HEADER
Beers Historical Record
Volume I
Chapter 6
GEOLOGY AND NATURAL PRODUCTIONSThe first geological survey of Pennsylvania was made in 1836 by Professor
Henry D. Rogers, formerly State Geologist of New Jersey, under the act of that
year’s Legislature, when the sum of $6,400 was appropriated for the purpose.
This small sum was totally inadequate to cover the cost of a complete survey,
so a preliminary study of the strata of the State was made. In 1837 the
appropriation permitted the employment of eight assistants, and in 1841, the
funds being exhausted, the survey was suspended. It was not till 1851 that the
results of this survey were printed. After that date surveys were continued
until 1858, when the final results were published.In 1873 the production of coal, oil and gas had grown to such enormous
proportions in the State as to arouse an interest in the study of its
geological structure, and in 1874 the second State survey was authorized by
the Legislature, Prof. J. P. Lesley, being appointed State Geologist. With
ample appropriations, a competent corps of engineers and a well equipped
laboratory, the work proceeded to successful completion in 1895.When the first survey was made most of the country was still an unbroken
wilderness and the field men were to be congratulated on the good results they
achieved, in the face of the opposition of nature and man and with a meagre
appropriation.The results of the second survey were published as fast as they could be
prepared, and were of immense value to well drillers and coal miners all over
the State. Over 150 pamphlets and maps were printed by the State for free
distribution to those interested and a permanent Bureau of Mines was
established.In 1899 a topographic and geologic survey was begun of the State in
conjunction with the United States Geological Survey, and an accurate set of
topographical maps made of the section of the State in which Armstrong county
is located. This work is still being carried on to completion in the other
portions of the State. One of the prominent members of the State commission
appointed to supervise the work and consult with the directors was Hon. George
W. McNees of Kittanning, whose interest in the development of this county has
never flagged and who is probably one of the best informed men in this part of
the State in the geological formation and history of the county.GEOLOGICAL FORMATION
The State of Pennsylvania is entirely within the Appalachian Province. The
portion of this province in which Armstrong county lies is called the
Allegheny Plateau, from the river of that name. As will be found on reference
to the dictionary, a plateau is a level space of land surface. To the reader
it may seem strange to call the greatly broken and diversified surface of this
county a plateau. Yet it is in reality a level surface that has been cut up by
rivers and ice formations in what geologists call modern times–that is, not
earlier than the days of the mammoth and other strange creatures of the ages
before man was fully developed.Most of the coal and other strata of this county were deposited by
successive epochs of submergence and elevation of the entire surface, or
periods of vegetable growth and depression beneath the waters of the sea and
the floods from the melting glaciers. These produced layers of coal deposits
alternating with sand and shells of marine and fresh water animals. The
different lengths of the submergence and elevation are evidenced in the
varying thickness of the deposits. During the glacial times great sheets of
ice advanced from the polar cap as far south as Pittsburgh, leaving immense
deposits of gravel at their terminal moraines or lower ends. These deposits
were left upon the upper strata and form in many cases the top soil covering
near the rivers. The most important effect of these gravel deposits was to
totally change the course of the streams of this part of the State. The
rivers, choked with ice and gravel, became reversed in flow and cut new
channels for themselves, through the strata, southward. The Ohio was formerly
a tributary of the Grand river and flowed into Lake Erie near Ashtabula. The
Allegheny, Youghiogheny and The Monongahela were all tributaries of the Grand
and sent their waters northward. Not one of the rivers of the State was
connected with the Gulf of Mexico in any way before the glacial age, but all
were tributaries of the great lakes and the St. Lawrence. This is easy to be
seen by a view of the present map of the State, where the general flow of most
of the rivers is northward.A general elevation of the surface of this county caused the rivers to be
lifted above their beds for at least a hundred feet, and their flow was
necessarily more violent and destructive. To give an illustration of the
effect of water on the strata, the reader can glance at the surface of a
cultivated field after a severe rain. It will be seen that the soil is cut up
in a most erratic way by numerous gullies, most of them converging toward a
common center where the level is lowest. No apparent system is followed by
these watercourses, the slightest twig often causing a complete reversal of
the course of a rill. Such an effect, on an enormously magnified scale, was
the result of the elevation of our earth in ancient days. Added to this there
