Appalachian Blacksmiths Association

The Antebellum Iron Industry In 
Western Virginia; the Cheat Basin ironworks

By Dave Allen, Editor

Our best record of ironmaking in western Virginia comes from the late James R. Moreland, a Morgantown, WV attorney. He began researching deeds for the land parcels that would eventually become Cooper’s Rock State Forest. When he discovered that several large parcels were once woodlots for charcoal making, he set about to write of the history of the Cheat Mountain ironworks in Monongalia and Preston Counties.

The Cheat River was probably so-named because it is deceptively deep in places. Minerals in the water give it an inky appearance. Early settlers as well as Indians said the river “cheated” many men of their lives. The western mountains became known as the Cheat Mountains and the biggest river within them became Cheat River.

The westernmost ridge of these mountains is Chestnut Ridge. The Cheat River breaches the ridge at Cooper’s Rock. In past times, Chestnut Ridge had been called Laurel Mountain. While this is a mistake, it does explain how Laurel Iron Works got its name. 

All legal records of Monongalia County were lost in 1796 when the courthouse burned. Thus, we do not know for sure if the Virginia iron works sprang up as early as the Alliance furnace in neighboring Fayette County, PA (1789). The Alliance furnace produced the first iron west of the Alleghenies.

Historian James M. Callahan states that Robert and Alexander Hawthorne settled on Aaron’s Creek on the southeast side of Morgantown in 1790. They built a furnace before 1800 and produced nails. The plant produced two tons of iron per week which indicates it was likely making bar iron (approx. 80# per hour.)

Surviving legal records mention Hanway’s Rock Forge (also called Decker’s Creek Iron Works and the Valley furnace) as standing in 1798. This plant is known to have made bar iron. Rock Forge is located between Sabraton and Richard, about 3 miles from the Hawthorne brothers’ nail plant. 

In the mid-1920’s, the Cheat River was dammed at the WV/PA state line (also Mason & Dixon’s Line) to produce hydroelectric power. The town once known as Ice’s Ferry (established in1785), and later Laurel Iron Works, was razed and flooded. The town was located approximately where the I-68 bridge crosses present-day Cheat Lake near Mont Chateau.

Ice’s Ferry and its surrounds provided industrial employment for 1,700 people during its heyday in the 1840’s. The Anna Furnace, built about 1845, produced 8-10 tons of iron daily. It supported a puddling mill, rolling mill, slitting mill, and nail factory as well as wagon shops and a stove foundry. The streets of the town of 2,000 citizens were paved with blast furnace slag. The town also boasted water lines that ran from a nearby lake. Ice’s Ferry also had a brick factory, coke oven and grist mill. The population of Ice’s Ferry was 4 to 5 times that of Morgantown, the county seat. Morgantown had just 150 dwellings in 1845. 

Upstream of the works was a sawmill—the flatboats were built there. And near the sawmill was a coopery that made nail kegs.

Cooper’s Rock actually derives its name from a cooper. Legend says that the cooper was a fugitive from Fayette County, PA and that he hid near the canyon cliff for a year or two. He made tubs and barrels to support himself. While the man’s name is long-forgotten, the cliff and the state park are named for his trade. The 1925 USGS topographical map identifies the promontory as Cooper Rock.

The iron industry at Ice’s Ferry began with Samuel Jackson’s Laurel Iron Works. Jackson settled there in 1800 and built a dam and mill. It is not known for certain when he built the ironworks but he did advertise as early as 1804 that he would trade bar iron for corn and other goods.

Jackson made hand-wrought nails, which he shipped by dugout canoe to Pittsburgh and beyond. It is not clear from my reading as to when he operated the Laurel Furnace or bought iron from the nearby Pleasant Furnace because he did both at various times. In fact, Samuel Jackson’s son, John, managed the Pleasant Furnace from 1808-1810. 

The Pleasant Furnace, also called the Davis Furnace, is believed to have been built in 1798 and closed in 1811. The furnace, lands, and holdings associated with it were later bought by other ironworks. The Pleasant Furnace may have pre-dated Rock Forge. Close to the Pleasant Furnace stood a gunpowder mill built about the same time. The main ingredient for gunpowder—Niter (salt-peter) crystals—was found in local caves. The powder mill and the Pleasant Furnace were of obvious importance to the frontiersmen who settled the area. The powder mill exploded in 1818 and was never rebuilt.

