Louisiana State UniversityLSU Digital Commons

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School

1968

Historical Geography of the Iron Industry in theNew York - New Jersey Highlands: 1700-1900.Theodore William KuryLouisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses

This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion inLSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contactgradetd@lsu.edu.

Recommended CitationKury, Theodore William, "Historical Geography of the Iron Industry in the New York - New Jersey Highlands: 1700-1900." (1968).LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 1448.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/1448

This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received ® 8 -16 ,316

KURY, Theodore William, 1937- HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE IRON INDUSTRY IN THE NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY HIGHLANDS: 1700' 1900.

Louisiana State University and Agricultural andMechanical College, Ph.D., 1968Geography

University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE IRON INDUSTRY IN THE NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY HIGHLANDS: 1700-1900

A D issertation

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and

A gricultural and Mechanical College in p a r tia l fu lfillm ent of the

. requirements fo r the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

in

The Department of Geography and Anthropology

byTheodore William Kury

B.A., Montclair State College, 1959 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1961

JMay, 1968

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

While engaged in the research and the writing of the

manuscript, the author was assisted by a g reat many Highlanders,

a rch iv ists , and others sharing an in te re s t in the early iron

industry. I now wish to thank them collectively . I extend my

appreciation to Mr. Karl S. Drescher for the several pen-and-

ink illu s tra tio n s and to Mrs. P a tric ia A. Warner fo r the fin a l

typing of the manuscript. P articu lar recognition must be given

to the members of the Department of Geography and Anthropology

a t Louisiana S tate University and, especially to my faculty advisor,

Dr. Fred B. Kniffen, fo r th e ir stim ulation, d irection , and critic ism .

Finally, I sh a ll always be indebted to my wife, Eleanore, whose

assistance and encouragement enabled me to complete the

d isserta tion .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PageLIST OF TABLES.................................................................................... v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................v i

LIST OF PLATES........................................................................................ ix

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................... x

INTRODUCTION....................................................................................... 1

A Statement of PurposeSurvey of the P ertinen t L ite ra tu reMethods and Procedure

ChapterI . PHYSICAL SETTING............................................................. 8

Divisions of the HighlandsD istribu tion of the Iron DepositsSoilsClimateVegetation

I I . TECHNOLOGY AND IRON ......................................................... 29

Iron Mining Iron MakingManufacture of Charcoal

I I I . COLONIAL ANTECEDENTS OF HIGHLANDS IRONINDUSTRY................................................................................ 43

IV. CHARCOAL, IRON, AND HIGHLANDS SETTLEMENT . . . . 52

Indian Occupance and European Penetrations Establishment of the Iron Industiy The Highlands Landscape c. 1790

iii

V. RINGWOOD: AN IRON PLANTATION 79

Physical Setting H isto rical Background P lantation Components Iron Making a t Ringwood The Demise of the Plantation Iron Mining--The Final Stage

VI. ANTHRACITE AND THE MORRIS CANAL............................ 97

Development of the Morris Canal_Advent of Anthracite Technology Anthracite Manufactories A New Role: Iron MiningVestiges of Anthracite, Iron, and Canal

VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS................................................ 116

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY- ................... 128

APPENDIX ............................................................................................. 142

iv

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page1. Selected Highlands T em pera tu res ........................ 22

2. Selected Highlands P re c ip ita tio n ........................ 23

3. Iron Exported to Great B ritain from 1730to 1745 47

4. Pig and Bar Iron Exported by the AmericanColonies to Great B ritain ................................... 49

5. Population of Highlands Counties from 1745to 1790 ..................................................................... - 65

6. Production of New Jersey’s Anthracite BlastFurnaces ......................................................................107

7. New Jersey Iron Mining .................... . . . . 109

v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure Page1. Western Highlands and Pequest V a l l e y .................... 143

2. Eastern Highlands near S terling , New York . . . 144

3. The Musconetcong Valley ............................................ 145

4. Abandoned open-pit mine and spo il b a n k ................ 146

5. Large mining p i t and a d it ........................................ 147

6. Drawing of a forge and t i l t ham m er........................ 148

7. Forge and bellows, Saugus, Massachusetts . . . . 149

8. T i l t hammer, Saugus, M a ssa c h u se tts ........................ 150

9. Fragments of pig and bar iron ................................ 151

10. Drawing of a S tiic k o fe n ................................................ 152

11. Drawing of a b la s t f u r n a c e ........................................ 153

12. Charcoal furnace a t Wawayanda, New Jersey . . . 154

13. Tuyere opening o f furnace, Hopewell V illage,P e n n sy lv a n ia .................................................................. 155

14. Casting arch, f lo o r, and to o ls , Saugus,Massachusetts .............................................................. 156

15. Leather bellows and a i r b la s t , Saugus,Massachusetts .............................................................. 157

16. Drawing of a tub b e l l o w s ............................................ 158

17. Tub bellows and waterwheel, Hopewell V illage,P e n n sy lv a n ia .................................................................. 159

18. Preparation of a charcoal "p it" ............................ 160

vi

19. Road used to transport ore and p r o d u c t s ..........................161

20. Rockaway V a l l e y 162 J

21. Excavated forge p i t , Ringwood Manor, New Jersey . . 163

22. C o llie r 's hut, Hopewell V illage, Pennsylvania . . . 164

23. Workmen's cottages, Hopewell V illage,Pennsylvania ............................................................... 165

24. Manor house, Ringwood Manor, New J e r s e y ......................... 166

25. General store and inn, Hewitt, New J e r s e y ..................... 167

26. Oldest building a t Ringwood Manor, New Jersey . . . 168

27. Wagon used fo r carting ore and charcoal, HopewellV illage, P e n n sy lv a n ia ........................................................... 169

28. Furnaces and waterwheels a t Long Pond, Hewitt,New J e r s e y ...................................................................................170

29. Abandoned Peter Mine, Ringwood, New Jersey . . . . 171

30. Nineteenth-centuiy, company-built home, Ringwood,New Jersey ...............................................................................172

31. Morris Canal and towpath near Wharton,New Jersey ...............................................................................173

32. O rientation of houses to canal, Wharton,New Jersey ...............................................................................174

33. Business section and s i te of ore landing,Wharton, New J e r s e y ............................................................... 175

34. Abandoned canal bed and general s to re ,Port Murray, New J e r s e y ........................................................176

35. Ironworkers dorm itories, Wharton, New Jersey . . . 177

36. Clapboarded dwelling, Wharton, New J e r s e y ......................178

37. Farmstead in the southern H ig h la n d s ................................. 179

38. Farmstead in the northern H ig h la n d s ................................. 180

vii

Abandoned land near Newfoundland, New Jersey . .

Ore concentrator, Scrub Oak Mine, Wharton,New J e r s e y .............................. ..........................................

viii

LIST OF PLATES

Plate Page

I. General Index Map of the H ig h la n d s ........................ 9

I I . Geology of the H ig h la n d s .................. 11

I I I . D istribution of Iron M in e s ............................................ 18

IV. Charcoal Iron Manufactories (ca. 1750) 57

V. Transportation Patterns ................... . 60

VI. Charcoal Iron Manufactories (1760-1800) . . . . 63

VII. Ringwood Manor Furnace and Mine A r e a ......................... 85

VIII. Ringwood Manor (c. 1 9 0 0 ) ............................................ 92

IX. Charcoal Iron Manufactories (1825-1860) . . . . 98

X. Morris Canal and S e t t le m e n ts ...................................... 100

XI. Anthracite Blast Furnaces .......................................... 102

ix

ABSTRACT

The su b s tan tia l iron industry which developed in the New York-

New Jersey Highlands during the eighteenth and n ineteen th cen turies

has long been overlooked by scho lars. Past investiga tions of the

American iron industry have d e a lt la rg e ly w ith the e a r l ie s t ironworks

of New England and V irg in ia , the r is e of the Pennsylvania m anufactories,

and the tremendous technological evolution and economic expansion which

followed discoveries of bituminous coal and hematite iron ore west of

the Appalachians.

The p resen t study has a twofold purpose: (1) to describe and

explain the processes of landscape change in the Highlands; and

(2) to reevaluate the s ta tu s o f iron making as a p ioneer a c tiv i ty .

The concept of landscape change is v a lid only a f te r a frame o f

reference has been e s ta b lish ed --in th is case, the pre-European se ttin g .

The p resen t landscape provides l i t t l e in s ig h t in to what the f i r s t

European may have encountered. Early records, tr a v e le rs ' accounts,

and the lik e o ften have been lim ited in a rea l coverage. I n te r ­

po la tio n has been necessary to f i l l many gaps in knowledge.

Agents of change and re su lta n t fea tu res can be pursued ea s ily .

S ta te , reg ional, and lo ca l sources of arch ival m ateria ls fu rn ish

x

important clues. Extensive fieldwork has unearthed many vestiges of

man’s foimer occupations. Results of economic and technological

evolution are evident in an analysis of vegetation, settlem ents, and

transportation networks.

Time and technology combine to divide the study of changing

landscape in to two segments. Much of the two-hundred-year dominance

of iron in the Highlands resu lts from the growth and maturation of the

charcoal industry. Tied closely to natural resources in the a r e a -

running water, verdant fo rests , abundant iron ore, and numerous ou t­

crops of lim estone--this era (1720-1840) brought about the most

s ign ifican t physical and cu ltural changes. The period of the Morris

Canal, anthracite technology, and iron mining il lu s tra te s the myriad

problems which led to the eventual decline of the iron industry within

the Highlands.

A reassessment of the ironworker as the pioneer Highlands

s e t t le r - -a thesis espoused by several nineteenth-century chroniclers,

including Tench Coxe and Thomas Gordon--is presented. A fter an examination

of the journals of Charles Clinton and John Reading, the perusal of

several early maps, and f ie ld study in the glaciated and nonglaciated

Highlands, the author concludes tha t the hypothesis is actually modified

and complicated by location within the Highlands and other factors. I t

is the unglaciated, f e r t i le , and easily accessible areas of the southern

Highlands tha t conform most strik ing ly to the settlement sequence

described by Coxe and Gordon. Conversely, the demise of iron manufactories

did not re su lt in agricu ltu ral settlement of the northern Highlands. More

often than not, abandonment of an ironworks led to general depopulation

of the surrounding lands.

The legacy of iron remains evident on the landscape. Much of

the orig inal fo rest cover has been restored a f te r the introduction of

anthracite coal. Nevertheless, ecological changes have occurred as a

re su lt of numerous cuttings, f ire s , and other a ltera tions. The valleys

have been cleared and are now devoted almost en tire ly to agriculture

and commerce. Many Of the towns founded as markets or shipping points

for iron s t i l l serve important regional functions. Moreover, descendants

of miners and ironworkers occupy the lands of former manufactories or

may be found engaged in various economic a c tiv itie s within the study area.

xii

INTRODUCTION

During the eighteenth century, inc ip ien t in d u s tria l develop­

ment could be seen on the emerging American landscape. T ex tiles ,

leather goods, shipbuilding, glassmaking, and the manufacture of

s a l t played prominent ro les in the manufactural a c tiv itie s of the

American colonies. From a ra th e r inauspicuous debut a t Saugus,

Massachusetts, in 1645, bom of European invention and hampered by

regulation from England, an American iron industry developed into

the established world leader in technology and production.

In th is paper the author w ill deal with a sm all, but s ig n i f i ­

cant area of the eastern seaboard--the Highlands of New York and

New Jersey. Within the region, the iron industry evolved from one

based on production methods borrowed from seventeenth-century Europe

to the achievements of modem iron-making techniques.

The impact of the iron manufactory on the Highlands was

g rea t, and, in many cases, produced la stin g impressions. As technology

changed, so did the landscape, fo r each progressive step placed

additional burdens on the land and a lte red the perception of i t s

n atu ra l resources. The opening of new and p o ten tia lly valuable lands

induced settlem ent by peoples of diverse s k i l ls and varied ethnic and

ra c ia l backgrounds. Entire economic and soc ia l units were established.

Towns were founded, manufactories, farms, and m ills were developed,

and routes of commerce were fixed. The landscape no longer was the

province of nature, but rather became the realm of man.

1

2

A Statement of Purpose

The importance of the Highlands iron industry has often been

obscured because of (1) early colonial developments in New Je rsey 's

Pine Barrens, New England, and V irginia; (2) eighteenth-century

manufacturing a c tiv ity in eastern Pennsylvania; and (3) nineteenth-

century ascendancy of the Adirondack Mountains region of New York,

the Lake Superior d is t r ic t , and the Upper Ohio River Valley. Hope­

fu lly , the present undertaking w ill give Highlands iron i t s r ig h tfu l

place in the in d u stria l development of the eastern seaboard.

To many observers in the nineteenth century, European s e t t l e ­

ment in the study area was a d irec t outgrowth of i t s iron p o ten tia ls .

The forge was uniformly the precursor of the farm and a f te r the land

had been exhausted of i t s timber and iron , i t was subdivided in to

farmsteads. Statements by Tench Coxe, published as p a rt of the Third

Census of the United S ta te s , and Thomas Gordon amply support th is

sequence.^ While in several instances the ideas of Coxe and Gordon

were v a lid , the w rite r w ill attempt to show th a t the thesis was

actually modified and complicated by location w ithin the Highlands

and other fac to rs.

Available l i te ra tu re on the iron industry of the Highlands

(see following section) has overlooked many items of in te re s t to a

geographer. We seem to know the origins o f the iron industry, i t s

technology, and i t s routes of d ispersal in Europe and along the

eastern seaboard quite w ell. However, the processes of landscape

3

change have not been c learly shown. No attempt has ever been made

to trace the sequential development o f the iron industry on a regional

or local scale . As agents of change, what p a r t did economic and

technological evolution play in modifying the landscape? How much of

the present Highlands landscape is a ttr ib u tab le to the iron industry?

The magnitude of change wrought by the iron industry in the Highlands

is regarded as a cen tral problem in th is study.

Survey of the Pertinent L iterature

The l i te ra tu re dealing with the iron a c tiv itie s along the

eastern seaboard has largely been contributed by scholars in fie ld s

other than geography. Pioneering works by Lesley, Bishop, Pearce,

Swank, and Clark were e ith e r devoted to general surveys of the

industry or descriptions of the most notable manufactories of theO

period. In more recent years, volumes have been devoted to economic7

problems of the eighteenth and nineteenth cen turies, types o f iron

manufactories,^- or studies of sp ec ific iron-producing s i te s .^

H istorians have also contributed su b stan tia lly to the inform­

ation relevant to the Highlands iron industry. Since i t s publication ,

the work of Boyer has been regarded as the d efin itiv e compilation ofel

New Je rsey 's forges and furnaces. Recently, a sim ilar volume was

devoted to the manufactories in the Hudson Highlands and Ramapo•7

Mountain. Although geographers have exhibited g rea te r in te re s t in

the Highlands iron industry than th a t of other areas on the easterng

seaboard, these studies are only portions of a la rger work. I t seems

th a t few geographers have studied the iron industry of th is period per

se; even fewer have w ritten about i t .

4

Methods and Procedure

Time and technology combine to divide the study into two

major segments. Much of the two-hundred-year dominance of iron in

the Highlands resulted from growth and maturation of the charcoal

iron industry. Tied closely to the natural resources of the area,

th is era (1720-1840) brought about the g reatest cu ltu ra l and

physical changes. The period of anthracite technology and iron

mining il lu s tra te s the myriad problems which led to the eventual

decline of the iron industry within the Highlands.

The concept of landscape change is valid only a f te r a frame

of reference has been established--in th is case, reconstruction of

the pre-European se ttin g . Unearthing of essen tia l information on

the region often proved to be an arduous and discouraging task. The

present landscape provided l i t t l e insigh t in to what the f i r s t

Europeans may have encountered. Surveyors' records, trav e le rs '

accounts, early newspaper descriptions, and the like were perused,

but the sources were lim ited in th e ir areal coverage. Interpolation

was a necessity in f i l l in g the many gaps in knowledge. The author

was mindful of the dangers of using data of diverse origins in order

to complete a p ic tu re . Possibly the p i t f a l ls were avoided.

The agents of change and resu ltan t features were more easily

pursued. S tate , regional, and local sources of archival m aterials

provided important clues. P ictures, drawings, and daguerreotypes

presented ample illu s tra tio n s of the magnitude and kinds of change.

Extensive fieldwork throughout the Highlands proved most rewarding.

In many lo c a litie s vestiges of man's former occupations were to be

5

found. Excellent examples of manufactories, waterwheels, houses,

fencing, and settlements were viewed. Iron mines were explored and

excavated forge and furnace s ite s were v is ited . Usually the

discoveries were made only a f te r several conversations with local

folk and deviations from the present main roads of the region.

A study based on changing landscape due to economic and

technological factors seems to have support in the methodology of

geography.

The investigation of geographic phenomena within a region

largely defined on economic grounds was in i t ia l ly presented by the

German, Eduard Hahn.® In th is country, Kirk Bryan advocated the

study of economic factors which might influence a region 's develop­

ment.-^® Carl 0. Sauer, in the p residen tia l address to the Association

of American Geographers, meeting in 1941, pointed out th a t geographers

cannot study the present landscape without knowing i t s origins and1 1th is can only be done through h is to ric a l reconstruction. Derwent

Whittlesey devoted much energy to the study of sequent occupance.

Whittlesey concluded th a t i t was necessary not only to discern

population d istribu tion , but also to detect why and when d istribu tional 12changes occurred. The w rite r believes the principle is applicable

to the forms of landscape change se t fo rth in th is study.

6

NOTES

1. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Third Census of the United S tates: 1810. A Statement of the Arts~and Manufactures of theUnited States of America, for the year 1810, Book II (Philadelphia:A. Comman, J r . , 1814), p.XXXII; Thomas F. Gordon, A Gazetteer of the S tate of New Jersey (Trenton: Daniel Fenton, 1834), p .185.

2. J.P . Lesley, The Iron Manufacturers* Guide to the Furnaces, Forges, and Roiling M ills of the United States (Hew York: John Wiley,1859). John L .B ishop, A History of American Manufactures from 1608to 1860. 3 vols. (Philadelphia: Edward Young and Co., 1868). John B.Pearce, A Concise History of the Iron Manufacture of the American Colonies up to the Revolution and of Pennsylvania up to the Present Time (Philadelphia: Allan, Lane, and Scott, 1876). James M. Swank,h isto ry of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages (Philadelphia: AmericanIron and Steel Association, 1892). Victor S .C la rk , History of Manufactures in the United States 1606-1850 (Washington, D.C.: CarnegieIn stitu tio n , 1916). "

3. Arthur C. Bining, B ritish Regulation of the Colonial Iron Industry (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1933).Charles B. Dew. Ironmaker to the Confederacy: Joseph R. Anderson andthe Tredegar Iron Works (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966). "B.F. French, History of the Rise aid Progress of the Iron Trade of the United States From 1621-1857 (New York: Wiley and Halstead, 1858). Keach Johnson, "The Baltimore Company Seeks English Markets: a Studyof the Anglo-American Iron Trade, 1731-1755/' William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, XVI (1951), 37-60. Peter Temin, Iron and Steel m Nineteenth-Century America: An Economic Inquiry (Cambridge: TheM.I.T. Press, 196477 !

4. Bining, ’’The Iron Plantations of Early Pennsylvania,"The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 57 (1933), 117- 137. Lester J . Cappon, "Trend o f the Southern Iron Industry under the Plantation System," Journal of Economic and Business History, II (1930), 353-381. Irene D. Neu, "The Iron Plantations of Colonial New York," New York History, 33 (1952), 3-24.

5. E.N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957). Charles E. Hatch and Thurlow G. Gregory,"The F irs t American Blast Furnace, 1619-1622: The B irth of a MightyIndustry on Falling Creek in V irginia," V irginia Magazine of History and Biography, LXX (1962), 259-296. Joseph E. Walker, Hopewell Village: Sane Aspects of the Social and Economic History of an Iron-Making Community with Special Emphasis Upon the Period 1800-1850 (Unpublished Ed.D. d isserta tio n , Temple University, 1964).

7

6. Charles S. Boyer, Early Forges and Furnaces in New Jersey (Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania P ress, 1931) .

7. James M. Ransom, Vanishing Ironworks of the Ramapos (New Brunswick: Rutgers University P ress, 1966).

8. Louis DeVorsey, J r . , The Growth and D istribution of Iron Manufacturing in New Jersey (Unpublished M.A. th e s is , Indiana University, 1953). A. Philip Muntz, The Changing Geography of the New Jersey Woodlands 1600-1900 (Unpublished Ph.D. d isse rta tio n ,University of Wisconsin, 1959). ________, "Forests and Iron: TheCharcoal Iron Industry of the New Jersey Highlands," Geografiska Annaler, XLII (1960), 315-323. Peter 0. Wacker, The Musconetcong Valley of New Jersey: A H isto rica l Geography (New Brunswick: RutgersUniversity Press, 1968).

9. Carl 0. Sauer, "Foreword to H isto rical Geography,"Annals o f the Association o f American Geographers, XXXI (i941), 5.

10. "Round Table on Problems in Cultural Geography," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, XXVII (1937), 162.

11. Sauer, op. c i t . , pp. 9-10.

12. "Round Table on Problems in Cultural Geography," op. c i t . ,p. 169.

CHAPTER I

PHYSICAL SETTING

The Highlands of New York and New Jersey constitu te a portion

of the Reading Prong of the New England Uplands.^ They are akin to

the Blue Ridge Mountains in age, topography, and geomorphic h isto ry ;

however, the Highlands are more like the Uplands in rock composition

and general elevation.

P o litic a lly , the study area is p a rtly in the New York counties

of Orange and Rockland and p a r tly in Passaic, Sussex, Morris, Warren,

and Hunterdon counties, New Jersey (Plate I ) .

Stretching from the Hudson River, below Cornwall, to the

Delaware River, some twenty miles above Trenton, the northeasterly-

southwesterly trending mountains are confined by the Great Valley

(K ittatinny Valley) on the west and the T riassic Lowland on the east.

Within the boundaries, the width of the chain varies from eight to

twenty miles and extends some eighty miles in length.

Projecting notably above th e ir surroundings, the highest and

sharpest ridges and mountain masses are to be found in the north and

west, then gradually diminish to a h i l ly or ro llin g character in the

south and east. Numerous broad, rounded, or fla t-topped ridges foim

ra ther discontinuous chains which are separated by deep and generally

8

9JUlPLATE I

New York - New Jersey

HIGHLANDS

/ *J O R A N 6 E

v

MilOli to o ts b u rg

') S U S S E X / yt F ra n k lin ft

P A S S A J C

Newfoundland

MORRIS/• • • / Boonlon Highlands Boundary

.Term ina l Moraine

W hartonijD ove r

Oxford

W A R R E N - Chester

H U N T E R D O N illPhillipsburg \ ^

p o L / /* v /Bloomsbury

^ J H ig h Bridge

7 5 ° 3 0 '

10

narrow valleys. Individual mountain masses are somewhat oblique to

the general trend which makes i t possible to cross from one side of

the range to the other in a north-northeast d irection without surmounting

any considerable elevations, while i t is impossible to cross from south-

east to northwest without ris in g over a succession of steep ridges.

The geology and tectonic evolution of the Highlands have

produced a varied topography. Precambrian extrusive and intrusive

m aterials rich in iron dominate the h i l l s and ridges. The intexmontane

valleys are floored with ra ther extensive sedimentary rocks--prim arily

limestone (Plate I I ) . Evidence of metamorphism is found throughout the

study region. Repeated folding and faulting have added to the area 's

complexity and d iversity .^

Divisions of the Highlands

While the Highlands are essen tia lly a physical u n it, numerous

valleys conveniently separate the region into three p arts--th e Western,

the Central, and the Eastern Highlands (Plate I ) . Additional sub­

divisions have been recognized; however, they are usually based on local

nomenclature.

Commencing north of the New Jersey s ta te lin e , the Western

Highlands consist of a series of more or less continuous, steep-sided

ridges. Small valleys and depressions divide the range in to Pochuck,

Alamuche, S co tt 's , and Upper and Lower Pohatcong mountains. The

broadest separation occurs near Franklin, New Jersey, where the valley

of the W allkill River effec tive ly detaches Pochuck Mountain from the

re s t of the section.

PLATE II11

New York-N ew Jersey

HIGHLANDS

G reenw ood

u f\Lok9 ‘1 /L .*' ' n C ,H o p a t c o n g (

r p 7 r r / X . ' V r ”>

G e o l o g y

Gneiss

L im e s to n e

Sandstone and Shale

Compiled from numerous sources

75° 45' 30 '

12

D ifferen tia l erosion of the metamorphosed igneous and sedimentary

rocks has produced a topography accentuated by moderate to strong re l ie f .

Throughout the range, c res t lines are notably irreg u lar. Nowhere are

there extensive f la ts a t high levels, and the highest elevations are

more or less iso lated . Nevertheless, th is v a r ia b ility embraces an

element of regu larity in th a t the individual mountain crests are

consistently even, being 1100 to 1200 fee t high in the north, and some­

what lower in the south (Fig. 1).

The Central Highlands begin immediately south of the junction

of the K ittatinny and Greenwood Lake valleys, near Monroe, New York.

From tha t poin t, the chain follows an almost uninterrupted path to the

Delaware River. Over much of i t s course, th is range is much broader--

often meriting the term "plateau"^--and is much less dissected than

the previously described Western Highlands. The p la teau-like character

i s fu rther enhanced by evidence of peneplanation, especially in the

neighborhood of Schooley’s Mountain. Steep slopes, of up to 400 fe e t,

are largely confined to the margins of the section. In te rio r portions

of the Central Highlands are dominated by moderately sloping h i l l s and

mountain masses, although several minor, near-vertica l c l i f f s do appear.

Elevations w ithin the Central Highlands vary from approximately 1500

fee t in the north to near h a lf th a t figure in the south. Appreciable

t i l t and elevational decline toward the southwest contrast markedly with

the Western range.

The la s t portion of the study area--the Eastern Highlands--is

actually composed of two p arts : the Passaic Range and Ramapo Mountain.

Flowing diagonally across the eastern range, the narrow, incised valley

of the Ramapo River effectively disconnects the la t te r from the former.

13

Gradually rising from the Hudson River to elevations over 1600

fee t, the Eastern Highlands extends in a broad, dissected chain to i t s

southern temunus along the South Branch of the Raritan Fiver, near

High Bridge, New Jersey. Although wider than i t s Western and Central

counterparts--varying from seven to twelve m iles--the p la teau-like

appearance of the la t te r range is ahnost en tire ly absent. However, the

iso lated mountain masses common in the other regions also appear here

(Fig. 2).

Irregular topography and rather steep slopes combine to furnish

some of the strongest r e l ie f found anywhere in the Highlands. Neverthe­

le ss , much of the eastern sector lie s less than 1000 feet above sea

level. The elevations are quite conspicuous along the eastern edge

where the trenching of small streams has iso lated the highest lands.

