Charcoal Iron Industry Research Articles

The Charcoal Iron Industry and Pennsylvania Forestry

ABSTRACT Pennsylvania was a pioneer in the forestry conservation movement, as one of the earliest states to develop forestry legislation, a forestry commission, state forestry reservations, and a forestry association. There are well-known early forestry leaders, like Gifford Pinchot, first chief of the US Forest Service, and Joseph T. Rothrock, the father of Pennsylvania forestry. However, much of the early foundation of the forestry movement in the state is not readily recognized. Bernhard Fernow, third chief of the federal Division of Forestry, had Pennsylvania roots. John Birkinbine, a founder and president of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association (for nearly a quarter-century), quietly provided much of the leadership for the early forestry movement. Surprisingly, Pennsylvania’s charcoal iron industry had connections to all four of these forestry leaders. Charcoal production in the state is sometimes associated with forest devastation, but a deeper look shows it is more closely associated with forest conservation.

Did the charcoal-based iron industry really drive the forest cover decline in the Northern Pyrenees?

Through a reconstruction of the chronology and intensity of charcoal-making activities, this paper re-opens the debate about the supposed impact of the charcoal iron industry on forest cover in the French Pyrenees. This reappraisal focuses on the former territory of the communities of Haut-Vicdessos valley. This more refined chronology, based on the analyses of historical documents (n = 617) and charcoal kiln remains (n = 42), has highlighted the non-linear industrial development. The emergence of water-powered bloomeries during the early 14th c. led to a brief expansion of the iron industry, but was followed by a slowdown in the 15th c. The combined effect of regulation and the outsourcing of a part of the charcoal supply on other territories, mitigated the impact of the iron industry on local forest, avoiding a forest crisis. The most significant industrial growth occurred from the mid-17th c. with development of the Catalan bloomery. Forests underwent major changes in structure and composition but cover was maintained to satisfy the local economy and people's needs. Charcoal production always occurred in well-stocked forests dominated by beech and fir. The increase of charcoal supply combined to the agro-pastoral growth led to the prohibition of charcoal-making in the mid-18th c. and to the exclusive recourse to an external fuel supply. Minimum forest cover was only reached in the mid-19th c. due to the demographic explosion resulting in the increase of daily needs and in the refocus on agro-pastoral economy. Conversely to the common premise, the iron charcoal industry in European mountains did not necessarily induce forest depletion but rather its maintenance through sustainable management and policies. • We revisited the chronology and intensity of the charcoal iron industry in Vicdessos. • The spread of water-powered bloomeries did not lead to a 14th c. forest crisis. • The iron industry’s real impulse occurred in the 17th c. with the Catalan bloomery. • Local communities preserved woodland cover through efficient management. • The iron industry was not a major driver of the mid-19th c. forest-cover minimum.

Fire history and dendroecology of Catoctin Mountain, Maryland, USA, with newspaper corroboration

BackgroundOur study was designed to reveal a detailed forest fire history at Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland, USA. We compared the ages of living trees to known fire dates in the dendrochronological record. Seasonality and years of fires in the dendrochronological record were juxtaposed with specific dates of fires recorded in newspapers.ResultsTwenty-seven pines (Pinus L.) captured 122 fire scars representing 58 distinct fire years between 1702 and 1951. Climate was significantly hotter and drier in the years of burns that affected at least two trees and was wetter two years prior. Thirty-three fires described in local newspapers were reported largely in the spring and fall months (68% between March and June, 32% between September and December). Ninety-one percent of fire scars in our tree-ring chronology had dormant seasonality. The mean fire interval was 5.47 ± 10.14 (SD; standard deviation) yr, and the Weibull median fire interval was 3.22 yr during the entire chronology. The longest fire-free interval was from 1952 to 2018.The size structure of living trees was biased toward smaller black gums (Nyssa sylvatica Marshall) and oaks (Quercus L.) that recruited in the 1930s and 1940s. Most living pitch pines (Pinus rigida Mill) recruited between 1890 and 1910, but a few individuals recruited before the 1850s. Diversity of tree stems smaller than 10 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) was generally lacking; the youngest tree >10 cm DBH in our study area had recruited by 1967.ConclusionsThe Catoctin Mountains experienced frequent fire during the 1800s and early 1900s. The causes of fires were diverse, including accidental ignitions and purposeful cultural burning for berry (Vaccinium L.) production. The current forest developed during a period of low deer density and after the demise of the charcoal iron industry ended an era of logging. The lack of fire since the 1950s has encouraged the development of a black gum dominated mid- and understory. Management with frequent fire would facilitate pine and oak regeneration.

