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in the town. Ore was mined in this bed as early as 1730 or 1731, and was taken by Lamb to supply his forge at Lime Rock. It was in early days transported in leathern bags on horses. This mine has been worked almost constantly since first opened, showing an increased production. The average yearly yield at present is estimated to be about 15,000 tons. The property has passed through several ownerships; the proprietors are now incorporated under the name of Forbes Ore Bed Company.

The Chatfield Ore Bed was originally owned by Philip Chatfield, from whom it takes its name, and was opened soon after the other beds were. It has been steadily worked since first opened, showing also an increased production. Its annual yield at present is estimated to be 12,000 tons. Notwithstanding these mines have been so long and so constantly worked, the supply of ore is still abundant and apparently inexhaustible.

There has been no special effort to increase the production, as these ores are not in the market, and it is only desired to raise a sufficient supply for the furnaces in the immediate vicinity of the mines. The ores are all of the brown hematite variety, and of the same general character, yielding about forty-five per cent. of iron. The process of raising the ore and making it ready for the furnace has been much improved within the past twenty years; it is crushed and washed by machinery before leaving the mines. The ore is raised entirely by open mining, and the beds are now worked at a depth of from 75 to 100 feet. In addition to the mines mentioned above, the Barnum-Richardson Company is working mines at Amenia and at Mount Riga, both on the New York and Harlem Railroad, just over the New York State line, and on the western slope of the Tocconuc Hills. These mines produce ores very similar in character and value to those already described.

The first forge in this vicinity was erected in Lime Rock by Thomas Lamb, as early as 1734. He took his ore from the Hendricks (now Davis) Ore Bed. Several different parties succeeded to the ownership; among those who occupied it longest, and operated it most successfully, were Messrs. Canfield & Robbins. They operated a forge and blast-furnace on this site for many years, and also had a forge and blast-furnace (built by Leman Bradley in 1812) on the Housatonic River, just below the Canaan Falls, using at both places Salisbury ores.

The Lime Rock property came into possession of its present owner in 1863, and in 1864 a new blast furnace was erected, which

has been in operation up to the present time. About the year 1748 a forge was erected in the present village of Lakeville (then called Furnace Village), and in 1762 John Haseltine, Samuel Forbes, and Ethan Allan purchased the property, and built a blast furnace. This is supposed to be the first blast furnace built in the State. This property in 1768 came into the possession of Richard Smith, of Boston, who, being a Loyalist, returned to England upon the breaking out of the war. The State took possession of the works, and appointed Col. Joshua Porter their agent in its management, and upon orders of the Governor and Council large quantities of cannon, shot, and shell were made during the Revolurionary War for the General Government. John Jay and Gouverneur Morris were often there superintending the casting and proving of the guns, and at this time the Salisbury iron gained a celebrity which it has never lost for superior strength and general quality. The cannon were intended chiefly for the navy, and after the war the navy, to a considerable extent, was supplied with guns made from the same iron. The ship of Commodore Truxton, the Constellation, and the celebrated Constitution, "Old Ironsides," were supplied with Salisbury cannon. The furnace was afterwards owned and operated for many years by Messrs. Holley & Coffing, who also operated a forge and furnace at Mount Riga.

The forge on Mount Riga was built about the year 1781 by Abner or Peter Woodin. Daniel Ball succeeded, and the works were for many years known as Ball's Forge. Seth King and John Kelsey commenced building a furnace there about 1806, but were not able to complete it, and in 1810 it came into possession of Messrs. Holley & Coffing, who the same year finished it, and for many years carried on an extensive business. Pig iron, anchors, screws, and various kinds of manufactured iron were made there. These works and those at Lakeville were abandoned many years ago, and the property at Mount Riga, including the water privilege, which is very valuable and one of the finest in the State, is now owned by the Millerton Iron Company, Irondale, N. Y.

There were also built at East Canaan two blast furnaces for the manufacture of pig iron from Salisbury ores, one about 1840, by Samuel Forbes, and one about 1847, by John A. Beckley.

The first foundry for the melting of pig iron was built at Lime Rock about the year 1830, and soon after came under control of Milo Barnum, who was the founder of the present Barnum-Richardson Company. He associated in the business Leonard Richard

son, and within a few years his son, William H. Barnum, was taken into the partnership.

The foundry business was carried on in a small way in connection with the store; their productions consisted chiefly of clock and sash weights, plow castings and other small work. The business gradually increased until about 1840, when they began the manufacture of railroad work, the first of which was chairs for the Boston & Albany Railroad, then building from Springfield to Albany; the castings were transported by teams to Springfield and to Chatham, a distance of about fifty miles.

The great tensile strength and natural chilling qualities of the Salisbury iron proved it of great value in the manufacture of cast chilled car-wheels, which naturally followed in a few years the making of smaller railroad castings. The iron early obtained, and has since held, the reputation of being the best known for this purpose.