The presence of a fau lt scarp facing the T riassic Lowland accentuates

the r e l ie f and elevational differences over much of the eastern margin.

Once again the even cres t lin e , so ch a rac te ris tic of the western segment

of the Highlands, provides an element of regu larity in a disordered land­

scape.

Several r iv e r systems and th e ir tr ib u ta rie s occupy the limestone-

floored depressions which separate and cut the three primaiy Highlands

chains (Plate I ) .

Lying within a discontinuous depression between the Western

and Central Highlands, known as the Musccmetcong and Vemon-Sparta

valleys, are two streams--the Musconetcong and the W allkill. Flowing

southwesterly from Lake Hopatcong into the Delaware River, the

14

Musconetcong River i s the longest of the Highlands watercourses. I t s

v a lley i s composed la rg e ly of lim estone, although shales are exposed

south of Hackettstown. Valley depth is in co n sis ten t, genera lly lying

300 to 400 fe e t below the adjacent mountains (Fig. 3). A ra th e r wide,

f l a t floodp lain i s dotted by numerous ro llin g h i l l s of moderate e levation .

Slopes everywhere tend to be g en tle , although in the headwaters region,

sharper, s teeper slopes can be found.

The W allk ill River occupies the northern po rtion o f the v a lley ,

coex isten t with a b e lt o f limestone m ate ria ls . The stream escapes the

Highlands near F ranklin , and, as s ta te d before , separates Pochuck

Mountain from the remainder of the Western Highlands. Drainage through­

out the W allk ill basin i s somewhat disorganized and numerous swamps

appear. A g rea t deal of g la c ia l m a te r ia l - - t i l l and outwash--is

sc a tte re d over the v a lley f lo o r and on small kno lls . Due to the g rea te r

e lev a tio n a l d ifferences between mountain and valley--up to 500 fe e t- -

slopes are f a r steeper than those seen in the Musconetcong area.

Portions of the o ther major Highlands r iv e rs flow w ithin the

second g rea t in tem ontaha depression, the High Bridge-Greenwood Lake

Valley. I t has been described as one o f the most remarkable valleys

in New Jersey , no t only fo r i t s con tinu ity , but a lso fo r the absencen

of an un in terrup ted stream of any so r t. In the no rth , drainage is

o rien ted toward Modna Creek and the Hudson River. Near the New York-

New Jersey boundary, running w ater is d irec ted in to Greenwood Lake and

the Wanaque River. The cen tra l sec to r drains in to the important Pequannock

River, flowing northw est-southeast across the Highlands. Drainage is

somewhat le ss w ell defined in the southern po rtion ; nevertheless, much

15

of the water u ltim ately empties in to the Rockaway, Black, or South

Branch of the R aritan r iv e r . The s itu a tio n re su lts from the undulating

topography of the valley caused by the varying erosional resistances

of sandstone, shale, and limestone (Plate I I ) .

Valley width is coincidental with the band of sedimentary

rocks which compose the depression 's lithology. Somewhat constric ted

in the north , the valley widens considerably in the v ic in ity of New­

foundland, New Jersey . Near Wharton, i t narrows again; however, some

widening does take place a few miles to the south, in the German Valley.

The limestone b e l t ends a t High Bridge and the valley term inates there .

Along i t s en tire ex ten t, the valley is an imposing topographic

fea tu re , fo r i t is generally s itu a ted from 300 to 600 fe e t below the

summits of the Central and Eastern Highlands. The higher elevations of

the former range provide slopes on the western side of the valley th a t

are often g rea te r and steeper than those along the eastern margin. In

tru th , the western slopes are so steep in places as to suggest escarpments

formed by fau ltin g . The following descrip tion of the valley near Green

Pond, amply i l lu s t r a te s th is point:

. . . [Green Pond Mountain] r ise s on the northwest sideof the Pond, in abrupt, almost perpendicular b lu ffs , to the height of th ir ty , and sometimes fo rty , fe e t , and is composed of conglomerate and sandstone. These b lu ffs , which present an appearance very sim ila r to the Palisades o f the Hudson River, extend the e n tire length of the pond . . . On the southeastern side the h i l l s are more sloping, running down to water a t an angle of not more than twenty o r th ir ty degrees, and present many spots capable of cultivation.®

16

In several places throughout the valley , grassy or sparsely

timbered knobs o f re s is ta n t sandstone or in trusive igneous m aterial

r is e from the flo o r. Swamps and numerous lakes dominate the northern

regions, while n a tu ra l meadows are in evidence in the south.

All Highlands streams are subject to freshets or moderate

floods in the spring as they try to accommodate the melting snow and

ice of the region. Only in the event of unusually heavy snow accumu^

la tions or sudden melting do serious flooding and heavy damage take

place.®

Events during the Pleistocene did much to a l te r the configuration

of Highlands landforms and topography. G laciers once covered about

two-thirds o f the region as shown by the position of the terminal moraine

(Plate I ) . The scouring and scraping action of the moving ice sharpened

landforms, steepened slopes, and exposed large patches of bedrock near

the tops of ridges. With g la c ia l r e tre a t , only the highest summits were

spared a mantle of debris and morainal m a te ria l. Scattered ponds, lakes,

and wetlands occupy depressions in the g la c ia l d r i f t . Drainage is quite

d isoriented as the d r i f t dammed many of the r iv e r v a lley s.

Several conspicuous topographic features owe their-ex istence to

the irreg u la r d is trib u tio n of the d r i f t . F latlands, notably those a t

Succasunna, are seen in various segments of the Highlands. H ills lin e

the terminal moraine and are carved from d r i f t accumulations in the

Musconetcong Valley. Smaller drift-produced surface ir re g u la r it ie s are

found in the Vemon-Sparta Valley. Salisbury believed th a t the important

topographic features had been developed before the deposition of the

d r i f t . Thus, features re la tin g to the d r i f t are s t r i c t ly subordinate to

those due to the lithology.^®

17

D istribution of the Iron Deposits

Location and foimation of the veins of iron ore have been

rela ted to metasedimentary, c ry sta llin e limestone, and in trusive

igneous formations. The ore zones are not sharply defined and some

evidence fo r s tru c tu ra l control has been found. Iron deposits consist

of many short, p a ra lle l veins which form discontinuous b e lts , usually

cropping out on ridges. Few important mineral occurrences can be

found outside of these d is t r ic ts . The most productive mines were found

near Andover, Dover, Franklin, Oxford, and Ringwood, New Jersey, and

a t S terling Lake, New York (Plate I I I ) .

The primary iron ore in the Highlands is magnetite, and i t is

an essen tia l constituent of the Precambrian ro c k s .^ The ore has been

described as being massive, compact, and hard, although i t occurs as

granular aggregates--"shot ore"--and occasionally as c rysta llized

cubes and o c t a h e d r o n s .^ The widespread nature of rocks stained by

iron oxide indicates tha t metasomatism, or replacement of minerals by13percolating waters, was responsible fo r the deposits of ore.

The ore bodies are pencil-like pods called "shoots" separated

by lean vein rock, or "pinches." The dimensions of the concentrations

vary considerably; however, the ore pods average five to twenty fee t in

width and are about 200 fe e t deep.

In addition to magnetite, deposits of limoriite and hematite

are evident in the Highlands. Limonite ores occur as small, scattered

deposits in many valleys of the north. They are u su a lly foimed as a

residual crust on decaying vegetation in areas of poor drainage. By

th e ir nature, the ores were never regarded as p ro fitab le by the Highlands

ironworker..

PLATE III18

75 *

New York - New Jersey

HIGHLANDS

'S te r lin g

Miles

41*

'Andover

« •

D istribution of Iron M ines

One Iron Minel .Ox fo rd

4 5

SO URCES* B a y le y ( l9 IO ) , Co1ony(l 92J)

19

P ractica lly a l l of the hematite ore is a specular type of dark

grey or black color, arranged in th in , p a ra lle l p la tes or ra ther finely

ground scales and somewhat magnetic. Most occurrences are found in

shallow, irregu larly shaped basins near the tops of ridges. The mines

at Andover were the only deposits successfully exploited in the study 14a re a .x

Soils

A modem so ils map of the Highlands would bear a s trik ing

sim ila rity to a geologic map of the region. The primary difference

is between the glaciated and unglaciated portions of the study area.

Many of the so ils in the north are derived chiefly from g lac ia l d r i f t .

This m aterial is closely re la ted to the underlying rock, p articu la rly

in those areas where the t i l l tends to be th in . The southern so ils

almost wholly re su lt from d isin tegration of bedrock. In the v ic in ity

of the teim inal moraine, so ils are derived in part from g lac ia l d r i f t ,

outwash m aterials, decomposed bedrock, and muck, a remnant of ancient

hydrographic features.

On the highland ridges and mountain masses, the presence of

the gneiss ic bedrock is evident in the so ils . Rock fragments--to

boulder size--frequently pierce the th in so il cover on the slopes.

Stoniness is a general ch a rac te ris tic everywhere. North of the teiminal

moraine, the land is covered by g lac ia l t i l l of variable depth.

Accumulations of sand and gravel are found in shallow depressions,

producing weak, droughty so il conditions. Some marshy hollows are

also present.

20

South of the moraine, g r ittin e ss and stoniness prevail in the

so ils . Rock d isin tegration is well advanced and some bedrock fragments

can be seen on the steeper slopes, where the fin er m aterials have been

washed away. On the broad highland ridges and gentle slopes, the so il

is deep, loamy, and not very stony. These areas have been extensively

cultivated , whereas, the steeper lands have been le f t uncleared. Some

wetness appears in swales and on many broad, f la t surfaces.

The intermontane valleys, too, show marked contrasts in th e ir

g lacia ted and nonglaciated sections. G lacial t i l l is quite deep, and

the bedrock--limestone, sandstone, and sha le--is exposed only as

knobby ridges or as fragments on slopes. Old terraces composed of d r i f t

l ie adjacent to floodplains of alluvium derived from gneissoid m aterials.

Limestone so ils in the valleys of Pohatcong Creek and the

Musconetcong River may be the richest in the study area. Even though

much free lime has been removed, there is a fine , granulated texture

in the present so ils . Partly composed of m aterial eroded from surrounding

gneiss rocks, the loamy or s i l ty surface m aterial is deep and not very

stony. F e rtile and well drained, the land has been cultivated by white

men fo r over two centuries.

Several areas of s la te are found south of the teiminal moraine,

notably in the region of Hackettstown. Producing neither as well

developed nor as deep a so il as th a t of the limestone d is t r ic ts , these

sectors have not been intensively cultivated. Brownish in color, the

so il often tends to thinness. In many places only rock fragments, a

few inches deep, foim the ground cover.

21

The region around the teiminal moraine has certain characte ris tics

of i t s own. Great complexity is to be found where s t r a t i f ie d sands and

gravels are intermixed with masses of unsorted fine and coarse m aterials.

Although found elsewhere in the g laciated Highlands, nowhere are the

conditions as-pronounced as in the one- to three-mile-wide b e lt marking

the southernmost advance of the g lac ie r.

Along the southern maigin of the moraine are scattered deposits

of outwash m aterials. Notable are those located near Hackettstown,

Morris P lains, and Succasunna--the la s t named being the la rgest. Sand

and gravel of gneissoid orig in predominate. Limestone is present only

in minute amounts. Usually well drained, locally the p lains are ra ther

wet and marshy.

Mucklands in the Pequest River Valley are also associated with

the Pleistocene g lacia tion . Inadequate drainage following g lac ia l

re tre a t produced shallow la k e s .^ The lakes provided excellent s ite s

fo r vegetation growth and the accumulation of p a r tia lly decomposed p lant

remains. Draining uncovered masses of black, heavy clay. Prone to

wetness, the lands were usually avoided by the early European s e t t le rs .

Climate

The climate of the Highlands is generally more severe in winter

but l i t t l e d iffe ren t in summer when compared to neighboring sections of

New York and New Jersey. Several representative sta tions are given in

Tables 1 and 2. Topography and elevation furnish ample p o ss ib ilit ie s

fo r microclimatic variations within the study area.

Winter conditions are influenced largely by a succession of

stoims crossing the Great Lakes and moving along the St. Lawrence Valley.

TABLE 1

SELECTED HIGHLANDS TEMPERATURES

County Station Temperature Growing Season(degrees) (days)

Jan.Ave.

JulyAve.

Maximum Minimum

Orange West Point 28.3 74.6 106 -17 194

Morris Boonton 27.1 71.9 103 -21 160

Morris Dover 27.6 71.9 102 -21 155

Passaic Charlottesburg 27.7 70.9 105 -26 137

Sussex Newton 27.1 72.5 105 -20 168

Warren Phillipsburg 28.4 73.9 105 -12 173

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Yearbook of Agriculture, 1941.

TABLE 2

SELECTED HIGHLANDS PRECIPITATION

County Station Precip itation(inches)

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. TotalOrange West Point 3.18 2.96 3.57 3.62 3.14 3.56 3.79 3.78 4.09 3.16 3.16 3.17 41.18Morris Boonton 3.38 3.20 3.41 3.76 3.59 3.96 4.40 4.34 4.25 3.54 3.24 3.32 44.39Morris Dover 4.01 3.66 4.08 4.02 3.56 4.64 5.23 4.53 4.48 3.97 3.48 4.10 49.76Passaic Charlottesburg 3.74 3.56 4.04 4.30 3.71 4.64 4.52 4.60 4.57 4.25 3.58 3.95 49.46Sussex Newton 3.37 3.03 3.44 3.52 3.43 4.71 4.78 4.31 4.18 3.62 2.98 3.34 44.71Warren Phillipsburg 3.47 3.26 3.47 3.43 3.18 4.08 4.61 4.66 3.89 3.49 2.78 3.42 43.74

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Yearbook of Agriculture, 1941.

24

Coastal storms, which might provide a moderating e ffe c t, are deflected

by the f i r s t range o f mountains and rare ly penetrate the Highlands

except in areas bordering the Delaware and Hudson riv e rs , Monthly

temperatures in December, January, and February average well below

freezing , causing ice to form on smaller streams and a t the head­

waters of the major Highlands r iv e rs . In the era of the waterpowered

iron manufactory, icing was a chief cause fo r suspending operations.

P rec ip ita tio n is well d istrib u ted throughout the winter months.

Mich of i t occurs as snow--over f i f t y inches in some places--but

seldom in individual f a l ls of as much as ten or twelve inches.

Summers are usually qu ite warm, and prevailing winds blow from

the southwest. Several days with temperatures above ninety degrees

and high humidity can be counted on each year. A growing season of

160 to 170 days is to be expected, allowing ample time fo r growing most

foodstuffs. P rec ip ita tion reaches a s lig h t maximum during the waimest

months; y e t, periodic droughts have been experienced. Often coupled

with a lowering of the water tab le , droughts cause severely re s tr ic te d

stream flowage.

Vegetation

The ex ten t, i f not the composition, of the pre-European High­

lands fo re s t was quite d iffe ren t frcm the present day. Human habitation

and cu ltiv a tio n , especially in the southern Highlands, has ob lite ra ted

much of the fo re s t in the valleys and on the arable slopes . ^

Present fo re s t remnants may not give an accurate indication of

what early fo rests were like ; however, Raup suggests th a t the vegetational

covering on sparsely se ttle d h illto p s and slopes in the Hudson Highlands

has not changed s ig n ifican tly since precolonial times.

25

A predominantly broadleaf deciduous fo rest covered much o f the

region. Ridges, slopes, and many of the valleys were clothed in various

species of oak (Quercus alba, Q. rubra, Q. ve lu tina , Q. p rinus),

hickory (Carya ovata, C. g labra), maple (Acer rubrum, A. saccharum),

and birch (Betula len ta, B_. lutea, B. popu lifo lia). White ash (Fraxinus

americana), basswood (T ilia americana), beech (Fagus g rand iflo ra), black

cherry (Prunus se ro tin a), American chestnut (Castanea den tata), American

elm (Ulmus americana), and yellow poplar (Liriodendron tu lip ife ra ) were

prominent. Interspersed among the hardwoods were coniferous types such

as p itch pine (Pinus r ig id a ) , white pine (P. strobus), red cedar

(Juniperus v irg in iana), and hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). Dogwood (Comus

florida) and sassafras (Sassafras albidum) were found in the understoiy.

The fo re s t floor consisted of wild berries, mosses, ferns, flowers, and

grasses.'*'® Oaks (Q. coccinea, Q. i l i c i f o l i a ) , sumacs (Rhus typhina,

R. vem ix), mountain laure l (Kalmia la t i f lo r a ) , blueberries (Vaccinium s p .) ,

and ferns covered the patches of exposed country rock or th in so ils on

steeper slopes.

Well-drained valleys were covered extensively by woodlands and

dotted with grassy, or sparsely timbered knolls. Black walnut (Juglans

nigra) was a caiman fo rest species in the limestone areas. Immediately

adjacent to a watercourse was a narrow margin of grasses, mosses, ferns,20willow (Salix n ig ra ), and woody shrubs.

Scattered in the valleys and occupying many upland depressions

were swamps and natural wet meadows. Most numerous north of the terminal

moraine, these features resulted from events during the Pleistocene.

Moist conditions encouraged thickets of American elm, red maple, water

26

ash (F. pennsylvanica), sour gum (Nyssa sy lv a tic a ) , swamp white oak

(Q. b ic o lo r) , and rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum). Furnishing

excellen t pasture and hay when adequately drained, these lands were

eagerly sought by ea rly European s e t t le r s .

27

NOTES

1. A.K. Lobeck, Physiographic Diagram of North America (Maplewood, N .J . : The Geographical Press, 1950), p . 5. "

2. Nevin M. Fenneman, Physiography of Eastern United S tates (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1938), pp. 368-370.

3. George H. Cook, Geology of New Jersey (Newark: Board of Managers, 1868), pp. 18-19.

4. On the geology, see: Cook, ib id ; Henry B. Kurranel, "TheGeology of New Je rsey ," Department of Conservation and Economic Development B u lle tin , 50 (1940); R.S. Tarr, The Physical Geography of New York S tate (New York: Macmillan, 1902jj Kemble Widmer, The Geology and Geography of New Jersey ("New Jersey H isto rica l S e rie s ,"19 [Princeton, 1964]).

5. R ollin D. Salisbury, Physical Geography ("Final Report of the S tate G eologist," IV [Trenton, 1898]), 21.

6. William Morris Davis, Geographical Essays (New York:Dover P ub lica tions, In c ., 1954), p . 493.

7. Salisbury, op. c i t . , p. 23.

8. "A rtis t-L ife in the Highlands, The Iron Region o f New Je rsey ," Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, XX (1860), 585.

9. B.F. Fackenthal l i s t s many of the floods from the ea rly 1700's to the 1920's. Improving Navigation on the Delaware Riverw ith Some Account o f I t s F e rrie s , Bridges, Canals and Floods ("Collections of Papers, Bucks County H isto rica l S ociety ," VI [Doylestown, 1932]),212 f f . Thomas Gordon s ta te d "Of th is power of the flood, the years 1784 and 1832, affords memorable examples." Op. c i t . , p. 42.

10. Op. c i t . , p . 26.

11. On the geology o f the m agnetite o res, see: William S.Bay ley , Iron Mines and Mining in New Jersey ("Final Report of the S tate G eologist," VII [Trenton, 1910]); R7J. Colony, 'The Magnetite Iron Deposits of Southeastern New York," New York S tate Museum B u lle tin , 249-250 (1921); Preston E. Hotz, 'M agnetite Deposits of the S te rlin g Lake, N.Y. - Ringwood, N .J. Area," United S tate Geological Survey B u lle tin , 982 (1952-53); Paul K. Sims, "Geology of the Dover Magnetite D is t r ic t , Morris County, N .J .," United S tates Geological Survey B u lle tin , 982 (1952-53).

12. Colony, op. c i t . , p . 66.

28

13. Alan M. Bateman, Economic Mineral Deposits (2nd e d .;New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1950), p. 137.

14. On the geology of the hematite mines, see: P.K. Sims and B.F. Leonard, "Geology of the Andover Mining D is tr ic t , Sussex County, New Jersey ," Department of Conservation and Economic Develop­ment B u lle tin , 62 (1952); Widmer, op. c i t . , p. 31'.'

15. For additional information on s o ils , consult: Marlin G.Cline, "Soils and Soil Associations of New York," Cornell Extension B ulletin , 930 (1955); Granville A. Quakenbush, "Our New Jersey Land," New Jersey A gricultural Experiment Station B u lle tin , 775 (1955).

16. W.S. Bayley, H.B. Kummel, and R.D. Salisbury, Raritan Folio ("Geologic Atlas of the United S ta tes ," 191 [Field ed ition ; Washington, D.C., 1914]), 228.

17. For a complete analysis of the Highlands woodlands, see: Muntz, The Changing Geography of the New Jersey Woodlands 1600-1900; Hugh M. Raup, "Botanical Studies in the Black Rock F orest," The Black Rock Forest B u lle tin , 7 (1938); A.B. Ricknagel, The Forests of New York S tate (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

18. Raup, op. c i t . , p. 83.

19. For a catalogue of these p lan ts , see: Ib id . , pp. 109-158.

20. Samuel L. M itchell, "A Sketch o f the M ineralogical History of the State of New York," Medical Repository, I (1797), 298-300.

CHAPTER II

TECHNOLOGY AND IRON

The role o f technology, i t s e ffec t on the iron industry, and in

turn, i t s e ffec t on the early American landscape was strik ing . Changes

wrought by the e a r l ie s t and most prim itive iron communities were minor

when compared to those produced by an increasingly e ff ic ie n t technology

and larger iron manufactories.

The area of the A tlantic Coastal P lain--especially in

Massachusetts, southern New Jersey, V irginia, and Maryland^-presented

iron makers with fa r d ifferen t conditions for mining and smelting than

did la te r s ite s in the highlands of New York, northern New Jersey, and

Pennsylvania.

The basic techniques of iron manufacture used in America were

developed in Europe. In most instances, th is technology diffused into

the colonies with the migration of ironworkers, usually English, Scotch-

I rish , and Germans. The following paragraphs describe those iron-making

techniques which were brought into the Highlands by the eighteenth-

century ironmaster. Wherever pertinen t, s ign ifican t American innovations

are included.

29

30

Iron Mining

The coastal ironworks produced iron from bog ore, a type of

limonite found in the numerous shallow lakes, swamps, and wet meadows

which abound in the region. Beginnings of the ore can be traced to

the ferruginous deposits, prim arily greensands and marls, through which

percolated waters enriched with organic m aterial. The waters caused

the iron to oxidize and go into solution. When exposed to the a i r , the

iron-rich solution was deposited as a "sludge" on twigs, roots, and

other m atter in the shallow basin. In some deposits the iron formed

individual nodules rather than crusting on the bottom m aterials. Since

the la t te r form was purer, i t was the most highly prized. A trav e le r

to Bats to , in southern New Jersey, during the la te nineteenth century

observed th a t bog ore appeared to have renewed i t s e l f three times in1

the span of twenty-eight years.

Disregarding the ra ther wet environment, mining was re la tiv e ly

simple. The ore was dredged frcan a basin, sorted to remove unwanted

m aterial, and then dried. Drying was done by exposing the m aterial

to the a i r and allowing the moisture to evaporate. Somewhat la te r in

time, heat was applied in order to drive o ff the moisture. Bog ore

prepared in th is manner contained about f i f ty percent iron and could

be used d irec tly in the iron manufactory.

The iron ores of the in te rio r lands presented a fa r d iffe ren t

p icture. As the metal was usually incorporated into the country rock,

mining procedures and techniques changed. Many ore bodies were exposed

in accessible outcrops. Because of ease in handling, these s ite s were

sought out and exploited quickly. Generally the rocky ore was poundedO

and b lasted loose in successive step-like terraces. Crumbling of the

31

mine walls was avoided e ith e r by maintaining a proper degree of slope

or by u til iz in g props of timber. The re su lt of the operations was an

open p i t , variable in size and depth (Fig. 4).

As the demand fo r iron grew, the open-pit mines were unable to

furnish the necessary ore to a burgeoning iron industry. Shafts and

ad it tunnels replaced open p i ts in most large-scale mining operations

by the beginning of the nineteenth century (Fig. 5).

An anonymous trav e ler to the mines a t Hibernia, New Jersey, in

the mid-nineteenth century described the procedures used there:

The mode of extracting the ore here . . . is called 'stop ing ' by the miners, and there are two ways of doing it--o n e called 'overhand', and the other 'underhand stop ing '. In the foimer the ore is removed from below upward, and in the la t te r . . . from above downward. The la s t is most generally practiced in th is region, being considered the most economical. As the ore is removed timbers are inserted , reaching across from wall to w all, and upon these are p iled the rubbish and "lean ore", foiming . . . 's t u l l s ' . In many of the mines the deposit is so pure th a t i t is removed without leaving su ffic ien t rubbish to support the w alls, and so much stoping surface being exposed renders the mines dangerous to the w o rk m e n .3

The ad it tunnels, as they are termed, u til iz e d small ca rts , drawn by

man and animals--horses, mules', o r oxen--to get out the ore. Venti­

la tion was supplied by v e rtic a l shafts connecting ad it with surface

and the workings were kept free of excess water by gravity--the gentle

inc lination of the tunnel allowing any water to flow from the mine

opening.

The shaft mine was essen tia lly like those operating today. A

v e rtic a l or s lig h tly angled shaft was sunk in to the ore body,^ the ore

loosened, loaded into buckets, and hauled to the surface by means of a

32

hand- or animal-operated windlass. Such mines usually were kept c lear

of water by pumps and of gas by a chimney f i r e and flue connected with

the shaft.

Iron Making

Once the iron had been raised to the surface, i t was transported

to the iron manufactory. Frequently, the ironworks were located on a

s i te convenient to a stream which furnished power, amid woodlands which

were converted into charcoal, and within a few miles of one or more

mines which supplied the ore.

The early manufactories were generally patterned a f te r those

in the mother country, i . e . , England, Germany, and A ustria. Exploration

of new landscapes for m aterials so necessary to th e ir occupation le f t

ironmasters l i t t l e time for experimentation and less fo r consideration

of un tried theories. Bining, in h is work on the Pennsylvania ironworks

of the eighteenth century, pointed out th a t th is was especially true of

b last-fum ace production, including type of furnace, b la s t, fue l, andr

methods of casting.

Iron ores were manufactured into saleable products by e ith e r

smelting, forging, or a combination of the two. Smelting required a

b la s t furnace in which high temperatures would cause the ore to melt and

separate into molten metal and slag. After being drawn from the hearth,

the iron was cooled as pigs or various cast-iron items. Forging

operations did not separate metal from slag, but only made the mass so ft

and malleable. In th is s ta te , impurities were removed by a large t i l t

hammer and wrought iron was produced. In conjunction with the furnace,

a forge used pig iron and refined i t into bars. This commodity was in

much demand a t the marketplace.