was a tremendous pressure exerted against the eastern side of the plateau,
causing the strata to rise in great folds or waves, and in some instances to
break and ride over one another. These folds are called “anticlines”
and the corresponding depressions of the strata, “synclines.” The
folds resemble the wrinkles of a sheet of paper pushed up from one end, and
their general direction is from northeast to southwest.Now imagine this rippled surface filled level with soil and gravel and
covered with water, and you will get an idea of the appearance of the
topography of Armstrong county before the rivers commenced to erode and cut up
its surface. Like the washing of a heavy rain the rivers followed no definite
course in their meanderings, but sought the easiest way to a lower level. Thus
the surface hills and valleys do not run in a parallel line with the
anticlines and synclines, but follow their own erratic paths to the large
rivers, the latter only being water-filled valleys.Through this wonderful course of nature in glacial days and thereafter we
are enabled to find the useful metals and coals near the surface of the earth,
and are not compelled to seek them at great depths with severe toil and
expense. As an example, it is found that the Pittsburgh coal in the
southwestern part of the State is only 100 feet above sea level, at Pittsburgh
it is 1,000 feet above and in Clarion county it rises to 2,000 feet. In
Armstrong county the Brookville coal is only seen on the tops of the highest
hills, in Clarion county it is exposed along the streams, and in Greene county
it is buried beneath the surface for 1,500 feet.In each of the sketches of the different townships are to be found short
descriptions of the local geological formations. In the sketches of the oil,
clay and limestone industries will be found matter of much geological interest
to the reader.CAVES AND ROCK FORMATIONS
Armstrong county is not supplied with many caves of natural formation, as
the deposits of limestone are of too little depth. Most of the caves of the
United States are in sections where the softer limestones predominate and are
of great thickness. Water is usually the cause of the caves in this class of
rock, and all of the limestone caverns show more or less evidence of this
origin in the stalactites that depend from the roof and the stalagmites which
arise from the floor. Long continued erosion of the stone and subsequent
deposition form strange and fantastic icicle-like pillars and projections, to
which the observer is prone to give names appropriate to their character and
appearance.The most interesting of these caves in this county is that discovered about
1868 on the farm of Adam Smith, in Red Bank township, near Pine run. It is not
of limestone formation, but is a probable fracture of the sandstone of that
locality. It is composed of a series of small apartments leading into each
other. The first is 8 feet high, 4 feet wide and 15 feet long, from which a
narrow opening extends into another one; thence into three others of about the
same size. From these extend three others, one to the right and the other to
the left. The walls are as smooth as if hewn by man, although there is no
evidence to support that theory.A short distance west of Kellersburg, in Madison township, in 1880, a cave
in the limestone formation was discovered by parties digging for ore. It was a
capacious cavern, of several rooms, from which many fine specimens of
stalactites and stalagmites were obtained.Another small cave existed for many years near Kittanning, on Cowanshannock
creek, but was only explored in 1913. It was found to consist of a room about
twenty feet high, with a sandy floor, bearing evidences of erosion from water.
Names of persons carved upon the walls were found, the dates running back to
1875. It is probably another of the sandstone fractures of this region.LIMESTONE DEPOSITS AND THEIR UTILIZATION
The most widespread use of limestone in the past in this county has been
for fertilization of the soils. For generations the farmers have burned it for
land dressing, a practice which is more prevalent in Pennsylvania than any
other State in the Union. Even in this day many small mounds of limestone can
be seen burning in the pastures in the summer and fall. As a top dressing it
is of much benefit to sour land.As shown in the history of the iron industry of this county the furnaces,
past and present were dependent on limestone for fluxing purposes. Many a
farmhouse of the early days was constructed from this useful mineral and some
of our modern structures are still made of it.One of the first uses of limestone in this county was for the making of
lime. Crude furnaces were built by the pioneers at convenient hillsides, and
the product entered into the construction of many of their homes and the early
public buildings. Probably the largest limekiln in the county was that
operated by the Reynolds in Rayburn township, near Kittanning. Here the stone
was quarried by “stripping.” Most of the output was shipped to
Pittsburgh. The kilns were operated from 1866 to 1889.Limestone is also used for paving blocks and building stone, one of the
earliest quarries being that of A. J. Dull in Manor township in 1871. Quarries
are now operated in Kiskiminetas, West Franklin and Brady’s Bend townships.
