LAWRENCE COUNTY, OHIO, THE CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF EARLY TIMES.
The Early Furnaces – The First Use of Hot Blast and its Success, Familiar Names.
Thomas A. Walton
Ironton Register, August 25, 1904.
Pine Grove Furnace was built in 1828 by Andrew Ellison, Sr., Andrew Ellison, Jr., and Robert Hamilton, who, from a tour through the country in the fall of 1827, became convinced that there was ore enough to justify them in building and therefore selected the site and made entries of land. Whether their investments proved profitable might be told hereafter.
We will not here state the difficulties of building a furnace at that time and of getting things from a distance. The furnace was fired on Jan. 1, 1829, and blew on January 13, 1829. Up to 1832, the business was carried on under the style of “Ellison & Hamilton,” then the firm changed to “Ellison, Hamilton & Co.”
About 1834, Andrew Ellison, Jr., died, and the property was rented to Robert Hamilton at an annual rent of seven thousand five hundred dollars. Until 1834, most of the iron was made into stoves and castings. Sundays, however, were devoted to making pig iron exclusively. The furnace made three or four tons of iron in 24 hours and sometimes thirty tons per week for seven days.
In 1837 a new theory dawned on the iron business, the introduction of heated air into the blast. Some three or four furnace men met at Vesuvius Furnace carried on by Hurd, Gould & Co., and there agreed that they would test the hot blast principle, employ a man to put up a hot blast at Vesuvius, and if it proved to be a satisfactory experiment Hurd, Gould & Co., were to pay all the expenses, but if a failure, the expenses were to be divided among the agreeing parties.
Wm. Firmstone put up the hot blast, proving satisfactory to all parties. This was the introduction of the hot blast into Lawrence county. Mr. Hamilton immediately had a set of pipes, very different from those now used, made and put up at Pine Grove. However, it was contended by those opposed to the principles that the iron was weakened by the hot blast and made unfit for casting purposes. The result proved that it was the very best kind of iron that foundries wanted. Mr. Hamilton rented the entire property until 1840. During the last year, he made nothing but pig iron.
In 1840 he became the sole owner and associated with him as partners John Ellison, J. A. Richey, and Joseph S. Peebles under the style of Hamilton & Co. This partnership continued for three years to January 1844, and during that time, made 4500 tons of pig iron. Mr. Hamilton, now having the entire property, determined to try the experiment he had long desired to try, stopping the furnace on the Sabbath. It proved a success, and from December 20, 1844, to January 6, 1847, Mr. Hamilton carried on the furnace on his individual account long enough to satisfy him that there was no need to blow a furnace on the Sabbath day.
About the 1st of January 1847, Mr. Hamilton associated with him John G. Peeble, John F. Steele, and Samuel B. Hempstead, the first as manager of the furnace, the second as a clerk, and the last as river agent at Hanging Rock, under the style of R. Hamilton & Co. This firm continued until October 25, 1850, when Mr. Steele died, when the other partners purchased his interest, and the firm became Hamilton, Peebles & Co. On the 1st of March, 1854, Mr. Hamilton sold one-half of the furnace to John G. Peebles, Jos. Peebles and Samuel Coles under the firm name of Hamilton – Peebles & Co.
Union Furnace was built in 1826 by Jas. Rodgers, John Means, John Sparks, and Valentine Fear. The firm name was Jas. Rodgers & Co. It went into blast in 1827, and Thos built its first fire. W. Means, the senior member of Means, Kyle & Co., of Hanging Rock, Ohio. It produced but a ton daily of cold blast charcoal iron, but the experience of the managers raised the production to two and a half tons daily which was considered very well.
The firm name was afterward changed to Jno. Sparks & Co., afterward, owned by Thos. W. Means and David Sinton, firm name Sinton & Means. The furnace is now dismantled, and the land is owned by Means, Kyle & Co., who also own the Pine Grove and Ohio furnaces and the property attached thereto. In those days, wages were low. Wood was cut for 25 cents per cord; corn cost 12 ½ cents per bushel; hay from $4 to $6 per ton. And whiskey was the almost necessary adjunct to every bargain and contract.
Abner Dilley worked at the Union furnace as a roster or general hand about the furnace for $6 per month. A yoke of oxen was worth $20 to $40, but they were extra cattle selling for $40. At that time, there was very little land except along the bottom of the river and the larger streams. Most of the land was subject to entry and purchase by the government for $1.25 per acre.
Aetna Furnace was built in 1832 by Jos. Kelley, Chas. Kelley, sr., Pleasant Ellington, and Jas. McCoy. It went into blast in the fall of 1832. This company ran it until about 1837 when they broke and rented it in 1838 to Paul, Dempsey & Paul. They ran it for five years and paid off debts, and in 1843 a new company was formed by Allen D. Kelly, Andrew Dempsey, and Jas. Rodgers ran it for about a year. Then it was idle for a year.
In the winter of 1845, the property was sold. The Kellys sold their interest, one-third, to Jno. Ellison. It was then conducted in the name of Dempsey, Rodgers & Ellison. In 1857 Jas. Rodgers sold 3-15 of his interest (which was one-third of the whole) to Cyrus Ellison and in 1858 sold the remaining 12-15 of his one-third to John Ellison, who divided it with his brother, Cyrus Ellison, giving him 4-45 of the whole property, which made it as follows: John 19-45, Cyrus, 7-45, and S. W. Dempsey 19-45 of the property, and so remained until sold to the Aetna Iron Works Co., in 187
The managers were Quincey Rodgers and P. Ellington, Jr.; the next, Andrew Dempsey for five years; next, Jos. Dempsey, and in 1846 John Ellison was chief manager until 1870, when he put the management in C. W. Amos’ hands, which continued until some time after the property was sold to the Aetna Iron Works Co. The furnace had run as a cold blast for many years and changed to be a hot blast about 1865, and in 1875 was again changed to a cold blast. Its average cold blast was about 9 tons per day. It has made over 3,000 tons of iron in one year but not made that on an average; on cold blasts, about 1800 to 2000 per year.
Vesuvius was built in 1833 by Samuel Gould, Jno. Hurd and Jos. Smith. The firm name was Gould, Hurd & Co. They about 1839, he sold it to Wm. McLund and Mr. Wade were run under the name of McLung, Wade & Co. In about 1848, they sold to Jno. Ellison, Jos. Dempsey and Jas. Rodgers. The firm name was Dempsey & Co.
About 1858 Jno. Ellison rented it to Calvin Brooks, Washington Boyd, and Thos. Allen Dempsey. They ran it in the name of Brooks, Boyd & Dempsey for five years. Then S. W. Dempsey, T. A. Dempsey, and Jos. Gilliland rented it for five years; firm name Dempsey, Gilliland & Co., and then in 1868, rented to C. W. Amos, G. N. Gray, T. A. Dempsey, L. Amos, and Oliver Lyon; firm name Gray, Amos & Co., who held it until sold to Aetna Iron Works Co., in 1872.
It was run as a hot blast from 1837 until 1868 and then changed to a cold blast. Managers’ names, Jo. Smith, Wm. Patton, Jno. Rogers, Jos. Dempsey, Jno. Herrald, Wash Boyd, Jos. Gilliland, G. N. Gray, and C. W. Amos. When putting up the warm blast, the scaffold at Vesuvius fell with Jos. Dempsey[1] and killed him.
[1] Joseph W. Dempsey died at age 43 in 1852. See I.R. 20 July 1899 – Removals to Woodland.
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