At this time, King & Shoenberger were producing about one hundred and twenty-five tons of pig metal per week, of a market value of about $3,000. They had an agent in Pittsburg and a metal yard, to which they shipped it by the Pennsylvania canal, but on account of its brittleness they had some difficulty in selling it or exchanging it for dry goods and groceries.

By itself it did not make good bar iron, but when mixed with Juniata or Hanging Rock pig, or other softer metals, in proportion of one-fourth Cambria, it made the best iron in the market, especially for nails; but the skill for making proper mixtures was not as perfect then as now, nor was it so scientifically looked after.

The local managers of the several furnaces in the order of their service, were: Cambria, John Galbreath, George Long and James Cooper; Benscreek, Samuel Bracken and William McCormick; Blacklick, John Mathiott and David F. Gordon; Millcreek, John Bell, Gordon Clifford, John Stewart and W. L. Shryock.

After an abandonment of about forty six years, the furnace at Millcreek was the only one that could be recognized as ever having been used. It stood about four miles from Johnstown, on the westerly side, and not far from the source of the Millcreek, a beautiful mountain rivulet.

The old stack was recently torn down. In construction it was thirty feet square at the base, and tapering to a height of forty-five feet, the inside was shaped something like an egg, with the slender part at the top. It rested on the bosh, so that the raw material would drop as it was consumed. Many of the stones were two feet square and four feet in length. Some of the fire-bricks which rested on the bosh had been taken out to a height of five feet, but from there to the top of the stack they seemed to be as perfect when torn down as when put in place. The inside of the bosh was about four feet square. The tuyere, where the engine was located, was on the northerly side of the stack, and the casting house, 30 by 40 feet, was on the easterly side. The arch on the easterly side was about twelve feet wide, while those on the northerly and southerly sides were about eight feet.

On the westerly side was the bridge house, and above it on the hillside were the charcoal beds. Charcoal as fuel for furnaces was abandoned for coke forty years ago, therefore a charcoal kiln is a matter of interest. These beds seem to have

been about twenty-five or thirty feet square. Logs of wood of almost any variety were placed end to end, like a V inverted, with a draft and a vent to permit combustion for a while, after which the air would be excluded by covering the wood with

earth. After several hours' smouldering the covering would be removed, and the charcoal, when properly treated, would consist of carbon mixed with inorganic ash.

The Benscreek Furnace has been entirely obliterated, and nothing remains of it except the level ground on the hillside, to

mark where the stack stood. A small portion of the Cambria Furnace stack remains.

At the time the erection of the Cambria rolling mill was begun, the projectors also commenced to build four coke furnaces at a point below the mill, but they were completed by Wood, Morrell & Co.

"We give the product of two of the Cambria Iron Company's Furnaces last week, as follows:

Furnace No. 2 made 188 tons, 800, and 2 quarters.

"Furnace No. 3 made 201 tons, 200.

"Now, that's what we call making iron by the wholesale. And they could have made more at least No. 2 would have yielded as much as the other one, but she was with smaller sized tuyeres than No. 3, and so did not come up to her full capacity. We give this as a specimen of what the Cambria Company's furnaces have done, and we have the authority of Thomas M. Collins, the founder, to challenge any establishment in the State, or the world, of the same size, to equal it. When that is done, we will do better. Will our Hollidaysburg neighbors accept the banter?"-Tribune, April 22, 1857.

Messrs. King & Shoenberger had great confidence in their plant and had a large amount of money invested; their output was satisfactory; they had a large number of men employed; they believed the raw materials were ample for future operations; and, notwithstanding the partial embargo placed on the Cambria pig metal by the iron men of Pittsburg, they looked for another market. In after years their judgment was confirmed, and the stone which had been rejected became the pillar of the American iron rail market on account of its hardness. The rails made by the Cambria Iron Company led in an open market, and on one occasion J. Edgar Thomson, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, said he always preferred them, especially where heavy hauls were made or on curves, as they were much harder and, more nearly than any other, approached the English steel rail, which was then selling at $200 per ton.

In 1893 a gentleman of this city was traveling on the Queen and Crescent line, en route to Birmingham, Alabama, when, in passing over a particularly smooth piece of track, the conductor took care to inform him that they were running on iron rails made by the Cambria Iron Company in 1867.

