Howard Iron Works (Centre County)

 

 Pennsylvania's industrial history is a diverse and fascinating topic. For many of us when we think about industry in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh and its "Rivers of Steel" come to mind. However Centre County has its own unique industrial heritage to celebrate. The county's "Valleys of Iron," fed the fires of nineteen iron furnaces and forges for well over a century, no doubt contributing to the economic foundation that made the region what it is today. A remnant of this forgotten industrial past lies hidden,   waiting to have its story told.

  So what is an iron furnace?  It's helpful to think of these structures as large monolithic ovens. Instead of baking ingredients, raw materials are mixed and heated to create iron. To begin the process, the furnace is pre-heated during a process called "blowing in." Once hot, measured amounts of charcoal, limestone, and iron ore were dumped inside the furnace from the top. Air was then forced inside to fan the flames and raise the temperature inside to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. 

As the mixture is heated, molten iron flowed down to the base of the chimney called the crucible. When the process was complete, the furnace was then tapped and the liquid iron flowed out into molds. This is where the term "pig iron" originates. The molds the iron flowed into were comprised of larger central molds with smaller bar molds radiating out from them, a pattern that resembled piglets nursing from their mother.

A diagram of a charcoal iron furnace
Image Retrieved From: https://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-DFC

Iron production in the Centre County commenced with the construction of Centre Furnace in 1791 by Samuel Miles and John Patton, in what is today State College. The county's rich timber and mineral wealth would enable the iron industry to thrive. As a national demand for iron during the first decades of the 19th Century soared, furnaces in Pennsylvania contributed to half of all iron manufactured domestically.      

 

Greenwood Furnace Stack 2 built in 1864 in Huntingdon County
Author's Photo

To capitalize on the economic boom of the era, Harris, Thomas & Company erected an iron furnace at Howard in Bald Eagle Valley in 1830. Howard's geographic location made it well suited to support iron production. Lick Run, a stream that flows through the Howard Gap into Bald Eagle Creek, could be utilized to power machinery. Raw materials including timber, ore, and limestone were also in close proximity.   

 From the start, the endeavor proved to be unique. Rather than build a furnace to burn charcoal, as was the norm for region during this era,  the company opted to use coke, a fuel derived from removing the the impurities from coal. Charcoal had been the tried and true fuel for American iron furnaces for decades. However, European iron masters had successfully utilized coke at the same time which burned hotter than charcoal. However the availability of coal for coke in Pennsylvania was limited by the technology of the time. It was simply more economical to use charcoal, as it was available wherever there was timber. How the company supplied coke for this furnace is unknown.   

Just three years later in 1833, the company erected a second furnace designed to burn the more conventional charcoal. Though this would enable the company to double the output of iron, it also complicated the process by having two furnaces burning two different fuels. Fortunately, Bald Eagle Mountain's forested slopes possessed the copious amounts of timber needed to manufacture charcoal. 

Charcoal, like coke, burns hotter than its host material. By burning wood in the presence of limited oxygen, impurities in the wood are removed. leaving a fuel that burns much more intense. This process began with teams of colliers preparing charcoal hearths throughout the tract. These flat circular areas 30-40 feet in diameter served as a workspace for the charcoaling process.

With the hearths prepared, trees were felled and bucked into smaller logs. Colliers stacked these logs into a mound, leaving space for an internal chimney. On average, a pile consisted of approximately 30 cords of wood. The entire pile was then covered in dirt to seal the wood from the surrounding air. Kindling was then dumped down the chimney, followed by hot coals from a fire. A cap was then placed over the chimney to seal the mound.    

Using LiDAR imaging, these hearths are still evident over a century later
Each circle represents a hearth
Author's Creation

 Charcoal mounds required a constant vigil.  Let too much oxygen inside and the wood was turn to ash. Too little oxygen would not carbonize the wood. Each team of colliers oversaw several hearths at one time. Oftentimes, primitive huts were built by the colliers out in the woods so as to be close to the hearths. 

