Forests and Iron: The Charcoal Iron Industry of the New Jersey Highlands

Abstract

merous. In several respects, conditions suitable for the production of charcoal iron were opposed to those essential for successful agriculture, and therefore ironworks were frequently concentrated in areas poorly suited to farming. In a few exceptionally well endowed regions the industry developed into a major economic activity which influenced settlement, transportation, the establishment of commercial and other industrial enterprises, and was also responsible, through the enormous quantities of fuel consumed, for the profound alteration of great areas of woodland. The New Jersey Highlands, an area in many respects representative of the major charcoal iron producing regions, were an important center of iron production before the American Revolution and remained so for more than a hundred years. This paper considers the basis of the Highlands' iron industry and certain aspects of its development and decline, and will attempt to evaluate its geographical significance.