The largest quarry is that of the Pittsburgh Limestone Company, in the edge of
this and Butler county, where an immense deposit of Vanport limestone is
worked, the company operating eight miles of railroads under the cliffs , end
employing several hundred men. Here, as well as in other quarries of the
company, the product is being made into Portland cement.The use of the limestones of this county for the making of cement is
rapidly increasing as the methods of manufacture are improved. For this cement
a limestone of high grade is required. The magnesium carbonate must be less
than 5%, the amount of calcium carbonate should be at least 75%, and the ratio
of silica to alumina and iron 5 to 2. However, this ration can be obtained by
admixture of several grades of stone. Suitable grades are abundant in this
county, the Vanport limestone being the most valuable. The Upper Freeport is
the next in value.At the time of the construction of the Pennsylvania canal the limestones of
this county were used for the making of cement for the locks and aqueducts.
The Vanport limestone ranges from 6 to 20 feet in this county, and the Upper
Freeport from 6 feet to 28 feet in the quarry of A. J. Dull & Co. at Fort
Run, below Kittanning.According to the last geological survey the value of limestone quarried in
Pennsylvania in 1906 was nearly $5,000,000. Of this amount stone to the value
of $3,168,186 was quarried for fluxing purposes. For railroad ballast,
$602,128; for concrete, $486,682; for road making, $251,200. These figures are
probably 25% less than the output of 1913.SANDSTONE AND ITS USES
The sandstones of this county are not suitable for building purposes,
although many of our older schoolhouses, churches and dwellings were wholly or
partially made of this stone. It is too friable for the purpose, and does not
stand the ravages of time as well as the limestones. On the other hand, it is
suitable for rough masonry, such as cellars, foundations and bridge abutments.
Almost all of the bridges of the county are erected on piers of this stone.The Kittanning sandstone has been quarried for years along the Allegheny
and Kiskiminetas rivers. It is twenty feet thick near Mosgrove. The Freeport
sandstone is sometimes used, but is generally too irregular in deposits. Along
the Allegheny it sometimes reaches a thickness of seventy feet. The Conemaugh
sandstones are quarried for bridge piers and at Kittanning and Ford City are
reduced to sand for the grinding of plate glass.The value of the sandstones of the State in 1906 was almost $3,000.000. Of
this, rough building blocks represented $510,299; dressed building, $835,841;
road making, $34,000; railroad ballast, $108,391; concrete, $103,120; paving,
flagging, curbing and glass making, $1,133,223.EARLY IRON INDUSTRIES
Although Pennsylvania far outstrips all the other States in the production
of pig iron, her own production of iron ore is nil. In the early days of
Armstrong county this was not the rule, for at that time the rich Lake
Superior ores were not known of and pioneer iron-workers resorted to the veins
of “buhrstone” ore which in many parts of the county outcropped upon
the sides of the streams.The first furnace for the reduction of this ore was erected about half a
mile up Roaring run, near the Big Falls on the Kiskiminetas river, two miles
above Apollo. It was established by James W. Biddle in 1825, and went into
blast on Christmas day. It was thirty feet high, eight feet across the top and
was a cold blast stream furnace. The fuel was charcoal, made from the dense
forests which surrounded the site, and the ore and limestone came direct from
the hill. It was not a pecuniary success, owing to the crude methods used and
the bad roads to the river landing. It was finally sold by the sheriff. The
capacity was twenty tons per week. It ran in different hands until 1855, when
it went out of blast. At the present time it resembles an ancient prehistoric
ruin and its location is almost unknown to residents of other parts of the
county. Trees and underbrush cover the sides and the fireclay lining is only
standing on one side. Nature has almost reclaimed the site and man has
deserted this once busy little valley.Following Rock Furnace many others of similar construction were erected in
various places where the ore or transportation facilities were convenient.
