Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-17T17:00:58.642Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Geography, Timing, and Technology: A GIS-Based Analysis of Pennsylvania's Iron Industry, 1825–1875

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2006

ANNE KELLY KNOWLES
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA. E-mail: aknowles@middlebury.edu.
RICHARD G. HEALEY
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace, Portsmouth PO1 3HE, UK. E-mail: Richard.Healey@port.ac.uk.

Abstract

This article examines key questions about the development of Pennsylvania's mid-nineteenth-century iron industry. The analysis is based on new data and exhaustive examination of previously underutilized sources within the framework of a geographic information system (GIS). Hypotheses are tested on the timing of adoption of mineral-fuel technologies across the state; the temporal relationships between investment in ironworks, business cycles, and tariff policy; the substitutability of different types and qualities of iron; how transport costs affected iron prices; and the geographical segmentation of iron markets in the antebellum period. The findings reveal complex and dynamic patterns of regional economic development.

Type
ARTICLES
Copyright
© 2006 The Economic History Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen Robert C. (1977): “The Peculiar Productivity History of American Blast Furnaces, 1840–1913.” This Journal 37, no. 3. 60533.Google Scholar
American Iron and Steel Association. Directories of the Iron and Steel Works of the United States (title varies). Philadelphia: AISA, 18731894.
Baer Christopher T. 1981. Canals and Railroads of the Mid-Atlantic States, 1800–1860, general eds. Glenn Porter and William H. Mulligan, Jr., cartographers Marley E. Amstutz and Anne E. Webster. Regional Economic History Research Center, Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation
(from 1860). Bulletin of the American Iron Association (1856–1859) and Bulletin of the American Iron and Steel Association
Cooper Hewitt & Company Papers Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Davis Aaron J., ed. 1887. History of Clarion County. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason and Co.
(2003). Ell Paul S., and Ian N. Gregory, guest eds. History and Computing 13
ESRI, Data & Maps CD, 2003.
Evans Chris, and Göran Rydén, eds. 2005. The Industrial Revolution in Iron: The Impact of British Coal Technology in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate
Evans Chris, and Göran Rydén, 2005. “The Industrial Revolution in Iron: An Introduction.” In The Industrial Revolution in Iron: The Impact of British Coal Technology in Nineteenth-Century Europe, edited by Evans and Rydén, 114. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate,
Fishlow Albert. 1965. American Railroads and the Transformation of the Antebellum Economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Galer Gregory, Robert Gordon, and Frances Kemmish. (Dec. 1998): Connecticut's Ames Iron Works: Family, Community, Nature, and Innovation in an Enterprise of the Early American Republic. Transactions [of the] Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 54 pp. 83194.
George's Creek Coal and Iron Company Journal, 1837–1840, MS 2292, Maryland Historical Society.
Gordon Robert B. 1996. American Iron 1607–1900. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
Gregory Ian N. 2003. A Place in History: A Guide to Using GIS in Historical Research. Oxford: Oxbow Books
Healey Richard G., and Trem Stamp. (2000): “Historical GIS as a Foundation for the Analysis of Regional Economic Growth: Theoretical, Methodological and Practical Issues.” Social Science History 24, no. 3 575612.Google Scholar
Healey Richard G. The Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Industry 1860–1902: Economic Cycles, Business Decision-Making and Regional Dynamics. Scranton, PA: University of Scranton Press, in press.
Hunter Louis C. 1928. “A Study of the Iron Industry at Pittsburgh before 1860.” Ph.D. dissertation in history. Harvard University
Hunter Louis C. (Feb. 1929): “Influence of the Market upon Technique in the Iron Industry in Western Pennsylvania up to 1860.” Journal of Economic and Business History 24181.Google Scholar
Ironmasters' Convention. 1850. Documents Relating to the Manufacture of Iron in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: privately published
Knies Michael. 2001. Coal on the Lehigh, 1790–1827. Easton, PA: Canal History and Technology Press
Knowles Anne Kelly. 1997. Calvinists Incorporated: Welsh Immigrants on Ohio's Industrial Frontier. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Knowles Anne Kelly. (January 2001): “Labor, Race, and Technology in the Confederate Iron Industry.” Technology and Culture 42, no. 1 126.Google Scholar
Knowles Anne Kelly. (2005, in press). “‘The white hands 'damn them … won't stick’: Labor Scarcity and Spatial Discipline in the Antebellum Iron Industry.” Journal of Historical GeographyGoogle Scholar