Moreland relates that the old Laurel Iron Works supplied iron hardware and cannon shot for Commodore Perry’s fleet on Lake Erie during the War of 1812. There is no source for this claim other than tradition. The same claim is made by others concerning iron produced at Peter Tarr’s furnace near Weirton. Given the scarcity of finished iron west of the Allegheny mountains, both claims are probably true.

Laurel Iron Works is also said to have supplied Gen. Andrew Jackson with cannon shot during the Battle of New Orleans (1813).

Prior to 1822, hand-wrought nails were often used as currency in the Cheat Mountain area. This worked fine as long as nails were in demand. But whenever the nail supply ballooned, those who held nails saw their ‘currency’ depreciate. The custom of hoarding nails stopped in 1822 when the first nail-cutting machine was installed.

Samuel Jackson died in 1818 and his son, Josiah, carried on the tradition of nailmaking. In 1822, he built the Woodgrove Furnace and installed a nail press to make cut nails. The nail press was such a marvel that he hauled it through the streets of Morgantown, shearing nails as he went and left them lie in the streets as souvenirs. 

The father-son team of Jackson’s were classic entrepreneurs. Josiah Jackson built on what his father left him and then he sold his holdings which included 5,000 acres, nail mill, Woodgrove Furnace, and grist mill for $25,000 in 1836. This is described as a “very large sum in its day.”

Before Cheat Lake was filled and Ice’s Ferry flooded, area farmers plowed and planted the abandoned land. One farmer actually found 150 Spanish coins. These coins had made their way from New Orleans (see: “Getting the iron to market”).

The ironworks did not pay their men with money. Instead, the plant’s owners issued scrip, which were chits and coins that were only redeemable at the company-owned stores in the village. This practice was common at isolated industrial or mining communities and continued well into the 20th century. 

The area iron operations continued to grow with the Henry Clay and Anna furnaces. There was a succession of several different owners who operated all of the Ice’s Ferry and Cheat Neck works.

No reason has been given for the naming of the Henry Clay Furnace. Senator Henry Clay (KY) was instrumental in keeping the National Road north of the Cheat iron district. Thus, there seems to be no logical reason why Clay would have been the namesake of the furnace.

In time, a ten-mile network of tram roads was built to haul ore, limestone, and charcoal to the Henry Clay and Anna furnaces. These tram roads were later used as logging roads and still serve as footpaths in some parts of Cooper’s Rock park.

Though Ice’s Ferry was the largest town, communities also grew around the Woodgrove and Henry Clay furnaces. Each plant employed 150-200 workers and it is estimated that 500 people lived in 100 houses near the Henry Clay works. The Henry Clay community had its own school and church.

Over time, many innovations were introduced. E.g.: a steam engine to run the air blast. The Woodgrove Furnace was converted to hot blast which saved on charcoal fuel. Coke was introduced as a furnace fuel, perhaps in 1854.

The Cheat Neck works eventually consolidated. Even with improvements in technology and using coke, the industry found itself the victim of poor transportation. The works all closed by 1866.

There was one attempt to improve river transport with a steamboat. About 1845, the Lady Ellicott was built and launched at Ice’s Ferry. The trip down through the Cheat’s rapids was so perilous that crewman Stephen Warman reached for an overhanging tree limb and literally jumped ship! The Lady Ellicott’s maiden voyage was one-way and she never returned. The steamboat "Reindeer" cruised into Morgantown in 1825 which shows the difference in current and channel between the Monongahela and Cheat Rivers.

The Spring Hill (1794) and Fairchance (1803) Furnaces were just across the PA state line along Uniontown Pike (now Rt. 857) but had ties to the Cheat district. Samuel Jackson purchased pig iron from Spring Hill in 1811. The Fairchance Furnace owned ore and timber lands on the VA side of the border. 

The Oliphant family eventually purchased both operations. F. H. Oliphant converted the Fairchance furnace to hot blast. In 1835, the Franklin Institute announced that it would award a gold medal to any ironworks that could make more than 20 tons per year of high quality pig iron using either coal or coke. F. H. Oliphant competed for that prize in 1837 by using coke but there is no record that the medal was awarded to Fairchance. Oliphant operated these 
furnaces until 1870.

The Clinton Furnace operated from 1846 to 1858. It was converted to a hot blast and was fired with coke in its later years. Nothing is given about its production. 

George Hardman, a German immigrant, owned this furnace from 1853 to 1857 before selling out. Hardman also had interests in Preston County furnaces.