Omitting descriptions, the following is the most available list:Bear Creek, near Parker City, 1826; Allegheny, near Kittanning, 1827;
Buffalo Furnace, on Buffalo creek, 1839; Great Western Furnaces, Nos. 1, 2 and
3, in 1840-43; Ore Hill, Cowanshannock and Mahoning Furnaces in 1845; Brady’s
Bend No. 4, Buffalo No. 2, America, Phoenix and Pine Creek Furnaces in 1846;
Olney Furnace at Eddyville, in 1847; Stewardson Furnace, on Mahoning creek, in
1851; Monticello Furnace, on Cowanshannock creek, in 1859.The character of the iron produced was very good, but the methods were too
costly and the supply of wood soon become exhausted. When the Lake Superior
ores came into competition, coke was used as a fuel and the modern hot blast
method adopted so the old “teakettle” furnaces one by one fell into
idleness.The first iron ore was mined in this State in 1805, but it was not till ten
years later that the industry grew to large proportions. For the benefit of
our readers we will give a detailed description of these old iron furnaces and
the method of their operation. The first furnaces resembled Egyptian temples
in shape, being simply tapering square towers of stone, with an inner chamber
of bottle-shape, lined with fireclay. The process at first was simply to roast
the ore until the iron was separated from it. Cold air was forced into the
mass of iron and limestone, by a simple steam-driven fan.When the hot blast was introduced, coke took the place of charcoal, but it
was too late to save the greatly depleted forests that were the source of the
charcoal. One of the best of the old furnaces was that at Red Bank, and we
will give the details of its operation after coke came into use. Its product
was from 90 to 105 tones a week of gray mill metal, wasting less than 6 per
cent in puddling, with coke made from the Upper Freeport coalbed coal and
buhrstone ore and limestone, all mined in the hillsides back of the furnace.
The stack was 39 feet and 8 inches high, and 11 feet across the boshes, with a
square-cut stone base and a round looped cylinder, of 3 feet brick wall, with
18 inches lining and 6 inches packing between. The fuel used in 1865 was one
half coke and one half coal, in alternate charges, thus: First charge, raw
coal, 10 bushels; ore, 633 lbs.; limestone, 253 lbs.; three of these making a
charge. Second charge: three times 10 bushels coke and 633 lbs. ore, and 253
lbs. limestone. The upright furnace engine worked 30 lbs. steam, and the gauge
stood between 3 3/4 and 4 lbs. pressure on the cylinder; a very beautiful
engine, with a 28-inch steam cylinder, mounted endwise on a 5 1/2 feet blowing
cylinder, the stroke common to both being 4 1/2 feet. The gases were taken off
on each side of the tunnel-head some feet down, and introduced beneath the
hot-blast house and boilers, standing on a terrace about 6 feet above the
casting floor, but under the same roof. The length of the air cylinder was 20
feet, and its diameter 10 feet. The three boilers were 3 by 36 feet, with an
extra flue boiler in case of accident. The coke was shot upon high screens,
the raw coal deposited on the stockyard floor, part of which was used for a
calcining yard. This furnace was in almost constant operation from its
completion until it went out of blast, and afforded employment in all its
departments to a large number of employes, at times to about two hundred. Its
product aggregated 60,000 tons of pig iron, which found a market in Pittsburgh
and Kittanning. Between 1866 and 1874, 20,000 tons of Lake Superior ore were
mixed with the native ores in this region, producing a superior quality of
neutral iron, well adapted to the manufacture of nails, hoop-iron and
tool-steel.In the report of the second geological survey of Pennsylvania are the
following data regarding the source of the ore supply for this furnace:
“The ore-bed is a layer of brown hematite mixed with blue carbonate, out
of which the hematite seems to have been formed by decomposition. The less
blue carbonate, the more brown hematite, and the softer and better the ore, is
the accepted rule. The ore-bed is very irregular, sometimes running down to
six inches, and sometimes up to five feet. It will probably average two feet
along its whole outcrop. It is mined along the hillsides at about the same
level on the south side of Red Bank and down the river. It covers the
ferriferous or great fossilferous limestone, a bed fifteen feet thick, filling
depressions of all sizes in its upper surface, and penetrating its top layer,
so as to render it a superior flux. Above the ore bed is a mass of shales many
feet thick, more or less siliceous and more or less charged with balls of blue
carbonate of iron. This ore-bed is remarkable for its extent of area, covering
Armstrong, Venango, Clarion, Jefferson, and Butler counties, and it has been,
in fact, the principal reliance of the fifty furnaces in northwestern
Pennsylvania, and the forty-odd furnaces of southern Ohio and eastern
