Iron in New York
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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM RECORD # 8 K IRON NEW YORK EDITED BY MARTIN PICKANDS The New York State Museum is a program of The Universit of the State of New York The State Education Department l Office of Cultural Education IRON IN NEW YORK NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM RECORD NO. 8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Regents of The University BETTY A. ROSA, Chancellor, B.A., M.S. in Ed., M.S. in Ed., M.Ed., Ed.D. ................. Bronx T. ANDREW BROWN, Vice Chancellor, B.A., J.D. ........................................................... Rochester ROGER TILLES, B.A., J.D. ................................................................................................. Great Neck LESTER W. YOUNG, JR., B.S., M.S., Ed.D. ...................................................................... Beechhurst CHRISTINE D. CEA, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. ........................................................................... Staten Island WADE S. NORWOOD, B.A. ............................................................................................... Rochester KATHLEEN M. CASHIN, B.S., M.S., Ed.D. ...................................................................... Brooklyn JAMES E. COTTRELL, B.S., M.D. ....................................................................................... New York JOSEPHINE VICTORIA FINN, B.A., J.D. .............................................................................. Monticello JUDITH CHIN, M.S. in Ed. ............................................................................................... Little Neck BEVERLY L. OUDERKIRK, B.S. in Ed., M.S. in Ed. ........................................................... Morristown CATHERINE COLLINS, R.N., N.P., B.S., M.S. in Ed., Ed.D. ............................................ Buffalo JUDITH JOHNSON, B.A., M.A., C.A.S. ............................................................................. New Hempstead NAN EILEEN MEAD, B.A. ................................................................................................ Manhattan ELIZABETH S. HAKANSON, A.S., M.S., C.A.S. ................................................................ Syracuse LUIS O. REYES, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. ................................................................................... New York SUSAN W. MITTLER, B.S., M.S. ....................................................................................... Ithaca Commissioner of Education and President of The University MARYELLEN ELIA Executive Deputy Commissioner ELIZABETH R. BERLIN Director, New York State Museum MARK SCHAMING Director, Research & Collections Division JOHN P. HART The State Education Department does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, religion, creed, disability, marital status, veteran status, national origin, race, gender, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or sexual orientation in its educational programs, services and activities. Portions of this publication can be made available in a variety of formats, including braille, large print or audio tape, upon request. Iuiies oeig this poliy of odisiiatio should e dieted to the Depatet’s Offie fo Divesity ad Aess, Room 530, Education Building, Albany, NY 12234. IRON IN NEW YORK Edited by Martin Pickands New York State Museum Albany, NY 2018 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM RECORD NO. 8 ©2018 The New York State Education Department Published in the United States of America ISBN 978-1-55557-286-0 Cover design by Chris Havens. Publication layout by J. Scott Cardinal. To my dear wife and best friend, Marcia, whose love, support and advice will be forever missed CONTENTS Contents vi List of Figures vii List of Tables xi List of Contributors xii Preface xiii Martin Pickands 1 Images of the 19th Century Adirondack Bloom Iron Industry 1 Gordon C. Pollard 2 An Historical–Economic Description of Several Iron Deposits from the Adirondack Region of New York 43 Marian V. Lupulescu 3 Iron-rich Sedimentary Deposits of New York: An Overview 58 Charles A. Ver Straeten 4 “My Works Will Be the Best in America” – Peter Townsend’s Cannon Foundry, 1815-25 77 Steven A. Walton 5 The Field Identification of Rural Blacksmith Shops 101 Daniel Seib 6 Finding the Past, Planning the Future — Survey and Assessment of Remains at the Former Copake Iron Works 110 Fred Sutherland 7 Visitors and Vandals — The Post-Abandonment Archaeological Record at the Adirondack Iron and Steel Company’s “New Furnace” 126 David P. Staley 8 Modeling the Past — Using Working Models to Reconstruct Henry Burden’s Automatic Horseshoe Machine 145 Robert Rawls vi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Known bloomery forge sites and iron mines in Clinton County and vicinity. 