Armstrong County History

Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong Counties, Pennsylvania.

Published by John M. Gresham & Co.

Managed by Samuel T. Wiley, Historian and Editor.

Nos. 1218 and 1220 N. Filbert Street, Philadelphia

1891

Geological and Historical Sketch of Armstrong County. (Continued..)

Distilleries, salt wells and furnaces -- Railroads -- Great civil war -- Religious -- Educational -- Journalism -- The bar -- Political history -- Census statistics -- Oil excitement -- Progress and development -- Miscellaneous.

Distilleries.---In an early day distilleries were plenty, but subsequently decreased in number.  To-day one of hte largest and most important group of distilleries in Pennsylvania is the Guckenheimer plant at Freeport.

The manufacture of salt along the Kiskiminetas was formerly more extensively carried on than now.  Only one well is at present in working order, the others having from time to time been abandoned as the business became unremunerative.  The salt water comes from the sandstones of the Pocono formation, the top of which underlies the river bed about 250 feet at the centre of the Roaring run anticlinal.  From the same geological horizon the water is pumped that is used in the manufacture of salt near Saltsburg, in Indiana county.

Furnaces.---The manufacture of iron commenced as early as 1825 in Armstrong county.  In that year Rock furnace was built, on the Kiskiminetas river, east of Apollo; although it is claimed that Bear Creek furnace near Parker City was built a few years earlier.  Rock furnace made 20 tons of iron per week and ran until 1855, while Bear Creek furnace had a capacity of 40 tons per week.  Allegheny furnace, on the west bank of the Allegheny, was two miles north of Kittanning and was erected in 1827.  Buffalo furnace No. 1 was built in 1839, by P. Graff & Co., on Buffalo creek, at the crossing of the Kittanning and Butler pike.  It was continued in blast until the close of the war, in 1865.

Following the completion of Buffalo furnace was a period of considerable activity in the iron industry of Armstrong county, extending for nearly twenty years, until the financial crash of 1857.  Many new furnaces were in that time added to the list.  All used charcoal for fuel. 

In 1840 the first of the Great Western furnaces was built at Brady's Bend by Philander Raymond, who subsequently erected here three additional furnaces, besides a rolling-mill and a nail factory.  In fact this plant ultimately became one of the most extensive in Western Pennsylvania, being among the first in America to make iron rails.  Financial embarrassment, however, in the end wrecked the enterprise, and both the furnaces and the rolling-mill were dismantled.  The rolling-mill and nail factory were built in 1841.

Great Western furnaces No. 2 was an exact copy of the first, and was built in 1841.  The capacity of each was 100 tons of metal per week.  They employed the hot blast, but were chiefly distinguished by the large size of their boshes (14 feet) the poor success of which established later the 12 foot boshes as the favorite size for coke furnaces. 

No. 3 furnace was built in 1843.  Its capacity was nearly as great as that of the larger furnaces.

In 1845 three smaller stacks were erected in other parts of the county: 

Ore Hill Furnaces, on the left bank of the Allegheny river, 8 miles northeast of Kittanning.  Its capacity was between 35 and 40 tons per week.

Cowanshannock Furnace (called also Boner Furnace) was situated on Cowanshannock creek, three miles north of Kittanning.

Mahoning Furnace, on Mahoning creek, below Putneyville, was built by Mr. John A. Colwell, of Kittanning, by whom it was most successfully conducted for more than 30 years.  The stack originally, like all the furnaces of that time in the county, was built of stone.  It used the cold blast, and made from 30 to 40 tons of metal per week.  In 1860 the furnace was remodeled to use coke, at which time, also, the stack was not only enlarged, but the stone structure was replaced by an iron jacket, lined with fire-brick.  The hot blast was applied at the same time.  These alterations more than doubled the capacity of the stack.  It went out of blast in September, 1878, in consequence of the depression then existing in the iron trade.  Until the completion recently of the new furnace at Kittanning, the Mahoning furnace was the best arranged iron plant in Armstrong county.

In 1846 five new furnaces were erected:

Brady's Bend Furnace No. 4 was completed.  It made hot blast charcoal iron; was 11 feet in the boshes and 43 feet in height, and had a capacity of about 60 tons of iron per week.

Buffalo Furnace No. 2 was completed by Mr. Graff, on Buffalo creek.  It was 8 by 35; made hot blast charcoal metal, and had a capacity of from 40 to 50 tons per week.

America Furnace was built in the same year, on the east bank of the Allegheny river near the present village of Rimerton.  Its capacity was about 40 tons of hot blast charcoal iron per week.

Phoenix Furnace (coal blast) stood on Mahoning creek below Milton.  Instead of smelting the usual "buhrstone" ore which is locally absent from that region, the furnace used a loamy hematite ore found near Milton. The ore being lean and poor, the enterprise soon proved a failure.

Pine Creek Furnace owned by Messrs. Brown and Mosgrove, of Kittanning, is one of the few original stacks in Armstrong county that were remodeled to use coke after the supply of charcoal had been exhausted.  It occupies a site on the left bank of Pine creek, six miles northeast of Kittanning.

