their fathers and
grand-fathers had made money in the
Old way. many chung to their old loca-
tions, old machinery, old methods of
business, and old means of Transports
ton. It was the spirit that made the great
whaling firms of New Bedford, bringing
their oil from far distant, perilous and
uncertain success to attempt to COM
be e with the great oil fields Of P enn-
svlyania. spouting their thousands of
gallons daily. The result was typical of
the conflict everywhere. The great for
tunes Of the whalers melted away like
mists in the summer sun, in the fierce
but UNEQUAL competition with the PEN
niless but clear-headed men who saw
the real outlook of the future, and who
were straining every nerve to get money
to buy oil lands. The struggle went on
in every business, the simple rules Of
political economy were being fought
against in vain.
In a drive th rough the shaded roads at
Allaire clan be found the romantic
ruins of Allaire Here can be found the
forge and deserted mill and moss
covered factory which once echoed toI
the ceaseless hum IF industry. This TO-
mantle spot now so suggestive Of le-
pend or story, were made by the lractl-
cal demands of common place, com
mon sense business. 1t is stern realty
curiousl enough, that makes the ro-,
nance of the world
There occurred o greater revolution
than in the iron business Formerly, the
iron was found in small quantities in
isolated spots and hauled by wagon or
sent by boats and scows many miles to
the foundry or rolling mills where it was
smelred, by specially prepared chemi-
cal charcoal or by coal brought from a
distance.The manner in which the
work was done, as compared with the
tremendous modern methods was mere
child's play. Great works were built
which depended on the iron found in
the peat Of swamps along the coast line.
The ruined village of Allaire, with it's
grass grown streets. and it's great huge
foundry buildings, with their gaping
windows, is typical example Of it's
kind
The Allaire foundry was up to date at
the time it was built The hammers had |
about been silenced in the buildings in
1888, when anthracite or stone coalfirst
came into use as fuel in iron works. |
It's introduction in manufacture OF iron |
gave a great impetus to the foundrv
industry everywhere and it superseded |
by that hammered out by hand on the |
forge, the product being called Flower"
deriving it's name from the fact that /
when ba,nmering into shape on the an
vii. it was the flower Of the metal get
ting it's name from the Herman term
"fume1 or flower. This product was
made from cast or pig iron, or even di-I
rectly from the ore Until 1888 all iron
furnaces in the United States with the
exception of a few coke furnaces, used
as fuel All furnaces az this
time, we're blown by water power and
the blast asalways Geld. This accounts