33

Forging came f i r s t in the technological development of the iron

industry . Prim itive methods of ore reduction had been practiced by the

H itt i te s , Remans, and various north Europeans. These changed l i t t l e ,

except fo r the enlargement of operations and the development of

specialized labor, u n ti l the appearance of the Catalan foige or bloomery

The concept of the Catalan forge was brought to the American

colonies by s e t t le r s from Great B rita in . Usually b u il t beside a stream

or raceway, the forge consisted of a stone firep lace lined with cast-

iron p la tes or refracto ry m aterial and a waterwheel which supplied the

power to operate a p a ir of bellows. The hearth measured twenty to th ir ty

inches square and f if te e n to twenty inches deep (Figs. 6 and 7). Two,

four, or more f ire s were operated w ithin the same building.

Ore, charcoal, and limestone were placed in the hearth , and

reduced in the following manner:

. . . the hearth was heated by keeping i t two-thirds f u l l of ign ited charcoal fo r four or five hours.The fuel was then pushed up against the a ir -b la s tin le t (tuyere) and sloped in an incline towards the opposite side , and upon th is bed of hot coalswas placed the ore, flux and charcoal. The a i r b la s t was then gradually applied. The chaige of iron was now slowly worked with a bar so as to allow the a i r current to come in to contact with a l l parts of the mass. The 'loop ' [bloom], as i t was ca lled , while largely m etallic iron, contained many im purities. This mass was l i f te d out and subjected to the blows of a heavy hammer by which some of the foreign m atter was hammered out and the iron wrought in to a more regular shape. 7

By th is method saleable wrought iron was manufactured d irec tly from the

ore without requiring additional processing.® The production of the

colonial bloomeries was as high as two tons per week fo r each forge f i r e ,

although they operated only while streams were not blocked by ice.

34

The t i l t hammer, so v i ta l to successful operation of a Catalan

forge, was situa ted in close proximity to the firep lace. The hammer

was about fourteen inches square and three fee t in height with a hole

near the upper end, through which a heavy beam was inserted. Pivoted

so th a t i t could swing up and down, the handle was connected to a shaft

which led to an outside waterwheel. The shaft had a large iron band

with four cogs and, as the wheel turned, the cogs in ro tation engaged

the hammer handle, l i f te d i t about a foot, and then l e t i t drop onto

the anvil. The hammer rose and f e l l four times fo r every turn of the

wheel. Speed of the blows was regulated by the flow of water against

the waterwheel (Figs. 6 and 8).

As the demand fo r iron products increased and iron technology

expanded, the true forge evolved from the bloomery and assumed the task

of refining pig metal which issued from the b la s t furnaces. Once pig

iron was manufactured i t was taken to? the "finery" (refining fo rge),

where i t was heated to a semi-molten s ta te in an attempt to decarburize

the metal. The resu ltan t bloom of iron was then shaped into a rough

bar form, or ancony, by a t i l t hammer. The ancony was passed to the

"chafery" forge where i t was successively heated and pounded into

refined bar iron or prepared fo r the ro lling or s l i t t in g process (Fig. 9).

The several heatings and hammerings effected a weight loss of th ir ty

percent in the conversion of pigs in to bars. Coupled with an increase

in the amount of charcoal per ton of iron made and a g reater use of

labor, i t came as no surprise to find bar iron often sold for severeil

times the price of pig metal.

35

The advent of the b la s t furnace occurred in Europe some three

centuries a f te r the development of the Catalan forge. I ts invention

was motivated by a desire on the p a rt of the ironmasters to improve

upon the bloomery. Numerous experiments were undertaken to a tta in the

high temperatures necessary fo r melting iron. The b la s t furnace

culminated these e ffo rts .

The f i r s t step in the evolution of the b la s t furnace was the

development of the Stuckofen, or high bloomery. Probably a German

introduction, i t was found in the Lahn Valley by the end of the eighth

century.^ Use la te r spread into France, England, Sweden, and the Low

Countries. The quadrangular or cy lind rical struc tu re d iffe red l i t t l e

in outward appearance from the la te r b la s t furnace (Fig. 10).^ By

extending the sides upward ten fe e t or more in an attempt to u t i l iz e

a portion of the wasted heat of the bloomery and produce a stronger

b la s t, a pasty, malleable mass of metal was produced.^ Quite popular

fo r a time, the Stuckofen was never able to compete with i t s more

e ffec tiv e and s lig h tly la rger o ffspring--the b la s t furnace.

The tran s itio n to the b la s t furnace, or Hochofen, took place

about the middle of the fourteenth century a t an undetermined place

in the Rhineland provinces of Germany. ̂ Within two hundred years i t

had been perfected and i t s use had spread throughout the continent and

in to England. I t was now possible to liq u ify and completely separate

iron from the gangue. The furnace was la te r introduced in to the American

colonies by iron makers of various n a tio n a litie s . Diffusion had changed

European furnaces l i t t l e , and those found in the Highlands could be

deemed type examples (Fig • H and 12).

36

The furnace was a four-sided stack of native stone about twenty

to th ir ty fe e t in height, with a base of twenty to twenty-five fee t

square tapering toward a top of two-thirds the base dimensions. Within

th is struc tu re , separated from the outside wall by mortar, broken stone,

or sand, was a furnace core lined with fireb rick , s la te , or other

refractory m aterial. Dimensions of the core varied from three to ten

fee t a t i t s widest p a rt--th e larger size being a la te r development.

Arches were constructed into the four sides of the masonry through which

the a i r b la s t (tuyere) extended and from which the molten iron and slag

could be drawn o ff (Fig. 13). The casting arch--the side which tapped

the iron--was enclosed by a large shed which was frequently destroyed

by f ire s ignited by sparks emitted from the furnace (Fig. 14).

The "blowing in" or s ta rtin g of a furnace was a most d if f ic u lt

procedure and one of the best accounts of how i t was accomplished was

given by Bining:

The stack was f i r s t f i l le d with charcoal and lighted from the top. After several days, when the f ire had burned down and reached the tuyere opening, the furnace was re f i l le d with charcoal. The f ire now worked back up to the top. The b la s t was then applied, and ore and flux put in from the tunnel head in gradually increasing quan tities. After a few days slag and iron ran in to the hearth below. The pro­portion of ore and flux to charcoal was gradually increased u n til Hie furnace was workingnormally.

Since i t was necessary to apply the a i r b la s t to produce the

heat required to maintain the charge in a molten s ta te , the furnace

was operable only as long- as the waterwheels were ice free . During the

"blown out" period of w inter, the furnace was relined and repaired.

37

A continuous supply of water and charcoal necessitated the

placement of early furnaces near waterways and within w ell-forested

regions. Also, the Highlands furnaces were usually b u ilt on the side

of a h i l l to f a c i l i ta te recharging with the necessary m aterials.

Bushels of iron ore, charcoal, and limestone were carted over a log

or plank bridge b u il t from the h ills id e to the top of the stack.

A single charcoal furnace was capable of producing from ten

to a maximum of twenty-five tons per week by the conclusion of the

American Revolution. Because of refinements by individual ironmasters

and the varying efficiency of the furnaces, i t is d if f ic u lt to give

more than a rough estimate of the amount of m aterial demanded for

successful operation. According to trad itio n , one of the oldest

furnaces in the Highlands a t Oxford, in the mid-eighteenth century,

consumed 300 to 400 bushels of charcoal fo r each ton of pig iron. A

sim ilar, but more e ff ic ie n t, furnace on the same s i te in the 1830's

used only 275 bushels per ton of i r o n .^ K itch e ll 's survey of the iron

industry c ited the needs of the Wawayanda Furnace in Sussex County

during the 1850's as being:

Charcoal 160-200 bushelsMagnetic iron ore........................... 2 tonsLimestone 0.25 to n s^

The basic charcoal furnace continued to be used in the Highlands

u n ti l the middle nineteenth century with but two major changes: the

substitu tion of hot a i r for cold in the a ir b la s t and replacement of

leather bellows by wooden tubs.

Devices fo r in jecting a ir in to an iron manufactory to aid

conbustion and increase temperatures had been used throughout Europe

fo r many centuries. ^ Credit fo r the introduction of the a ir b la s t

38

into the American colonies must go to English and Geiman ironmasters,

who u ti l iz e d the bellows on a l l forges and furnaces.

The e a r l ie s t b la s t mechanism used on an American manufactory

was a p a ir of large, lea ther bellows. Operating by means of a shaft

connected to a waterwheel, the bellows a lternate ly in jected in term itten t

b lasts of a i r in to the forge or furnace as the raceway revolved the

wheel (Figs. 11 and 15). D ifficu lty in replacing the leather of the

bellows in it ia te d a search fo r an alternative means of delivering the

necessary a i r b la s t.

Toward the end of the eighteenth century a new device was

introduced. Two wooden tubs or drums were attached to a waterwheel

and connected to the manufactory v ia an iron pipe, the tuyere (Figs. 16

and 17). Each tub had a t ig h t- f i t t in g bottom with a leather in le t a ir

valve, an- o u tle t pipe, and a c ircu la r p iston , around the circumference

of which was fastened a lea ther c o lla r to make an a ir t ig h t enclosure.

The pistons moved up and down on a v e rtic a l shaft attached to a pivot

beam, which was operated by a waterwheel in a manner sim ilar to the

hammer. The a lternate strokes of the piston furnished an almost

continual a i r b la s t.

The b la s t obtainable from water-driven bellows, however, was

in su ffic ien t to maintain the heat needed in coal-using furnaces and

was supplanted by more elaborate devices.

Application of a hot b la s t f i r s t appeared in America a t Oxford1 7

Furnace in 1834. The manager of the operation, William Henry,

experimented with several methods of heating the a ir before introducing

i t into the furnace. F inally Henry se ttled on a process which was

39

widely copied during the following generation. An oven containing

cast-iron pipes was placed atop the manufactory stack and a ir was

heated by the flame which issued from the tunnel head. The innovation

raised b la s t temperatures 500°, increased production by almost f i f ty

percent, and effected a sim ilar saving in fuel. Unrealized a t the time,

th is invention spelled the beginning of the end fo r the charcoal furnace.

The hot b la s t made possible the use of immense quantities of anthracite

coal and coke as fuel. Ironically , a Highlands invention would cost

th a t region i t s position of eminence in iron production.

Manufacture of Charcoal

Charcoal necessary fo r the operation of forges and furnaces

was produced by methods common in Europe p rio r to the introduction of

the iron industry to the New World. The dominant method was f i r s t

brought to New England from the mother country and spread throughout

the eastern seaboard. In i t ia l ly a p i t , which consisted of a p ile of

wood f if te e n fee t in diameter and about ten fee t high, was constructed

(Fig. 18). Eight to ten cords of four-foot logs were needed. The

p ile was covered with tu rf and ignited , was allowed to bum for eight

to ten days, and was continually watched by a team of c o llie rs .

Several p its were kept going a t one time and each, when opened, might18y ie ld 200 or more bushels of charcoal.

A second method of burning originated in continental Europe.

I t was not widespread within the Highlands, being found only“among

s e tt le rs not exposed to the English method. P its were dug into the

ground, f i l le d with logs, and covered with earth . Once ign ited , the

p its were allowed to smolder fo r two or three weeks and yielded about

500 bushels of charcoal.

40

Charcoal proved to be an ideal fuel for use in the manufacture

of iron. Almost en tire ly free of sulphur, wood ash consisted largely

of lime and a lk a lis providing seme of the flux needed in the smelting

p ro c e ss .^ However, as the iron industry grew, the vast forests of

eastern America could never have met the po ten tia l demand for fuel.

41

NOTES

1. Ju lian U. Niemcewicz, Under th e ir Vine and Fig Tree, trans. and ed. by Metchie J.E . Budka ("Collections of the NewJbrseyHHistorical Society," XTV [Elizabeth, 1965]), 223.

2. Black powder was used in the operation. In v ir tu a lly a l l account books and ledgers examined, black powder constituted a major expenditure fo r mine owners.

3. "A rtist-L ife in the Highlands, the Iron Region of New Jersey," op. c i t . , p. 592.

4. Often several shafts were sunk in to the same vein of ore and each was enumerated in reports of iron production as separate mines.

5. Pennsylvania Iron Manufacture in the Eighteenth Century(''Publications of Pennsylvania H istorical Commission," IV [Harrisburg, 1938]), 95.

6. The forge was developed within the old iron d is t r ic ts of Catalonia, Spain, before the tenth century.

7. Boyer, op. c i t . , p. 3.

8. A survey by William K itchell revealed tha t the average quantity of ore and charcoal required to make one ton of blooms was two tons of ore and 300 bushels of charcoal. ("Report of the Superin­tendent and State Geologist, fo r the Year 1856," Third Annual Report [Trenton: Geological Survey of New Jersey, 1857]), pp. 18-19.

9. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Tenth Census of the United States: 1880. Report on the Manufactures of the United S ta tes, Vol. II (Washington, D.CT: Government Printing Office, 1883), p. 775.

10. The primary difference between the Stuckofen and the Hochofen was the end product, not appearance. An apparatus which produced molten iron was a furnace; a l l others were bloomeries.

11. Georgius Agricola, De ReM etallica, trans. Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover (New York: Dover Publications, In c ., 1950),p. 420.

12. In a l l p robability the f i r s t b la s t furnace was an enlarged Stuckofen capable of maintaining the high temperatures necessary to produce a molten product.

13. Pennsylvania Iron Manufacture in the Eighteenth Century,p . 80.

42

14. Cook, op. c i t . , p. 637.

15. Op. c i t . , pp. 21-22.

16. For a discussion of the dispersal of the a i r b la s t in Europe, see: Charles Singer e t a l . , A History of Technology (NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1954-58), I , 592-598yTTl7 69 -78.

17. Swank, op. c i t . , p. 453.

18. Cf. Robert J . Sim and Harry B. Weiss, Charcoal-Burningin New Jersey From Early Time to the Present (Trenton: New JerseyA gricultural Society,- 1955), pp. 20-31.

19. Statement by Thomas Whitmore, personal interview.

20. Bining, Pennsylvania Iron Manufacture in the Eighteenth Century, p. 73.

CHAPTER I I I

COLONIAL ANTECEDENTS OF HIGHLANDS IRON INDUSTRY

P rio r to the in troduction of ironworking in to the Highlands,

i t s manufacture had spread over much o f the eastern seaboard. The

growing co lon ial demand and the lu re of foreign m arkets--a prospect

strengthened by the in a b il i ty of English ironmasters to meet th e ir

country 's needs ̂ ---encouraged many entrepreneurs to pursue the manu­

facture of iron.

The idea of cu ltiv a tin g an iron industry in the New World

f i r s t came to lig h t with S ir Walter R aleigh's second e:xpedition in

1585. ̂ Abundant fo rests and bog ore near Roanoke Island might have

supported ironworks, but when the aspiring colony fa ile d , the

suggestion passed in to h isto ry .

Establishment of a permanent settlem ent a t Jamestown afforded

the V irg in ia Company an opportunity to send a number o f workers in

order to construct f a c i l i t i e s fo r the manufacture o f iron. A s i te on

Falling Creek, about s ix ty -fiv e miles above Jamestown, was chosen fo r

the experiment. No evidence has been uncovered regarding the type of

manufactory; nevertheless, Swank f e l t i t included a furnace and finery*2

and chafery forges--a complex common in England about th is time.

43

44

In te re s t in expanding the in i t i a l operation was wanting due to

a lack of cap ita l and need fo r workers in fam ing the various p lan tations.

However, en thusiastic supporters f e l t an iron industry was good for

England and the colonies, as i t would provide raw and semifinished goods

for the mother country and a means of payment fo r English wares needed

in North America.

Subsequent developments in the manufacture of iron sh ifted to

New England. Although one of the in ten ts of the Massachusetts Bay

Colony from i t s inception, the f i r s t ironworks was not b u il t near the

bog ore deposits of Saugus u n til 1643.^ The completed works consisted

of a furnace, a two-fire forge, and a ro lling and s l i t t in g m ill. Iron

of good quality was manufactured, but expansion was deterred by lawsuits,

Indian attacks, lack of sk illed labor, opposition to the large amount of

wood consumed, and a preference fo r English iron.

The lim ited success and myriad problems encountered a t Saugus

hindered establishment of additional manufactories throughout the

seventeenth century. Many of those attempted fa ile d outright or, a t

best, operated in te m itte n tly and f in a lly lapsed into in ac tiv ity . Real

development began with the f i r s t years of the eighteenth century.

Within two decades progress had been made in seme of the colonies

su ffic ien t to alarm the English ironmasters.^

The migration of s e tt le rs from Europe and New England to other

colonies along the coast embraced ironworkers carrying on a search fo r

deposits of iron ore, copious fo rests , and a dependable source of power.

North of the Carolinas, several areas were gradually to assume a

greater measure of importance.

45

One such location was the Pine Barrens region of southern

New Jersey.^ The immense quantities of ore, continually flowing streams,

untapped fo re s ts , and a profusion of oyster and clam she lls necessary

for fluxing furnished a beachhead from which the iron industry could

la te r turn inland. With the establishment of the f i r s t ironworks a t

Tintem Falls in 1674, the industry spread along the major waterways of

South Jersey. Within f i f ty years the region became one of the leading

industria l areas in the colonies.

Special inducements to ironworkers brought about a reb irth of

iron making in the Chesapeake Bay region.^ Soon ironworks appeared

north and south of the Potcmac River. By the middle of the eighteenth

century there were a t le a s t ten b la s t furnaces making an annual average

of 500 tons of pig iron each.

R evitalization of the iron industry took place in New England

as well. Building upon the i l l - f a te d Saugus operations, Massachusetts

a ttrac ted many persons sk illed in producing iron. Bounties p articu la rly

encouraged the manufacture of ironware. Similar inducements led to

the establishment of manufactories in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and the

eastern end of Long Island. By 1733, New England had a t le a s t sixO

furnaces and nineteen forges, and twenty-five years la te r , Massachusetts

boasted fourteen furnaces and forty-one forges.^

Discovery and development of the magnetite ores in eastern

Pennsylvania did much to expand the colonial iron industry. Manu­

facturing commenced in 1716 and soon spread from the southeastern

counties and the Schuylkill Valley to the Delaware River, adjacent to i nthe Highlands. At le a s t thirty-seven s ite s were in operation by the

46

mid-eighteenth century. Suffice i t to say, Pennsylvania was the

leading producer of iron in America — a position she maintained u n ti l

th is century.

A flourishing iron trade was one m anifestation of increased

manufactural ac tiv ity . Quantities of pig iron had been shipped from

Pennsylvania, V irg in ia, and Maryland to England since early in the

eighteenth century (Table 3). Shortly, th e rea fte r, axes and other

Implements were exported to the ag ricu ltu ra l communities of the

Carolinas. According to B ritish ironmongers, ironmasters in New England,

Maryland, and V irg in ia had taken over much of the colonial tool market

by the 1730's . ^ Furthermore, large quan tities of American-made n a ils

and anchors were ccmpeting successfully with the English product.

Production costs were a primary reason fo r the progress of American

iron. English ironmasters, th e ir lands denuded of usable tre e s , were

forced to pay tremendous p rices fo r fuel. At many furnaces fuel12represented over seventy percent of the cost of making iron. Colonial

furnaces, with vast fo rests near a t hand, never approached the figure .

Labor and transporta tion expenditures also favored the colonial ironworker.

In 1750, bar iron produced in England was se llin g fo r L17 per ton, 13

whereas, American iron brought t l4 to L16 per ton in P h ilad e lp h ia .^

Transportation accounted for much of the p rice d if fe re n tia l. English

iron prices included L2.8 per ton fo r transport as compared with L l. 5

per ton fo r American iron. ^ Import duties prevented much competition

in English markets, but could not check England's diminishing share of

the business in the American colonies.

TABLE 3IRON EXPORTED TO GREAT BRITAIN

FROM 1730 to 1745

Year Iron Pennsylvania V irginia and Maryland(Tons) (Tons)

1730 Pig 199 1,5271730-1 Pig 169 2,0811731-2 Pig 107 2,2251732-3 Pig 95 2,3101733-4 Pig 147 2,0421734-5 Pig 243 2,412

Bar 20 —

1736-8 No data1739 Pig 170 2,242

Bar 44 —

1740 Pig 159 2,020Bar — 5

1741 Pig 153 3,264Bar ----------- 5

1742 Pig 143 1,9261743 Pig 63 2,816

Bar — 571744 Pig 88 1,748

Bar 85 —

1745 Pig 97 2,131Bar — 5

Source: French, op. c i t . , pp. 7-8.

48

The diverse problems and in te rests of colonial and English

iron makers, merchants, and ironmongers resu lted in the passage of

the Iron Act of 1750. The act provided for duty-free importation

of American bar iron into England, while prohibiting expansion of

the manufacture of ironware in the colonies. ^ I t was hoped tha t

England's chronic shortage of bar iron might be relieved and competition

in the colonies checked. In sp ite of the expectations, the Iron

Act did l i t t l e to hamper the growth of colonial manufactories. The

o ffe r of a duty-free market actually resulted in fu rther expansion

(Table 4). Pennsylvania, V irginia, Maryland, and the Highlands of

New York and New Jersey became the major producing areas. The

combined e ffo rts of coastal and mountain ironworks allowed the

American colonies to become se lf-su ffic ie n t in a l l iron products

ju s t p rio r to the Revolutionary War,

TABLE 4PIG AND BAR IRON EXPORTED BY THE

AMERICAN COLONIES TO GREAT BRITAIN

Year Pig Iron Bar Iron(Tons) (Tons)

1750 ................ 2,924175 1 .................. 3,2101752 ................ 2,979 821753 2,736 2081754 ................ 3,245 1711755 ............... 3,439 3901761 ............... 2,766 391762 ................ 1,763 1231763 ................ 2,566 3101764 ............... 2,554 1,0591765 ............... 3,264 1,0791766 ............... 2,887 1,2581767 ................ 3,323 1,3261768 ................ 2,953 1,9901769 . . . . . 3,402 1,7801770 ............... 4,233 1,7161771 ................ 5,303 2,2221772 ................ 3,725 9661773 ................ 2,938 8371774 ................ 3,452 6391775 ................ 2,996 9161776 ................ 316 28

Source: French, op. c i t . , pp .8-

50

NOTES

1. I t was estim ated in 1738 th a t of a to ta l of 35,000 tons of iron required fo r trad e , a t le a s t 23,000 tons had to be secured from abroad. By 1775, the to ta l amount of iron imported to Great B rita in frcm Sweden, Russia, and o ther sources was between 45,000 and 50,000 tons a year. Lawrence H. Gipson, The B ritish Empire Before the American Revolution (Revised ed itio n , New York: A lfred A.Knopf, 1960), I I I , 211.

2. Bining, B ritish Regulation of the Colonial Iron Industry,p. 5.

3. Op. c i t . , p. 105.

4. For a complete account of the Saugus Ironworks, see:H artley, op. c i t . .

5. Arguments fo r and against expansion o f the American iron industry and regulation o f sa id industry can be found in "Papers re la tin g to Iron, P e ltr ie s , Trade, e t c . , 1712-1817," Penn MSS, H isto rica l Society of Pennsylvania.

6. For additional information on the South Jersey manufactories, see: Caimita DeS. Jones, "Batsto and the Bloomeries," The Pennsyl­vania Magazine of H istory and Biography, 47 (1923), 185-195; Arthur D. P ierce, Iron in the Pines (New Brunswick: Rutgers U niversity Press,1957).

7. Kathleen Bruce, V irginia Iron Manufacture in the Slave Era (Hew York: Century Company, 1930), pp. 9-12.

8. Penn MSS, p. 81.

9. Bining, B ritish Regulation of the Colonial Iron Industry,p. 14.

10. For a complete account of Pennsylvania's iron industry , see: Bining, "Pennsylvania Iron Manufacture in the EighteenthCentury," op. c i t . .

11. Penn MSS, p. 45.

12. B.L.C. Johnson, "The Charcoal Iron Industry in the Early Eighteenth Century," Geographical Journal, CXVII (1951), 174.

51

13. A ll foreign monetary values c ited in the tex t are given in B ritish s te rlin g currency. Throughout the eighteenth century colonial businessmen had to contend with "pounds," "sh illin g s ," and "pence" issued e ith e r by the B ritish government (s terling money) or by the various colonies (lawful or proclamation money). I t was customary to think of the widely circulated Spanish-milled do lla r, forerunner of the American d o lla r, as the standard of value. Commonly, one Spanish do llar could be exchanged for four sh illings sixpence s te rlin g money or six sh illin g s proclamation money. Nevertheless, the actual value of the lawful money varied from colony to colony. Gipson, op. c i t . , X, 160.

14. Is rae l Acrelius, History of New Sweden: or The Settlementson the River Delaware, trans. by W.M. Reynolds ("Memoirs of the H istorical Society of Pennsylvania," XI [Philadelphia, 1874]), 169.

15. Ib id . , p. 169; Gipson, op. c i t . , I I I , 214.

16. A clause prohibited erection a f te r June 24, 1750,". . . no m ill, or other engine fo r s l i t t in g or ro lling of Iron, or any p la ting forge to work with a tilt-hammer, or any furnace fo r making s te e l. . . . " A fu l l discussion of the regulations and resu lts thereof can be found in Penn MSS.

CHAPTER IV

CHARCOAL, IRON, AND HIGHLANDS SETTLEMENT

Establishment of the physical and technological environments

must be accompanied by an attempt to show the changing geographic

patterns which iron making carved on the Highlands landscape. Certainly

the present Highlands re f le c t many altera tions in it ia te d during th is

period of in d u stria l exploitation.

The o rig inal land offered tremendous advantages to the

foundation of a successful iron industry. Magnetite ore was incorporated

in the country rock of the ridges and mountain masses. Limestone

constituted a portion of the base m aterial of many interhighland valleys.

Abundant woodlands covered not only the highlands, but also the most

accessible lowlands. Streams were everywhere and th e ir valleys offered

countless s ite s su itable fo r the erection of iron manufactories.

In addition, the technological level of the Highlands s e t t le r

cannot be overlooked. Many were well versed in the manufacture of

iron. Techniques had been transported d irec tly from Europe, or borrowed

from Europeans. The methods had proven successful elsewhere on the

eastern seaboard and in Europe. The Highlands iron industry was a

deliberate extension of a colonial industry heretofore confined mainly

to the coastal plain .

52

53

Indian Occupance and European Penetrations

The e a r l ie s t inhabitants of the Highlands were Indians known

as the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware. Records indicate th a t they were

most numerous w ithin the Musconetcong Valley and on the Highlands

margins adjacent to the Hudson and Delaware riv e rs .^ Food was obtained

by hunting, gathering, and agricu ltu re. Game, roo ts, nu ts, and berries

were p le n tifu l. Maize, beans, and squash occupied small clearings in

the valleys. Rock ledges, caves, and wooden houses provided sh e lte r .