Kentucky. Its outcrop is usually very soft, easily mined by stripping, and
afterward by gangways, driven partly in the limestone and partly in the
ore.”The following is an analysis of a piece of perforated red ore, obtained
from John C. Rhea’s farm, in Red Bank township, by F. A. Genth, Jr., of the
University of Pennsylvania in 1876:Ferri oxide, 77.10; ferrous oxide, 0.43; manganous oxide, 1.02; alumina,
2.47; silicic acid, 7.17; phosphoric acid, 0.38; carbonic acid, 0.47; water
and organic matter, 11.23==100.27.The Brady’s Bend Iron Works were the first of the combined furnaces and
rolling mill plants of the early days, and the description given in the sketch
of that township will be of interest in this connection. After the beginning
of these works the Kittanning furnace went into blast, and is now the only
remnant of the old iron industry extant. Even it has now closed for an
indefinite time. All of the mills now in operation in the county are of modern
design and their product is equal to any in the United States in quality.At present the iron industry is represented by the Kittanning Iron and
Steel Co., the Leechburg branch of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Co., and
the Apollo Sheet Steel Co., all of which are extensively described in the
sketches of their respective localities.SALT MANUFACTURE OF OLDEN TIMES
About the year 1812 an old lady named Deemer discovered a spring of salt
water on the Conemaugh river, two miles above Saltsburg, Indiana county. She
tried the water in cooking cornmeal mush and found it of just the right
flavor. This discovery was the beginning of the salt industry of that and
Armstrong counties. The following year a well was bored with spring poles to a
depth of 280 feet, and an abundance of salt water found. Horsepower was at
first used, but soon steam took its place, and the industry became an
important one. The profits, however, were seldom much above expenses, and the
salt industry was short-lived.The first well in this county was bored in 1814 by a man named Trux, in
Kiskiminetas township. The wells were chiefly along the Allegheny and
Kiskiminetas rivers. They were from 500 to 650 feet deep, three inches in
diameter for the first 200 feet, and two below that depth. In 1830 there were
24 wells in Armstrong county, producing annually 65,500 barrels of salt, which
averaged $2.12 per barrel.For the benefit of the readers who probably never saw a salt well we give a
description of the method of producing this most important commodity. The
average cost of these wells was $2 a foot for the first 500 feet, and $3 per
foot for the succeeding depths. When fresh water veins were encountered copper
tubes surrounded by bags of flaxseed were inserted just above the salt water
veins. The swelling of the flaxseed cut off the fresh water from the salt
water below. Through these copper tubes the brine was pumped into large
reservoirs, and thence into pans, where it was boiled down to a thick fluid.
Thence it was turned into cooling vats, where the sediment was allowed to
settle to the bottom, the brine being drawn off into the graining pans, where
the final crystallization took place. To operate the plant required about 200
bushels of coal, and the attendance of three men. In 1840 the cost of boring a
well was $3,500, and the annual yield from 1,000 to 5,000 barrels.The price of salt at first justified the boring of wells and operating of
these plants, but after the Civil war the introduction of the low priced rock
salt of the South caused the suspension of these wells. The last well in
operation in the county was that of William Gamble & Son, in 1882, and was
located on the Kiskiminetas river, near the mouth of the Roaring run.But the old salt wells have not lost their usefulness yet. Modern ingenuity
and enterprise has found a way of utilizing the water in a way for many years
universal throughout Germany. Dr. H. M. Welsh, of Leechburg, has purchased a
portion of the old Parks farm and is establishing an up-to-date sanitarium for
the cure of nervous diseases. He proposes to turn the salt water into bath
tubs and administer its healing properties to patients in the manner customary
at the “spas” in foreign health resorts. So the old salt wells will
have a new lease of life as will the patients.CLAY, SHALE AND BRICK
Pennsylvania ranks second in the United States in the production of clay
products. In 1907 these products reached the value of $20,291,621, and of this
amount the largest single item was for fire brick, $6,907,904. Common brick
came next, with a value of $6,353,799. Over $1,000,000 of vitrified and face
brick were produced.The deposits of clay from which these products are made occur in five
different classes: residual clays, due to the decay of shales, shaly
sandstones or argillaceous limestones; alluvial clays deposited along the
present stream valleys; clays deposited in the high level abandoned river
channels and on river benches; coal measure plastic clay, usually underlying