2 1.2 1869 map of Clintonville, from F. W. Beers & Co. Atlas of Clinton County, New York. 4 1.3 Looking east on Clintonville’s main street. ..................................... 6 1.4 Looking west on Clintonville’s main street. .................................... 6 1.5 Ausable River at Clintonville, looking west. .................................... 6 1.6 Ore roasting pits and separator, looking east. ................................... 6 1.7 The stone forge, looking northwest. ......................................... 7 1.8 Front of the stone forge, looking west. ....................................... 7 1.9 Edge of the charcoal mound at the west end of the forge. ............................ 7 1.10 Grist mill and saw mill at the upper dam, looking southwest. ......................... 7 1.11 Mills at the upper dam, looking southeast. .................................... 8 1.12 Foundry and blacksmith shop next to the river, looking west. 8 1.13 Horse barn at Clintonville, looking west. ..................................... 8 1.14 PS&I Co. engine house at Palmer Hill mines, view 1................................ 8 1.15 PS&I Co. engine house at Palmer Hill mines, view 2................................ 9 1.16 PS&I Co. engine house at Palmer Hill mines, view 3................................ 9 1.17 The company store and office of the J. & J. Rogers Iron Co., Ausable Forks, New York. 9 1.18 Interior of a portion of the J. & J. Rogers Co. store at Ausable Forks. ...................... 9 1.19 Clintonville, looking east on the main street. The Peru Steel & Iron Co. store and office are at the left, and a newly erected hotel on the right. ....................................... 10 1.20 Scrip issued to employees of the Lewis Iron Works in Essex County, New York, for use in Stower & Esmond’s Forge Store, 1880s. ............................................ 10 1.21 Topographic map of Palmer Hill showing 19th century mine openings. 12 1.22 Cross section and plan of the Palmer Hill Iron Mines near Ausable Forks in 1865, made by Rudolph Keck of the Peru Steel & Iron Co. ............................................. 13 1.23 One of the larger mine openings on the eastern portion of Palmer Hill. 13 1.24 In the antechamber of the mine opening of Figure 1.23. ............................. 13 1.25 The J. & J. Rogers Iron Co. engine house on the west side of Palmer Hill. 14 1.26 The Peru Steel & Iron Co. engine house on Palmer Hill. ............................. 14 1.27 Dam and control gate (center) for the canal at Clintonville. ........................... 16 1.28 G. W. Baldwin stereoview of the PS&I Co. separator and ore roasting pits on the Clintonville canal, 1876, looking east ...................................................... 16 1.29 One of the two separators of the J. & J. Rogers Iron Co. on Palmer Hill. 17 1.30 The two ore separators of the J. & J. Rogers Iron Co. on Palmer Hill near Ausable Forks. 18 1.31 1869 map of Clinton Prison at Dannemora. .................................... 19 1.32 1868 Bird’s eye view of Clinton State Prison. ................................... 19 1.33 S. R. Stoddard stereoview of Clinton Prison, looking west from the high guard post, 1874. 20 1.34 PS&I Co. stone forge with sixteen bloomery forge fires, looking northwest. 21 1.35 Plan of the Stone Forge based on archaeological surveys and excavations. 21 1.36 The stone forge site as it appeared in April of 1995, looking northwest. 22 1.37 PS&I Co. stone forge with 16 bloomery forge fires, looking northwest. 23 1.38 Edge of the huge charcoal stockpile at the western end of the forge. ...................... 23 1.39 1876 map of Popeville, later known as Bellmont. ................................. 25 1.40 Bloomery forge at Bellmont, 1884, showing the west side of the structure. 26 1.41 Eastern side of the Bellmont forge, probably 1880s. ................................ 26 1.42 Some of the 16 bloomery forges at Bellmont, 1884. ................................ 27 1.43 Components of a typical American bloomery forge used at Saranac, N.Y. 28 1.44 One of the trip hammers and its waterwheel in operation at the Bellmont forge, 1884. 29 vii 1.45 Tools used in working iron in the Bellmont forge, 1884. ............................. 29 1.46 The J.&J. Rogers four fire forge at Ausable Forks. ................................. 31 1.47 Interior of the six-fire J. & J. Rogers forge at Jay, N.Y., 1888. 31 1.48 The six fire bloomery forge of the J.&J. Rogers Co. at Jay, New York. ...................... 32 1.49 Map of the more than 21,000 acres of timber lands owned by the Peru Steel & Iron Co., 1881. 34 1.50 Six rectangular charcoal kilns, c.1876, believed to be Peru Steel & Iron Co’s “Upper South" location in Essex County. ..................................................... 34 1.51 A group of ten round charcoal kilns near Twin Ponds, New York, southwest of Lyon Mountain, late 1880s. 35 1.52 A group of “Charcoal