Lehigh Furnace

From Iron Allentown Wiki
Revision as of 15:51, 9 April 2020 by Aberg (talk | contribs) (→History)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

History

In 1826, Stephen Balliet (1781-1854) and Samuel Helfrich purchased twenty-five acres from Christian Snyder and Christian Bloss and built a furnace on that land that was thirty feet high and eight feet at the bosh. The location was chosen for its proximity to the Blue Mountain for the wood it supplied for charcoal[1]. The furnace was "blown in" or ignited in 1826[2]. At the time, ore was brought from a mine in South Whitehall (presumably Ironton) owned by Stephen Balliet and Samuel Helfrich[3].

After Samuel Helfrich died in 1830, his shares were purchased by Stephen Balliet. Stephen Balliet operated the furnace until 1854 when he passed[4].

Applebach was the first superintendent of the furnace[5]. Samuel Lewis (1805-1897) was the manager of the furnace from 1828 to 1832[6] [7]. Benjamin Levan (1806-1886) was the manager from 1832 to 1854[8]. Levi Haas was a bookkeeper for the company[9][1].

Eventually, the furnace was sold to Cooper and Hewitt, owned by Peter Cooper and his son-in-law Abram Hewitt[10].

In 1850, the Lehigh Furnace was owned by "S. Balliet and Co." The furnace utilized hematite ore. Prior to 1850, the largest tonnage produced by the furnace was 1430 and in 1849, 1204 tons of iron were produced; capacity is listed as 1200 tons. In that same year, ninety men and boys were employed by the furnace and sixty "oxen, horses and mules" were used by the furnace. The furnace operated a hot blast (temperature was five-hundred degrees) with one tuyere with a diameter of two and three-quarter inches. The bosh was two and a half feet and the height was thirty-one feet. The blast was powered by water. They produced "number one" metal[11].

Notes

  1. ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 553
  2. ↑ Convention of Iron Masters 1850
  3. ↑ Allentown Democrat 1898
  4. ↑ Allentown Democrat 1898
  5. ↑ Allentown Democrat 1898
  6. ↑ Allentown Leader 1897, 1
  7. ↑ Allentown Democrat 1898
  8. ↑ Allentown Democrat, May 4, 1898
  9. ↑ Allentown Democrat October 11, 1899
  10. ↑ Allentown Democrat, May 4, 1898
  11. ↑ Convention of Iron Masters 1850

Reference List

  • Convention of Iron Masters. 1850. Documents Relating to the Manufacture of Iron in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: General Committee. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000958393.
  • Mathews, Alfred, and Austin N Hungerford. 1884. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Everts & Richards.
  • The Allentown Democrat. 1898. The Last Existing One of the Eastern Pennsylvania Charcoal Furnaces, May 4, 1898.[2]
  • The Allentown Leader. 1897. The End Has Come. Samuel Lewis, Pioneer Iron Master, Passes Away, July 31, 1897.[3]
  • The Allentown Democrat. 1899. Met with a Fatal Fall, October 11, 1899. [4]
Retrieved from "https://wiki.ironallentownpa.org/index.php?title=Lehigh_Furnace&oldid=656"