History of the Industrial Revolution in Western Maryland
Publisher: PRRB Publishing
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Laurel, MD, USA
Format: ebook, with POD edition available
Number of pages: 110
Description: The Nineteenth Century saw a period of rapid technology development, as steam power was applied to many aspects of manufacturing and transportation. People’s lives became better, old things could be done more cheaply or faster, and new things were enabled. At the same time, machinery displaced jobs and switched the economy from a focus on agriculture to a new focus on manufacturing. A new age was being born, and birth involves pain, disruption, and change.

Steam technology relied on the extractive industries for coal, iron ore, and other materials. There was a seemingly limitless demand for the raw materials and finished products of the steam age. A huge number of jobs were created, and fewer farmers were needed to feed the population. Vast patterns of migration brought Europeans to the America to share the Dream. 

Britain was the first to go through the disruption of the Industrial Revolution, and British Technology was the model for the United States. The U.S. looked to Britain for “lessons learned” on canal, railroad, and factory technology. All over the country, enclaves of technology sprang up, centered around the abundance of raw materials, or the availability of cheap power and transportation, enabled by streams and rivers.

The elements required for a successful technology venture in the Industrial Revolution were: raw materials, labor, capital, technological expertise, and transportation. The cost of transportation touches all the other aspects. In England, a good canal network allowed raw materials to be shipped for processing, or product such as pig iron to be shipped to users from an area where the material was abundant. Capital began to accumulate when manufacturing of goods on a large scale became possible. Capitalism, with wages, attracted large numbers of laborers to factory’s and mines. Finally, a small cadre of engineers and practitioners made continuous improvements in processes and machinery. A master ironsmith was worth his weight in gold, because he could apply the processes and co-ordinate the labor to produce the desired products. Wales became the major supplier of iron making expertise. England became the major supplier of Capital. Europe became the major supplier of cheap labor. 

In New England, the Manufacturing centers such as Lowell in Massachusetts were built near streams. Facilities in New York used water powered hammers and blowing engines to produce machine parts from iron ore. The technology fed on itself. These machines were shipped by ocean-going sailing ships, shallow draft riverboats, and canal boats to remote locations where raw materials were plentiful. The Industrial Revolution pulled itself up by its own bootstraps – It enabled the cheaper transportation and more widespread distribution of not only capital goods, but also the means to produce capital goods.

The earliest industrial activities in Maryland occurred in the East, and near water. In colonial times, raw materials were exported to England. For example, Maryland exported pig iron. After Independence, the States controlled the manufacturing venture, providing them with charters, the right to exclusive use of a stream of water, and the right to build roads across others’ property. The main motive power of the engines of commerce was water, and charcoal was the main fuel. Massive amounts of trees were cut to keep the furnaces going. Since the finished product, pigs of iron, were heavy, the need for proximity to water transportation was obvious. The industry’s developed where the raw materials were in close proximity to port facility’s. In the Western end of the State, vast beds of coal and iron lay waiting to be exploited. The iron furnace facility at Lonaconing used coke (derived from coal), not charcoal (derived from wood) as an advance in technology. But Lonaconing suffered from a transportation problem, which would be solved too late to matter. The coke furnace technology made its way to Mount Savage, where the juxtaposition of coal, iron ore, limestone, and fire clay defined the obvious spot for a technology enclave. The transportation problem was solved by a railroad, using rails built on site. The rail line ran to Cumberland, where the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad provided transportation to the Port of Baltimore, and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was coming to provide cheap transportation to Georgetown and the Port of Alexandria.
Table of contents: title: Introduction	4; title: Eckhart Mines	7; title: Companies	8; title: Maryland Mining Company	8; title: Cumberland Coal & Iron	10; title: Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad	11; title: Consolidation Coal	13; title: People	14; title: The Eckhart Branch Railroad	17; title: Railroad Facilities in Eckhart	24; title: Tunnels	24; title: Bridges	26; title: Eckhart Junction	26; title: Water tanks	26; title: Railroad Accidents	27; title: Passenger Service	28; title: The Celanese Branch	28; title: Trolley	30; title: The Mines at Eckhart Mines	31; title: The Mines at Hoffman	31; title: The Hoffman Drainage Tunnel	32; title: The Eckhart Light Artillery (1850)	33; title: The Lonaconing Residency	34; title: The Companies	34; title: James Millholland	41; title: Lonacona	42; title: Duncan Sloan	42; title: Industry	43; title: The Georges Creek Railroad	45; title: The Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad	47; title: The Georges Creek & Cumberland Railroad	48; title: The Silk Mill	50; title: The Glass Plant	51; title: The Steamer Georges Creek	52; title: The Detmold Riflemen	52; title: Mount Savage, Iron Empire	53; title: The Raw Materials	54; title: Fire Clay	55; title: Iron Ore	55; title: Coal	55; title: Limestone	56; title: The Companies	56; title: Maryland & New York Iron & Coal Company (1838-1847)	56; title: Lulworth Iron Company (1847-1848)	59; title: Mount Savage Iron Company (1848-1867)	60; title: New York Mining Company (1845)	61; title: Mount Savage Fire Brick Company (1841-present)	61; title: Union Mining Company (1864-1944)	61; title: Mount Savage Enamel Brick Company (1896-1928)	62; title: Captains of Industry	62; title: Samuel Middleton Semmes	62; title: John Galloway Lynn	62; title: Henry Thomas Weld	63; title: Warren Delano	63; title: Andrew Ramsay	63; title: John M. Forbes (1813-1898)	64; title: John F. Winslow	64; title: William Borden	65; title: M. B. Bramhall	65; title: Albert C. Green	65; title: Blue Collar Labor	65; title: Getting the Raw Materials	66; title: Coal mining	66; title: Coke Production	66; title: Limestone mining	67; title: Clay Mining	67; title: Iron Mining	68; title: Iron manufacturing	68; title: The Iron furnace at Lonaconing	68; title: Mount Savage Blast Furnaces	68; title: The Rolling Mill, and the First Iron Rail	72; title: Brick, Fire brick, and enameled brick manufacturing	75; title: Locomotive manufacturing	76; title: Millholland’s Locomotive Shops	76; title: Engine Rebuildings at Mount Savage Shops	80; title: Engine Construction at Mount Savage for the C & P	81; title: Engines built at Mount Savage for other roads	82; title: The Mount Savage Shops in the Twenty Century	85; title: Railroad infrastructure	89; title: Mount Savage Rail Road and the B&O	89; title: Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad	92; title: Facilities	92; title: Locomotive Mount Savage	95; title: Steamship Mount Savage	95; title: Appendix – The J. W. Brown Rolling Mill Patent	99; title: Bibliography	102