In 1858 the company obtained possession of the Beckley furnace at East Canaan, and in 1862 purchased the Forbes furnace at the same place. They also, about this time, purchased the foundry at 64 South Jefferson Street, Chicago, and organized a joint stock. company under the name of the Barnum-Richardson Manufacturing Company, for the continuance of the foundry business. In May, 1864, the Barnum-Richardson Company, a joint stock company, was organized with William H. Barnum as president and general manager. It has since largely increased its works by building, and by acquiring further interests in mining and furnace companies. A third and improved furnace was built at East Canaan in 1872; in 1870 a second foundry was erected at Lime Rock. A new wheel foundry was built in Chicago in 1873.

The foundries at Chicago use the Salisbury iron, and have a capacity in the two shops of 300 wheels per day. The company uses, at its Lime Rock works, Salisbury iron also, and have a capacity of 200 wheels per day.

In 1840, there were in this vicinity four blast furnaces in operation, each using an average of 600 bushels of charcoal and producing three tons of pig iron per day. There are now seven blast furnaces owned by the company, of which William H. Barnum is president and general manager. They use each an average of 1200 bushels of charcoal, and produce eleven tons of iron per day. The new furnace at East Canaan at its last blast made an average of eighty tons of iron per week, this being the most advantageous

blast known to have been made in a charcoal furnace of this size. The seven furnaces are located within a radius of eight miles from Lime Rock, and are situated as follows: three at East Canaan, one at Lime Rock, one at Sharon Valley, one at Cornwall Bridge, and one at Huntsville. In connection with the latter furnace there is a car-wheel foundry at Jersey City, having a capacity of 150 wheels per day, and using the iron exclusively from this furnace. The Salisbury pig iron shows an average tensile strength of about 30,000 lbs. to the square inch, and, besides being valuable for ordnance and railroad purposes, it is extensively supplied for malleable and machinery uses. The wheels made at the Barnum-Richardson Works have been largely used in the United States, Canada, and foreign countries, particularly in South America. Their high quality is too extensively known and certified to require further mention in this paper.

The opening of the Connecticut Western Railroad has brought these mines and furnaces within easier access of each other, and has also enabled the furnace companies to procure a portion of their supply of charcoal from a distance, most of it being brought from Vermont.

NOTES ON THE IRON ORE AND ANTHRACITE COAL OF RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS.

BY A. L. HOLLEY, Ć.E., NEW YORK CITY.

(Read at the Amenia Meeting, October, 1877.)

THE existence of iron ore and anthracite coal in the neighborhood of Providence, R. I., has long been known, chiefly as a geological fact; that these materials, so near to each other and to tidewater, are of such a good quality and are present in such large quantity, as to have seriously raised the question of establishing blast furnaces there, was a surprising fact to me; and I have thought that the few notes I have lately gathered on the subject would be of interest at this partly New England meeting.

The coal field referred to has an area of above 400 square miles, and is found throughout the belt of transition rocks extending from Newport Neck to Mansfield, Massachusetts. It underlies the cities of Providence and Newport, and the towns of Middletown, Portsmouth, Jamestown, Warwick, Barrington, Cranston, North Provi

IRON ORE AND ANTHRACITE COAL OF R. ISLAND AND MASS. 225

dence, Cumberland, Bristol, Warren, and East Providence in Rhode Island, and Seekonk, Attleboro, Wrentham, and Mansfield, in Massachusetts. The amount of coal is not estimated, but very roughly stated at "hundreds of millions of tons" in a report of "The Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry." Professor Ridgway, in a memorial to the General Assembly in 1868, states that the field is a large but shallow one, made up of a cluster of beautiful coal basins, being identical with the lower coal series of the anthracite basin of Pennsylvania. The coal on the edges of the field has been not only broken up, but altered, by heat and pressure, such as the Pennsylvania field seems to have escaped; but Professor Ridgway states that it is regular and undisturbed, and less altered, in other parts. Still later-in 1875-a hole was sunk a little over 700 feet, at a point in Massachusetts some five miles from Providence, in the centre of the basin, and a bed of coal nine feet thick was found at this depth. Its quality, judging from the core brought up, was superior to the coal previously worked. All this coal has a red ash, and burns with great freedom and with a fuller blaze than other anthracite. The ash is quite fusible, so that a moderate blast is required. Some time ago, Mr. Samuel L. Crocker, of the Taunton Copper Company, stated that, for about twelve. years, he had used 10,000 tons annually of this coal from the Portsmouth mine, in various manufacturing establishments and for domestic purposes, and that, for steam and all ordinary purposes, it was quite as good as Pennsylvania anthracite; while, for smelting copper ores, it was the best mineral fuel. More recently, the Taunton Copper Company have acquired this mine, and are now raising their own coal. The main shaft measures 1400 feet on the incline, and the gangways aggregate a length of 31 miles. Another mine at Cranston, from which some thousands of tons were formerly shipped, has recently been reopened with a capacity of 100 tons per day. Most of the workings have been on the outcrop, where, as before stated, the coal is broken and altered. But the alteration seems to have pretty well freed the coal from sulphur, and has also given it free-burning qualities.

Prof. Jackson's analysis of the Portsmouth coal is as follows:

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