Lehigh Crane Iron Company
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The Lehigh Crane Iron Company (often simply the Crane Iron Company) was a major ironmaking firm in the Lehigh Valley from the mid-19th century until its sale in 1899.
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[edit] Origins
In 1837, the Yniscedwyn Works in Wales became the first ironworks to produce anthracite iron in commercial quantities, by use of the hot blast method. The works were owned by George Crane, and superintended by David Thomas. This discovery promised to provide a large market for anthracite, and the managers of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company wished to duplicate the process in the U.S. After negotiations with Crane and Thomas, they were able to hire Thomas to emigrate and manage their proposed ironworks. The company was named in honor of Crane: it was organized on April 23, 1839 and incorporated on May 16, 1839, under a general act of the Pennsylvania Legislature. The Lehigh Coal & Navigation supported the new company by granting them land and rights to water power (from the LC&N's canal) for their furnace.
[edit] Early years
Construction of the first furnace commenced about August 1, 1839, at Biery's Port, later Catasauqua. The ovens for the hot blast were coal-fired, and the blowing engine was driven by a waterwheel tapping the canal at Lock 36. The furnace was blown in on July 3, 1840 and the first four tons of iron produced July 4, 1840. It remained in blast until flooded by a January freshet in 1841, producing 1,080 tons of iron during that period.
No. 2 Furnace was erected in 1842, using waste gas from the stack to heat the blast instead of coal-fired ovens. No. 3 was built in 1846, and Nos. 4 and 5 in 1849, as the iron business increased.
The limestone flux for the furnaces was largely shipped from local quarries. A mixture of about 75% limonite and 25% magnetite ore was used to supply the furnace. Most of the limonite was mined locally: the first batch of ore smelted at the furnace was supplied by Henry Hoch's mine (also referred to as Rice's mine) in Schoenersville nearby, and the mine was an important supplier of the ironworks for years, being worked from 1840 to 1908. Some magnetite came from the Wieand mine (also referred to as the Mann mine) at Vera Cruz, but it was principally shipped from the Irondale-area, Byram, and Dickerson Mines in New Jersey. Anthracite came from the LC&N's mines, shipped by canal boat for many years, and later by rail.
[edit] Expansion
In 1855, David Thomas left his post as superintendent of the Crane Iron Company to oversee the new Thomas Iron Company. His son David Thomas succeeded him, and served until he, too, took over at Thomas Iron, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law John Hunt.
The success of Crane Iron and the many other iron companies that sprang up in the Lehigh Valley led to a major mining boom in Lehigh County, with no less than 261 mines of varying size being opened. Some were worked by independent operators and the ore sold on the open market, others leased by iron companies, and some owned outright by the companies. In 1875, Crane Iron leased eleven limonite mines in Lehigh County, owned three outright and one jointly with Thomas Iron, and leased a hematite mine at Zionsville.
This was in part facilitated by improved transportation in the area. The Crane and Thomas Iron Companies wanted a railroad to bring local ore to their furnaces, but faced strong local opposition when attempting to gain a charter. As a compromise, the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Plank Road corporation was chartered on July 2, 1853, to build a plank road from the ore pits to the furnaces. A short section of plank road was constructed, but the exceptional weight of the ore wagons quickly destroyed it. Renewed efforts to palliate the local farmers were successful, and the plank road was renamed and rechartered on April 20, 1854 as the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad. The C&F began hauling ore from the mines near Fogelsville in 1857. In 1864, it was further extended to a connection with the East Pennsylvania Railroad at Alburtis and in 1865, to the magnetite mines at Rittenhouse Gap. Improvements to the physical plant also occurred, building No. 6 stack in 1868. The company survived the Panic of 1873 and the subsequent poor iron market, and No. 5 stack was rebuilt in 1877, introducing new firebrick heat exchangers (stoves) to heat the blast, rather than the iron pipes heretofore used. No. 3 stack collapsed in 1879 while out of blast, and Nos. 1 and 2 were subsequently demolished. A new No. 1 and 3 were built, and the site of No. 2 used for stoves for the new furnaces, which were built in 1880 and put in service in 1881. Joshua Hunt resigned the superintendency on January 1, 1882, six months before the death of his father-in-law, David Thomas.
By this time, the iron furnaces also boasted a substantial plant railroad, having constructed a private wagon and rail bridge (which they opened to the public) across the Lehigh River in 1847 to facilitate ore shipment, which would connect with the Lehigh Valley Railroad line in West Catasauqua in 1855, as well as the C&F when that line opened. (The Central Railroad of New Jersey would build a line along the Lehigh River in 1867 on the same side as the furnaces, giving Crane Iron yet another rail inlet and outlet.) The company received a supplement to its charter on March 15, 1872 (and was renamed simply the Crane Iron Company), allowing it to construct up to two miles of rail line to dispose of slag or connect with another railroad. The plant trackage ultimately totaled 3.31 miles, and was worked by a number of 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 switchers, including one built on-site at the ironworks in the 1880s.
[edit] End of independence
In 1889, No. 3 stack was raised, and No. 4 went out of service in July 1890. The Crane and Thomas Iron companies leased the C&F to the Reading Railroad on December 8, 1893, and Crane Iron sold off its share to the Reading entirely from June 5, 1896, leaving the line-haul railroad business. During the 1890s, Crane Iron also participated in the experiments of Thomas Edison, who was attempting to rejuvenate the then-moribund Eastern magnetite mines by magnetic beneficiation. Initial attempts were frustrated by the dusty nature of the finely-ground ore (which made it susceptible to losses both in transit and during the furnace blast), and the process ultimately proved uneconomical in competition with cheap Mesabi Range ores, which came to replace locally-mined ore. In 1899, the company was sold to the Empire Steel and Iron Company and became their Crane Works. The works was gradually dismantled, last making iron in 1930. It was scrapped in 1932.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Bartholomew, Craig L., Metz, Lance E. (1988). Bartholomew, Ann (ed.): The Anthracite Iron Industry of the Lehigh Valley. Center for Canal History and Technology. ISBN 0-930973-08-9.
- Kulp, Randolph L., ed. (1989). History of Lehigh and New England Railroad Company. Lehigh Valley Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, Inc.
- Taber, Thomas T., III (1987). Railroads of Pennsylvania Encyclopedia and Atlas. Thomas T. Taber III. ISBN 0-9603398-5-X.