Counting Colliers: A Demographic Profile of the Forgotten Charcoal Makers of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, 1850–1880

ABSTRACTClarion County, Pennsylvania, was a regional leader in historic iron production in the mid-nineteenth century with a majority of its furnaces fuelled by charcoal. Little is known about the colliers that crafted the charcoal used by the county’s historic iron furnaces. I used United States Census data from 1850 to 1880 to develop a demographic profile of Clarion County colliers. Collier numbers in Clarion County peaked dramatically in 1850 with the rise of the iron industry and declined exponentially through 1880. Most colliers were white, male and Pennsylvania-born. Few remained in the profession for more than one census date, largely becoming labourers and farmers that remained in the county or region. Likewise, movement of colliers from Clarion County to other iron-producing regions was minimal. The rise and fall of colliers in Clarion County suggest a local response to economic opportunity consistent with the boom-bust nature of the mid-nineteenth-century charcoal iron industry.

Characteristics, Histories, and Future Succession of Northern Pinus pungens Stands

Pinus pungens (Table Mountain pine) stands are rare conifer-dominated communities that occur on xeric ridges and upper slopes throughout the central and southern Appalachian Mountains. At the northern end of this range, this uncommon forest community is essentially unstudied. Therefore, in 2006 I initiated a dendroecology study of three Pinus pungens stands growing in Pennsylvania to better understand their current conditions, histories, and likely future succession. These stands contained from four to 14 tree species with Pinus pungens or Quercus montana (chestnut oak) dominating the main canopy. Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak), Acer rubrum (red maple), or Nyssa sylvatica (black gum) were the primary species of the midstory. Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel) was the principal understory shrub. Two of the communities had Pinus pungens and Quercus montana trees dating back into the mid-1800s and were likely heavily influenced by the charcoal iron industry of that century. Periodic fire was also part of their history. The other Pinus pungens community arose following abandonment of an agricultural field in the 1910s and fire does not seem to have been a factor in its ecological history. Two of the communities appear to be losing their Pinus pungens component as their understories are dominated by hardwood saplings or shrubs and there are no pine seedlings present. Perpetuating these and other Pinus pungens communities in Pennsylvania will require reducing the understory vegetation and creating suitable seed beds for Pinus pungens seedling establishment.

Management, finance and cost control in the Midlands charcoal iron industry

The iron industry was fully industrialized by the seventeenth century. The initial ironmasters were landowners, with clerks managing their ironworks. Professional ironmasters emerged from the clerks by the 1600s. The largest iron businesses (such as that of the Foley family described here) had general managers. Loans (secured by bonds) were important for business finance, including for paying up share capital. Accounting varied between charge and discharge-oriented systems of double entry bookkeeping and those maintained according to the classic Italian method. Cost accounting was not systematically practised, but yields from raw materials were monitored and the information contained in the financial accounts contained data relevant to performance decision making. Managers were trained on the job by experienced managers.

Prediscursive Technical Communication in the Early American Iron Industry

Examining the discourse surrounding the charcoal iron industry between 1760 and 1860 in North America, this article suggests that, prior to the industrialization of work, technical communication took place in a prediscursive setting, an oral and physical world that we can just manage to glimpse even as we watch it recede. The letters of Robert Erskine written in 1770 illustrate the prediscursive methods of technical communication. By the 1860s, a flood of governmental, professional, and commercial publications appeared, each signifying the disappearance of this prediscursive world. This transition from prediscursive to discursive methods may mark one of the largest changes in the history of technical communication.