(2005). Knowles Anne Kelly, ed., Emerging Trends in Historical GIS, theme issue of Historical Geography 33
Knowles Anne Kelly, ed. 2002. Past Time, Past Place: GIS for History. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press
(2000). Knowles Anne Kelly, ed. The Spatial Turn in Social Science History, theme issue of Social Science History 24, no. 3
Lehigh Crane Iron Company Papers, Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. Mss. #1198. Eleutherian Mills Historical Library.
Lesley J. Peter, ed. 1859. The Iron Manufacturer's Guide to the Furnaces, Forges, and Rolling Mills of the United States. New York: J. Wiley
Longley Paul A., Michael F. Goodchild, David J. Maguire, and David W. Rhind. 2001. Geographic Information Systems and Science. New York: Wiley
Lycoming Coal Company Collection, Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
McLane Report. 1833. Documents Relative to the Manufactures of the United States, reprint ed. New York: Burt Franklin, 1969, orig. ed.
Mould David H. 1994. Dividing Lines: Canals, Railroads, and Urban Rivalry in Ohio's Hocking Valley, 1825–1875. Dayton, OH: Wright State University Press
National Archives and Research Administration (NARA), Record Group (RG) 74, Records of the Bureau of Ordnance [Navy], Entry 20, Letters Received from Foundries, 1855–1861, Boxes 1–5.
Nevins Allan. Abram S. Hewitt. 1935. New York: Harper & Brothers
Ordnance Survey. 1851. “Merthyr Tydfil.” Scale 1:528, Glamorgan Record Office.
Paskoff Paul. 1983. Industrial Evolution: Organization, Structure, and Growth of the Pennsylvania Iron Industry, 1750–1860. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
Paullin Charles O. 1932. Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, edited by John K. Wright. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution, pub. no. 401
Pennsylvania Bureau of Industrial Statistics. Second Annual Report, 1873–4. Harrisburg: State Printer, 1874.
Pennsylvania Railroad, Annual Reports. Philadelphia: Crissy and Markley, 18521866.
Pennsylvania Railroad, Board of Managers Minutes, Pennsylvania State Archives.
Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access, county DEMS and state hydrography layers, downloaded from www.pasda.psu.edu, February-August 2005.
Reiser Catherine A. 1951. Pittsburgh's Commercial Development, 1800–1850. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Rydén Göran. 2005. “Responses to Coal Technology without Coal[:] Swedish Iron Making in the Nineteenth Century.” In The Industrial Revolution in Iron: The Impact of British Coal Technology in Nineteenth-Century Europe, edited by Chris Evans and Göran Rydén, 11128. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate
Schotter H. W. 1927. The Growth and Development of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane, and Scott
Shaefer Peter W. 1864. “Official Coal, Iron, Railroad, and Canal Map of Pennsylvania.” No scale. [Harrisburgh]: by authority of the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
Sharp Myron B., and William H. Thomas. (1965): “A Guide to the Old Stone Blast Furnaces in Western Pennsylvania,” pt. 4. The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 48, no. 4 36588.Google Scholar
Taussig Frederick W. 1931. The Tariff History of the United States, 8th reprint ed. New York: Augustus Kelley, 1967, orig. ed.
Temin Peter. 1964. Iron and Steel in Nineteenth-Century America: An Economic Inquiry. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
U.S. Population Census, 1840, 1850, 1860.
Walsh William D. 1975. The Diffusion of Technological Change in the Pennsylvania Pig Iron Industry, 1850–1870. New York: Arno Press
Warren Kenneth. 1973. The American Steel Industry 1850–1950: A Geographical Interpretation. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Warren Kenneth. 2001. Wealth, Waste and Alienation: Growth and Decline in the Connellsville Coke Industry. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press
Washlaski R. A. (2004) Pennsylvania Iron Furnace Sourcebook accessed via the Web at http://paironworks.rootsweb.com.
Williams Michael. 1989. Americans and Their Forests: A Historical Geography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Yearley Clifton K. 1961. Enterprise and Anthracite: Economics and Democracy in Schuylkill County, 1820–75. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press,
Supplementary material: Image

SE1840

SE1840

Download SE1840(Image)
Image 307 KB
Supplementary material: Image

SE1846

SE1846

Download SE1846(Image)
Image 279.7 KB
Supplementary material: Image

SE1852

SE1852

Download SE1852(Image)
Image 282.5 KB
Supplementary material: Image

SE1858

SE1858

Download SE1858(Image)
Image 292.5 KB
Supplementary material: Image

NW1840

NW1840

Download NW1840(Image)
Image 256.5 KB
Supplementary material: Image

NW1846

NW1846

Download NW1846(Image)
Image 297.4 KB
Supplementary material: Image

NW1852

NW1852

Download NW1852(Image)
Image 295 KB
Supplementary material: Image

NW1858

NW1858

Download NW1858(Image)
Image 335.1 KB