* * * * *

There were a handful of furnaces in Preston County, but as had happened in Monongalia County, the courthouse burned on March 7, 1869. Thus, we are deprived of much history. Fortunately, some of the early land deeds were re-recorded when the new courthouse opened.

The Greenville Furnace was just inside the Preston County line on Laurel Run and near property owned by the Anna Furnace. It’s production was leased at one time by the owners of Laurel Iron Works. This furnace was then linked by the tram road system to the ore mines and other works. The furnace was built after 1837 by Walter Carlisle “at a cost of a barrel of watered whiskey, a box of homemade tobacco, and a counterfeit ten dollar note.” Carlisle later failed for lack of capital and then Harrison Hagans, president of a Boston company, operated it.

One asset of the Greenville Furnace was a 400-acre tract of land originally owned by William Jarrett, the blacksmith previously mentioned above.

The Old Valley Furnace was located on Patterson Run about 1/2 mile from the state line (Wymp’s Gap Road). Though close-by to the Greenville Furnace, it was independent of the Cheat works. Built in 1837 by Mssrs. Caldwell and Ocheltree, the owners failed in business shortly thereafter. The ruins of this furnace are well-preserved. The financial Panic of 1837 and subsequent iron tariff reductions probably caused the above bankruptcies.

Harrison Hagans built the Old Virginia Furnace (aka Josephine) on Muddy Creek in 1853. This furnace was sited so as to be near the B&O Railroad line. Pig iron from the plant had to be hauled by wagon up Cranberry Summit (Terra Alta) and to the depot. Hagans paid the teamsters by the ton with the iron being weighed at the furnace. His customers soon complained about short weights and that is when Hagans discovered that the wagonmasters were lightening their loads when pulling the Summit! The furnace passed from Hagans to successor owners and operated until 1880.

The waterwheel that ran the air blast at Old Virginia was nearly 40’ in diameter. So impressive it was that "Scientific American" magazine featured it in one of its early issues.

"The Virginias" lists the Old Virginia Furnace as being 30' x 6' with a water-powered, cold blast.  Built in 1855 and first blown in 1856, the plant could produce 6 net tons daily of foundry & forge pig iron made from brown hematite ore and charcoal fuel.

References say that Hagans owned or controlled five furnaces during his career but does not list all of them. One might have been a stove foundry near his home at Brandonville.

George Hardman (Clinton Furnace) also built a furnace near Independence in 1859. For reasons not given, his business failed. He again tried in 1869 with a furnace at Gladesville but failed there also.

In 1884, the Gladesville Furnace was listed as being owned by Eugene List of Wheeling, WV.  The 36' x 7.5' stack is listed as being built in 1872 with a warm blast and daily capacity on 9 net tons from iron ore mined on the property.

In 1877, the furnace at Independence was bought by Count Felix DeNemegyei, an Austrian nobleman, who arrived in America at New Orleans. He then moved to New York City before settling in Preston County. He renamed it the Irondale Furnace. By all accounts, he was one of those larger-than-life figures, and many rumors regarding his wealth spread amongst the provincials.

For years, the Count tried to interest investors to build the “Black Bottle” railroad to his ironworks. On each field trip to point out the proposed route, he passed a whiskey flask—the black bottle— and that’s where the name came from. The railroad was eventually built but long after the Irondale Furnace closed in 1882.

The Count’s daughter later sold 30 acres of land near the furnace to a New Yorker named Den Curtis. Curtis bought the land for its spring—probably the spring that fed the millrace. He sold the “Monacea Springs Water” to east coast cities and was reported in 1935 to have been very successful.

There’s a bit of irony here—maybe the Cheat Mountains’ free-flowing, natural springs are worth more than the iron ore!

SOURCES:

• Early Iron Industry in the Cheat Mountains, by James R. Moreland. WV History, Vol. 8

• The Early Cheat Mountain Ironworks, by James R. Moreland, 1940. Monongalia Historical Society.

• The History of West Virginia, Old and New, Vol. 1, Chapter XI; by James Morton Callahan, 1923.

• Fayette County Furnaces, http://home.earthlink.net/~r2parks/Fay.html

• Jarrett Genealogy, http://pages.sbcglobal.net/clocks/gene.html

• American Iron, 1607-1900, by Robert B. Gordon, 1996. Johns Hopkins University Press.

• WV Geological Survey, Vol. IV, Chap. V, 1909

• The Virginias: A Mining, Industrial and Scientific Journal, Vol. V, p. 174.  Edited by Jed. Hotchkiss, Staunton, VA.  November 1884.

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