Trade was widespread, linking the Highlands dwellers w ith peoples to

the east and west. Numerous t r a i l s were established, following the

watercourses or the interhighlands valleys.

Although a good deal of information is available on the

American Indian and h is usage of iron ores, no evidence has been found

to indicate th a t he was fam iliar with iron making p rio r to European

contact. Mention was made of Indian discoveries of iron ore in the

Hudson Highlands; however, there is no record of these deposits ever7

being exploited.

I n i t ia l contact with the European did l i t t l e to a l te r Indian

occupance of the Highlands. M aterially , Indians did adopt the r i f l e ,

c lo th , and metal u ten s ils . In turn , Europeans expressed in te re s t in

Indian crops, the location of good ag ricu ltu ra l land, and Indian ta le s

of p le n tifu l supplies of iron ore. During the eighteenth century many

of the Delaware were driven westward and th e ir ag ricu ltu ra l lands be­

came occupied by Europeans. Formerly cultivated land reverted to patches

of undergrowth known as Mold f ie ld s" where settlem ent succession did not

occur. The tran s itio n from Indian to European occupance was most

54

noticeable in the Modna Creek, Ramapo River, and Musconetcong River

valleys. By the 1730’s the Indians who remained behind had re trea ted

e ith e r to poor lands near the headwaters of the Musconetcong and Black

rivers or to the recesses of the Hudson Highlands.^

The ro le of the pioneer Highlands s e t t le r and h is s k i l ls has

long been m isinterpreted. Early au th o ritie s , such as Coxe and Gordon,

saw the co lon ists as manufacturers opening the way fo r a g r ic u ltu ra lis ts .

They deemed the forge uniformly as the precursor of the farm. A fter

iron making had exhausted the land of i t s timber and iron , i t was sub­

divided in to faimsteads. The w rite r believes the actual settlem ent

sequence was more complex than envisioned by nineteenth-century

chron ic lers.

S e ttle rs h esitan tly approached the rugged, fo rested Highlands

p r io r to 1700; moreover, they were confined to the most accessible

sections along the periphery of the study area and to the trib u ta ry

valleys of the Hudson and Delaware riv e rs . The f i r s t years of the

eighteenth century saw Dutch s e t t le r s from U lste r County, New York,

move southward into the W allkill Valley on the edge of the Western

Highlands. Germans frcan Pennsylvania took up lands in the unglaciated

valleys of the southern Highlands. Captain John Evans". . . expended

g reat sums of money in clearing several places fo r Farms, and planted

several Families of Scots and Ir ish . . on a large tr a c t of land

along Murderer's (Modna) Creek in the Hudson Highlands.^ The sa le of

well-timbered land, p le n tifu l meadows, and wheat acreage on the Rockaway

River a ttrac ted s e t t le r s from Newark, Elizabeth, and New York. In

addition, surveys were conducted to deteimine the character of the in te r io r

55

segments of the Highlands. Charles Clinton, surveyor of a goodly

portion of the Hudson Highlands between 1735 and 1749, often evaluated

the ag ricu ltu ra l p o ten tia l of the lo ts he had la id ou t. Land was

described as being " . . . Scarcily Sufficien t fo r a Settlement . . . ,"

" . . . p re tty well tim ber'd with Oak but Generally Stoney . . . or

having " . . . Some very Good dry Swamp or Rather Lowland th a t may be

plowed and Good Swamp fo r meadow. . . . "

To other prospective s e t t le r s the Highlands looked ra th e r in ­

hospitable and were thought to be incapable of improvement and wholly

without transport f a c i l i t i e s . Valuable only fo r firewood, " . . . no

man [would] accept any p a rt of i t . . . unless i t be what i s contiguousQ

to the River, where he may with ease transport the wood."

In sp ite of the great expenditures of money and labor,

agriculture met with only mixed success and the pace of Highlands

settlem ent was exceedingly slow. I t should be kept in mind, however,

th a t the adjacent Trias s ic Lowland and K ittatinny Valley continually

offered g rea ter rewards to the ag ricu ltu ra lly minded s e t t l e r s . By

1710, probably fewer than three thousand persons were residing w ithin

the confines of the study area.

Establishment of the Iron Industry

In te re s t was now directed to reports of iron ore found through­

out the Highlands" . . . in g rea t quan tities . . . but a t a g reat distanceQ

from the B ritish and amongst the Indian Settlem ents." The change in

a ttitu d e is also evident in Clinton who, in the l a s t years, remarked of

the " . . . A ttraction of Iron Oar [sic] and Loadstone [sic] which is in

56

Every h i l l here in th is part of the Mountain . . . M or th a t " . . .10there would be a good f a l l had here fo r an Ironworks or m ill. . .

Soon land advertisements promoted those a ttrib u tes of the landscape which

led to the manufacture of iron:

To be Sold, or Leased

Several Tracts of Land in the Province of New-York and New-Jersey, v iz . New-York. In Orange County About 2000 Acres, in Cheescock's Patent, Part thereof adjoining Haverstraw, on Hudson* s River, about 40 Miles from New-York, and Part in the Clove, which is very fine Land; the Rest is Mountain Land, extending from Haverstraw to the Clove: This Tract w ill besold, or leased in Lots of 100 Acres and upwards; i t affords the best conveniences fo r Iron Works, of any Tract in North-America, having plenty of Iron Oar [sic] and Wood, and a very fine Stream, su ffic ien t fo r several Furnaces or Forges, within seven Miles of a good Landing on Hudson's River. . . .

So thoroughly were the conveniences publicized and so widespread

was the response, tha t by the Revolution, p rac tica lly every ore body

known today in the Highlands had been opened.

A blocmery, the f i r s t ironworks associated with the Highlands,

was erected a t Whippany soon a f te r that community's founding by a

number of s e tt le rs from Newark and environs (Plate IV) . ̂ The necessary13ores came from magnetite outcrops like those a t Succasunna, and from

limonite found along the Whippany River. Limestone was obtained from

small, iso lated exposures in the Whippany Valley or gathered from the

abundant g lac ia l t i l l . Production was consumed locally--m ostly as

various and sundry u te n s ils --o r shipped as bars to Newark and E liza­

beth v ia horseback over almost nonexistent t r a i l s .

PLATE IV

(

57

30

New York-New Jersey

HIGHLANDS

iS o o rd 'iM ills

.Ogden's,

41*

Charcoal Iron Manufactories

(ca. 1750),Wmppcny

Bloomery or Forge

Furnace

P lantation

kUnion

Compiled from num erous l o u r e s s

74*

58

Adjacent to one of the la rg est p lains areas within the High­

lands, Whippany became the focus of regional settlement u n til the mid­

eighteenth century. The Whippany River and i t s tr ib u ta rie s furnished

access to lands within the Passaic Range and to portions of the High

Bridge Valley. Crude roads led across the drift-covered Morris p la ins.

Enticed by the prospect of open lands, additional s e tt le rs journeyed

from New England, New York, and Burlington, to join those from Newark

and Elizabeth. Land was touted fo r i t s a b ility to sustain iron making

and ag ricu ltu re . ^ Several forges were erected prim arily to r id the1 ^area of surplus wood and to provide local faimers with implements.

Shortly the reafte r, agriculture surpassed iron making as the region's

p rincipal occupation. The landscape had undergone extensive tran s­

formation. Houses and bams were of English sty le ; meadows were in

English grass; and flax , com, and orchards occupied the f i e ld s .^

Other pioneers began to descend on the Highlands--north and

south. Welsh and Scotch-Irish folk from East Jersey journeyed along

the Wanaque and Pequannock valleys to reach trac ts of land purchased1 7expressly fo r the purpose of developing ironworks, and were followed

by a few se ttle rs in ten t on clearing land fo r agriculture.

The h i l l s of the Eastern Highlands amply furnished raw m aterials

fo r iron making; nevertheless, rugged te rra in iso lated the small groups

of pioneers. Often, provisions and iron products had to be carried by

men because i t was " . . . Impossible for a horse to follow Over the

vast h i l l s .

From the ou tset, manufactories encountered d if f ic u lt ie s in

th a t the sparse population provided l i t t l e or no local market fo r iron.

59

Roads had to be constructed in order to f a c i l i ta te the transport of

iron to regions outside the Highlands. Old Indian pathways were

converted in to roads by cutting back the trees to allow passage of

horses, mules, or wagons (Fig. 19). T raffic moved northward through

the Ramapo Valley and southward to Aquackanorik Landing (Passaic), v ia

Pampton and Wanaque (Plate V).

The southern invasions came from Europe and Pennsylvania by

way of the Delaware River and i t s tr ib u ta r ie s , ch iefly the Musconetcong

River. Lying south of the terminal moraine, the landscape presented an

environment conducive to iron manufacturing, while also being

regarded as " . . . exceeding f e r t i le fo r Grain or any Thing else that

may or w ill be sown or planted therein.

Commencing with the founding of Oxford Furnace in 1742,20

men of diverse sk il ls were a ttrac ted to lands near the newly established

ironworks. C olliers, lumbermen, farmers, and tradesmen of English,

Welsh, German, and Scotch-Irish heritage found places in communities9 *i

springing up around the manufactories. Primarily due to the introduction

of the iron industry, population in the, southern Highlands almost doubled

between 1738 and 1745.22

So fam iliar did these iron communities become th a t land

advertisements often mentioned them, although they usually had l i t t l e

to do with the place being described:

The f i r s t Tract lie s about two Miles from Oxford Furnace . . . containing near 300 Acres of Land, being noted fo r the best place to raise Stock of any in tha t County, having upwards of 100 Acres of drained Meadow already made on the Premises, and great Part thereof fine Timothy and Clover Grass, besides other improvements, and sundry Advantages which are natural to th a t Place. . . .23

PLATE V60

45 ' 30 '

New York-New Jersey

HIGHLANDS

Transportation Patterns

Roads (1778)

A dd itiona l Roads (1800)

• • • • • • Turnpikes (1828)

h—i—i- Railroads (I86 0 )

Compiled from numerous sources

61

The natural a ff in ity of furnace and forge led to the founding

of a c lu s te r of small fin e ries and chaferies around some prominent

furnace. For example, Oxford was instrumental in establishing forges

a t Changewater, Greenwich, and Chelsea (Plate IV).

A flourishing trade arose as the furnace supplied pig iron

necessary fo r operation of the forge. Additional trading ac tiv ity was

generated between manufactory and local inhabitants as well as between

manufactory and peripheral market c i t ie s .

Farmers found settlement near ironworks advantageous " . . . on

Account [of] the g reat Numer [sic] of People employ'd a t the Iron Works

. . . there is generally as good a Market fo r Grain, and other Produce,

as a t N e w - Y o r k . I n exchange, the manufactories provided u te n s ils ,

chimney backs, n a ils , and sundry other products. An advertisement in

the New Jersey Journal offered fo r sale:

Scythes, n a ils , po ts, k e ttle s , griddles, and-irons, smoothing-irons, morters [s ic ] , cart and wagon boxes, six and ten p la te stoves, weights, e tc . 25

Iron and iron products not consumed locally were transported

overland to the Delaware River fo r shipment to Philadelphia and to

markets in England. At Oxford, Jonathan Robeson also claimed some trade

with New York, c itin g " . . . the p rice and carriage of iron . . . being

about the same." Lewis Evans gave a ra te of twenty sh illings per ton

fo r pig iron shipped down the Delaware River to Philadelphia in 1755.2?

Pig iron then brought about L4 per ton a t the marketplace.

The extent of the annual tonnage and categorizing of the trade

cannot be ascertained with any degree of f in a li ty . Few Jersey ports

handled Highlands iron. Moreover,. the principal c i t ie s of New York and

Philadelphia seldom specified the orig in of the iron shipments.

62

By the mid-eighteenth century, the Highlands manufactories

began to grow and spread rapidly. Impetus was furnished by the newly

opened duty-free English market, the needs of a growing local population,

demands for iron in other colonies, and by the Revolutionary War. Soon

the charcoal iron industry would reach in to every secto r of the study

area.

As the most accessible fo rests were cleared fo r towns and farm­

steads or converted in to charcoal fo r the iron manufactories, ironmasters

were forced to seek additional woodlands fo r the maintenance of th e ir

trade. The settlements and transportation networks, developed in

conjunction with e a r l ie r ironworks, became springboards fo r the penetration

of the Highlands in te r io r valleys and ridges. In evidence throughout the

industria l expansion was the concentration of major producing f a c i l i t ie s

in the headwaters regions of the larger streams and th e ir tr ib u ta rie s

(Plate V I).

A newly kindled in te re s t was taken in the iron poten tia ls of

the remote Western Highlands and in the Hudson Highlands. Early seven­

teenth-century movements of Dutch, English, and Germans had brought

settlem ent only to the limestone K ittatinny Valley. The rugged, forested

slopes and s te r i le so ils of the neighboring ridges discouraged the

advances of a g r ic u ltu ra lis ts . ^8

Discovery of iron ore on unexploited lands encouraged the founding

of an iron community a t Andover by English in te re s ts from Philadelphia.

The plantation consisted of M . . . a n elegant Stone Dwelling-house,

Stables, Smith's Shop, Springhouse, and a Number of Outhouses fo r Workmen;

PLATE VI63

Forest of | B Deon

HIGHLANDS

Ringwood

•FranJilir

HBV R i^r / f# C h o rlo tle b u rfl'-s7> § L J^Pompton

^Woterloo

Charcoal Iron Manufactories

(1760-1800)

Morristown• Bloomery or Forge

■ Furnace 9 Plontation

Bloomsbury

Compiled from numerous sources

64

a large Coalhouse . . . also 5000 acres of well timbered Land to29acccmodate [sic] the Furnace. . . . "

Following a pattern established in the southern Highlands,

operation of the Andover manufactory was instrumental in a ttrac tin g

men to operate the foiges which were erected to refine Andover pig

metal. Merchants from the nearby K ittatinny Valley were eager to

market iron products and supply manufactories with necessary a r tic le s .

Farmers occupied and cultivated the Vernon and W allkill valleys. G rist-

and sawmills were b u ilt to serve ironworker and farmer alike.

Under certain circumstances iron maker and ag ric u ltu ra lis t

were one and the same. In a marshy valley , a dam might be erected

and waterwheels constructed fo r a small ironworks. Within a few years,

fom erly useless land was drained and cleared. Fields and meadows

replaced the manufactory and the fo rests which had previously clothed

the lower mountain slopes (Fig. 1).

In te res t in the Hudson Highlands was exemplified by the growth

and d is tribu tion of the population. Heretofore confined to Modna

Creek Valley and the lowland about Haverstraw and Goshen, the iron

industry provided a means of livelihood fo r s e ttle rs who wished to

occupy the bouldery, in fe r t i le valleys and steep-sided ridges. Over

a span of three decades, the numbers of inhabitants increased fourfold

in Orange County (Table '5). Roads were b u ilt to furnish access to the

markets of New York and to serve the local populace. Mich o f the

former t r a f f ic u til iz e d the Ramapo Valley or a road crossing the High­

lands to Haverstraw on the Hudson River (Plate V).

65

TABLE 5

POPULATION OF HIGHLANDS COUNTIES FRCM 1745 TO 1790

Year Hunterdon Morris Bergen* Sussex** Orange***

1745 9,151 4,436 3,006 -----# ------

1746 ------ ------ ------ ------ 3,2681750 ------ ------ ------ 600 ------

1756 ------ ------ ------ ------ 4,8861772 15,605 11,535 ------ 9,229 ------

1776 ------ ------ ------ ------ 14,0621784 18,363 13,416 9,356 14,187 ------

1790 20,153 16,216 12,601 19,500 18,478

* Included Bergen and Passaic comities.** Included Warren and Sussex counties.

*** Included Orange and Rockland counties.# Indicates an absence of data fo r the year cited .

Source: Greene and Harrington, op. c i t . , pp .95-113.

66

An accurate determination of the number of ironworks active

during the la t te r h a lf of the eighteenth century is d if f ic u lt .

However, often forges and furnaces were so numerous th a t travelers

thought i t impossible to journey across the Highlands without meeting

some l i t t l e manufactory.30

A survey taken in 1784 credited New Jersey with eight furnaces

and seventy-nine forges engaged in iron manufacture, a majority of

which were in the Highlands.3 ̂ No figures were given fo r the Hudson

Highlands, although th is w rite r’s investigations show six furnaces and

seven forges active during the concluding decades o f the eighteenth

century. Jedidiah Morse in 1795 a ttrib u ted to Morris County 11. . .n o

less than seven rich iron mines, from which might be taken ore su ffic ien t

to supply the United States; and to work i t in to iron are two furnaces,

two ro llin g and s l i t t in g m ills , and about th ir ty forges, containing from*7 0

two to four f ire s each."0

The Highlands Landscape c. 1790

Almost a century of European exploitation and settlem ent had

profoundly a ltered the appearance of the study region. Bountiful

natural a ttribu tes--stream s, iron ore, and timber--had a ttrac ted iron

making even to the most remote segment of the area. The Highlands had

become, with eastern Pennsylvania and V irginia, one of the leading

regions of iron manufacture in North America.

Ironmasters of diverse origins se ttle d within the area. English,

Germans, and Scotch-Irish d irec t from Europe joined like groups freon

New England, West Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These folk , th e ir trade,

67

and th e ir cu ltu ra l heritage played a sign ifican t ro le in the evolution

of the Highlands landscape.

Laige tra c ts of land were taken up by iron makers to supply

charcoal and iron ore fo r the manufactories, to furnish food fo r men

and th e ir fam ilies, and to provide pasturage fo r animals. Requirements

fo r good charcoal-making land were summed up in the following statement

". . . about 2000 Acres of Woodland, the fa rth es t not more than two

Miles and an Half d istan t . . . most of i t well timbered. . . The

bulkiness of charcoal and i t s transportation over d if f ic u lt te rra in

influenced the distance from the ironworks as c ited above. Conifers

and broadleaf deciduous trees were used in making charcoal. The sprout

hardwoods were preferred fo r the consistent quality of the charcoal

produced and because the trees rejuvenated quickly--only f if te en or

twenty years' growth furnished another usable tre e .

One or more iron mines were usually found on lands adjacent to

the ironworks. Sustaining a furnace with a capacity of twenty tons^of

pig iron per week (500 tons per annum) necessitated the production of

a t le a s t twice tha t amount of iron ore. Few mines could furnish the

required ores singlehandedly. Hibernia Furnace, surrounded by several

good iron mines, was obliged to ca rt ore from mines many miles away to•Z.A

meet the demands of the b la s t furnace. Seldom, i f ever, were a l l

mines associated with a p a rticu la r manufactory operated simultaneously.

Closing of old mines and opening of new ones was merely a migration of

holes along a number of ore pods in a continuous ore deposit.

Small patches of meadow were cleared and drained as pasturage

fo r livestock. Cultivated p lo ts , or cabbage gardens, furnished food fo r

the ironworkers and th e ir fam ilies.

68

In view of the above land requirements, most iron communities

covered expanses encompassing 1500 to 5,000 acres or more.

Numerous opportunities fo r employment were afforded by the

ironworks to sk illed and unskilled laborers a like . Size and composition

of the work force varied considerably with the type of manufactory. A

fo u r-fire forge might employ as few as fo rty men; whereas, 183 were

needed to operate the S terling p lantation--including f if ty - f iv e wood­

cu tte rs , th ir ty -f iv e furnace and forge workers, and eighteen ore and

charcoal hau lers . ^ Poor pay and poorer liv ing conditions resu lted in

a high desertion ra te and a perpetual shortage of laborers. Slaves had

been tr ie d in a few sm aller ironworks during the early years, but were

eliminated in favor of employing European indentured servants. Often

neighboring farmers and th e ir animal teams were contracted fo r hauling

in the w inter months.

The s itu a tio n was somewhat b e tte r fo r the sk illed worker.

Faced with a demand g reater than the supply, ironmasters offered

inducements such as b e tte r pay and more substan tia l housing to a t tra c t

the required fumaceman, founders, blacksmiths, carpenters, and the lik e .

A manager and a clerk were needed to oversee and account fo r the

operation of each forge and furnace.

Advertisements fo r a l l of the aforementioned positions appeared

regularly in local newspapers as well as those from New York and

Philadelphia. During the Revolutionary War, the Mount Hope and Hibernia

en terprises sought service exemptions fo r between f if te e n and th ir ty

". . . Men such as are used to Wood cu tting , Coaling and Laborer

Suitable fo r Iron Works.

69

The constant depletion of n a tu ra l resources gave a somewhat

tran sito ry nature to the iron industry. An ever-increasing penetration

of the in te r io r valleys o f the study area resu lted from the abandonment

of e a r l ie r s i te s . Those, prim arily on the periphery of the Highlands

and in the more f e r t i l e and read ily accessible valleys, were replaced

by general ag ricu ltu re , m illing , lumbering, and town developments

(Fig. 20). As early as 1779, advertisements lik e the following in the

Pennsylvania Packet appeared:

One lo t of about one hundred and th ir ty acres. . . . I t includes a good stream, Pine Brook, with a very fine m ill dam, the remains of a bloomery forge and saw-mill, some good buildings and improved meadows and plowlands. . . .

By the turn of the centuiy, the only active ironworks in the

lower Musconetcong Valley, Greenwich and Changewater, were operating

in te rm itten tly . Much the same was occurring along the upper courses of

the Raritan and the lower reaches o f the Rockaway, Passaic, and Pequannock

rivers and th e ir tr ib u ta r ie s (Plate V I).

The iron industry was also responsible fo r several other extant

cu ltu ra l m anifestations. Dwellings associated with forges, furnaces,

and p lan tations d iffered widely with regard to mode of construction

and m aterials used. The d iv ersity of national origins represented by

ironworker and ironmaster resu lted in houses which expressed not only

cu ltu ra l heritage, but also local expediency o r individual fancy.

Rather crudely constructed homes of log, stone, or half-tim ber were

erected fo r the various and sundry laborers. More opulent dwellings

of sim ilar m aterials or frame construction were occupied by the iro n ­

master or manager.

70

Perusal of contemporary m ateria ls , especia lly newspaper

advertisements, netted few worthwhile descriptions of houses associated

with ironworks. An advertisement fo r the sa le of Chelsea Forge, s ta ffed

and operated primarily, by English and Scotch-Irish fo lk , noted:

. . . three convenient dwelling-houses, one of which is stone, two s to rie s high, w ith firep lacesa t each end . . . the other two of frame andsquare logs well fin ished with convenient f i r e ­places . . . and a number of log-houses su ffic ien t fo r accommodating the hands necessary fo r carrying on the works. . . .

A drawing of an old dwelling a t Hibernia depicts a one and one-half39story log house with a projecting roof and a gable-end chimney.

Although the basic plan is German in orig in , Wacker believes English

influence brought about the su b stitu tio n o f a gable-end chimney fo r

the cen tral one preferred by the Germans.^0 Culture heritage might

explain the presence of the house type in northern Morris County, fo r

German and English fo lk worked several iron manufactories in the

v ic in ity of Hibernia. At Andover, with plenty of good limestone to be

had fo r building, the tenant houses were constructed su b stan tia lly of

stone.

The overseer's house was well constructed, commodious, and

furnished with items purchased in New York, Philadelphia, or Europe.

Other than bigness, each manor house was unique and did not represent

a specific heritage. Rather, plan and construction were d ic ta ted by

contemporary fashion .

As ironworks and appurtenant settlem ent pushed in to the High­

lands in te r io r , they were followed by a marked increase in the number

and density of roads (Plate V). The nature of iron making often separated

i

71

manufactories from the markets and each other. Furnaces were iso la ted

by the thousands of acres of woodland needed fo r charcoal. Operators

of f in e rie s and chaferies, in an attempt to o ffse t high manufacturing

costs with low d istribu tion expenses, chose riverine s ite s near e ith e r

market or transport, not near the furnace. Old Indian t r a i l s gave

way to many miles of ungraded, stum p-filled tracks traveled by pack-

horses and carts . Good wagon roads were found exclusively near the

older and most populous settlem ents. Cheap water transportation was

furnished by the Delaware, Hudson, Passaic, and Raritan riv e rs , but

only a f te r an arduous overland journey. Elizabeth, Newark, Aquackanonk,

New Brunswick, Trenton, and Morristown emerged as trading centers for

the iron communities. New York and Philadelphia continued to represent

Highlands iron in foreign commerce.

Early settlement of the Highlands had established a pattern

fo r the en tire eighteenth century. The f e r t i le so ils and:.moderate

r e l ie f of the southern Highlands were more conducive to settlement than

the rugged, g laciated northern portion. A griculture, lumbering, and

m illing amply met the needs of the greater population density. Often

these occupations offered employment to persons displaced by the fa ilu re

or removal of ironworks. Forgemen, miners, and c o llie rs were encouraged

to cu ltiva te the land u n ti l conditions permitted resto ration of the

manufactories.

A comparison of the growing Highlands population from 1745 to

1790 can be found in Table 5. The growth of Morris, Sussex, and Orange

counties paralle led the r ise of iron working in those regions. Neverthe­

le ss , only Morris County lay predominantly within the study region; thus,

most figures include population growth in areas adjacent to the Highlands.

72

Early maps by Evans, Faden, Sotzmann, and an unknown author,

available a t the New Jersey H isto rical Society and the New York

H isto rica l Society, confiim the uneven cu ltu ra l development w ithin

the H i g h l a n d s . Numerous roads'and a ra th er large number o f s e t t l e ­

ments appeared south of the term inal moraine. Many of the communities

were d irec tly a ttrib u tab le to the iron industry. Others were trading

centers or ag ricu ltu ra l v illag es anc illa ry to the industry. Consequently,

i t was the unglaciated, f e r t i l e , and easily accessible areas of the

southern Highlands th a t conformed most s trik in g ly to the settlem ent

succession described by Coxe and Gordon (see page 54).

In contrast to a l l the a c tiv ity in the southern Highlands,

many northern regions continued to r e s is t hab itation . The demise of

iron manufactories did not re su lt in ag ricu ltu ra l settlem ent. More

often than not, abandonment o f an ironworks led to a general depopulation

of the surrounding lands. Poor so ils of g lac ia l o rig in , rugged te rra in ,

and inadequate transport combined to in h ib it the a rea’s growth. The

Ramapos, especially , witnessed a sm aller population increase and less

movement into the region than did any other segment of the Highlands.

The only appreciable c lu ste rs of people were situ a ted in ce rta in favored

valleys or near the sca tte red ironworks. Chastellux observed th a t, as

he proceeded in to the mountains north of Ringwood, he was to " . . .

plunge in to the woods by a road with which nobody was too well acquainted.

The country I was to pass through, ca lled ’the Clove,' i s extremely wild,

and was scarc ily [sic] known before the war. . .