In 1847 little additional capital was invested in the iron trade in Armstrong county.

Olney Furnace alone was built.  It occupies a position on the left bank of Mahoning creek above Eddyville.  It was enlarged in 1855 and shortly afterwards abandoned. was built at Kittanning.  It had 20 puddling furnaces, 3 trains of rolls, and seven machines driven by water.  In 1857 it made 2550 tons of bar iron, nails and castings.*  It was abandoned shortly after the financial break of 1873, remaining then idle until 1880, when, after complete remodeling, operations in it were renewed in connection with the new furnace at Kittanning.  It was formerly called Valley Rolling-mill, and its annual capacity in 1880 was 7000 tons.

Stewardson Furnace was built in 1851.  It is situated on Mahoning creek, 1 1/2 miles from the Allegheny river.  It is built of stone, and its capacity is from 75 to 80 tons per week.

In 1856 the Apollo Rolling-mill was built at Apollo.  The primary object of this enterprise was the manufacture of nails, which proving unsuccessful, was abandoned about 1861, when the production of sheet-iron was commenced.  The mill was originally erected by the Kiskiminetas Iron Co. but subsequently passed out of their hands, and in the next ten years changed ownership several times, finally passing into bankruptcy in 1875; in 1876 it was purchased by Messrs. Laufman & Co., who have since conducted it with marked success and profit.  The iron made is of excellent quality and finds a ready sale in all the markets.

The mill has seven puddling furnaces, and five charcoal fires for sinking wrought scrap iron; two trains of rolls; one steam hammer striking a fifteen ton blow; one set of bar rolls, and one pair of cold rolls.  At the present time the full capacity of the mill is 65 tons of finished iron per week.

The erection of this mill at Apollo in 1856 about completes the period of the production of charcoal iron in Armstrong county, which, as we have seen, flourished with considerable vigor between 1840 and 1850, rising perhaps to its maximum height between 1850 and 1856 and then rapidly declining.  According to the statistics in the Iron Manufacturers' Guide, 20,411 tons of pig iron were produced here in 1856 from eight furnaces.

---------------------

* Iron Manufacturers' Guide, p. 252

Pg. 317

The manufacture of iron in Armstrong county during the charcoal period was not attended financially with much success.

Abundant railroad facilities, and the recent improved appliances for making iron have wholly changed the conditions which caused the failure of the charcoal furnaces.  With prudent and intelligent management there is now no reason for the failure of a furnace in Armstrong county.

Monticello Furnace was built in 1859, at the mouth of Cowanshannok creek, or Robert E. Brown, and was in operation until 1873 and attempted to use high grade lake ores with native carbonates.

The Leechburg Rolling-mill was built in 1872.  It is distinguished for having been the first to successfully employ natural gas in iron-making.  The iron produced is of excellent quality.

The Kittaning Furnace, erected in 1880, is not only the largest, but by far the most complete in all its appointments, of any furnace plant int he Allegheny Valley, out of Pittsburg.  It stands on the river bank at the southern end of Kittanning, close to the rolling-mill.

Iron Ores.--- The greater part of all the iron made in Armstrong county, either in times past or recently, has been from the reduction of the so called Buhrstone ore.  The Brady's Bend furnaces, and those also of Mr. Graff, on Buffalo creek, used some ore from the Freeport group, of which, however, the outspread in workable thickness in Armstrong county is confined to the neighborhood of those furnaces.  Monticello furnace in its time, as already stated, attempted the importation of the lake ore, but without success. 

Whatever importations of other ore may in future be made into the county, to improve the grade of the iron, the Buhrstone stratum will always remain the chief source of supply so long as furnaces are operated here.  Its range of outcrop extends over hundreds of miles in nearly horizontal rocks; its average thickness is about 8 inches; its character is singularly uniform; it can be easily and inexpensively mined; it is always accompanied by the Ferriferous limestone stratum which directly underlies it and which serves for flux in the furnace; it works easily in the stack; and when proper attention is paid to the assortment of the ores and their preparation for the stack, this Buhrstone stratum is capable of producing a pig metal containing about five-tenths of one per cent. of phosphorus.

Mr. McCreath analzyed samples of the ore, selected from all parts of the county.  The results as a whole show not only the uniformity in the grade of the ore above alluded to, but they show the ores also to consist of three varieties, according to the amount of decomposition that has taken place, namely, limestone-carbonate ore, brown hematite, and an impure variety of red hematite.  The carbonates unroasted average from 33 to 38 per cent. of metallic iron; the brown and red ores contain as high as 50 per cent. of iron, the average being about 45 per cent.  All of the ores are comparatively low in phosphorus -- two-tenths of one per cent.  being the usual amount, both in the carbonates and hematites.  The sulphur is also low, amounting in many cases to scarcely more than a trace.  The hematites contain none of the protoxide of iron. 

Any poor quality of iron made from these ores will be due to defective methods of manufacture and not to the impurity of the ores.

Railroads.---The county is now supplied with railroads which carry its products to all the important markets of the world.

