The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1944-10-05

ground toward AAA'
South Mountain, in the neighbor-
hood of Smoketown and Bagtown,
are mute evidence that iron ore was
gotten there Water five or six feet
deep now fills these depressions in
wet seasons. This is also true on
what was formerly the Edward
Stottlemyer farm. Here today you
can see one or more abandoned
mines
We use the word "mine" reserv-
eddy. Properly speaking, the ore
was taken out of the ground by
digging down from the surface.
Most likely there is still iron ore
whereabouts today.
At Mt. Aetna was located the old
Hughes furnace where ten plate
stoves, common in many homes in
days gone by, were made from the
iron found in the locality. These old
stoves were composed of ten pieces,
hence their name. You could put
half a piece of cord wood, or a large
chunk of wood in it, and it would
keep fire for hours, and even over
night by covering the Goals. 1t is
said of these useful old stoves that
they were held together with rods
and that if a rod or two broke the
end of the stove would fall out. Be
that as it may, these old stoves
were luXuries in those days.
Court House records show that
the farm, or part of it (the whole
tract of land at one time constitut-
ing 1900 acres) was decided to John
HORNE in 1927 by William Price and
Franklin Anderson, trustees. In
1911 it was decided to William F.
Towson, Arthur L. Towson and
George P. Spessard, the purchase
price being $17,249.22.
In addition to the old furnace,
John HORNE operated a distillery
in close proximity to where the old
furnace stood. A story is told of
some men banding together one
night to get some free liquor-and
they did. The whiskey was in bar
rels on a second story. The men
bored a hole up through the floor
and into one of the barrels. AS the
whiskey poured down the men
caught something like five gallons.
A lot went to waste that they could
not catch but they had enough and
made off with it.
A fatal accident happened near
the old distillery. Hezekiah Easton
was riding horseback and as he APP
preached patent gate that it was
possible to open without dismount-
ing, the horse baked and threw
Easton over the gate, breaking his
neck.
There were grouped about the
old furnace and still house a nulr-
Der of small houses, in which lived
at least some of the men employed
there and their families. These
houses remain to. this day, as we'll
as piles of old Stag, the refuse of
the furnace.
The Hughes were the most con-
spicuous iron manufacturers in the
country at that time. They built a
furnace at Black Rock, several miles
southeast of the Mt. Aetna furnace,
before the Revolutionary War This
was their first furnace, the second
being the one at Mt. Aetna. At the
Black Rock furnace, cannon were
cast for the Colonists in their
struggle for Independence. This
furnace was in the neighborhood
of Smoketown (now Mt. Lena) and
Bagtown. In that neighborhood
there is still a field which for many
years was known as the Cannon
field
The pioneer of the Hughes fam
lily was Barnabas Hughes, who enli-
grated from Donegal, Ireland, in
1850. He died in 1880.
Many of the cannon used by the
Continental Army were cast or
their FORCES, located at various
places. One of their FORCES was al
Mt. Alto, Franklin county, Pa
Barnabas Hughes, Jr., son of the
tpioneer, married Miss Beltzhoover
of Hagerstown.