Maps also provide evidence of the rich heritage o f place names

a ttrib u tab le to the iron industry. Succasunna and Irondale were prominent

73

mine s i te s . Mount Hope, Ringwood, Andover, and Hibernia were among

the several iron p lan tations. Oxford, Franklin, Changewater, and

Greenwich denoted forge and furnace establishments which endured.

A fter the disappearance of the iron industry, the aforementioned

settlem ents and many more continued to dot the Highlands landscape.

Perhaps the g rea tes t change wrought by the charcoal iron industry

was in re la tio n to the extent and condition of the fo re s t cover. In

Europe, the use of charcoal fo r making iron had led to a la ige-scale

devastation of fo re s ts . Leading in d u stria l nations, such as England,

re s tr ic te d the use of woodlands fo r smelting. Upon coming to the High­

lands, the ironmaster was struck by the expanse of timber which seemed,

fo r a time, a lim itle ss supply of fuel fo r maintenance of a manufactory.

Taking t i t l e to a l l accessible fo re s t lands, the ironworker usually

. rendered [them] almost useless to anybody e lse . . .

The practice of cu tting o ff the fo re s t cover was fraught with

danger and some travelers expressed doubt as to the pemanence of the

Highlands iron industry. One such description:

The business of the mines and foundries, in New Jersey as well as throughout America, cannot be said to be on as f im a basis as in most parts o f Europe, because nobody is concerned about fo rest preservation, and without an uninterrupted supply of fuel and timber, many works must go to ru in , as indeed has already been the case here and there . Not the le a s t economy is observed [in] regard to fo re s ts . The owners of furnaces and foundries possess fo r the most p a rt g reat tra c ts of appurtenant woods, which are cu t-o ff however, without system or order . . . the Union, a high furnace in New Jersey exhausted a fo rest of nearly 20,000 acres in about twelve or f if te e n years, and the works had to be abandoned fo r lack of w o o d .44

I t had been widely held th a t 20,000 acres of woodland was

required to keep a furnace operating in d efin ite ly . However, improper

74

management, increased manufactory production, and a variable growth

ra te among fo re s t species contributed to the u n re lia b ili ty of th is

estim ate.

The immense quan tities of charcoal needed by the never-sa tia ted

ironworks contributed much to the elim ination of the more desirable

hardwoods or permanently a lte red the n a tu ra l fo re s t composition through

repeated cuttings. P ersisten t use of the same s ite s fo r charcoal making

permanently damaged so il f e r t i l i t y and resu lted in numerous s te r i le

spots which supported l i t t l e or no p lan t l i f e fo r several decades.

Iron making also provided several secondary agents o f change:

f ire s orig inating from sparks emitted by furnaces and forges or from

smoldering charcoal p i ts ; drainage of wet lands; creation of meadows;

browsing a c tiv itie s of domestic animals; and logging of pine, and red

cedar to meet the needs of local construction.

By the dawn of the nineteenth century, much of the fo re s t cover

had been a l l but o b lite ra ted in several areas. W allkill Valley, Modna

Creek Valley, and the limestone sectors of the southern Highlands were

prime examples. Somewhat less denuded were the gentle slopes and p la ins

areas from Mendham to Dover. Extent of the vegetation cover on the

ridges changed l i t t l e from precolonial times; nevertheless, the ecological

composition had been disturbed. The contrast between se ttle d and un­

se ttle d regions was qu ite marked, and described thusly:

Behind these rocks [the Hudson shoreline] are ranges of enormous mountains which extend fa r in to the country, and are covered with track less fo re s ts . In other places . . . foim beau tifu l l i t t l e valleys . . . which terminate a t the base of lo fty mountains. The country thus gently undulated is covered with rich faims, p lan tations, orchards, and gardens, and studded with neat and handsome dwelling-houses.

75

NOTES

1. Dorothy Cross, Archeology of New Jersey . 2 vols. (Trenton:Archaeological Society of New Jersey and New Jersey S tate Museum, 1941 and 1956); William A. R itchie, The Archaeology of New York S tate(Garden City, N.Y.: The Natural H istory Press, 196S').

2. Charles Clinton, Cheescock's Patent ("The Marble Book")MSS, County C lerk 's O ffice, p. 93.

3. Cf. The Pennsylvania Gazette, February 11-18, 1734, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t S eries, XI (1704- 1739); Clinton, op. c i t . , p. 107.

4. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Third Census of the United S ta te s , p. xxxii and Gordon, op. c i t . , p. 185.

5. E.B. O’Callaghan, e d ., Documents Relative to the Colonial H istory o f the S tate of New York (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Company,1853-87), V, 283.

6. The American Weekly Mercury, August 20-27, 1724, quoted in Nelson, op. c i t . , 82.

7. Clinton, op. c i t . , p. 9 ff.

8. L e tte r from Governor Hunter o f New York to the Lords of Trade and P lantations, July 24, 1710, quoted in O'Callaghan, op. c i t . ,V, 167.

9. Representation o f the Lords Commissioners fo r Trade and P lantations to the King upon the S tate of His M ajesties Colonies and P lantations on the Continent of North America, September 8, 1721, quoted in Ib id . , V, 601.

10. Clinton, op. c i t . , pp. 323, 331.

11. The New York Mercury, March 26, 1764, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F ir s t S eries, XXIV (1762-1765), 339.

12. Severed, secondary sources give a date of 1710 fo r th is event. The published journal of John Reading, a surveyor, indicates the presence o f numerous ag ricu ltu ra l settlem ents; nevertheless, he saw no ironworks and had not heard of any in operation during the early summer of 1715. "Copy of Journal of . . . Reading While Surveying Lands in the Northern Part of New Jersey, April 17th to June 10th, 1715," Proceedings of the New Jersey H isto rical Society, 3rd Series, X (1915), JSE T. ----------------- -------------------------

76

13. Reading's journal of May 16, 1715, carried the notation:"We crossed over Sukkasuning where some gathered iro n st6ne." Ib id . , p. 39.

14. Typical of the advertisements were the following:

. . . hath on i t a veiy good Iron Mine, and is well acccmmodated with Streams of Water, one o f which is near the said Mine, f i t to se t a Furnace on, and the other Streams are su itable fo r Finories [ s ic ] . The Pennsylvania G azette,February 23 - March 4, 1730, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F ir s t Series,XI (1704-1739], 237.

A Tract of Good Land, divided by Whippany River, containing Twelve Hundred and Eleven Acres . . . i t i s a square Tract, and good Gripper on both sides the River fo r Meadow, and lie s w ithin h a lf a Mile of the Iron-Works. The New-York Gazette, August 26, 1734, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F ir s t Series, XI (1704- 1739), 353-354.

15. Ed Thompson, personal coranunication.

16. The New-York Gazette, A pril 3, 1732, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XI (1704-1739), 276.

17. Mr. James Noiman o f Newfoundland, New Jersey, mentions a map made p r io r to 1740 which shows a furnace near Bloomingdale, a few miles upstream from Pompton, on the Pequannock River. Personal in te r ­view. However, th is w rite r could find no other evidence o f i t s existence or operation.

18. Clinton, op. c i t . , p. 14.

19. Pennsylvania G azette, January 6, 1763, quoted in WilliamNelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives', F irs t S eries, XXIV (1762-1765), 122.

20. Boyer, op. c i t . , p. 148.

21. For a detailed study of the Musconetcong Valley, see: Wacker,The Musconetcong Valley of New Jersey: A H isto rical Geography.

22. Evarts B. Greene and V irginia D. Harrington, M ericanPopulation Before the Federal Census of 1790 (New York: ColumbiaU niversity Press, 1932), pp. 109-113.

23. Pennsylvania G azette, February 25, 1762, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives", F irs t S eries, XXIV (1762-1765), 12-13.

77

24. The New York Gazette, March 7, 1763, quoted In William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XXIV (1762-1765), 145.

25. June 22, 1779, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New JerseyArchives, Second Series, I II (1779), 460.

26. Pennsylvania Gazette, January 29, 1756, quoted in William Nelson, ed ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XX (1756-1761), 1-3.

27. Lawrence H. Gipson, Lewis Evans (Philadelphia: H istoricalSociety of Pennsylvania, 1939), pp. 164-165. The "Durham” boat was instrumental in early transportation on the Delaware River. F irs t used in connection with Durham Furnace, Lane gives an excellent description of these vessels, th e ir cap ab ilitie s , and eventual d is trib u ­tion . Wheaton J . Lane, From Indian T rail to Iron Horse — Travel and Transportation in New Jersey 1620-1860 (Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress, 1939), pp. 68-70.

28. Lewis Evans' 1755 map of the Middle Colonies showed several settlements between what is now Newton, New Jersey, and Goshen, New York, but none in the adjacent Highlands. Gipson, Lewis Evans, P late VI.

29. Pennsylvania Gazette, October 4, 1770, quoted in Boyer,op. c i t . , p. 27. The use of stone as a building m aterial was ch arac te ris tic of th is segment of the Highlands.

30. Bishop, op. c i t . , I , 550.

31. Ib id . , I , 550.

32. The American Universal Geography (Boston: J.T. Buckingham,1805), I , 519.

33. The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 16, 1765, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XXIV (1762-1765),527-528.

34. L etter dated March 9, 1786, from Captain George Ross to John Jacob Faesch. Ford Collection, Box 1, MSS, National Park Service, Morristown National H istorical Park. I t mentioned th a t Col. Samuel Ogden supplied Hibernia Furnace with 700 tons of ore from the Ogden Mine in Sussex County, about twelve miles from the furnace.

35. For a complete ro ste r of the positions a t S terling , see:Calendar of H istorical Manuscripts Relating to the War of the Revolution (New York: State of New York, 1868), I I , 69.

36. L etter Book of Joseph and Charles Hoff—-March 10, 1755 to July 10, 1778, MSS, National Park Service, Morristown, National H istorical Park.

78

37. July 31, 1779, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New JerseyArchives, Second S eries, I I I (1779), 535.

38. New Jersey G azette, A pril 5, 1780, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives7~Second Series, IV (1779-1780), 286-287.

39. "A rtist-L ife in the Highlands, The Iron Region of New Jersey ," Harper's New Monthly Magazine XX (1860), 584.

40. "The Log House in New Jersey" (Paper prepared fo r theGeneral Session in Cultural Geography, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Toronto, Canada, August, 1966).

41. Gipson, Lewis Evans, Plates I I and I I I ; William Faden, The Province of New Jersey, Divided in to East and West, Cammonly ca lled The Jerseys (Charing Cross: Win. Faden, 1777); D.F. Sotzmann, Map ofNew Jersey (Hamburg: Carl Ernst Bohn, 1797); D.F. Sotzmann, Map of New York (Hamburg: Carl Ernst Bohn, 1799); Pensylvania, Nova Jersey e tNova York cum regionibus ad Fluvium Delaware in America s i t i s (Vienna: Conrad L otter, 1748).

42. Francois Jean de Chastellux, Travels in North America in the Years 1780-81-82, tran s . Howard C. Rice, J r . , (Chapel H ill: U niversity of North Carolina P ress, 1962), I , 187.

43. William Roome, The Early Days and Early Surveys of East New Jersey (Morristown: Journeyman Press, 1883), p. 42.

44. John David Schoepf, Travels in the Confederation (1783-84), tran s. Alfred J . Morrison (Philadelphia: William J . Campbell, 1911),I , 36-37.

45. John Lambert, Travels Through Canada and the United States of North America (3rd ed ition ,' London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Jay,1816), I I , 44-45.

CHAPTER V

RINGWOOD: AN IRON PLANTATION

Perhaps the most important contribution of the era of charcoal

iron was development of the iron p lantation or iron manor. Seemingly

of English orig in , these large and often financially able enterprises

had been part of American iron making since the seventeenth-century

founding of Saugus. Dispersal of iron manufacture along the eastern

seaboard introduced the manor to southern New Jersey, Maryland, and

V irginia. Later and more permanent plantations were established in

Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, and New York.

Several iron communities were found scattered throughout the

Highlands during the eighteenth century (Plate V I). All were sim ilar

in morphology and function; however, each was unique in time and place.

The regional contributions of Andover and S terling have been alluded to

in a previous chapter. Ringwood has been chosen fo r a more detailed

investigation because of the scope of i t s commercial en terprise , the

changes i t wrought on the land, and the role i t played in se ttlin g a

segment of the northern Highlands. I t exerted an influence on the

cu ltu ra l and physical landscape which remained long a f te r technological

evolution brought a h a lt to iron manufacture in the Highlands.

79

80

Physical Setting

Situated w ithin the meager valley of Ringwood Creek, a

tr ib u ta ry of Wanaque River, Ringwood p lan tation occupied a large

portion of the Ramapo Mountain region along the New York-New Jersey

border (Plate I ) . Doninated by broad, forest-covered masses of gneiss,

whose dissected summits a tta in elevations of 800 to 1000 fe e t, the land

contributes much to a feeling of remoteness and iso la tio n .

A ch a rac te ris tic of the Passaic Range, of which Ramapo

Mountain is a p a r t, is a decided southwesterly slope. Drainage is

oriented toward a ra th er narrow longitudinal valley occupied by the

Wanaque River.

A predominantly broadleaf deciduous fo re s t covers much of the

h ills id e s and summits about Ringwood, as well as the less favored

sections of the tr ib u ta ry valleys. Interspersed among the various

species of hardwoods are small stands of coniferous types such as

pine, red cedar, and hemlock. The fo re s t floo r consists of l i t t e r ,

flowers, ferns, and grasses. Ferns, mosses, woody shrubs, and mountain

lau re l cover the steeper slopes. Patches of bare country rock are

also v is ib le .

Scattered throughout are swamps and natural wet meadows.

These re su lt from inadequate or disrupted drainage due to the d iffe re n tia l

resistance of local rocks to Pleistocene g lac ia tion or to accumulations

of g la c ia l debris.

Soils are ch a rac te ris tic a lly acid, rocky, exhibit shallow

p ro f ile s , and have been adversely affected by drainage conditions.

G laciation produced stony conditions almost equal to those found in

New England. D rif t is not too deep, except in the valleys, The steeper

85-

slopes are covered with th in layers of so il or none a t a l l . The region

has l i t t l e p o ten tia l fo r the a g r ic u ltu ra lis t. Those who have tr ie d

never stayed too long.

H isto rica l Background

I l l - s u i te d to even the most rudimentary type of cu ltiv a tio n ,

the s te r i le s o ils and rugged te rra in offered few inducements to s e t t l e ­

ment. Shunned by Indians, except fo r infrequent hunting and fish ing

expeditions, and circumvented by early European invaders, the region

could claim no permanent residents u n ti l Cornelius Board established an

ironworks about 1735. Shortly th e rea fte r, several forges were founded

on Ringwood Creek below S terling Lake,-'- and a furnace was erected by

the Ogden family of Newark. A few ag r ic u ltu ra lis ts took up the

natu ra l meadows and swamplands adjacent to the manufactories. The

early s e t t le r s , mainly from the B ritish Is le s , numbered only about two

dozen fam ilies.

Prim itive conditions proved too d if f ic u l t fo r a small manufactory

to overcome. The diminutive market provided by the local populace was

unable to su sta in even a few ironworks. The s itu a tio n was only somewhat

relieved by periodic shipments o f iron over almost nonexistent roads

to Aquackanonk Landing fo r sa le to merchants in Newark, E lizabeth,

and New York. ̂ Although numerous mines were opened, fo re s ts claimed

fo r timber and charcoal, and several permanent dwellings erected, the

Ogdens and th e ir neighbors soon abandoned the lands or offered them fo r

sa le .

The response of Peter Hasenclever, a German liv ing in England,

to the Ogdens1 advertisement heralded the advent of one of the most

82

outstanding developments in the in d u s tria l u ti l iz a tio n of the Highlands.

Spearheaded by Hasenclever and severa1 wealthy acquaintances, the

American Company was formed in order to ". . . exp lo it land in the

American Colonies fo r the production of pig iron , hemp, potash and

other useful i t e m s . ' I n addition to the Ogden t r a c t and surrounding

lands, t i t l e was secured to areas elsewhere in New Jersey and New York.**

P lan tation Components

As viewed by Peter Hasenclever in 1765, the Ringwood area was

" . . . a new, w ild and th in ly-inhabited country . . . and was

described by representatives of the East Jersey proprie tors thusly:

We find the land exceedingly rocky and mountainous. The mountains appear to be almost inaccessible along the r iv e r , some of them bare o f timber, others well timbered. In the whole t r a c t we viewed we saw but two small pieces of swamp which were both taken up, and in the whole there did not appear to be f i f ty acres of plow land. . . . From the place we entered upon th is view fo r near three miles we could not trav e l along the edge of the r iv e r , the mountains on both sides being so rocky and steep th a t i t was impossible to climb them. . . . In our opinion the land is e n tire ly u n f it fo r any purpose but th a t Mr. H. proposed to employ i t in . . . J

Development of the Ringwood p lan ta tion rested on refurbishing

i t s most p ivo ta l fea tu re --th e Ogden furnace.® Hasenclever introduced

several changes which aided in i t s operating efficiency . The ex te rio r

country rock and the furnace capacity of 700 tons of pig iron per annum

were not a lte red . However, s la te was substitu ted for country rock as

the refrac to ry lin in g , prolonging the b la s t period, and a roof was b u i l t

over the furnace, shielding men and equipment from wind and water.

83

Four forges with eleven f ire s (chafery and finery) and six

hammers were erected w ithin three miles of the furnace (Fig. 21).

The forges processed pigs in to bars by the usual method. Housed in a

building eighty by fo rty -fiv e fe e t, four f ire s could produce 250 to 350

tons of bar iron annually.

Hasenclever also in s ta lle d a stamping m ill which reprocessed10furnace and forge cinders, separating usable metal from the slag .

No data are available on the amount of iron recovered in th is manner;

nevertheless, since the m ill was common in conjunction with la te r

furnaces, savings must have been considerable.

Several ore bodies were opened to augment those worked in

previous years. By the Revolutionary War, a t le a s t eight mines were

operative, yielding ores of six ty to seventy percent iron. Additional

p i ts were abandoned because they ". . . abounded in sulphur or copper,

or had q u a litie s which rendered the goodness of the ore dubious.

Power necessary fo r the operation of the furnace, forges,

stamping m ill, and other p lan tation a c tiv itie s was furnished by water

from the nearby Ringwood Creek. Dependence on th is energy source

proved to be a nuisance a t several times in the year. Winter ice

choked the waterwheels, v ir tu a lly halting a l l a c tiv i t ie s ; spring floods

were responsible fo r damage to equipment every year; and summer drought

d ra s tic a lly reduced the supply of water ju s t When demand was a t i t s peak.

To a llev ia te the th rea t of flood, a small raceway diverted

water from the r iv e r to the furnace area, providing some measure of

pro tection fo r the ironworks. The low summer water level was corrected

84

by the creation of a large reservoir and canal described thusly:

This Reservoir is a pond called Toxito [Tuxedo] pond, is about three miles long, and near one mile broad; i t formerly emptied i t s e l f into Ramopough [Ramapo] River, but by an immense dam of 860 fee t long, and from 12 to 22 fee t high, the natural out le t is stopped up, and the water raised to such a height, as to take i t s course with a head of ten fee t high, into a long canal, which conducts into the Ringwood R i v e r . 12

Houses, outbuildings, and stores were in ample supply on the

p lantation (Plate V II). Such buildings were usually constructed simply

and economically by the manor overseer. Native m aterials were always

used. Colliers were housed in small ten t-lik e structures of sticks and

clay or one-room log cabins (Fig. 22). The la t te r consisted of logs

notched and caulked with clay, earth and brush p iled around the outside

of the foundation, and an earthen floor inside. Roofing m aterials

often were tree bark or shingles s p l i t from oaks and p ines. Doors

were hung without hinges and windows were unglazed.

The miners, forge- and fumacemen, and other personnel lived

in more peimanent structu res. The e a r l ie s t dwellings were probably

of log; although cottages of stone, squared logs, and frame f i l le d

in with brick and clay la te r gave peimanence to the iron manor (Fig. 23).

A small garden of one to five acres adjoined each house.

The most imposing house was tha t of the ironmaster. S ituated

on a small r ise overlooking the p lan tation , and constructed of timber,

stone, and p la s te r , i t presented a unique sight to travelers in the area

(Fig. 24). The house was commodious, with large rooms, wide hallways,

and open firep laces. Furnishings contrasted shaiply with those in

neighboring dwellings, often having been imported from Europe. Well-

85

Plate v ii

P a ti r X

RIN G W O O D M A N O R

FURNACE AND MINE AREA

Swamp

IlSti: Meadow

■ y /. O rchard

X Mina

R acew ay

— R oad

■ Dwelling

a Building

• Forge

A Furnace

86

cared-for gardens surrounded the house and completed the scene. I t

was a f i t t in g se ttin g fo r the social l i f e of the manor.

Bams, s tab les , and a small blacksm ith's forge were provided

fo r the horses, cows, oxen, and other animals. Storehouses, a smoke­

house, a g r is tm ill, and a sawmill furnished goods consumed by the

p lan tation personnel. A combination general store and inn, run by

the ironmaster, schoolhouse and/or church, and a n o t-to o -d is tan t tavern

were also p a rt of the iso la ted ccmmunity (Figs. 25 and 26).

The lands surrounding the manor were used by farmers and woodsmen

who were employed by the ironmaster or who rented th e ir lands from

him. Individual faims contained twenty-five to th ir ty acres. Grains,

prim arily buckwheat and com, were the major crops. Ancillary to the

farmlands and equally important was the acreage in meadows. Improved

pastures were derived from swamps and bogs cleared and drained a t no

small expense (Plate V II). However, the need fo r extensive charcoal-

producing woodlands confined cu ltiva ted and improved land to three or

four percent of the e s ta te 's 10,000 acres.

The lack of substan tia l European or Indian settlem ent on the

surrounding lands forced the American Company to re ly heavily on imported,

indentured labor. In order to operate the furnace, forges, mines, and

m ills as well as make charcoal and ca rt ore, Hasenclever a ttra c te d many

Germans, English, and S co tc h -Ir ish .^ A check o f surnames in 1780

revealed a s ix ty -fo rty balance in favor of workers from the B ritish

I s le s . Prim itive surroundings and the ra th e r harsh nature of the work

soon drove many to desert and almost every issue of the newspapers carried

87

notices asking fo r the return of runaway laborers and advertisements

fo r new workers, frequently with th is appended; "Those who are Germans,

or who can work in the German way, sh a ll be preferred. Although

schooled in basically the same methods of iron manufacture, German forge-

and fumacement. employed techniques . . d iffe ren t from th a t of

England, and [which seemed] to be attended with g reater dispatch and

saving of fewel [ s ic ] ." ^

H o s tilitie s of the Revolutionary War greatly diminished the

p o ten tia l labor supply. Negroes and captured Hessian soldiers were

employed to perform the most unpleasant and unskilled tasks.

Industria l ac tiv ity stimulated the building of roads. A few

poorly constructed roads had been used in conjunction with e a r l ie r

ironworks; however, such roads proved incapable of carrying the commerce

of the much larger Ringwood en terprise. Glacial debris and the rugged

topography made road building tiresome, laborious, and expensive.

Numerous wetlands and small creeks had to be bridged with timber.

After extensive rains or during spring floods, most roads were impassable.

Dust frequently made travel unpleasant in the summer months.

Within ten years of i t s founding, Ringwood was connected v ia

land carriage to American Company properties a t Charlotteburg and Long

Pond, as well as to ship landings a t Haverstraw, Aquackanonk, and

Hackensack. From the la t te r poin ts, goods were then sent by water to

New York, Newark, and Elizabeth. Over th is network moved the trade

fo r which Ringwood--indeed a l l iron manufactories--was the focus: beef,

pork, flou r, grain , and hay from neighboring faims; clothing, u ten s ils ,

liquor--especially rum and brandy--and sundry items from England and

88

the West Indies; and iron products from the manor. Within the

p lan tation i t s e l f , additional roads of three to eight miles in length

were necessary fo r transporting provisions, charcoal, iron ore, and

pig iron (Plate V II). The bulk o f the t r a f f i c consisted of oxcarts,

horse-drawn wagons and carriages, and riders on horseback.

Iron Making a t Ringwood

The manufacture of iron was the sole function of Ringwood

Manor from i t s establishment by Hasenclever in 1765, u n t i l the mid-

nineteenth century. Ringwood*s forges and furnace worked only as

charcoal manufactories.

All raw m aterials fo r making iron were available on the

p lan tation lands. Iron ore came from several mines, notably the Good

Hope, Peter, Hard, and Keeler (Caler) p i ts (Plate V II) . Loosened by

black powder and hand to o ls , the ore was loaded in to ca rts and wagons

fo r the short journey over cleared pathways to the furnace (Fig. 27).

Charcoal burning was performed a t several locations in the surrounding

woodlands. Limestone was supplied by numerous outcroppings or gathered

as boulders from the g la c ia l t i l l .

Once assembled a t the furnace, successive layers of fue l,

iron ore, and flux were taken across the chaining bridge of the furnace.

Based on an average production of twenty-five tons of pig metal per

week, each ton required approximately 250 bushels of charcoal, two to

three tons of ore, and 500 pounds of limestone. Total cost of the

m aterials p rio r to the Revolution was about L3. Labor, transporta tion ,

and incidental expenses accounted fo r another L3 or L4. Between 1774

89

and 1776, pig iron brought L8.7 per ton a t the market.-*^ Cast-iron

a r tic le s of almost every descrip tion were made available fo r sa le in20markets as d is tan t as South Carolina. ~

Pig iron not offered fo r sale was converted into bar iron by

Ringwood forges fo r shipment to England and the West Indies. The

refin ing process resu lted in a loss of th ir ty percent or more of pig

metal and increased charcoal requirements by f i f t y percent. Labor and

transport charges--from furnace to finery , finery to chafery, and

chafery to market--were also substan tia lly raised . Thus, Ringwood baron

iron sold fo r L28 to L30 per ton, a p rice which compared favorably (

with offerings elsewhere in the colonies. In 1776, the la s t fu l l year

of production before the Revolutionary War, almost 400 tons of bar iron

were sold in New York fo r Lll,206. From these sales the American

Company realized a p ro f it of L360,22 hardly worth a cap ita l expenditure

of almost 150,000 and the labor of 500 to 600 men.

The Demise of the P lantation

Following the end of h o s t i l i t ie s between England and America,

Ringwood and other colonial iron centers underwent a general decline.