About 1850 the opening up of the great West to civilization began, and from then to 1860 may be considered as the first

decade of railroad building in this country. During the earlier part of this period, also, there arose a considerable demand for iron kettles to be used in making sugar and molasses on the plantations of Louisiana. With these two different channels opening up for the disposal of their product, a question as to what was the best thing to do arose in the minds of Messrs. King and Shoenberger. Dr. Shoenberger advocated the erection of a foundry in Johnstown by which to turn their metal into iron kettles, while Mr. King had faith in it for railroad bars. The question required and received due consideration, and in February, 1852, they agreed to build a rail mill, and Mr. King at once started East to organize a company.

At Boston and New York he met parties who were interested in the iron business, and it was agreed between them that the Cambria Iron Company should be organized with a capital of $1,000,000. Messrs. King and Shoenberger were to put in their twenty-five thousand acres of land and four furnaces, with all the tools, teams, tracks and appliances, at a valuation of $300,000, and were to receive $100,000 in stock and $200,000 in cash. The Boston parties, who were Daniel Wild and John Hartshorn, were to provide the necessary cash in six months.

At the expiration of six months the Boston parties had failed to meet their obligations in the enterprise. A further extension of six months was given them, at the end of which, they and those interested in the project residing in New York, united and agreed to take $300,000 as their portion of the stock. Simeon Draper became security for this payment. Thereupon a permanent organization was effected by electing Dr. Peter Shoenberger, president; Simeon Draper, treasurer; George W. Hodges, of New York, secretary, and George S. King, manager. At this organization King & Shoenberger changed their subscription to $200,000 in stock and $100,000 in cash.

The company issued $500,000 in bonds, but they were not negotiated. There had been no investment of cash or its equivalent, except what King & Shoenberger had contributed in property.

The company was incorporated under the General Act of Assembly relating to manufacturing industries, and a supplement. When it became financially involved through the failure of the eastern parties to perform their part of the contract, the General Assembly passed the following act, which was approved by Governor Bigler February 27, 1854:

"AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE CAMBRIA STEEL COMPANY. "WHEREAS, The Cambria Iron Company, incorporated under the laws of this Commonwealth, have been induced by large subscriptions to the capital stock of the Company to contract debts to mechanics, laborers and others, in the construction of their works, and which stock the Company have been obliged to take back; and

"WHEREAS, At a meeting of the stockholders of said Company it was resolved, in order to pay said debts and complete the works of said Company, to sell and dispose of said stock and to issue and sell five hundred thousand dollars of the bonds of said Company, secured by a first mortgage on the entire real estate of said Company, and convertible, at the option of the holders thereof, into the common stock of said Company; therefore

"Be it enacted, etc., That the aforesaid acts and proceedings. of said Company are hereby approved, and the Directors thereof are authorized to sell and transfer the stock and bonds of said Company on the best terms they can procure for the general interests of said Company, and that the sale of such bonds or stock at less than the par value of the same, or an agreement to pay a larger rate of interest than six per cent per annum shall not be deemed usurious, or in any manner invalidate any contract authorized to be made by this act.

"SECTION 2. That the holders of the bonds aforesaid, before and after their conversion into the common stock of said Company, be entitled, for every twelve dollars and one-half paid, to the same privileges of voting, according to the scale of votes, as the stockholders of said Company are now entitled by law."

Notwithstanding the unfortunate financial complications, the erection of the rolling mill and the four coke furnaces was commenced in February, 1853, and just at that time a trust agent for the Ohio & Toledo railroad appeared in New York to purchase rails to finish the road. He had no money, but he had bonds of the company worth $200,000, which he was willing to exchange for railroad bars. Mr. Draper agreed to take the bonds and deliver the rails at $85 per ton, which terms were accepted. This was before the mill was completed. The bonds. were sold and the order given to the Cambria Iron Company at $55 per ton.

The market value of rails was about $80, but the order was so large and the Cambria Iron Company so eager to get it that with this combination they furnished the rails, and it is a fact worthy of note that the profits of this order was the only money that went into the original rolling mill, as Simeon Draper, who had secured the subscription of $300,000, had failed.