Mountains on the Market: Industry, the Environment, and the South

Appendixes on Technology

These appendixes provide anyone interested in technological development with the opportunity to observe, in some detail, change over time in a unified setting. The ever-growing complexity of these industrial operations highlights that this river valley generally moved in tandem with national trends, though regional economic and environmental needs dictated certain differences. Information, technology, management strategies, and personnel moved across all sorts of artificial boundaries, driven by the desire to exploit natural resources for profit. Appendix A In the 1790s, Francis Preston described his ironworks lying along Cripple Creek in Wythe County:1 It lies in the County of Wythe about 12 or 18 miles from the Great Kanhawa and about 60 miles from Holston from which there is a tolerably safe navigation to Natchez. Cripple Creek affords a full supply of water for the forge and furnace , (from the same dam) being fed from remarkably large Springs which never fail. The neighbourhood around the works is wealthy and provision supplies in great abundance, the lands on the Creek being very fertile and the highland strong and well calculated for small grain and heavily covered with timber suitable for Coal. There is attached to the Ironworks 8 or 900 acres of Land well timbered[,] none of which is beyond three miles, and any quantity of timber may [be] had for cutting within, from two to six miles, so also may lands be purchased within those bounds from one Dollar per acre to eight dollars which is the highest price. Appendixes on Technology 161 162 Appendix A There is between 3 and 400 acres of land attached to the works capable of Cultivation. The ore bank which appears inexhaustible is within one mile of the Furnace having a road over which a team of five horses may haul from 3 to 4000 lbs. of ore, as also may the ore be taken by water which is now practised, and with the expense of forty dollars may be delivered within ten steps of the furnace. The furnace has been built within three years and all the other buildings consisting of dwelling houses, kitchens store house and large convenient stables were commenced within the same time and are now finishing and in good order. The furnace runs from 12 to 15 tons per week, the Castings smooth and of a Superior quality. The forge which is about 150 yds from the furnace will in a few days be completed. It is said to be the best built forge in Virginia, it being out of Choice timber cut in proper Season and executed under the direction of a first rate forge Carpenter from Pen[n]sylvania it has now three fires and calculated for another, two hammers , it is 45 feet wide and fifty five long, well covered with joint shingles &c. The quality of the iron is acknowledged to be superior to any in this Country and there is no doubt equal to any on the Continent, it is sought for at a great distance, and particularly by leglocks makers, Saddletree platers[,] cutlers &c. The demand for iron in this Country is at present far beyond what is made and Iron is transported from Adams & [James] Callaways , to Abingdon etc. passing my works and carried into the neighbourhood of Colo[nel] [James] Kings. The demand is also increasing to an astonishing degree, it is selling from one hundred & forty to an hundred and seventy dollars per Ton and but a small supply offered at present. Contracts for almost any quantity of Iron can be procured at a 140 $ a Ton delivered at the works. Proposals are daily making to me from Tennessee and Cumberland[,] the latter in particular for Contracts of 5, 10 & 20 Tons. Mr. King has also mentioned Contracts for 5 or 7 years continuance, for from 50 to an 100 Tons of Iron and from 20 to 30 Tons of Castings annually on a Credit of 12 & 18 months. There is also an excellent tub mill on the place just completed which not only answers the works but the neighbourhood. Preston’s Ironworks 163 The Subscriber is assured from the numberless proposals and the great and increasing demand for iron, and its superior quality, the sales will be immediate. Appendix B In the April 1884 issue, the Journal of the United States Association of Charcoal Iron Workers analyzed the furnaces of the New River–Cripple Creek iron region and the supply of ore and charcoal...