Independence resu lted in the loss of America's major foreign iron

market. Forests became scarce and the p rice of charcoal rose to three

cents per pound. Labor became harder to find and higher priced. A

ton of ore, ra ised and carted to the furnace fo r about $1.50 in 1775,

now cost $2.00. Antiquated transporta tion networks increased charges

to $5.00 per ton on pig iron and more on bars. Finished bar iron cost

about $110 per ton (1810), versus a price of $80 per ton in 1790. More-

90

over, the new American nation neglected to impose adequate duties on

foreign iron, bringing a deluge of products from a resurgent English

iron industry to the eastern seaboard. ^

A fter several years of in te rm itten t and unprofitable operation,

Ringwood passed in to the hands of Martin Ryerson of Pomp ton. The

p la n ta tio n 's manufactories, mines, and fo rests were consolidated with

ironworks a t Wanaque, Pompton, and the newly erected charcoal furnace

a t nearby Long Pond (Fig. 28). Even though the arrangement brought

financial success, Ringwood Manor was never to sustain i t s e l f again.

The lands were f in a lly sold to Peter Cooper and Abram S. Hewitt of the

Trenton Iron Company which operated furnaces a t Phillipsburg and a

ro llin g m ill a t Trenton.

Approximately one hundred years of iron manufacture had greatly

a lte red the landscape of Ringwood and i t s environs. The focal point

of the manor--the furnace--was in ruins and had to be dismantled. Many

of the forges s t i l l operated, but charcoal technology was obsolete by

the 1850's. Iron mines, which had produced almost 500,000 tons of ore,

were converted from p its to sh a fts . Most mines were in good condition

and had large reserves of ore which could be exploited.

The old manor house had been tom down, as well as a g reat

many o f the workmen's cottages and log structu res around the old furnace

area. Many of the farms and pasture lands on the e s ta te had been

abandoned. Old f ie ld s of weeds, woody shrubs, and red cedar dotted

the land.

Human habitation , cu ltiv a tio n , and demands of the charcoal

iron industry resu lted in extensive removal of the Ringwood fo re s ts .

91

Streams ides and other lowlands were largely denuded, trees having been

replaced by grasses or crops. Repeated cutting over of the vegetation

stripped ridges of large-sized trees and induced locally heavy growths

of underbrush. Natural recovery had begun; however, by no means was

the extensive o rig in a l fo re s t cover to return .

The nineteenth century also brought a change in population

composition. As iron making f e l l upon hard times, many of the white

laborers sought other employment w ithin the Wanaque Valley or moved

to growing c i t ie s peripheral to the Highlands. Their places were taken

by Negroes or Jackson Whites. Descendants of the l a t t e r s t i l l inhabit

much of the land about the iron mines and nearby Hilbum, New York.

Iron Mining--The Final Stage

A large-scale rejuvenation of the Ringwood property was under­

taken by the Trenton Iron Company. The old manor complex adjacent to

the ironworks on Ringwood Creek was abandoned and la te r dismantled.

Increased mining a c tiv ity accompanied the opening of several reconditioned

shafts . A company v illag e was erected in close proximity to the mines.

General sto res , church, tavern, and new clapboarded m ultistory or m ulti­

family dwellings clustered about the area, evoking memories of the

defunct p lan tation era (Plate V III). Several new roads, and la te r a

ra ilro ad , were b u i l t to f a c i l i ta te the movement o f iron ore from the

Ringwood mines to market.

Development of the mining region was hampered by two chronic

problems--a lack of cheap transportation and foreign competition. Due

to the somewhat remote location in the northern Highlands, the Ringwood

properties had benefited l i t t l e from turnpikes or the Morris Canal.

\ 92

PLATE VIII

1000

F a it

RINGWOOD MANOR

(c. 1900)

■4- R ailroad

x Mine— R o ad

- - Unpaved Road

Dwelling

BuildingM eadow

Sw am p

93

Consequently, iron products and ore were s t i l l shipped to market in

horse- and ox-drawn wagons v ia eighteenth-century roads.

Upon taking over the Ringwood mines, Hewitt proposed th a t a

ra ilro ad be b u il t to Pompton from where iron ore could be freighted

on the Morris Canal to company furnaces a t Ph illipsburg . For an

unspecified reduction in canal to l ls (then seventy-five cents fre ig h t

and f i f ty cents to l l per ton fo r the journey), ore shipments of 25,000

tons annually were to be guaranteed by Hewitt. ^ The a lte rn a tiv e involved

erecting manufactories a t Ringwood and shipping finished iron products,

the cost of which would be p roh ib itive .

Unable to get a favorable ra te on the canal and not having

the cap ita l to construct a ra ilro ad , the Trenton Iron Company was

forced to c u r ta il mine operations. Subsequent e ffo rts to find an out­

le t fo r transporting Ringwood ore ended in fa ilu re . Eventually a

ra ilroad was b u il t adjacent to the old roadway along the Wanaque River

and did carry iron ore to the canal. Nevertheless, in 1875, th is

development came too la te to keep most mines open. The Peter mine was

worked sporadically in to the twentieth century before i t ceased operations

completely (Fig. 29).

The only twentieth-century vestiges of Ringwood's foimer iron

en terprises are dilapidated company homes, some occupied by descendants

of miners (Fig. 30), mine shafts f i l l e d with water and overgrown with

brush, rusting mine machinery, cinder roads and the abandoned ra ilroad

over which ore was carted, and a rejuvenated fo rest cover largely

undisturbed fo r a century.

94

NOTES

1. Map showing property owners in the v ic in ity of Long Pond lying between the old Bergen and Orange Counties (now Sussex)~and south­west toward the Pahhahqual 1 ing (now Kittatinny) Mountain Range (n .p ., n. pub., n .d .).

2. Ringwood Ironworks Account Book, 1760-1764, MSS, New Jersey H istorical Society.

3. The New York Mercury, March 5, 1764, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XXTV (1762-1765), 328-329.

4. Albert H. Heusser, The Forgotten General, Robert Erskine, F.R.S. (Paterson: Benjamin Franklin Press, 1928), p. 23.

5. Iron plantations xvere established a t Charlotteburg, about th irteen miles southwest of Ringwood on the Pequannock River, and a t Long Pond, about three miles west of Ringwood, on the Wanaque River. Although each was planned as part of a single economic u n it--th e American Company--they operated as self-contained manors. A p lantation was also established a t Cortland on the east side of the Hudson River, but was not successful because of poor quality iron ore. A pot- and pearl-ash manufactory on the Mohawk River completed the works erected and overseen by Hasenclever.

6. Peter Hasenclever, The Remarkable Peter Hasenclever,Merchant (London: n. pub., 1773), p. 9.

7. Roome, op. c i t . , p . 42.

8. Hasenclever in sis ted th a t he erected a new one, (Op. c i t ., pp. 7, 78) although Ogden advertised M. . . a new w ell-bu ilt furnace, . . . " in 1764. The New York Mercury, March 5, 1764, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XXIV (1762-1765), 328. I t is d if f ic u lt to believe th is furnace could not have been salvaged one year la te r .

9. Mentioned in a survey of American Company properties taken fo r Governor Franklin, of New Jersey, in 1768. The New-York Gazette; and the Weekly Mercury, September 21, 1772, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XXVIII (1772-1773), 247-253.

95

10. The less intense heat generated in charcoal furnaces was in su ffic ie n t to completely separate the molten iron from the slag.The m etaliferous cinders were subjected to pulverizing by heavy, water- powered iron hammers. The resu lting iron p a r tic le s were gathered and reintroduced in to the b la s t furnace.

11. The New-York Gazette; and the Weekly Mercury, September 21, 1772, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, W i l l (1772-1773), 249-250.

12. Ib id ., pp. 248-249.

13. Hasenclever claimed to have b u il t forty-nine houses of various types a t Ringwood between May, 1765, and November, 1766.L it t le evidence of the structu res remains today. Op. c i t . , pp. 6-7.

14. Hasenclever had brought over 535 persons, including women and children, from Germany alone to run American Company properties in 1765.

15. Documents Pertaining to Robert Erskine and the Ringwood Mines and Iron Works, MSS,' New Jersey H isto rical Society.

16. The New-York Gazette, July 12, 1773, quoted in William Nelson, e d ., New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XXVIII (1772-1773), 560.

17. Robert Erskine in a l e t te r to Richard W illis , Esquire, of London, July 9, 1771, quoted in Heusser, op. c i t . , pp. 63-66.

18. An outgrowth of th is heterogeneous work force was a group of people known locally as the "Jackson Whites," Products of a Negro- English-Hessian-Indian admixture, the Jackson Whites became the dominant element in Ringwood*s nineteenth-century labor pool.

19. Robe r t Erskine Record Book, 1774-1778, MSS, New Jersey H isto rical Society.

20. An advertisement appeared in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, June 10, 1776:

Orders fo r Iron drawn to any Size, from three Quarters to three Inches square, and from one and an Half to five Inches f l a t , executed with Punctuality and Dispatch. Mill Irons, Rudder Irons, e tc . drawn to Patterns.Quoted in William S. Stryker, e d ., New Jersey Archives, Second Series, I (1776-1777), lT4.

21. Robert Erskine Record Book, 1774-1778, MSS, New Jersey H isto rical Society.

22. Ibid.

96

23. Technological changes, such as the introduction of bituminous coal, adaptation of the steam engine to increase b la s t furnace efficiency, and improvements in refin ing , made English products cheaper and superior. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Tenth Census of the United S tates: 1880,op. c i t . , p. 876.

24. L etter to Ephraim Marsh, President of the Morris Canal Company, July 19, 1853, quoted in Abram S. Hewitt Papers, MSS, New York H istorical Society.

CHAPTER VI

ANTHRACITE AND THE MORRIS CANAL

Except fo r a ra ther b r ie f revival a f te r the Revolutionary War,

the iron industry of the newly independent United States entered upon

hard times during the f i r s t years of the nineteenth century. The

regions of iron production underwent s ign ifican t changes. Abundant,

verdant fo rests which had sustained the old iron-making techniques had

been severely depleted and a lack of charcoal was instrumental in

closing many ironworks. Old techniques now proved costly and ineffective.

Roads and turnpikes were wholly inadequate and incapable of furnishing

cheap, e ff ic ie n t transport of raw m aterials and of marketing finished

a r tic le s . F inally , loss of the B ritish and other foreign markets was

keenly f e l t .

Few forges and furnaces escaped the hazards of the times (Plate IX).

Small enterprises possessing l i t t l e cap ita l were subjected to foreclosures,

continual changes in ownership, or were operated by several leaseholders.’''

Even the owners of large plantations found conditions too d if f ic u lt fo r

successful operation. The census returns fo r 1820 reported iron sales du ll,

prices reduced by twenty-five or th ir ty -fiv e percent, decaying ironworks,2and the in ab ility of b la s t furnace operators to pay ren ts.

97

PLATE IX98

New York-New Jersey

HIGHLANDS

- f U 'x / WowoyondoVv,.

[Homburg

[ ■ Pompton

Split Rock

.Boonton

Charcoal Iron Manufactories

(1825-1860)Oxford

• Bloqmery or Forge

■ Furnace

Compiled from numerous sources

99

Development of the Morris Canal

The decade of the 1820’s would have brought oblivion to the

Highlands iron industry, had not canal fever cone to the rescue. I t

was reasoned th a t a canal, crossing the Highlands through northern New

Jersey, would reestab lish cheap, d irec t transportation to major iron

markets, make available the Lehigh Valley coalfields and new iron

technology, and induce the foimation of new ironworks and new s e t t l e ­

ments w ithin the general area of the Highlands.

An act of the New Jersey Legislature authorized the Morris

Canal and Banking Company in 1824, and construction of the canal from

Phillipsburg to Newark was completed by 1831, with an extension to

Jersey City fin ished five years la te r (Plate X). As in i t i a l ly b u il t

the canal was twenty fe e t wide a t the bottom, th irty-tw o fe e t wide a t

the top, and had a water depth of four fe e t. Later enlargement to

twenty-five fe e t a t the bottom, fo rty fee t a t the top, and a five-foo t

depth resu lted from in su ffic ien t t r a f f i c estimates during the early

stages of planning.^

As had been anticipated, the canal accomplished a renaissance

of the iron industry and brought in d u stria liza tio n to outlying towns

and v illag e s .^ However, the enlarged population, burgeoning s e t t l e ­

ments (Plate X), improved agricu ltu re, and anthracite coal heralded the

end of charcoal iron.

Although several furnaces and a handful of forges continued to

operate during the mid-nineteenth century, the age of the charcoalC

manufactory had come to an end.

100

PLATE X

7 5 “ 3 0 7 4 “

NEW JERSEY S et t lem en ts

F ounded b efo re 1830MORRIS CANAL.« F ounded a f te r 183015’

LakeHopatcong

— 41'

Boontoi

DoverH ackettstow ni

4 5 '

N ew ark ■,Ph i 11 i pi burg

Miles

30 '

30 ' 7 4 “

101

Advent of Anthracite Technology

The tran sitio n from charcoal to anthracite coal gave fresh

impetus to a troubled industry. F a c ilitie s fo r manufacturing iron

increased; d is t r ic ts which had been handicapped by a lack of timber

were revived; and prices declined as a re su lt of increased production,

providing s t i f f competition fo r foreign ironmasters.

Experiments using coal in iron making were carried on almost

simultaneously in England and eastern Pennsylvania in the 1830's.

Operation of the f i r s t furnaces d iffered l i t t l e from the charcoal

counterparts, with the single exception of the h o t-a ir b la s t. Use of

the hot b la s t and anthracite enabled furnace production to increase

from twenty-five tons per week to th ir ty -s ix tons. ̂

Within five years a f te r the in i t i a l American successes, only

six fu rnaces--a ll in Pennsylvania--utilized anthracite to reduce iron

ore. A decade la te r , the l i s t contained forty-two furnaces in

Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and by 1856, 121 ironworks--including

several in the Highlands (Plate XI)--had adopted the new techniques/

The technological evolution was the harbinger of a changing role

fo r the ore resources of the Highlands. The Morris Canal had not only

opened Pennsylvania coalfields to Highlands manufactories, but also

provided new markets fo r iron ore from the la t te r region. In subsequent

years, the la rgest quantity of OTe went in to the b la s t furnaces of the

Delaware and Lehigh valleys, not to those o f the Highlands.

This development had actually been envisioned p rio r to the

opening of the canal. There were no forges or furnaces in New Jersey

equipped to use anthracite in 1830, and i t seemed fa r easie r to haul two

PLATE XI102

7 5 °

New York-New Jersey

HIGHLANDS

Miles

'Franklin

Anthracite Blast Furnaces

A Established be fo re 1650

▼ Established a f te r 1850Oxford

4 5 ’

Compiled from numerous sources

74®

I

103

tons of Highlands iron ore to the Delaware River than to transport

seven and a h a lf tons of coal to the Highlands (referring to the tonnage

necessaiy fo r one ton of pig iron ). The s itu a tio n delayed the advent

of anthracite furnaces in the region; nevertheless, improved transportation

and market conditions furnished the stim uli fo r erecting new manufactories.

Anthracite Manufactories

The f i r s t Highlands anthracite b la s t furnaces were constructed

a t Stanhope near the Morris Canal.® Selection of such a s i te fo r an

ironworks in 1841 was not accidental. Copious woodlands and several

neighboring iron mines, notably a t Irondale, had sustained iron manu­

fac to ries fo r almost a century. Impurities in the ores and elim ination

of fo rests by charcoal manufacture had resu lted in an early cessation

of ac tiv ity .

Iron ore from nearby mines, limestone from the Geiman Valley,

coal from the Lehigh Valley, and a labor pool of men sk ille d in iron

manufacture combined a l l the necessary ingredients fo r a successful

venture. Three furnaces, with a to ta l capacity of 200 tons weekly,

were erected and operated by the Sussex Iron Company. The ironworks

measurably increased the importance of Stanhope and rev ita lized the

countryside, ag ricu ltu ra lly and in d u stria lly .

In a l l likelihood, no other secto r of the Highlands had as

many large, producing mines in such close proximity. P its were re ­

conditioned and expanded into shafts . New mines were opened and ores

were tested . By 1865, a dozen or so mines were shipping ore to Stanhope,

Wharton, and, v ia the canal, to manufacturing d is t r ic ts from Boonton,Q

New Jersey, to Allentown, Pennsylvania.

104

Miners and ironworkers were a ttrac ted by the new in d u stria l

complex. A few were immigrants--mostly Comishmen and a sprinkling

of I r is h . Many were workers who had remained in the area a f te r the

demise of the charcoal manufactories. The la t te r had eked out a bare

liv ing from agricu ltu re or tr ie d to relocate near any forge or furnace

in b la s t , usually without success. Relatively few, investigation shows,

had deserted the Highlands fo r the growing peripheral towns.

The increased population aided fanners liv ing in the neighboring

German Valley. Heretofore, the markets fo r a g r ic u ltu ra lis ts had been

lim ited to Dover, Hackettstown, and the settlements a t e ith e r end of

the Morris Canal.

Subsequent to i n i t i a l operations a t Stanhope, s im ila r an thracite

manufactories sprang up a t Boonton, Port Oram (Wharton), High Bridge,

Chester, and elsewhere in New Jersey, as well as a t Greenwood, New York--

also the s i te of an operational charcoal furnace (Plate XI). At Oxford,

conversion of the o rig inal charcoal furnace was completed by 1846.

Adoption of steam power, the hot b la s t , and a new fuel increased

production th reefo ld , frequently making more iron in a single day than

was made in a week during the colonial period.

The in d u s tria l f a c i l i t i e s were a f a r cry from the old iron

p lan tation . No great tra c ts of land were purchased, few new communities

were b u il t , raw m aterials were brought from d is tan t po in ts , fin ished

products were usually made in p lants many miles from the Highlands

furnace, and foreign markets were v ir tu a lly nonexistent. Furthermore,

most of the aforementioned furnaces operated only a short time and were

of scant import outside th e ir respective lo c a li t ie s .

105

E ffic ien t and accessible transporta tion was a chief locative

fac to r a t several s i te s . Without a doubt, the Morris Canal must be

given the g rea tes t c red it fo r any resurrection of the Highlands iron

industry. Proximity to the canal was responsible fo r the reb ir th of

iron making a t Boonton and the establishment of ironworks a t Port Oram

and Stanhope. The Trenton Iron Company used the canal fo r transporting

ore to th e ir manufactories a t Phillipsburg.

Railroads furnished mid-century competition fo r the canal.

Paralleling much of the la tte r* s route, the tra ilb laz in g Morris and

Essex Railroad pushed through the study area to Phillipsburg by 1861.

I t brought speed, efficiency , and year-round operation--not provided

by the canal as i t was closed in the w inter months by ic e -- to Highlands

transportation.,. Soon, much of the coal t r a f f ic from the Lehigh Valley

had been captured by the ra ilro ad s . Industria l development a t Chester,

High Bridge, and Greenwood can be traced d irec tly to other trans-High­

lands ra ilroads. In addition, feeder lines such as the Mount Hope

Mineral Railroad, the Ogden Mine Railroad, and others stim ulated iron

mining in many long-dormant d is t r ic ts . Later, many of these same r a i l ­

roads, or la rg e r systems into which they were incorporated, would be

agents fo r the transporting of products from many Highlands settlem ents

and farms which owed th e ir presence, a t le a s t in p a r t, to the iron

industry.

Better transportation and technological advances combined to

lower substan tia lly the cost of iron making. During the 1850's the

actual cost of pig iron manufactured with charcoal was from $25 to $28

106

per ton, while the cost of making i t with anthracite was from $15 to

$17 per to n .1 ̂ At the market, an thracite iron sold fo r less than the

cost of charcoal iron and compared favorably with the p rice of iron

imported from England. This favorable price structu re brought growth

and prosperity to the Highlands iron industry (Table 6) , However, the

region was unable to regain i t s ranking as one of the three leading

areas, held during the charcoal era.

Events la te r in the nineteenth century culminated in the f in a l

decline of the iron manufactories. Invention of the Bessemer process

made previous iron-making techniques obsolete. Coupled with the use

of coke, a by-product of bituminous coal, the furnace reduced the cost

of making iron to $12 or $13 per ton--an impossible figure to a tta in

with the anthracite technology.^ Moreover, the discoveries of bituminous

coal in western Pennsylvania were followed by the m earthing of high

quality hematite ore in the ranges near Lake Superior. The center of

the American iron industry sh ifted westward. The decline of New Jersey,

V irg in ia, and other seaboard centers coincided with the r is e of Ohio,

I l l in o is , and Indiana. Pennsylvania and New York recorded sh if ts from

east to west and from Highlands to Adirondack Mountains, respectively .

In terms of distance, geographic relocation from the eastern seaboard

to the in te r io r was s lig h t; however, i t was large when viewed as heralding

the term ination of iron manufacture in the Highlands.

A New Role: Iron Mining

With the demise or in term itten t operation of the Highlands

an thracite furnaces, ex tractive explo ita tion became a dominant trend in

the study a rea 's geography.

TABLE 6

PRODUCTION OF NEW JERSEY'S ANTHRACITE BLAST FURNACES

Year Tons

1874 90,1501875 64,0691876 25,3491877 52,9091878 78,4551879 78,1431880 170,0491881 171,6721882 176,8051883 138,7731884 82,9351885 54,427

Source: "The Iron Industry," Bureau ofS ta tis t ic s of Labor and Industries of New Jersey, 1885.

108

The i n i t i a l d r i f t toward th is new position had become evident

soon a f te r the early years of Morris Canal operations. The importance

of iron ore and an th racite coal to the canal was demonstrated by1 9assigning the lowest to l l s to these commodities. Forge cinders and

bar and pig iron , among other items, also contributed heavily to canal

t r a f f ic . The r is in g demand fo r iron ore and coal, w ithin and without

the Highlands, was accompanied by a general increase in canal commerce

from 59,259 tons (1845) to 889,220 (1866).^ The la s t date became the

highwater mark, fo r th e re a fte r the newly extended railroads captured

much of the coal shipments. Highlands iron-ore production and manufactured

iron never a tta ined the former combined' coal-iron ore figure.

In 1880, Morris County's 568,420 tons made her the th ird ranking

iron-ore producer in the nation, with Orange, Sussex, and Warren

counties also producing over 50,000 tons each in th a t year.-^ A portion

of the ore was used locally by the few remaining furnaces. An overwhelming

p art was sent by canal, ra ilro ad , and riverboat to furnaces from

Poughkeepsie, New York, to eastern Pennsylvania. Iron mining had

become one of the a rea 's most important industries and employed the

services of several thousand Highlanders. Heavy demands over the next

few years made possible the establishment of new production records as

almost every workable ore deposit was made to y ie ld some iron (Table 7).

"Boom" conditions furnished the cap ita l fo r mine improvements, such as

b e tte r pumps, improved equipment, and a more general use of high

explosives.

109

TABLE 7

NEW JERSEY IRON MINING

Year Tons

1790 ....................................... 10,000*1830 ....................................... 20,000*1855 100,000*1860 164,9001864 226,0001867 275,0671870 . .................................. 362,6361871 450,0001872 600,0001873 665,0001874 525,0001875 390,0001876 285,0001877 315,0001878 409,6741879 488,0281880 745,0001881 737,0521882 932,7621883 521,4161884 393,7101885 330,000

*estimate

Source: George E. Jenkins, "The Mining Industry',"Annual Report of the S tate Geologist (1898).

110

A ll a c tiv ity came to naught with the events--economic and

geographic--of the la te nineteenth century. Most Highlands mines were

too lim ited in reserves and the ores too high in phosphorus to supply

the needs of a new era. Sane s i te s , capable of producing good quality

ore, were closed because of heavy expenditures fo r timbering and

drainage in the ever-deepening mines. An anonymous v is i to r described

circumstances a t Succasunna: ". . . a p ile of ore containing four

thousand five hundred tons, every pound of which had been brought from

the mouth of the shaft to the place where i t lay--w aiting a market--on

a ra ilro ad track which was la id with English iro n ."15 Few mines, i f

any, ever "bottomed out" and reserves are s t i l l considerable in quantity ,

i f not in quality . ^

The decline in Highlands ore production evident in Table 7

cannot be a ttrib u ted so le ly to a geographic expansion of the American

economy. A ris in g demand fo r Bessemer ore in the old eastern seaboard

manufactories induced the importation of foreign ores, prim arily from

Spain and French West A frica. ^ Destined fo r ironworks in eastern

Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, foreign ores succeeded in

driving Highlands ore even from i t s o ldest markets.

Vestiges of A nthracite, Iron, and Canal

The Highlands as a prominent fac to r in the American in d u stria l

p ic tu re had a l l but vanished by the la s t years of the nineteenth century.

The heady promise of a substan tia l iron resurgence, fueled by anthracite

coal and transported by the Morris Canal, had been g rea tly defla ted by

the discovery of new coal and iron deposits west of the Appalachians and

Ill

by the development of new and cheaper methods o f iron production using

bituminous coal. But the period of an thracite and the Morris Canal

did not close without leaving i t s imprint on the land.

Most v is ib le re lic s of the period are extant along the former

route of the canal and subsequent transportation a r te rie s (Figs. 31

and 32). When, by 1850, the area was in jected with a new technology

and new peoples, many Highlands c itie s on the verge of decay were

revived. Anthracite iron manufacture aided such o ld iron centers as

Morristown, Boonton, Dover, and Stanhope. Iron became the economic

basis fo r continued growth in the twentieth century. Port Oram, Port

Murray, Port Colden, and the like sprang from ore landings or ag ricu ltu ra l

produce stops to locally important iron manufacturing and market towns

(Figs. 22 and 34). Phillipsburg, nonexistent p r io r to the Morris Canal,

parlayed i t s position as the western terminus of the waterway in to the

la rg est iron manufacturing center associated with the Highlands.

The impact of an th racite coal and iron technology was readily

transferred to the surrounding land. Additional iron mines were

explored and, i f found promising, opened fo r exp lo ita tion . Population

increase was su b stan tia l, especially in the towns \diich possessed the

ingredients fo r iron m anufacture.^ Negroes and East European immigrants

replaced the o lder generation of English, Scotch-Irish , Welsh, and

German workers. The l a t t e r groups forsook the heavy labor of the mines

and furnaces fo r other ventures in the buigeoning commercial sections

of the Highlands towns. Company-owned res id en tia l areas appeared adjacent

to mine and furnace. Some consisted of multifamily un its of stone or

112

frame (Fig. 35). More often single- or double-family dwellings of

clapboards fronted by a small patch of lawn lined the single unpaved

s tre e t leading to am ine (Fig. 36).

The advantages offered by the canal and railroads stimulated

agriculture as w ell. With the closing of most iron manufactories by

1890, faiming became the main pursuit of Highlands inhabitants. The

trend was evident in the southern region la te in the eighteenth

century. One hundred years la te r , mixed fanning dominated the land­

scape (Fig. 37). The la t te r h a lf of the nineteenth century brought

profound changes in the northern t i e r of counties. Nestled among the

lakes, valleys, and ridges presently undergoing tremendous recreational

development, small farms, which once supplied only the needs of local

fo lk , expanded th e ir shipments of flou r and grain to new markets tapped

by tra in s and canal. The d rastica lly reduced travel time to urban

centers led to the establishment of commercial dairying even on the most

in fe r t i le , bouldery so ils . Before the turn of the twentieth century,

dairying had become the primary industry of Sussex and Orange counties

(Fig. 38). Nevertheless, much land occupied during the iron era now

lay abandoned (Fig. 39).

