24
COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES
to John and Samuel T r ^ o, and Fincher & Thomas. In 1845 Samuel Diemer became les see. Later owners were John Richards, John Thomas, D. J . W aller, S r., Casper Thomas, Jacob Schuyler and J . B . Robison. T h e open ing of the canal along the Susquehanna in 1832 made Catawissa the main shipping point of the county and the furnace w as al»ndoned. T he Irondale furnaces were built by the Bloomsburg Railroad & Iron Company in 1844 and were lined-up and blown-in in 1845 by Jam es Ralston, a native o f Glasgow, Scotland. A railroad w as built around the hill along F ish ing creek to connect the furnaces with the canal. A t that time iron ore was found in great quantities in the hills ail around the town and the canal offered a cheap means of transporting the coal and finished product. During the Civil w ar there w as a mint o f money in the iron business and the furnaces were kept running constantly, turning out about thirty tons 01 pig iron a day, the price going at one time to $40 a ton. The plant in 1886 consisted o f two furnaces, a waterpower house and a steampower house, a laigc store, a mansion house, twenty-three tenement houses comprising the settlement known as Morgantown, and a narrow-gauge railroad from the furnaces to the I^ckawanna & Bloomsburg railroad. The company also had leases on many thousands o f acres o f ore lands in the county. C. R . Paxton was president of the company and resided in the mansion near the furnaces. On his removal to Virginia, about 1874, £ . R. D rinker became superintendent. But the iron trade had declined, and the ore beds in this section were worked out, necessitating the transportation o f most of the ore used from Snyder county ( P a .) and Maryland, thus in creasing the cost o f production. In the stock of the Bloomsbuig Iron Company w as purchased by Col. S . K norr and L . S . Wintcrstecn, and the management changed. But iron continued to dccTinc in price, and Colonel K norr's death occurring soon after, the furnaces were shut down. In 1893 the Bloomsburg Iron Company, through its president, L . S . Wintcrstecn, sold the property to H. C. Pease, who tore down the furnaces and began the erection o f a stone building intcr.detl fo r manufacturing pur|»ses. This operation w as stayed by injunction, and the executrix o f Colonel K norr’s estate, desiring an accounting, petitioned the court for the ap pointment 01 a receiver, which w as granted, II. A . M cK illip being the appointee. A fte r proceedings in court. Pease rcconvcycd the
properly to H . A . M cK illip, receiver, and the property w as sold by him at public sale to the Bloomsburg W ater Company, the title pass ing on Ju n e 1 1, 1896. So passed out o f exist ence what had for many years been the leading industry o f Bloomsbura. The store building lu s been unoccupied fo r years, the Paxton mansion, whose occupants were so long among the social leaders of the town, is now a tene ment house, and every vestige of the furnaces has disappeared. T he waterpower house has passed into the ownership of the Irondale Elec tric Light Company, and been rebuilt, and is a well kept property. In 1852 an agreement w as entered into by William M cK clvcy, William Neal and Jacob Melick to erect and operate an anthracite iron furnace, taking the ore from the farm of the la tte r,e a sto f hishingcreek. In tSstsevcntecn acres were purchased from Daniel Snyder and Joseph W . Hcndcrshott on the canal, cast of the town o f Bloomsburg, and in A pril, 1854, the ‘‘ Bloom” furnace w as blown-in. In 1873 the firm name was changed from M cK clvey, Neal & Co. to WiUiam Neal & Sons. U p to 1875 the gross product o f this furnace was 1 7 ,9 ^ tons, but later the yearly product was greatly increased. B y 1883 the ore deposits near Bloomsburg were exhausted and the furruces in the vicinity were supplied from mines In N ew Jersey. A ll of these furnaces were abandoned in 1892, the property sold and the furnaces tom down. The site is now occupied by the power house and car bam of the North Branch T ra n sit Company, the only visible remains of the furnace being the brick water reseni'oir and the slag heaps along the abandoned bed of the canal. The slag is now broken up and used to ballast the streets o f Bloomsburg. T w o other furnaces were built at Light Street between 1844 and 1850 by Gen. Matthew McDowell and Samuel Bettle. Both were shortlived, their greater rivals at Bloomsburg getting the advantage in shipping and receiv ing facilities. One of these furnaces w as oper ated by Peter Ent and stood just above the upper mill. The B . & S. railroad runs through the center of the slag heap. T he other fu r nace stood at the lower end of the town. Both are completely gone. Afontour County Furnaces and M ills T he first charcoal furnace was huitt by E li T rego in 1837. near the crossing of the R ead ing railroad at M ill street, Danville. T he first anthracite iron furnace in
