CHAPTER XVIII. CAMBRIA STEEL COMPANY-ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE PRESENT GREAT CORPORATION. The Cambria Steel Company, formerly the Cambria Iron Company, the leading manufacturing industry in the city of Johnstown, and which has been such since 1853, is of so great importance, that its early history and a description of the manner in which it was originated, should be recorded. The Pennsylvania system of transportation, consisting in part of the canal from Johnstown to Pittsburg and the Old Portage railroad over the mountains from Johnstown to Hollidaysburg, was completed and ready for business in 1834. Its opening was a national event, and it seemed probable that business would center around Johnstown. In 1833, George Shryock King, then in the twenty-fourth year of his age, was a merchant in Mercersburg, Franklin county, and his attention was drawn to Johnstown by the public works. In that year he came here, looked over the situation, and, concluding it was going to be a better place for business than Mercersburg, the following year transferred his stock of merchandise to Johnstown. He bought the lot on the northeast corner of Main and Franklin streets, which then extended up Main street so as to include the Hamilton lot, and erected a store building on the Hamilton portion, at the same time purchasing for a residence the lot later occupied by Dr. S. M. Swan, and several other lots from Abraham Morrison. Mr. King opened his store and continued in business until 1840, when he sold out to John K. and William L. Shryock, with the intention of going to Pittsburg and engaging in the wholesale dry-goods trade but the effect of the panic of 1837 was so serious that it changed his course. This was the real beginning of the Cambria Iron Company. This panic was the same as all other business stagnations, bringing misery until revival came, and of course there was a scarcity of money as a medium of exchange. It is stated that there was actually no money here. Probably two thousand people dwelt in the community, and Mr. King came to the conclusion that if some means were devised by which the natural products of the vicin ity could be taken to Pittsburg, he could there exchange them for groceries, dry goods, and other articles, besides furnishing employment to a large number of men here. He believed there was sufficient iron ore in the hills around Johnstown to carry out his idea of an exchange in that direction. A little before this time David Stewart and Samuel Kennedy were carrying on a foundry on the "Island," but, owing to the panic, the firm had dissolved. Mr. King made known his views to Mr. Stewart, a practical foundryman, who favorably considered the proposition, and the two started prospecting for iron ore in all the hills around Johnstown. The search was continued for a long time before a vein of sufficient size was discovered to warrant the building of a furnace. In 1840 a crop of ore was found on the John Seigh farm on the Laurel run, above the "Bucket" factory, now in West Taylor township, and to ascertain the thickness and quality of the ore, they sank a shaft thirty-seven feet, and found a fifteeninch seam. Several tons of ore were taken out and hauled over Vol. I-26 ! the Laurel Hill to the Ross Furnace, in Westmoreland county, to be made into pig metal, for the purpose of testing the quality. The metal was taken to a forge on the Juniata river, in Blair county, and proved very good bar iron, excepting that it was excessively hard or brittle. But the prospectors had confidence in the ore and purchased from Mr. Seigh the land on which their first find was located. The terms for acquiring ore and limestone for Ben's Creek Furnace were as follows: "We, the undersigned land owners in the Township of Conemaugh and County of Somerset on the Ben's Creek and its waters, do hereby convenant and agree that Geo. S. King of Johnstown, and such other persons as may join with him in Company, shall erect a Furnace on said Ben's Creek for the purpose of making Iron Castings, etc., that in such case, We, the undersigned do hereby grant to him and them the privilege of using any Iron ore and Limestone that can or may be found on the Land of all or any of the undersigned, and do hereby grant to him and them the privilege of making immediate examination and search for the same; and shall pay to the person or persons from whose land the ore shall be taken ten dollars a year in advance from the time they commence hauling the same for use, so long as they may continue to haul and use the same; provided always, nevertheless that whatever damage may accrue to the owners of the lands where said ore may be found in raising and hauling the same, by roads, lanes or other wise, the same shall be paid for to the owner of said land by the person or persons using said ore. "Witness our hands this March, 1841. "William McCoy by his attorney in fact, Abraham Morrison, grants