Article ID: CBB992440205

Machinery to Match the Materials: Iron Ore Washing in Pennsylvania (2015)

unapi

Walton, Steven A. (Author)


IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology
Volume: 41
Issue: 1/2
Pages: 71-92


Publication Date: 2015
Edition Details: Theme issue: The Archaeology of Industry
Language: English

The process of winning metal ores is heavily dependent upon a combination of the geography of where they are located, the geology in which they are located, and the machinery and methods by which they are extracted. Although washing of ores has an ancient pedigree, a particular type of machine known generally as an "ore washer" (most often a type known as the "log washer") was developed in the mid-nineteenth century brown hematite iron-ore banks on the Appalachian Front, specifically in central Pennsylvania. Here iron mineral, found embedded in sand and clay banks, requires mechanical cleaning in ore washers before being sent to the furnaces. By investigating the context of their original invention in the 1830s by the forgotten Frederik Fredley, their spread through the rest of the century as evidenced by patents, and through exploration of four fully developed washer plants owned by industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie by the 1880s and 90s, this particular solution to a particular geology sheds light on a period of mining that predates most studies of ore separation and concentration. It also shows that the story of Pennsylvania iron ore mining and concentration should not be understood in quite the same way that western iron mining has been. The study also brings the ore washer into focus as the item of attention that defined the central Pennsylvania iron mining industry on the landscape. [2019 Vogel Prize winner]

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Associated with

Article Gary F. Coppock (2015) Abraham S. Valentine's Log Washer and the Resuscitation of the Nineteenth-Century Iron Industry of Central Pennsylvania. IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology (pp. 48-69). unapi

Article Gary F. Coppock (2015) Foreword: Theme Issue: The Archeology of Industry in Pennyslvania. IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology (pp. 3-4). unapi

Article Scott D. Heberling (2015) The Archaeology of Failure: An Example from the Juniata Iron District of Pennsylvania. IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology (pp. 25-47). unapi

Article Benjamin Resnick (2015) Bark, Liquor, and Skins: Late 19th-century Tanning on Pittsburgh's Northside. IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology (pp. 93-112). unapi

Article Brian L. Fritz; Jason Espino (2015) Sand Manufacturing in Western Pennsylvania: The Spring Creek Glass Sand Works. IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology (pp. 113-130). unapi

Article Christine Davis (2015) Jones and Laughlin Steel Works: 130 Years of Industry/25 Years of Archaeology. IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology (pp. 131-142). unapi

Article Gerald M. Kuncio (2015) Disappearing Icon: The Pennsylvania Turnpike's Rigid-Frame Bridges. IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology (pp. 143-151). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB992440205/

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Authors & Contributors
Reynolds, Terry S.
John H. Kopmeier
Paul White
Gordon C. Pollard
Paul J. White
Brian Schmult
Concepts
Iron and iron industry
Industrial archaeology
Iron Mines and Mining
Charcoal and charcoal industry
Blast furnaces
Forges
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
20th century
21st century
17th century
Places
United States
Pennsylvania (U.S.)
Michigan (U.S.)
Ohio (U.S.)
New York (U.S.)
Carp River
Institutions
West Point Foundry
Adirondack Iron and Steel Company
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