Construction of a charcoal mound

After smoldering about two-weeks, much of the pile had been converted into charcoal. Colliers raked the piles apart and loaded the charcoal onto wagons to take down to the furnace. Each pile produced roughly 1,100 bushels of charcoal, enough to keep a furnace operating for about two days time. 

 On Bald Eagle Mountain, there still exists a network of charcoal hearths connected by wagon roads. Even over a century later, little vegetation will grow in the blackened soil of the hearths. 

A charcoal hearth on Bald Eagle Mountain
Author's Photo

 As for iron ore, mines in  Howard, Walker, and Marion townships supplied the operation with this precious raw material. One of these mining operations took place in the vicinity of the charcoal hearths on Bald Eagle Mountain. These deposits were high on the mountain slope, over halfway to the crest. When this mine was opened is unknown, however it was prior to 1852 when it was examined by state geologist, Professor Henry Darwin Rogers. When written about again in 1883, it was said to have been "long since abandoned." 

A chunk of iron ore up on the mountain
Author's Photo

A large trench gouged out of the mountain to extract ore
Author's Photo

    

An ore nest on Bald Eagle Mountain
Author's Photo

The mines atop the mountain can still be seen today. At several locations, large quantities of material have been carved out of the slope. At one site, significantly colder air emanates through openings in the rock, possibly indicating a shaft once existed here but has since collapsed. Also nearby are several "nests," relatively shallow pits dug to reach ore near the surface or probe for deposits. It's amazing to think that all of this was accomplished with picks, shovels, and sweat. 

The possible collapsed shaft site
Author's Photo

Limestone was the final key material. Inside a furnace, limestone acts as a flux to separate iron from impurities in the ore that are later drawn off. One known source of limestone for the furnaces was Ertley's quarry in nearby Jacksonville along what is now Slaughterhouse Road. 

This readily available supply of raw materials helped to pave the early successes of the operation. To increase the marketability of their product, a rolling mill and forge were added in 1840 just east of the furnaces. Their purpose was to make the iron stronger and more malleable, thus increasing its industrial and financial value.

Pig iron from the furnace is brittle and cracks easily, traits that render it useless in this raw form. 

By heating and hammering the pig iron in a forge, it becomes wrought iron, a more workable form of metal. Bars of wrought iron were then processed through the rolling mill which further refined and shaped the iron into marketable dimensions. 

Transporting the finished iron was initially done by wagon, although the completion of the Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Navigational Canal in 1840, gave the furnace a more efficient outlet to both local and distant markets. Canal boats pulled by horses eventually yielded to the iron horses of the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad in 1865.  

Howard Iron Works sometime after 1865, as the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad is present. The top of Stack #2 can be seen to the left.

The iron works would change hands frequently throughout the first several decades. In 1872, the works were purchased by Bernard Lauth, who is without a doubt the most influential figure in this endeavor. Born in France in 1820, Lauth later emigrated to Pittsburgh with his family.

Bernard Lauth
Image Retrieved From: John Blair Linn's History of Centre and Clinton Counties

In 1852, Lauth, together with Benjamin Franklin Jones, established the American Iron Company in Pittsburgh. While there, Lauth perfected his new method of rolling cold iron, a process that would pave the way for the steel industry. Lauth's interest was later bought out by James Laughlin. Now Jones & Laughlin, the firm would continue to produce iron, and later steel, well into the 1980's. 

With money in hand, Bernard Lauth returned to Europe where he continued to perfect technology and methods within the iron industry. He returned to Pennsylvania after several years, settling in the Reading area and becoming involved in the iron industry there. In 1872, he joined the partnership that purchased Howard Furnace. 

Bernard Lauth would have his work cut out for him at Howard; the works were described as "dilapidated" by historian John Blair Linn. Lauth immediately began improvements on the furnaces, iron works, and ore banks. Through his determination and expertise, Howard Iron Works became a modern and prosperous enterprise employing over 200 people.

1874 map of Howard showing the furnace and iron works

As part of this refurbishment, Lauth set about reactivating the original furnace stack that had been built in 1830, which was reported as being dormant for some time. Repairs to the physical structure and the method of blast were undertaken, converting the stack to burn charcoal. By February 1880, repairs were complete, the stack was relit, and christened "Elizabeth." This name may very well honor Elizabeth Wilhelm, who was Bernard's wife. For reasons unclear, this stack was later dismantled in 1883, leaving just the second stack.