The introduction of an thracite as a substitu te fo r charcoal

almost brought a complete h a lt to the devastation of the Highlands

fo re s ts . Certainly i t would appear th a t much of the present vegetational

cover dates from about 1850, when charcoal manufactories had a l l but

ceased operations. Reforestation by natural means was quite vigorous,

so much so tha t Veimuele's notation M. . . throughout [the] western

113

portion of the Highlands . . . very l i t t l e evidence of bad effects from

defo resta tion .. . . . might have been applied to the en tire northern

Highlands.

Iron mining continued as a Highlands occupation u n til ju s t a

few years ago. The remaining works--at Mount Hope, Wharton, and

Oxford--were widely scattered and no longer held a commanding position

in the regional economy (Fig. 40). The drab, look-alike company

dwellings, abandoned mine p its and shafts , and tha t v i ta l link--the

mine road--remain. However, the casual Highlands trave ler is scarcely

aware of th e ir existence.

114

NOTES

1. S p lit Rock Forge, in Morris County, operated continually from 1801-1829; nevertheless, i t was leased, wholly or in p a rt, to several persons in tha t span. Cobb Collection, Box 10, MSS, National Park Service, Morristown National H istorical Park.

2. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Fourth Census of the United S ta tes: 1820. Digest of Accounts of Manufacturing Establishments inthe United S tates, Vol. II (Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton, 1823),pp. 13-14.

3. C.C. Vermuele, J r . , Morris Canal and Banking Company:Final Report of Consulting and Directing Engineer (Trenton: Morris Canal and Banking Company ̂ 1929], p. 547

4. Many of the Highlands towns which had been losing population suddenly began to grow with the influx of new industry. Boonton was a typ ical case in point. The East Jersey Manufacturing Company chose i t as the s i te fo r a new b la s t furnace, forges, and a ro lling m ill and over two hundred people were brought in to operate the complex.

5. Cf. Bishop, op. c i t . , I I I , 563 fo r a l is tin g of thecharcoal furnaces operating in the Highlands in 1860.

6. French, op. c i t . , p. 59.

7. Swank, op. c i t . , p. 362.

8. Cf. K.R. Hanson, "New Jersey 's F irs t Anthracite BlastFurnace," Proceedings of the New Jersey H istorical Society, LXXIX (1961), 117W .

9. "New Jersey Iron Mines (1865)," Proceedings of the New Jersey H istorical Society, LXXIII (1955), 43-46.

10. French, op. c i t . , p. 150.

11. For a complete discussion of the economics of iron manu­facturing, see: Peter Temin, Iron and Steel in Nineteenth-CenturyAmerica: An Economic Inquiry.

12. The to lls were se t a t 1.5 cents per ton mile in 1831 and reduced to one cent per ton mile a f te r 1835. Lane, op. c i t . , p. 234.

13. Ibid., p. 242.

115

14. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Tenth Census of the United States: 1880. Report on the Mining Industries of the United States(exclusive of the precious m etals), Vol. XV (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1886), p. 75.

15. MA rtist-L ife in the Highlands, The Iron Region of New Jersey," op. c i t . , p. 597.

16. Colony, op. c i t . , p. 74; Sims, op. c i t . , p. 289.

17. Temin, op. c i t . , p. 199. Highlands iron ore could not be used successfully in the Bessemer process fo r the ore was too rich in phosphorus and sulphur.

18. Port Oram (Wharton) grew from nearly four hundred persons in 1865 to s lig h tly less than one thousand in 1900. James Tregenza, personal communication.

19. C.C. Veimuele, "Report on Forests," Annual Report of the S tate Geologist fo r 1899 (Trenton: Geological Survey of New Jersey,1900), p. 57.

CHAPTER VII

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The study presented in the preceding chapters attempted to

demonstrate the extent of landscape change a ttribu tab le to two centuries

of iron manufacture in the Highlands of New York and New Jersey. In

order to pursue the thesis adequately, reconstruction of the o rig inal,

pre-European environment was necessary. The impact of technology and

economic factors on the iron industry and, in turn , on the Highlands

was a cen tral theme in the examination. Also presented was a sequential

development of the region 's iron industry, the actual environmental

changes associated with the industry, the reasons fo r the eventual

decline of iron, and a study of the cu ltural manifestations of the

industry extant on the present landscape.

The study covered a time span which blanketed much of American

in d u stria l growth--from early European occupance of the eastern seaboard

to the expansion west of the Appalachians during the la te nineteenth

century.

While a good deal of infoimation was available on the American

Indian and the usage of iron ores, no evidence has been found to show

th a t the Indian was fam iliar with working ores into finished products

p rio r to European contact. Thus, the iron industry which blossomed in

116

117

the American colonies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was

the product of European antecedents. Techniques of construction and

operation of forges, b la s t furnaces, t i l t hammers, and ro llin g and

s l i t t in g m ills were brought by English and German s e t t le r s .

Due to i t s proximity to the e a r l ie s t settlem ents, lim onite,

or bog ore, deposits f i r s t a ttra c ted the a tten tion of co lon ists.

V irginia soon became the undisputed leader in iron manufacture; never­

th e less , the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey and the bay area of

Massachusetts a tta ined a measure of importance. One-half century a f te r

the i n i t i a l ironworks were established, magnetite deposits in New York,

New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania were discovered. Production from

manufactories in the Schuylkill Valley of Pennsylvania and the Highlands

of New York and New Jersey began to o u ts trip iron making on the coast.

By the outbreak of h o s t i l i t i e s with England, the American colonies had

become se lf -su ff ic ie n t in iron products despite numerous English attempts

a t regulation of the industry. Colonial iron was also exported to

England and the West Indies.

The study d e fin ite ly shows th a t the ro le of the pioneer High­

lands s e t t le r and h is s k il ls was m isinterpreted by early au tho rities

such as Coxe and Gordon. The hypothesis which Coxe and Gordon supported--

the forge was uniformly the precursor of the farm which came into

existence only a f te r the land had been exhausted of timber and iron--

must be modified in the lig h t of present knowledge.

E ntries in Charles C lin ton 's early eighteenth-century journal

indicate th a t the emphasis on land evaluation was placed on po ten tia l

ag ricu ltu ra l ra th e r than-industria l usage. The notes of Clinton and

118

John Reading, as well as investigations by Muntz, Wacker, and the w rite r,

point to substan tia l ag ricu ltu ra l occupance in f e r t i l e v a lleys, not

only independent of past in d u stria l development, but also p r io r to

any in d u stria liza tio n . In fa c t , European settlem ent in the W allk ill,

Modna Creek, and Musconetcong valleys and along the more accessible

sections of the Highlands periphery antedated erection of the f i r s t

ironworks a t Whippany by several years. Moreover, abandonment of Ring-

wood, S terling , and other manufactories north of the Pleistocene

terminal moraine during the nineteenth century did not lead to sub­

d iv ision and occupation of the land by ag r ic u ltu ra lis ts . Instead, the

rugged te rra in and th in , bouldery, in fe r t i le so ils discouraged a l l but

a few attempts a t cu ltiva tion . Cessation of iron making was usually

followed by a general abandonment of the land and the regeneration of

an extensive fo re s t cover. I f , indeed, a forge-farmer settlem ent

sequence d id ex is t in the Highlands, i t occurred only in scattered ,

nonglaciated portions of Hunterdon, Morris, and Warren counties.

As colonists descended upon the area in ever-increasing numbers,

among the f i r s t lands to be occupied, especially north of the moraine,

were those, containing the essen tia ls fo r iron manufacture--a nearby

deposit of ore, a large tr a c t of woodland fo r charcoal and timber, a

constant supply of water to operate the bellows and t i l t hammers, and

an avenue to market, v ia road or r iv e r . Afterward, natu ra l meadows and

h i l l lands were u til iz e d to provide hay fo r animals and cropland fo r

the workers.

Seldan could one iron mine furnish enough raw m aterial to sustain

a b la s t furnace in fu l l production. The situ a tio n necessita ted the

119

development of several mines, often working the same ore body, fo r each

established manufactory. However, due to the lim ited capab ilitie s of

open-pit mines, ironmasters were usually forced to purchase and transport

ore from mines several miles away.

The charcoal demanded by iron production was manufactured a t

many woodland s ite s in close proximity to the consuming foige or furnace.

The English method of production--utilizing a great p ile of wood,

covered with tu r f , which was allowed to smolder fo r eight to ten days--

was almost universal within the Highlands. All manner of hard- and

softwoods were burned, although sprout hardwoods were preferred fo r

making quality charcoal.

The flux used in smelting iron ore was provided by limestone.

Procured from numerous outcroppings, especially in the Musconetcong-

Wallkill" and the High Bridge-Greenwood Lake valleys, or gathered as

boulders from the abundant g lac ia l t i l l , the m aterial was readily

available to any ironworks.

With sim ilar environmental requirements, several forges often

occupied lands within a short distance of a b la s t furnace. Due to the

lim ited demand fo r pig iron a t the marketplace, f in e ries and chaferies

could re ly on su ffic ien t pig metal supplies to make refined bar iron

and various and sundry tools and u ten sils . However, forging operations

could no t keep pace with furnace production and four to six forge f ire s

were needed to accommodate each b la s t furnace.

Most manufactories were located on or near a waterway which,

in conjunction with several waterwheels, supplied the a ir b la s t used

120

by furnace and forge and operated the t i l t hammer. Reducing and

refin ing iron ore with eighteenth-century technology were continuous

processes. Thus, the ideal s i te was on a stream whose regime under­

went l i t t l e fluc tua tion during the b la s t period. Location of fin e ries

and chaferies near water provided cheap transporta tion which helped

to o ffse t the high production costs of a th ir ty percent metal loss in

refin ing pig iron and large charcoal requirements. Nevertheless, the

often severe Highlands w inter caused most streams to freeze over and

ironworks usually had to be shut down fo r several months each year.

Many of the valleys w ithin the study region provided the

advantages fo r making iron and became c lu tte red with manufactories.

A ttaining g rea tes t importance in the eighteenth century were the Ramapo,

Wanaque, Pequannock, Rockaway, W allk ill, and Musconetcong r iv e r valleys.

All of these concentrations were hard by the most productive mining

d is t r ic ts near Andover, Dover, Franklin, Oxford, and Ringwood, New

Jersey^ and a t S terling Lake, New York.

Promotion of the Highlands' na tu ra l resources was responsible

fo r much of the early growth experienced w ithin the region. Ironworks

offered employment to large numbers of unsk illed and sk ille d workers.

Woodcutters, c o l l ie rs , miners, and ore and charcoal haulers were in

demand a t a l l times. Furnace- and fopgemen were in short supply. The

bulk of the labor force consisted of indentured servants from Germany and

the B ritish Is le s . Poorly paid and subjected to d if f ic u l t liv ing

conditions, workers frequently deserted the manufactories in search of

other employment. Repeated newspaper advertisements exemplified the

perpetual shortage of labor encountered by most ironworks.

121

Private entrepreneurs not only encouraged iron manufacture, but

once forges and furnaces were founded, they advertised to entice

s e t t le r s to lands in the neighborhood of these works. Often fanners,

lumbermen, and tradesmen took up residence and towns were established.

However, the ra th e r s te r i le so ils of the g laciated Highlands proved

incapable of sustaining settlem ent and were abandoned a f te r the manu­

fac to rie s ceased production.

In contrast to the developments north of the terminal moraine,

the southern Highlands had become predominantly ag ricu ltu ra l before

the nineteenth century. Only ironworks associated with Oxford Furnace

continued to function. The widespread eradication of fo re s t lands

perm itted t i l la g e of the so ils and the growing of wheat, com , and a

varie ty of other crops. Riverine locations once appropriate fo r an

ironworks, instead were u ti l iz e d as g r is tm ill s i te s . Flour became an

important trade item, supplanting iron a t the markets o f New York,

Philadelphia, and elsewhere.

M anifestations of economic endeavor developing in various

sectors of the Highlands became quite obvious on maps of the eighteenth

century. Lack of considerable settlem ents in g lacia ted portions was

indicative of a population which was small, widely sca tte red , and

c lustered near the iron manufactories. The paucity of major roads

heightened the iso la tio n associated with each.ironworks. Trade was

carried on only among the local fo lk , the furnace and forge, and the

manufactory and a nearby market or landing. Regions south of the

teiminal moraine exhibited a more open appearance. A ra th er large

122

population was supported by the iron industry, extensive ag ricu ltu ra l

development, roads, townscapes, and the lik e .

The afteimath of the Revolutionary War wrought d is tin c t

changes to the iron industry of the Highlands. Although a few new

manufactories had been estab lished , the early decades o f the n ine­

teenth century found the en tire industry under severe economic duress.

The aforementioned war and technological advances in Great B ritain

combined to deprive the American iron industry of i t s major foreign

market. Moreover, English products began to flood the eastern sea­

board. As iron p rices declined in the face of foreign competition,

domestic manufacturing costs increased. Charcoal became scarce in some

areas; labor was harder to find and higher priced; and the old means

of transporta tion were wholly inadequate.

Few Highlands manufactories were able to weather the economic

chaos, and more often than not, smaller ironworks were forced to close.

Settlements founded and nurtured by the iron industry d irected th e ir

a tten tions to other a c tiv i t ie s . The next several years saw l i t t l e or

no influx of people in to the study area. However, few ironworkers

deserted to the peripheral c i t ie s during the lean years. Most sought

other ventures, notably agricu ltu re and lumbering, u n ti l the forges

and furnaces were res ta rted . Only the large, self-contained works,

known as iron p lan tations, maintained a degree of order and s ta b il i ty .

During the la s t decades of the eighteenth century as many as

ten plantations were in operation throughout the Highlands. Unimportant

and iso la ted as these s i te s are today, the iron canmunities formed

regional centers of population and of economic and social l i f e during

123

much of the period under study. L it t le difference seems to have

existed between the iron manor and the Southern p lan tation , except

tha t whereas the p lan ter regarded agriculture as supreme, the iron­

master subordinated agriculture to manufacturing.

The iron p lantation consisted of in d u stria l, ag ricu ltu ra l, and

financial un its dispersed over lands encompassing up to 10,000 acres.

Several forges, m ills , and iron mines were clustered about the b la s t

furnace or furnaces which formed the nucleus of the manor. Good stands

of timber were protected for use in making charcoal and as a source of

building m aterials. Valleys were cleared and cultivated by farmers

and th e ir grain was ground a t the community g ris tm ill. Natural meadows

and wetlands were exploited fo r th e ir hay and pasturage. Roads were

b u ilt over d if f ic u lt te rra in a t great expenditure of cap ita l and labor.

A manor house, workmen’s cottages, bam s, sawmill, s to res , and storage

f a c i l i t ie s generally completed the community. Men of many s k il ls were

encouraged to s e tt le nearby because the iron p lantation was judged to

be a very good market fo r a l l kinds of products.

The unsound economic conditions and inadequate transportation

networks would have led to the complete collapse of the Highlands iron

industry had not steps been taken to remedy the situ a tio n . Advent of

the hot b la s t and the introduction of anthracite coal as a smelting

agent p rio r to 1840 brought about a substan tia l realignment of the

locative factors governing iron manufacture. No longer was i t necessary

to iso la te ironworks by several thousand acres of charcoal-producing

woodlands. Furnaces were now placed on riverine s ite s convenient to

124

transportation and a p len tifu l supply of coal--usually furnished by

Morris Canal "flickers" or by the subsequent railroads.

The union of Pennsylvania coal, Highlands iron ore, and a new,

e ff ic ie n t technology brought about the revival of many d is tr ic ts

which had been p a r tia lly closed because of a scarcity of charcoal.

Additional in d u stria l, shipping, and market towns sprang up along the

canal route. Prices were lowered to stimulate consumption and combat

foreign competition. However, the canal and anthracite also supplied

the coup de grace to the remaining charcoal manufactories.

The preeminence of the Morris Canal as an artery of trade was

suddenly usurped during the mid-nineteenth century with the introduction

of the ra ilroad . The Morris and Essex Railroad penetrated the Highlands

and extended to Phillipsburg on the Delaware River. Placed in d irec t

competition with the canal, the former had the advantages of rapid

transport and continuous operation. With the loss of i t s coal t r a f f ic ,

canal tonnage dwindled, supported as i t was only by the products of

Highlands mines, manufactories, and faxms.

The ra ilroad completed a transportation evolution which began

with horses carrying leather bags of ore and bars of iron hung over

the saddles, progressed to use of wagons on roads and turnpikes, and

followed with the canal.

Few of the newly established anthracite iron manufactories

enjoyed a prolonged period of prosperity . Nevertheless, the operations

were instrumental in rev ita liz ing the Highlands countryside. A new

generation of miners--mostly Comishmen, I r ish , East Europeans, and

125

Negroes--replaced the older English, Scotch-Irish, and German s e t t le r s .

Farms were expanded to meet the demands of an enlarged local population

and to supply the markets opened by canal and ra ilroad . Company towns

were b u ilt and existing communities grew. But technological evolution

which had doomed charcoal iron led to the fin a l demise of the iron

industry in the Highlands.

The use of coke had become increasingly popular as a smelter

of iron ore during the la te nineteenth century, luring industry to

locations near the source of the raw m aterial west of the Appalachians.

New discoveries of iron ore in the Adirondack Mountains and in the Lake

Superior ranges increasingly replaced Highlands ore which was unsuited

to the Bessemer technique of iron manufacture. The decline was fu rther

accelerated by the importation of iron ore, forcing Highlands ore even

from trad itio n a l markets.

While iron mining continued, and flourished b rie f ly , throughout

the fin a l years of the la s t century, the Highlands manufactories a l l

but vanished. Those which remained made l i t t l e , i f any, contribution

to the economic sta tu re of the region.

Although a l l operations of the industry have now been extinguished,

the legacy of iron remains evident on the Highlands landscape. In tro ­

duction of anthracite coal was instrumental in the return of the forests

w ithin the study area. The sharply reduced need for charcoal allowed

an almost complete restoration of woodlands on the ridges of the northern

Highlands. Only in some valleys has man perpetuated pastures and meager

farms. Nevertheless, changes occurred in fo rest composition as a re su lt

126

of numerous cu ttings, f i r e s , and other a lte ra tio n s. Few large trees or

re lic s of precolonial fo rests remain. The scope of human ac tiv ity on

the f e r t i le lands of the southern portion achieved such in ten sity tha t

woodlands have never recovered th e ir former extent. The valleys have

been devoted almost en tire ly to agriculture and commerce; only the high

mountain elevations and steeper slopes remain forested today.

Many present Highlands settlem ents, especially those associated

with past transportation pattern s, owed th e ir founding and/or growth

to the iron industry. Ore landings, shipping points for iron products,

and market towns a ttained a regional importance which carried over to

the twentieth century. However, not a l l iron communities survived.

Numerous small, scattered empty areas stand as mute evidence of iron

s ite s not convertible to other economic functions.

U ntil the suburban sprawl of recent years encroached upon the

Highlands, much of the population was rooted to the age of iron. L it t le

or no evidence was found of substan tia l out-migration of ironworkers or

th e ir progeny. In several places descendants of miners and ironworkers

s t i l l occupy the lands of former manufactories. Others may be found

engaged in a l l foims of economic ac tiv ity in the towns and v illages or

inhabit much of the farmland.

Several furnaces s t i l l stand and forges have been unearthed by

amateur archeologists. Old dwellings b u il t by iron companies are used

as homes. Cinder roads, abandoned ra ilroads, and an almost whollyti

obscured Morris Canal furnish clues of former transportation routes.

F inally , place names often remain as the only testimony of the great

ro le which the iron industry played in populating and se ttlin g the

127

Highlands. Ind u stria liza tio n contributed much, rewarded few, and

greatly affected the landscape. However, much has been lo s t with the

passage of time, which moves to o b lite ra te the cu ltu ra l scars.

128

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Published and Printed M aterials

A crelius, Is rae l. H istory of New Sweden: or The Settlements on theRiver Delaware. Trans, by W.M. Reynolds. Memoirs of the H isto rica l Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. XI. Philadelphia, 1874.

Agricola, Georgius. De Re M etallica. Trans, by Herbert Clark Hooverand Lou Henry Hoover. New York: Dover Publications, In c ., 1950.

"Among the Nail-Makers," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XXI (1860),145-164.

Andrews, Charles M. The Colonial Period of American H istory. 4 vols.New Haven: Yale University Press, 1934.

"A rtist-L ife in the Highlands, The Iron Region of New Jersey ,"Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XX (1860), 577-598.

Bateman, Alan M. Economic Mineral Deposits. Second Edition.New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1950.

Bay ley, William S. Iron Mines and Mining in New Jersey . Vol. VII,Final Report of the S tate Geologist. Trenton: MacCrellishand Quigley, 1910.

________, Kummel, H.B. and Salisbury, R.D. Raritan F o lio . Folio 191,Geologic Atlas of the United S ta te s . F ield Edition.Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1914.

Benedict, William H. "New Jersey as i t Appeared to Early Observers and T ravellers," Proceedings of the New Jersey H isto rical Society, New S eries, V (1920), 150-168.

Bining, Arthur C. "The Iron Plantations of Early Pennsylvania," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 57 (1933),117-137.

. B ritish Regulation of the Colonial Iron Industry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1933.

129

________. Pennsylvania Iraq Manufacture in the Eighteenth Century.Publications of the Pennsylvania H isto rical Commission, Vol. IV. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania H istorical Commission, 1938.

Bishop, John L. A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860.3 vo ls. Philadelphia: Edward Young and Co., 1868.

Boyer, Charles S. Early Forges and Furnaces in New Jersey . Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania Press, 1931.

Braun, E. Lucy. Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America. Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1950.

Brooks, T.B. Map of the Ringwood Iron Mines, Passaic County. Trenton: Geological Survey of New Jersey, 1864.

Bruce, Kathleen. V irginia Iron Manufacture in the Slave Era. New York: Century Company, 1930.

Brush, John E. The Population of New Jersey . Second Edition. New Brunswick! Rutgers University Press, 1958.

Burnaby, Andrew. Travels through the Middle Settlements in North America, 1759-60. London: T. Payne, 1775.

Calendar of H isto rical Manuscripts Relating to the War of the Revolution.2 vols. New York: S tate of New York, 1868.

Cantlon, J.E . 'Vegetation and Microclimates on the North and SouthSlopes of Cushetunk Mountain, New Jersey ,” Ecological Monographs, 23 (1953), 241-270.

Cappon, Lester J . "Trend of the Southern Iron Industry under thePlantation System," Journal of Economic and Business H istory,II (1930), 353-381.

Cazenove, Theophile. Cazenove Journal 1794: A Record of the Journey ofTheophile Cazenove' through New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Trans, and edited by Rayner W. Kelsey. Haverford College Studies, No. 13. Haverford: Pennsylvania History Press, 1922.

Chambers, T.F. The Early Geimans in New Jersey, th e ir H istory, Churchesand Genealogies. Dover, N .J .: n. pub., 1895.

Chastellux, Francois Jean De. Travels in North America in the Years1780-81-82. Trans, by Howard C. Rice, J r . 2 vols. Chapel H ill: University o f North Carolina Press, 1962.

Clark, V ictor S. History of Manufactures in the United S tates 1606-1850.Washing ton, D.C.: Carnegie In s titu tio n , 1916.

130

Clayton, W. Woodford, and Nelson, William. History of Bergen and Passaic Counties, New Jersey. Philadelphia: Everts and Peck, 1882.

Cline, Marlin G. "Soils and Soil Associations of New York," Cornell Extension Service, B ulletin 930 (1955).

Colony, R.J. "The Magnetite Iron Deposits of Southeastern New York,"New York State Museum, B ulletin 249-50 (1921), 5-161.

Cook, George H. Geology of New Jersey . Newark: Board of Managers, 1868.

"Copy of Journal of . . . Reading While Surveying Lands in the Northern Part of New Jersey, A pril 17th to June 10th, 1715," Proceedings of the New Jersey H istorical Society, Third Series, X (1915),35-46; 90-110; 128-134.

Cornell, Samuel C. Map of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Camden:Lloyd Van Derveer and' S.C." Cornell, 1852.

Coxe, Macgrane. The Sterling Furnace and the West Point Chain. New York: Privately prin ted , 1906.

Coxe, Tench. Observations on the Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce of the United S tates. New York: Francis Childs and John Swaine,1789.

Cranmer, H. Jerome. "Improvements Without Public Funds: The New JerseyCanals.” Canals and .American Economic Development. Carter Good­rich , editor^ New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.

Crevecour, Hector St. Jean. Eighteenth-Century Travels in Pennsylvania and New York. Trans, and edited by Percy G. Adams. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1961.

. Journey Into_Northem Pennsylvania and the S tate of New York. Trans, by C larissa Spencer Bostelmanru Ann Arbor: The Universityo f Michigan Press, 1964.

Cross, Dorothy. Archeology of New Jersey. 2 vols. Trenton: ArchaeologicalSociety of New Jersey and New Jersey State M useum , 1941 and 1956.

Cummins, George W. History of Warren County, New Jersey. New York:Lewis H istorical Publishing Co., 1911.

Davis, William Morris. Geographical Essays. New York: Dover Publications,In c ., 1954.

DeVorsey, Louis, J r . The Growth and D istribution o f Iron Manufacturing in New Jersey. Unpublished M aster's th es is , Department of Geography, Indiana University, 1953.

131

Dew, Charles B. Irom aker to the Confederacy: Joseph R. .Anderson andthe Tredegar Iron Works. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966.

Dorf, Erling (ed.). Guidebook fo r F ield Trips, A tlantic City Meeting.New York: The Geological Society of America, 1957.

Duer, W.A. Lffe of William Alexander, Earl of S terling; Major General in the aimy of the United States during the Revolution.Collections of the New Jersey H istorical Society,'Vol. I I . New York: n. pub., 1847.

Eager, Samuel W. An Outline History of Orange County. Newburgh, N.Y.:S.T. Callahan, 1846-1847.

Erskine, Robert S. A map of p a rt of the sta tes of New York and New Jersey. N .p., n. pub., 1779.

_______ . L itchfield , Connecticut to the Highlands of Neversink.N .p., n, pub., n .d .

Erskine-DeWitt Maps. American Revolution 1777-1782. N .p., n. pub., n.d.

Fackenthal, B.F., J r . "Improving Navigation on the Delaware River with Some Account of I ts F erries, Bridges, Canals and Floods," Collection of Papers, Bu c k s County H istorical Society, VI (1932), 103-230.

Faden, William. The Province of New Jersey, Divided in to East and West. Commonly called the Jerseys! Charing Cross: Wm. Faden, 1777.