coal beds; coal measure flint, non-plastic clays.Residual clays are the remains of broken down rocks of various kinds which
have been carried by water to places in the channels of present or prehistoric
rivers and there deposited in beds. Often these beds are covered by layers of
rock.Alluvial clays are deposited in the beds of streams by floods and ice dams
of the glacial ages. Some of these deposits are in the beds of the present
rivers and others are found in the ancient beds of the rivers of the past, far
above the present water levels.Practically every coal bed in this State is underlaid by a bed of clay,
having a thickness of from one to fifteen feet. These clays are known as
plastic and non-plastic, from the difference in their structure.The plastic are divided into several classes, called by the names of the
coal strata under which they lie. They are easily worked and form the basis of
the greater part of the bricks and tiles made in this county. The Lower
Kittanning clay is the most extensive and heaviest of these deposits.Flint clays are the main source of the high grade furnace linings. In a
large measure the great furnaces of this country are dependent on the flint
clays for their continuance. Without these clays it would be impossible to
carry on the iron industry, as there is no other substance which can be
obtained so cheaply as a lining for the furnaces, where the heat rises to
thousands of degrees of temperature.This demand has given a high value to our flint clay deposits, for all
flint clays are not capable of withstanding these high temperatures. Unless
the plastic clays are favorably situated they are not profitable to work, but
the flint clays are so valuable that they are mined in any location, even when
far from transportation facilities. In that case the railroads are quick to
construct lines to tap these deposits, if large enough.Â
Chemically, flint clay is almost identical with koalin, or potters’ clay.
It breaks into peculiar flat-sided fragments, and is not soft like other
clays. In fact, most persons would call it rock. In the mines it is blasted
out like coal, hoisted to the surface, ground in mills to dust and then mixed
with other clays to cause it to stick together, after which water is added and
it is moulded in machines to the shape desired.Â
The flint clays are often found in beds surrounded by the plastic clays, so
that both can be mined at the same time. The largest deposits of flint clay in
Armstrong county are at Johnetta and St. Charles.These clays are made into many varieties of products in this county. Paving
brick and building brick are made at Cowansville, St. Charles, Cowanshannock,
Kittanning, Brady’s Bend, Templeton and Johnetta. Sewer pipe is produced at
St. Charles, Kittanning and Johnetta. The use of drain tile in this State is
small, so the demand for it does not justify its manufacture at the present
time. Points in the West where the demand is local and the clays are suitable
have established kilns, thus obviating expensive and hazardous transportation.The newly opened line of the Shawmut railroad through the northern part of
the county has developed large deposits of clay and shale and they are rapidly
being mined and shipped to the nearest kilns. As soon as possible other brick
works will be established near the deposits and this section of the county, so
long relapsed into disuse, will come once more to the front as a manufacturing
community.The strata of clay along the Shawmut road are so peculiarly formed that
practically everything manufactured of burned clay and shale can be produced.
Laboratory tests and experiments at various universities have secured
excellent red, buff, gray and white face brick, fire and furnace brick, paving
brick, fireproofing, drain tile and sewer pipe, crockeryware and pottery.
These products are now being manufactured from the same strata of clay and
shale nearer to transportation. It is only the lack of railroad facilities
that has kept this district “closed” heretofore.BRICKMAKING
The first brickmaker of importance in the county was Paul Morrow of
Kittanning, who began business in 1806 on lot No. 3, of the Armstrong plat,
just outside of the borough limits. In 1809-10 he furnished the commissioners
with 189,000 brick for the first courthouse. This plant was later operated by
Robert Stewart, a colored man, in the period from 1813 to 1837. The next owner
was John Hunt, in 1830, and he was followed by James Daugherty, and William
Sirwell, Sr. McCauley Brothers also operated a brick works on Reynolds avenue,
in the rear of the present Pennsylvania depot, in 1865-69.Byron Killikelly, son of the famous Rev. B. B. Killikelly, was the first to
introduce machinery into the manufacture of brick in the county. Daugherty
afterwards bought his plant and machines. Daugherty & Sirwell had the
honor of making the first pressed brick in the county, in 1851. Their works
were located in the rear of the site of the present Gault Granary. John F.