Lauth's improvements no doubt extended the life of Howard Furnace and Iron Works. By the later half of the 19th Century, many of these smaller iron works in Centre County had ceased operations. However, even these improvements could not delay the inevitable. Technological advancements within the industry and the rise of steel made small independent operations uneconomical. From analyzing newspaper reports, it appears that business at Howard during this era was progressing in fits and starts, with the works operating only when sufficient orders were placed. 

According to the Directory of Iron and Steel Works in the United States published in 1887, the Howard works had sat idle since 1884. In 1887, Bernard Lauth sold a significant portion of his interests to Messrs. Bancroft, Baker & Co. of Chicago, Illinois, who reorganized it as the Howard Rolling Mill & Furnace Company. What was hoped to be a new breath of prosperity for the iron works was soon deflated and the new company foundered just one year later. In an effort to recoup some of their investment, the company attempted to remove equipment from the iron works to be shipped back to Illinois. Learning of this plan, General Simon Cameron reportedly filed a writ of injunction through the Centre County sheriff  to cease this activity.   

In August of 1888, the iron works was put up for sheriff's sale. A description of the works was printed as follows, "wire mill, bar mill, muck bar mill, machine shop, rolling mill with charcoal furnace, fifteen  tenement houses, store house, private dwelling, and ore and timber lands in Howard, Marion, and Walker townships with washing machinery aggregating 1,155 acres."  By 1889, the furnace was listed as abandoned by the Directory of Iron and Steel Works of the United States and Canada.

Though furnace operations would never resume, the remaining iron works would see continued use into the early 1900's. By 1890, the Jenkins Iron and Tool Company was operating the rolling mill to produce shovels rakes, and other iron implements. Howard Iron and Tool Company was formed in 1904 to take over operations. It did so until about 1913, bringing iron production in Howard to a close after over 80 years.  

Bernard Lauth, who no doubt saved the furnace operation from a premature demise, passed away in 1894 after an extended illness; he was 73. Lauth was buried in the family cemetery that overlooked the iron works that he committed so much time and energy towards. 

The remains of Stack #2 at an unknown date. This was most likely taken from the nearby Pennsylvania Railroad tracks

Even after over a century, the site of Howard Furnace still has stories to tell. Hidden amongst a thick entanglement of brush and briars is a partially melted mass of moss covered stones. It appears this stonework was once circular, however only a small fraction remains. The dirt around it is jet black, a trademark of being subjected to intense heat  Based on its location and the aforementioned stonework, this is most likely the remains of Stack #2's crucible.  

The remains of Stack #2's crucible and hearth stone
Author's Photo

Another view of the crucible
Author's Photo

The crucible was the very bottom of the stack where the heat was most intense. Molten iron would accumulate here prior to being drawn off. Heat in this portion of the stack was intense enough to melt the stone lining which was replaced periodically during normal operations. Underneath the crucible appears the remnants of the hearth stone, a sandstone block that formed the floor of the furnace.  

The crucible and hearth stone of Greenwood Furnace No.2, built in 1860 in Huntingdon County
Author's Photo

Scattered around the site are large blocks of stone, some of which are stacked up against the hillside. They are presumably what made up the outer stack. On the hillside above the hearth is a stonework abutment. This most likely supported the loading ramp to charge the furnace with ore, charcoal, and limestone.

Large blocks of stone lie around the site
Author's Photo

    

Looking back at the crucible from where iron would have flowed into molds
Author's Photo

The stonework abutment above the ruins
Author's Photo

Additional remnants of the operation include the foundations of several nearby tenement houses that would have housed the ironworkers. When they were constructed is unknown, however they do appear on the 1874 map. The site of the rolling mill, forge, and iron works has been lost to the waters of FJ Sayers Reservoir. 