Fenneman, Nevin M. Physiography of Eastern United S ta tes . New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1938.

Finch, John. Travels in the United States of America and Canada.London! Longman, Ress, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, 1833.

French, B.F. History of the Rise and Progress of the Iron Trade of the United States From 1621-1857. New York: Wiley7-and Halstead,

Gipson, Lawrence H. The B ritish Empire Before the American Revolution.12 vols. Revised edition.. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1960-1965.

. Lewis Evans. Philadelphia: H istorical Society of Pennsylvania,193^

Gordon, Thomas F. Map of the s ta te of New Jersey with parts of theadjoining s ta te s . Trenton: H.S. Tanner, 1828.

_______ . A Gazetteer of the S tate of New Jersey. Trenton: DanielFenton, 1834.

132

________. A History of New Jersey . Trenton: Daniel Fenton, 1834.

Greene, Evarts B. and Harrington, V irginia D. American Population Before the Federal Census o f 1790. New York! Columbia University Press, 1932.

Halsey, E.D. (ed .). History of Morris County, New Jersey . New York:W.W. Munsell and Company, 1882.

Hanson, K.R. MNew Jersey 's F ir s t Anthracite Blast Furnace," Proceedings of the New Jersey H isto rical Society, LXXIX (1961), 111-117.

Harlow, Alvin F. Old Towpaths: The Story of the American Canal Era.New York: A. Appleton and Company, 1926.

Harper, Roland M. "A Sketch of the Forest Geography o f New Jersey ,"B ulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia, XVI (1918), 107-125.

Hartley, E.M. Ironworks on the Saugus. Norman: U niversity ofOklahoma Press, 1957.

Hasenclever, Peter. The Remarkable Case o f Peter Hasenclever, Merchant. London: n. pub., 1773.

Hasse, Adelaide R. New Jersey . Vol. 13t Index of Economic M aterial in Documents of the S tates of the United S ta te s . Washington, D.C.: Carnegie In s titu tio n , 1922.

Hatch, Charles E. and Gregory, Thurlow G. "The F irs t American Blast Furnace, 1619-1622: the B irth of a Mighty Industry on FallingCreek in V irg in ia ," V irginia Magazine of History and Biography,LXX (1962), 259-296.

Heusser, A lbert H. The Forgotten General, Robert Erskine, F.R.S.Paterson, N.J71 Benjamin Franklin Press, 1928.

A History of Morris County. 2 vols. New York: Lewis H isto ricalPublishing Co., 1914.

Homes, Henry A. "Notice of Peter Hasenclever, an Early Iron-Manufacturer," Transactions of the Albany In s t i tu te , VIII (1876), 199-206.

Honeyman, A. Van Doren (ed .). New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XXXI (1775).

(ed .). Northwestern New Jersey: A H istory of Somerset, Morris ,Hunterdon, Warren, and Sussex Counties. 5 vols. New York:Lewis H isto rica l Publishing Co., 1927. - ~

Hopkins, G.M. Map of Sussex County, New Jersey from Actual Surveys and Records. Philadelphia: Carlos Allen, M.D., 1860.

133

. Map of the Counties of Bergen and Passaic, New Jersey from actual surveys. Philadelphia: G.H. Cory, 1861.

. Map of a group of iron mines in Morris Country. New York:John Bien, 1867.

________. Azoric and Paleozoic formations; including the iron-ore andlimestone d is t r ic ts . Trenton: Geological Survey of New Jersey, 1868.

Hotz, Preston E. "Magnetite Deposits of the S terling Lake, N.Y.--Ring- wood, N.J. Area," United States Geological Survey, B ulletin 982 (1952-1953), 153-244.

"The Iron Industry," Eighth Annual Report (1885). Trenton: Bureau ofS ta tis t ic s of Labor and Industries of New Jersey, 1886. Pp. 287- 324.

James, Preston E. and Jones, Clarence F. (ed.) . American Geography:Inventory and Prospect. Syracuse: Syracuse U niversity Press,tsm :

Jenkins, George E. "The Mining Industry," Annual Report of the S tate Geologist fo r the Year 1898. Trenton: Geological Survey ofNew Jersey, 1899. Pp. 232-240.

Jemegan, Marcus W. Laboring and Dependent Classes in Colonial America, 1607-1783. Chicago: U niversity of Chicago Press, 1931.

Johnson, B.L.C. "The Charcoal Iron Industry in the Early Eighteenth Century," Geographical Journal, CXVII (1951), 167-177.

Johnson, Keach. "The Baltimore Company Seeks English Markets: a Studyof the Anglo-American Iron Trade, 1731-1755," William and Mary Q uarterly, 3rd Series, XVI (1959), 37-60.

Jones, Carmita DeS, "Batsto and the Bloomeries," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 47 (1923)', 185-195.

Kalm, Pehr. The America of 1750; Peter Kalmfs Travels in North America. Revised and edited by Adolph B. Benson. 2 vols. New York: Wilson-Erickson, 1937.

K itchell, William. "Report of the Superintendent and S tate Geologist," Third Annual Report (1856). Trenton: Geological Survey ofNew Jersey, 1857. Pp. 17-30.

Kit chin, Thomas. The Southern P art of the Province of New York; with P art of the adjoining Colonies. London: R. Baldwin, T778.

134

Klimm, Lester E. "The Empty Areas of the Northeastern United S tates," 1 Geographical Review, 44 (1954), 325-345.

Kroeber, A.L. Cultural and Natural Areas of Native North America.Berkeley; University of California Press, 1963.

Kull, Irving S. (ed.) . New Jersey; A History. 6 vols. New York:American H istorical Society, 1930.

Kummel, Henry B. "The Geology of New Jersey," New Jersey Department ofConservation and Development, Bulletin 50 (1940).

Lambert, John. Travels Through Canada and the United States of North America. 2 vols. Third edition . London: Baldwin, Cradock,and Jay, 1816.

Lane, Wheaton J. From Indian T rail to Iron Horse--Travel and Transportation in New Jersey 1620-1860. Princeton: Princeton University Press,T53S:

Lee, Francis Bazley (ed.) . New Jersey Archives, Second Series, II (1778).

Lesley, J ,P . The Iron Manufacturers * Guide to the Furnaces, Forges, and Rolling M ills of the United StateiT New York: John Wiley, 1859.

Lewis, Samue 1. The State of New Jersey Compiled from the Most Authentic Information. Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1795.

Lobeck, Armin K. Physiographic Diagram of North America. Maplewood,N .J.: The Geographical Press, 1950.

Malone, Frank D. "Latter Days of Pre-Revolutionary Chariotteburg,"Proceedings of the New Jersey H istorical Society, LXXX (1962), 181-194".

Map Showing property owners in the v ic in ity of Long Pond lying between the old Bergen and Orange Counties (now Sussex) and southwest toward the Pahhahaualling (now Kittatinny) Mountain Rangel N .p., n. pub., n .d.

Melick, A.D., J r . The Story of an Old Farm; or Life in New Jersey in the Eighteenth Century. Somerville, N. J . : The Unionist- Gazette, 1889.

M illiadge, T. A Sketch of the Northern Parts of New Jersey. Copied from the orig inal by Lt. J . H ills . N .p ., n. pub., 1781.

M itchell, Samuel L. "A Sketch of the Mineralogical Histoxy of the State of New York," Medical Repository, I (1797), 279-303, 431-439;I I I (1800), 325-335.

. "The physical geography of the f i r s t range of mountains "extending across New Jersey from the Hudson to the Delaware," American Mineralogy Journal, 1 (1814), 70-79.

135

Morse, Jedidiah. The American Universal Geography. 2 vols. Boston:J.T Buckingham, 1805.

Muntz, A. Philip . The Changing Geography of the New Jersey Woodlands 1600-1900. Unpublished Ph.D. d isse rta tio n , Department of Geography, U niversity of Wisconsin, 1959.

________. '’Forests and Iron: The Charcoal Iron Industry of the NewJersey Highlands," .Geografiska Annaler, XLII (I960), 315-323.

Myers, Albert Cook. Narrative of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware 1630-1707. "New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,1912.

Nelson, William (ed .) . New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, XI (1704- 1739), XII (1740-1750), XIX (1751-1755), XX (1756-1761), XXIV (1762-1765), XXVI (1768-1769), XXVII (1770-1771), XXVIII (1772- 1773), XXIX (1773-1774); Second Series, I I I (1779), IV (1779- 1780).

Neu, Irene D. "The Iron P lantations of Colonial New York," New York History, 33 (1952), 3-24.

A New and Accurate Map of New Jersey from the Best A uthorities. N .p., n. pub., 1770. "

"New Jersey Iron Mines (1865)," Proceedings of the New Jersey H isto rical Society, LXXIII (1955), 42-46; LXXIV (1956), 50-51.

Niemcewicz, Ju lian U. Under th e ir Vine and Fig Tree. Trans, and edited by Metchie J.E . Budka. Collections of the New Jersey H isto rical Society, Vol. XIV. Elizabeth: Grassmann Publishing Co., 1965.

O'Callaghan, E.B. (ed .). Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the S tate of New York. 15 vols. Albany: Weed, Parsons andCompany, 1853-1887.

Office of the Chief of Engineers. Line of the Morris Canal, New Jersey . New York: n. pub., 1827.

Pearce, John B. A Concise History- of the Iron Manufacture of theAmerican Colonies up to the Revolution and o f Pennsylvania up to the Present Time. Philadelphia: Allan, Lane, and Scott,1876.

Pearson, P.R. "Upland Forests on the K ittatinny Limestone and theFranklin Marble of Northern New Jersey ," B ulletin of the New Hampshire Academy o f Science, 5 (1960), 3-HT

Pensylvania, Nova Jersey e t Nova York cum regionibus ad Fluvium Delaware in America sitisT Vienna: Conrad L o tter, 1748.

136

Pierce, Arthur D. Iron in the P ines. New Brunswick: Rutgers UniversityPress, 1957.

. Quakenbush, Granville A. "Our New Jersey Land," New Jersey A gricultural Experiment S tation , B ulletin 775 (1955).

Ransom, James M. Vanishing Ironworks of the Ramapos. New Brunswick:Rutgers U niversity Press, 1966.

Raum, John 0. The History of New Jersey, from i t s e a r l ie s t settlem ent to the present time. 2 vols. Philadelphia: John E. P o tterand Co., 1877.

Raup, Hugh M. "Botanical Studies in the Black Rock F orest," The Black Rock Forest, B ulletin 7 (1938). I

Ricknagel, A.B. The Forests of New York S ta te . New York: Macmillan, 1923.

Ricord, Frederick W. and Nelson, William (ed .). New Jersey Archives,F irs t Series, IX (1757-1767), X (1767-177^

R itchie, William A. The Archaeology of New York S ta te . Garden City,N.Y.: The Natural History Press, 1965.

Robbins, Roland W. and Jones, Evan. Two Blast Furnaces a t S terling Lake, Their 18th Century History and Their Archeological Excavation. Unpublished report fo r the S terling Forest Corporation, Tuxedo,New York, n .d .

Roome, William. The Early Days and Early Surveys of East New Jersey . Morristown: The Journeyman Press, 1883.

"Round Table on Problems in Cultural Geography," Aimals of theAssociation of American Geographers, XXVII (1937), 155-175.

Salisbury, Rollin D. Physical Geography. Vol. IV, Final Report of the S tate Geologist. Trenton: John L. Murphy Publishing Co., 1898.

________. G lacial Geology. Vol. V, F inal Report of the S tate G eologist.Trenton: MacCrellish and Quigley, 1902.

Sauer, Carl 0. "Foreword to H isto rica l Geography," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, XXXI (1941), 1-24.

Schoepf, John David. Travels in the Confederation (1785-4). Trans, and edited by Alfred J . Morrison. 2 vols. Philadelphia:Wm. J. Campbell, 1911.

Scott, Austin (ed .). New Jersey Archives, Second Series, V (1780-1782).

137

Sim, Robert J . and Weiss, Harry B. Charcoal-Burning in New Jersey From Early Times to the P resent. Trenton: New Jersey A griculturalSociety, 1955.

Sims, Paul K. "Geology of the Dover Magnetite D is tr ic t , Morris County, N .J .," United States Geological Survey, B ulletin 982 (1952- 1953), 245-304.

________and Leonard, B.F. "Geology of the Andover Mining D is tr ic t ,Sussex County, New Jersey ," New Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Development, Geologic B ulletin 62 (1952).

Singer, Charles, Holrayard, E. J . , H all, A.R., and Williams, Travor I .A History of Technology. 5 vols. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1954-1958.

Smith, Samuel. The History of the Colony of Nova Caesaria or New Jersey. Second ed ition . Trenton: Wm. S. Sharp, 1877.

Snell, James P. (ed .) . History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties,New Jersey . Philadelphia: Everts and Peck, 1881.

________! (ed.) . History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey .Philadelphia: Everts and Peck, 1881.

Sotzmann, D.F. Map of New Jersey. Hamburg, Germany: Carl Ernst Bohn, 1797.

________. Map of New York. Hamburg, Germany: Carl Ernst Bohn, 1799.

Stryker, William S. (ed .). New Jersey Archives, Second Series, I (1776-1777).

Swank, James M. History of the Manufacture of Iron in A ll Ages.Philadelphia: American Iron and S teel Association, 1892.

Tarr, R.S. The Physical Geography of New York S ta te . New York: Macmillan, 1902.

Temin, Peter. Iron and Steel in Nineteenth-Century America: AnEconomic Inquiry^ Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press, 1964.

Thompson, John H. (ed .). Geography of New York S ta te . Syracuse:Syracuse University Press, 1966.

U.S. Bureau o f the Census. Third Census of the United S tates: 1810.Book, I I , A Statement of the Arts and Manufactures of the United S tates of America, fo r the year 1810. Philadelphia:A. Comm an, J r . , 1814.

138

________. Fourth Census of the United S tates: 1820. Vol. I I , Digestof Accounts of Manufacturing Establishments in the United"^S ta tes . Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton, 1823.

________. Tenth Census of the United S tates: 1880. Vol. I I , Reporton the Manufactures of the United S ta tes! Washington, D. C.: Government P rinting O ffice, 1883.

________. Tenth Census of the United S tates: 1880. Vol. XV, Reporton the Mining Industries' of "the United States (exclusive of the precious m etals). Washington, D.C.: Government P rin ting Office, 1886.

________. Eleventh Census of the United S tates: 1890. P art I ,Population. Washington, D.C.: Government P rinting O ffice, 1895.

________. H isto rical S ta tis t ic s of the United S tates, Colonial Timesto 1957. Washing ton, D. C.: Government Printing O ffice, 1960.

U.S. Department of A griculture. The Yearbook of A griculture, 1941. Washington, D.C,: Government P rinting O ffice, 1941.

Vemuele, Cornelius C. "Report on Forests," Annual Report of the S tate Geologist fo r 1899. Trenton: Geological Survey of New Jersey,1900. Pp. 13-101.

Veimuele, Cornelius C., J r . Morris Canal and Banking Company: FinalReport of Consulting and Directing Engineer. Trenton: MorrisCanal and Banking Company, 1929.

Wacker, Peter 0. "The Log House in New Jersey ." Paper prepared for the General Session in Cultural Geography, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Toronto, Canada, August, 1966.

________. The Musconetcong Valley of New Jersey: A H isto rical Geography.New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1968.

Walker, Joseph E. Hopewell V illage: Some Aspects of the Social andEconomic History of an Iron-Making Community with Special Emphasis Upon the Period 180Q-185~0! Unpublished Ed.D. d isse rta tio n , Department of History, Temple U niversity, 1964.

Wertenbaker, Thomas J . The Founding of American C iv ilization : TheMiddle Colonies. New York: S cribner's , 1938.

Whitehead, William (ed .). New Jersey Archives, F irs t Series, IV (1709- 1720), VI (1738-1747), VII (1746-1751), VIII (1751-1757).

________(ed .). The Papers of Lewis Morris, Governor of the Province ofNew Jersey, from 1738 to 1746. Collections of the New Jersey H isto rical Society, Vol. IV. New York: George P. Putnam, 1852.

139

Widmer, Kemble. The Geology and Geography of New Jersey . The NewJersey H isto rical Series, Vol. 19. Princeton: Van Nostrand.,1964.

Woodward, C.R. The Development of Agriculture in New Jersey 1640-1880. New Brunswick: A gricultural Experiment S tation, RutgersU niversity, 1927.

Manuscripts

Abram S. Hewitt Papers. MSS. New York H isto rical Society. New York, New York.

Act to exempt a number of Men employed a t Mount Hope Furnace and Hibernia Furnace from m ilita ry duty- -177 7. MSS I National Park Service, Morristown National H isto rical Park. M orris­town, New Jersey.

The Alexander Papers. MSS. New York H isto rical Society. New York,New York.

B.V. Townsend C ollection. MSS. New York H isto rical Society. New York, New York.

Clinton, Charles. Cheescock's Patent ("The Marble Book"). MSS.County C lerk 's Office, Goshen. New York.

Cobb Collection. MSS. National Park Service, Morristown National H istorical Park. Morristown, New Jersey.

Diary of Mahlon Dickerson--July 1, 1809 to December 31, 1819. MSS. Rutgers University. New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Documents Pertaining to Robert Erskine and the Ringwood Mines and IronWorks. MSST New Jersey H istorical Society. Newark, New Jersey.

Durham Iron Works Papers. MSS. Bucks County H isto rical Society.Doyles town, Pennsylvania.

Ford Collection. MSS. National Park Service, Morristown National H isto rical Park, Morristown, New Jersey.

James and William Alexander, Records, ca. 1711-1771. 15 vols. MSS.New Jersey H isto rical Society. Newark, New Jersey.

John P. Carey and Harry F. Swayzey Collection. MSS. Rutgers U niversity. New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Lawrence, John. Surveyor's journal, September 24--October 31, 1743,while running the division line o f the Province of New Jersey.MSS. Rutgers University. New Brunswick, New Jersey.

140

L ette r Book o f Joseph and Charles Hoff--March 10, 1775 to July 10,1778. MSS. National Park Service, Morristown National H isto rical Park. Morristown, New Jersey.

L etter from Jacob Ford to Garret Rapage, June 11, 1770. MS. National Park Service, Morristown National H isto rical Park. Morristown, New Jersey.

Lloyd W. Smith Papers. MSS. National Park Service, Morristown National H isto rical Park. Morristown, New Jersey.

The Papers and Scrap Books of Joseph F. T u ttle . MSS. S tate Library. Trenton, New Jersey.

"Papers Relating to Iron, P e ltr ie s , Trade, e tc . , 1712-1817," Penn Manuscripts. MSS. H isto rical Society of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Receipt of deed from Samuel Cobb to Mathias Denman. MS. NationalPark Service, Morristown National H istorical Park. Morristown, New Jersey.

Ringwood Ironworks Account Book, 1760-1764. MSS. New Jersey H isto rical Society. Newark, New Jersey.

Robert Erskine Record Book, 1774-1778. MSS. New Jersey H isto rical Society. Newark, New Jersey.

Robert R. Livingston Papers. MSS. New York H istorical Society.New York, New York.

Ryerson Family Papers, 1733-1862. MSS. Rutgers U niversity. New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Suckasunny Mine Record Book, 1828-1842. MSS. New Jersey H istorical Society. Newark, New Jersey.

Voorhees, Oscar M. Chronicles Ancient and Modem Respecting the People, Lands and Industries of the High Bridge Section. MSS. Rutgers U niversity. New Brunswick, New Jersey.

William Nelson Papers, ca. 1872-1914. 15 vols. MSS. New JerseyH istorical Society. Newark, New Jersey.

141

Interviews and Communications

Norman, James. Personal Interview. July, 1963.

Ransom, James M. Personal Communication. February, 1964.

Thompson, Edwin. Personal Interview. August, 1963.

Tregenza, James. Personal Communication and Interview. June, 1966.

Trengove, Martin L. Personal Interview. August, 1963.

Weymer, Jack. Personal Interview. October, 1965.

APPENDIX

Fig. 1. Western Highlands and Pequest Valley. Cleared and cu ltivated , the valley and lower slopes are contrasted with the forested upper slopes and summits.

144

Fig. 2. Eastern Highlands near S terling , New York. Covered by a second-growth fo re s t, few habitations are v is ib le on the land.

145

APR

Fig, 3. The wide, f l a t valley of the Musconetcong River has been occupied by whites fo r over two hundred years.

Fig. 4. Abandoned open-pit mine and spoilbank.

147

Fig. 5. Large mining p i t and ad it. Once operations ceased, the p i t soon1 f i l le d with water.

Fig. 6. Drawing of a forge and t i l t liammer.

■»

149

Fig. 7. Forge and bellows. Saugus Iron­works Restoration, Saugus, Massachusetts.

Fig. 8. T ilt hammer a t Saugus Ironworks Restoration, Saugus, Massachusetts. Cam machinery attached to waterwheel can be seen in the background.

151

TDttTlKD v: MOtrWr /Wv«. J

Fig. 9. Fragments o£ pig (bottom) and bar (top) iron.

I

152

Fig. 10. Drawing of a Stuckofen.

Fig. 11. Drawing of a blast furnace.

APR * 6 8

Fig. 12. Charcoal furnace a t Wawayanda,New Jersey. So oriented th a t i t might be charged from the ridge, the casting arch was in the center and the waterwheel on the r ig h t.

Fig. 13. Tuyere opening of furnace. Hopewell V illage National H isto ric S ite , Pennsylvania.

156

Fig. 14. Casting arch, floo r, and tools. Saugus Ironworks Restoration, Saugus, Massa­chusetts. Sand bed moulded the iron in to the fam iliar "sow and p ig le t" foim.

AP R • 6 0

Fig. 15. Leather bellows and a ir b la s t. Saugus Ironworks Restoration, Saugus, Massa­chusetts. This device in jected cold a ir d irec tly into the furnace.

158

IIIU 1 M M I1IIIll ll !■ ■ ■ ■ ! UIII

I *i *

10IIII

egfflKB□ □ Q

on

§ii30®a,~Fig. 16. Drawing p£ a tub bellows.

159

Fig. 17. Tub bellows and waterwheel. Hopewell Village National H istoric S ite , Pennsylvania.

160

161

Fig. 19. Old wagon road used to transport ore from the mines and goods to market.

Fig. 20. The Rockaway Valley served as a source of food and as an avenue of transport fo r the reg ion 's eighteenth-century ironworks.

AP R ■ 6 8

Fig. 21. Recently excavated foige p i t a t Ringwood Manor S tate Park, New Jersey. I t is believed to be p a rt of the Hasenclever complex.

MIP • 6 7

Fig. 22. C o llie r 's hut. Hopewell Village National H istoric S ite , Pennsylvania.

Fig. 23. Dwellings such as these workmen' s cottages were common on a l l iron plantations. Hopewell V illage National H istoric S ite , Pennsyl­vania.

166

Fig. 24. Manor house a t Ringwood Manor S tate Park, New Jersey. Building dates from the mid- nineteenth century.

167

Fig. 25. General store and inn on Long Pond furnace s i te . Hewitt, New Jersey.

168

'A P R • " 6 9

Fig. 26. Oldest remaining building a t Ringwood Manor. I t may have served as the schoolhouse.

Fig. 27. Type of wagon used to haul char­coal and ca rt ore. Hopewell Village National H istoric S ite , Pennsylvania.

170

Fig. 28. Remains of the charcoal furnaces and waterwheels a t Long Pond. Hewitt, New Jersey.

t

APR • 60

Fig. 29. Abandoned Peter Mine, Ringwood, New Jersey. With no hope fo r an early resump­tion of iron mining, the property was recently sold fo r res id en tia l development.

APR • 6 8 ■ •

Fig. 30. Early nineteenth-century, comp any - b u il t home fo r ironworkers. Ringwood, New Jersey. Now occupied by the descendants of the fom er workers.

. AUO • ' 6 ?

Fig. 31. Morris Canal and towpath near Wharton, New Jersey. This is one of the few remaining sections of the old canal.

174

APR • 68

ft**'

Fig. 32. O rientation of houses to Morris Canal; Wharton, New Jersey.

175

Fig. 33. Business section and s i te of Port Oram ore landing. Diner occupies former landing s i te . Long building to le f t remains from orig inal settlem ent. Wharton, New Jersey.

176

.Fig. 34. Abandoned canal bed and general sto re. Port Murray, New Jersey.

Fig. 35. Former dormitories fo r iron ­workers. Wharton, New Jersey. Structures once housed the laborers fo r the Port Oram anthracite furnace.

era.F ig . 36. Clapboarded b u ild in g

Wharton, New Jersey.

of mining

APR ' ■ 6 3

Fig. 37. Farmstead in the southern High­lands. Cereals, vegetables, and other crops occupy the f l a t plains south of the terminal moraine.

Fig. 38. Farmstead in the northern High- lands. The rocky so ils of the g lacia ted areas are usefu l only fo r dairying.

Fig. 39. Abandoned faimlands north of the teim inal moraine. Near Newfoundland, New Jersey.

APR " 6 8

Fig. 40. Ore concentrator a t the Scrub Oak Mine. Wharton, New Jersey. All work ceased in October, 1964.

VITA

NAME: Theodore William Kuiy

PLACE AND DATE OF BIRTH: Irvington, New Jersey;January 13, 1937.

MARITAL STATUS: Married to Eleanore Wagner fo r six years;two children.

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION: St. M ichael's School,Union, New Jersey; Union High School, Union, New Jersey.

HIGHER EDUCATION: Montclair State College (1955-1959), B.A.;Louisiana State U niversity (1959-1961), M.A.

MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES: Association ofAmerican Geographers; American Geographical Society.

PROFESSIONAL OFFICES HELD: Chairman of Local Arrangements,Buffalo Meeting, New York-New Jersey Division, A.A.G. (1966); Secretary-Treasurer, New York- New Jersey Division, A.A.G. (1966-1967); Vice- Chairman, New York-New Jersey Division, A.A.G. (1967-1968).

PUBLICATIONS: "Effects of the Charcoal Iron Industry onthe New Jersey Highlands Landscape." Paper prepared fo r the 10th Annual Symposium,New Jersey Council fo r Geographic Education, Upper M ontclair, New Jersey, May, 1967.

DOCTORAL MAJOR: Geography

DOCTORAL MINOR: Anthropology

EXAMINATION AND THESIS REPORT

Candidate: T heodore W illia m Kury

Major Field: G eography

Title of Thesis: H i s t o r i c a l G eography o f th e Ir o n I n d u s tr y in th eNew York-New J e r s e y H ig h la n d s : 1 7 0 0 -1 9 0 0

A p p r o v e d :

M a jo r P r o fe sso r and/Tharfrm an

N.

D e a n o f th e G ra d u a te School

EXAMINING COMMITTEE:

Date of Examination:

March 4 , 1968