Nulton was also one of the old time brickmakers. H. D. and G. B. Daugherty
were the founders of the Avenue Brick Works, on Grant avenue and Jacob
streets, in 1866. In 1880 the plant was operated by G. B. Daugherty, and
consisted of two kilns and a dry house, with a capacity of 4,500,000 bricks
per annum. The output is about double that now, and the plant is operated by
Daugherty Brothers. Red building brick is the principal product. W. B.
Daugherty, one of the present proprietors, had the honor of laying the brick
for the first building at Ford City. He and his brother also supplied the
brick and built the first glass works for J. B. Ford & Co., the plate
glass pioneers in this county. The Daughertys have recently discovered on
their property on Grant avenue a fine pocket of flint clay in the middle of a
deposit of ordinary fire clay. They are preparing to ship it to other points,
as it is too refractory to be adapted to the manufacture of common red
building brick.The Phoenix Firebrick Works, established at Manorville in 1880 by Isaac
Reese, was devoted entirely to the manufacture of Reese’s Patent Silica Fire
Brick, for furnace linings. After the development of the shale firebrick in
other parts of the county the plant was purchased by a large Pittsburgh firm,
the Harbison-Walker Co., and dismantled.The Stewart Fire Brick Works were established in Mahoning township in 1872,
the product being exclusively for furnace linings. Their present successors,
the Climax Fire Brick Co., have enlarged their facilities and now manufacture
several kinds of fire and paving brick and tiling.James McNees was the owner of a pottery in 1874, in South Bend township,
where he at first made crocks. In 1876 the firm became McNees & Son, and
they branched out into the manufacture of stone pumps and pipes, a rather
original idea in the pottery line. Their success was only temporary, as the
wooden pump could be manufactured at a much lower price and was easier
marketed. Geo. W. McNees is now interested in the Kittanning Clay
Manufacturing Co.The different plants for the manufacture of clay products are well
described in the sketches of the townships and boroughs where they are
located. The total output is of a miscellaneous character and is difficult to
compute, the production fluctuating according to the demand and season.Details of the manufacture of brick according to modern methods will be
found in the sketch of Johnetta borough. The plant at that place has a
capacity of 100,000 per day; the Kittanning Brick and Fire Clay Co. have a
capacity of 100,000; the Kittanning Clay Manufacturing Co., 50,000; the works
of Upper Kittanning Brick Co., at Kaylor, 100,000; the plant at Cowanshannock,
50,000; the Cowansville works, 40,000; the Freeport plant, 40,000, the Climax
works at St. Charles, 50,000, and Daugherty Bros. works at Kittanning, 10,000.Computing the total bricks made in one day in the county at about 500,000,
it is estimated that the length of the clay bars from which these bricks are
cut, if placed end to end, would cover a distance of nearly twenty miles, and
in one year would stretch over a length of 5,000 miles. These measurements are
taken from the narrowest part of the brick–about two and one-half inches.Mr. Nathan L. Strong, solicitor for the Shawmut railroad, has collected the
most complete exhibit of the products of Armstrong county in existence, and
will add to it from time to time. The collection now includes samples of raw
clay of all qualities found in Armstrong county and vicinity, samples of rough
and finished tile; rough and finished brick of all grades, sizes, and colors;
wall tile, drain tile, pottery products, from rough crocks to finished enamel
ware; samples of coal, shale, and various ores. The collection is being added
to from time to time,, and while it is now undoubtedly the best in the county,
it will probably become the best exhibit of western Pennsylvania mineral and
earth products in existence.COAL AND ITS HISTORY
Coal is one of the most valuable and important mineral products; in fact,
the corner-stone of modern civilization. Without it, nearly all the modern
applications of power would be impossible. Not only would our railroads, our
mills and factories be unable to operate, but the effect of eliminating coal
would be to wipe out all our recent industrial progress; hand processes would
replace mechanical ones, and all manufacturing on a large scale would cease.We travel in comfort in luxuriously equipped trains and steamships, and
enjoy the fine fabrics and the tropical fruits brought to our doors from the
far corners of the earth, and forget that we owe the possibiliy of these
comforts and luxuries to coal. We little realize the immense value of this
mineral to us and utterly fail to appreciate the colossal industry which
produces it.Source: Chapter 6, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.
H. Beers & Co., 19114.
Transcribed June 1998 by Chrissy Kayak for the Armstrong County Smith Project.
Contributed by Chrissy Kayak for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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