The Allegheny Valley railroad with its connections opens up this county to the region of the lakes and Canada.  Southward it connects with the Pennsylvania railroad at Pittsburgh.  Its Bennett's branch extension, 110 miles long, affords another outlet north and east, as well as also southward; it occupies the Red Bank Valley, passing subsequently at easy grades across the mountain region of Jefferson and Clearfield, and on thence to Driftwood, where it intersects with the Philadelphia and Erie railroad.

The Butler and Karns City narrow-gauge railroad starts at Parker City, on the Allegheny river, and follows thence up Bear creek across the oil fields of northern Butler.

The West Pennsylvania railroad (standard gauge) occupies the valley of the Kiskiminetas river, whose left bank it follows until it crosses the Allegheny river above Freeport.  It belongs to the Pennsylvania railroad system, and runs from Blairsville Interjunction to Pittsburgh.  The Butler Branch of the West Pennsylvania railroad extends from Freeport to the county-seat of Butler.

The question of slack water navigation on the Allegheny river has recently received some discussion, as also that of re-opening the old line of water communication between Pittsburgh and the east.

Transcribed by Linda Blum-Barton November 2008

The Great Civil War.---Armstrong county was prompt in her response to Abraham Lincoln's call for troops when the Union flag went down on Sumter's shattered walls.  On April 18, 1861, Capt. Sirwell left with a company of one hundred and fourteen men for the seat of war, and four days later another company left which was followed in a short time by a company from Apollo, under Captain (afterwards General) S. M. Jackson.  Camp Orr was soon established on the fair grounds above Kittanning, where the 78th and 103d regiments were recruited and drilled.  The 78th, commanded by Col. William Sirwell, left camp on October 14, 1861, and the 103d, under Col. T. F. Lehman, went to the front on February 24, 1862.  Citizens of Armstrong county served in considerable numbers in the 8th, 9th and 11th Pennsylvania Reserves, the 2d cavalry and 62d, 78th, 103d, 139th, 155th, 159th (14th cavalry), and 204th (Fifth artillery) regiments, Pennsylvania Volunteers.  The county was also represented in forty-five other Pennsylvania regiments.  According to an accurate calculation of Col. Sirwell, Armstrong county furnished three thousand six hundred and fifty-two men to the Union armies during the war.  Over fifty-seven thousand dollars were paid from the county treasury for relief of soldiers' families, and thirty-three thousand dollars were paid for bounties.

Religious. ---- In 1802 there were two (Presbyterian) churches on the west side of the Allegheny river, and sixteen years later Sunday-schools were organized.   By 1850 the churches had increased to sixty-five in number.  In 1876 there were in the county over one hundred churches, of which twenty-nine were Lutheran, twenty-four Presbyterian, nineteen Methodist Episcopal, thirteen United Presbyterian, twelve Reformed, ten Baptist, some German Baptist and several Catholic.  The Armstrong County Bible society was formed September 15, 1828.

Educational.--- Armstrong had as good subscription schools from 1800 to 1838 as any of the western counties of Pennsylvania, and her public schools since 1838 have continually increased in number and efficiency, until now they will compare favorably with the schools of any county in the State.  Of the early teachers and schools, Superintendent A. D. Glenn, in his valuable centennial school sketch of the county, states that he could obtain but little information.  Teachers' institutes were held as early as 1856, and the first county institute was held in April, 1858.  The Dayton Soldiers' Orphan school was opened November 1, 1866, with Rev. T. M. Elder as principal.  The following academies in the county were opened at the dates:   Kittanning academy, 1820 (ceased 1866); Freeport academy, 1836; Glad Run academy, November 1, 1851; Dayton Union academy, April, 1852; Leechburg academy, 1855 (burned down 1876); and Elderton academy, 1864.  Slate Lick classical institute began its work in 1865, and Plum Creek Normal school ran  from 1874 to 1877, while Doeville seminary was a useful institution for several years.  Lambeth college was incorporated by the court in December, 1868, and existed until 1876.  In May, 1868, Columbia university (a continuation of Kittanning university) was opening at Kittanning, but in two years was closed.

Journalism.--- The first paper in the county was The Western Eagle, which was established at Kittanning, by Capt. James Alexander, on September 10, 1810.  Twenty-three years later William Badger issued the Olive Branch, at Freeport, and November 6, 1835, the first number of the Lacon was issued at Apollo.  The Leechburg Enterprise was established in 1873 and the Dayton News made its appearance on November 10, 1882.  The present press of the county comprises the following weekly papers:  Armstrong Democrat and Sentinel, Armstrong Republican, County Standard, Globe, Times and Union Free Press, of Kittanning; Herald, of Apollo; News, of Dayton; Journal, of Freeport; Advance, of Leechburg, and Phenix, of Parker City.

The Bar.--- The Armstrong county bar compares favorably with the bars of the other counties of western Pennsylvania, and will receive more extended mention in the history of Kittanning.

Medical Profession --- The medical profession is well represented in Armstrong county an its prominent members will receive mention in the borough and town histories.

Political History.--- In place of township and county elections, we give the vote of the county cast at every Presidential election since the people have had the right to vote for president:

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This page was last updated on -03/05/2010

Compilation Copyright 2008 to Present

By Linda Blum-Barton