A tenement house foundation
Author's Photo

Looking at what remains, it can be a challenge to imagine what this operation looked like at its peak. Thankfully, we don't have to go too far to catch a glimpse into the past. Eagle Iron Works, located just six miles west of Howard, was in operation from 1810-1922 and represents the end of iron production in Centre County. The furnace, along with many other original and replica buildings, have been preserved by the Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission which operates the site as Curtin Village. Taking one of their guided tours is perhaps the best way to see firsthand what life was like at one of the many local iron works whose fires forged a foundation of prosperity for the region.     

Information Retrieved From:

(1879, May 22) Howard iron works. Centre Democrat. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. Retrieved from:https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn84009409/1879-05-22/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Furnace+furnace+Howard

1880, February 19). Howard iron works- second furnace in blast. Centre Democrat. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. Retrieved from:https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn84009409/1880-02-19/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Howard+Iron+Work

(1887, December 1). Centre Reporter. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. Retrieved from:https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83032058/1887-12-01/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Howard+Mill+Rolling

(1888, August 2). Simon cameron serves an injunction. Centre Reporter. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. Retrieved from: https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83032058/1888-08-02/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Howard+Iron+Works

(1888, August 24). Local and personal. The Cambria Freeman. Library of Congress. Retrieved from:https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83032041/1888-08-24/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1789&index=16&rows=20&words=Howard+Iron+Works+works&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=Pennsylvania&date2=1963&proxtext=Howard+Iron+Works+&y=11&x=4&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

(1894, June 29) A noted investor is dead. Democratic Watchman. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. Retrieved from:https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031981/1894-06-29/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Howard+Iron+Works

(1912, February 8). Howard. Centre Democrat. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. Retrieved from:https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn84009409/1912-02-08/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Howard+Iron+Works

American Iron and Steel Association. (1892).Directory of iron and steel works of the united states and canada. (11) Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Directory_of_Iron_and_Steel_Works_of_the/kjQKAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=howard+furnace+%2B+stack+%2B+centre+county&pg=PA73&printsec=frontcover

 D'Invilliers, E., Lesley, J. The geology of centre county. (60). Retrieved from:https://books.google.com/books?id=kjQKAAAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA73&dq=howard+furnace+%2B+stack+%2B+centre+county&hl=en#v=onepage&q=howard%20furnace%20%2B%20stack%20%2B%20centre%20county&f=false

Rogers, H. (1868). The geology of pennsylvania.(1) D. Van Norstrand. Retrieved from:https://books.google.com/books?id=4b08fLizohEC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA537&dq=ore+%2B+howard+%2B+bald+eagle+mountain&hl=en#v=onepage&q=ore%20%2B%20howard%20%2B%20bald%20eagle%20mountain&f=false

Lesley, J. (1866.).Iron manufacturer's guide to the furnaces, forges and rolling mills of the united states. John Wiley Publisher. Retrieved from:https://books.google.com/books?id=HlHU4sYiRTMC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA627&dq=ore+%2B+howard+%2B+bald+eagle+mountain&hl=en#v=onepage&q=ore%20%2B%20howard%20%2B%20bald%20eagle%20mountain&f=false

Linn, J. (1883). History of centre and clinton counties. J.P. Lippencott & Co. Retrieved from:

https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUt-8IH2Y9wC&pg=PA330&dq=Howard+Iron+Works+Centre+County&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9tbq5ltvcAhURSa0KHf9JAUIQ6AEIWTAJ#v=onepage&q=Howard%20Iron%20Works%20Centre%20County&f=false

Pennsylvania Bureau of Industrial Statistics. (1880).Blast furnaces. Annual Report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs (8). Retrieved from:https://books.google.com/books?id=oD48AQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA43&dq=howard+iron+works+%2B+centre+county++%2B+coke&hl=en#v=onepage&q=howard%20iron%20works%20%2B%20centre%20county%20%20%2B%20coke&f=false

Williams, H. (1941, January 23). Centre county's ore mines. Centre Democrat. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. Retrieved from:https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn84009409/1941-01-23/ed-1/seq-11/#words=Furnace+Howard

WITF Inc. (2023). The pennsylvania iron industry: furnace and forge in america. Explore PA History. Retrieved from:https://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=1-9-17