the above privilege on three tracts, including the forks of Ben's Creek for the names of John Clark, Stephen Clark and James Dalton. Garit Ream." Mr. King and Mr. Stewart formed a partnership under the firm name of George S. King & Co., and built the Cambria Furnace, on the Seigh tract, which was finished and blown in in 1842, and was the first furnace in this county. They shipped the pig metal to Pittsburg, exchanging it for dry goods, etc., and continued the store formerly owned by Mr. King. In 1843, Mr. King finding a better vein of ore in Benshoff's Hill, operated it, hauling the ore to the canal, transporting it to the Bucket factory, and then hauling it up to Cambria Furnace. The vein of ore on the upper and lower sides of Hinckston's run was the best in quantity and quality of all those about Johnstown, and was mined for some years after the Cambria Iron Company, under the present organization, had control of it. The vein passed through the lands of Peter Levergood, David Prosser, and Judge John Murray, up to East Conemaugh. The ore mines on the Millcreek were opened in 1843 or 1844. The Prosser Mine was opened by David Prosser, on Prospect Hill, about 1847, and was subsequently purchased by the Cambria Iron Company. About 1843 Dr. Shoenberger, of Pittsburg, bought the interest of David Stewart in the Cambria Furnace and store for $6,000, and on September 24, 1844, Dr. Peter Shoenberger, then of Bedford, George S. King, and John K. and William L. Shryock, of Johnstown, entered into a partnership, to operate the furnaces then erected; the first two partners to have one-third interest each, and the remaining third to be a joint Shryock interest. The firm then owned about 10,300 acres of land in Cambria and Somerset counties. On February 9, 1846, the Messrs. Shryock sold their interests therein to King and Shoenberger for $9,000. After selling to Shoenberger, Mr. Stewart built the Blacklick Furnace, situated on the Blacklick creek, in Indiana county, about three or four miles in a northeasterly direction from Armagh. Mr. Stewart built a road from his furnace to Armagh, and hauled his pig metal to Nineveh, the shipping point by canal. He was not successful at the Blacklick Furnace, and in 1847 King & Shoenberger bought it, and formed a new partnership with Michael Berry, for the purpose of operating it; Berry was to have a one-fourth interest and the remainder to be joint between Shoenberger and King. In 1845-6 King & Shoenberger, with John Bell, of Indiana county, under the firm name of John Bell & Co., built the Millcreek Furnace. The same parties, under the firm name of George S. King & Co., built the Benscreek Furnace, which in a short time was operated under the name of King & Shoenberger. Mr. Bell was a general contractor and did not remain in the firm very long. Selling his interest therein to the other partners, he left Johnstown and went to California, becoming one of the "Forty-niners." The firm was then operating four charcoal furnaces— Cambria, Benscreek, Millcreek, and Blacklick-in this vicinity, and a block coal furnace which they had built at Sharon, Mercer county. On July 10, 1850, Mr. King sold his interest in the Benscreek furnace to Dr. Shoenberger, and on September 17, 1852, sold him his one-fourth interest in the Sharon furnace. sales did not affect the other partnership property. These No coke was made here in those days, and it was necessary to use charcoal in the furnaces; consequently a large amount of timber land was required, which the firm owned to the extent of about twenty-five thousand acres. The machinery for making a blast was very crude and to bank a furnace was a dangerous undertaking, in consequence of which it was kept going day and night to prevent a "chill." Subsequently improved appliances were introduced by which the matter could be safely controlled and operation suspended temporarily. A furnace in Blair county was the first to introduce the new machinery which permitted work to cease on Sundays, consequently to this day the place is called "Sabbath Rest." On February 14, 1847, the partners in Mill Creek and Bens Creek furnaces were George S. King, P. Shoenberger and John Bell. They made the following list of lands belonging to these furnaces, located in Conemaugh townships of both Somerset and Cambria counties: "2 tracts purchased of Oliver Woods and .. 1 tract of David Shrock 3 tracts of David T. Storm... 1 tract warranted in name of J. Bell.... 1 tract of Jonas Yodder 2 tracts of William R. Thompson. 1 tract of John Wertz. 811 acres. 150 .1,320 41 21812 819 271 Each of these furnaces had an output of from four to five tons of pig metal per day, the market value of which was from $22 to $25 per ton in Pittsburg. Sometimes it was sold as low as $17 and at other times bringing $30, but its value was always about twelve per cent less than other metals on account of its hardness, which will be referred to in detail hereafter. |