Analysis of temporal variation and species-site relationships of witness tree data in southeastern Pennsylvania

Witness tree species – site relationships are described with respect to parent material, soil drainage, and soil surface texture in Lancaster County, southeastern Pennsylvania. Quercus velutina Lam. and Carya were positively associated with "limestone" parent materials and well-drained, loamy sites. Quercus velutina was strongly associated with "acid shale and sandstone" parent materials and well-drained, upland soils. Quercus alba L. was most abundant on parent material classes associated with stream valleys and coves while Qurecus prinus L. and Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. were positively associated with well-drained, rocky sites on "quartzite" parent materials. Procedures were then developed to test for significant changes in witness tree species frequencies over the 100-year period of metes and bounds surveys in Lancaster County. These tests revealed that Quercus coccinea L., Nyssa sylvatica Marsh., and early successional species were surveyed much later than Quercus rubra L., Q. alba, and Carya spp. Agricultural land clearing, cutting for firewood, selective logging, and the charcoal-iron industry all probably contributed these species changes. Overall, abundances of minor species appear to be much more sensitive to these early settlement land uses. Given the extent of metes and bounds surveys, these tests for temporal variations may be applied to witness tree data throughout the eastern United States.

Analysis of temporal variation and species-site relationships of witness tree data in southeastern Pennsylvania

Witness tree species – site relationships are described with respect to parent material, soil drainage, and soil surface texture in Lancaster County, southeastern Pennsylvania. Quercus velutina Lam. and Carya were positively associated with "limestone" parent materials and well-drained, loamy sites. Quercus velutina was strongly associated with "acid shale and sandstone" parent materials and well-drained, upland soils. Quercus alba L. was most abundant on parent material classes associated with stream valleys and coves while Qurecus prinus L. and Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. were positively associated with well-drained, rocky sites on "quartzite" parent materials. Procedures were then developed to test for significant changes in witness tree species frequencies over the 100-year period of metes and bounds surveys in Lancaster County. These tests revealed that Quercus coccinea L., Nyssa sylvatica Marsh., and early successional species were surveyed much later than Quercus rubra L., Q. alba, and Carya spp. Agricultural land clearing, cutting for firewood, selective logging, and the charcoal-iron industry all probably contributed these species changes. Overall, abundances of minor species appear to be much more sensitive to these early settlement land uses. Given the extent of metes and bounds surveys, these tests for temporal variations may be applied to witness tree data throughout the eastern United States.

Relating land-use history and climate to the dendroecology of a 326-year-old Quercus prinus talus slope forest

Dendroecology and land-use history were used to investigate the ecological history of a 326-year-old Quercus prinus L. forest. Quercus prinus, Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh., and Pinus rigida Mill. dominated this talus slope prior to European settlement based on witness tree records. Oak species have exhibited continuous recruitment over three centuries probably in response to periodic fire and wind disturbances. While the stand escaped the direct impacts of timber cutting and the charcoal iron industry, the indirect effects of these land-use practices increased growth and recruitment. Different criteria were used for understory versus overstory trees to improve our detection of growth releases. Overall, major disturbances occurred approximately every 40 and 31 years before and after European settlement, respectively. This century, old-growth Q. prinus experienced marked growth increases coupled with high recruitment following the introduction of the chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr.) to the stand in 1909. Tree growth was also highly correlated with temperature and Palmer drought severity indices between 1895 and 1995. Climatic fluctuations in the 1820s-1830s and 1920s reduced radial growth and recruitment resulting in stem exclusion stages following regeneration pulses. Relating land-use history and climatic data to the dendroecology of this forest improved our understanding of its historical development.

Land-use history (1720–1992), composition, and dynamics of oak–pine forests within the Piedmont and Coastal Plain of northern Virginia

Woody vegetation was surveyed in 58 forest stands in northern Virginia to examine the effects of previous land-use history on past and present-day forest composition and dynamics. Stands were separated using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and overstory importance values into three forest groups: (i) white oak (Quercusalba L.)–tulip-poplar (Liriodendrontulipifera L.) (ii) white oak–scarlet oak (Quercuscoccinea Muenchh.) and (iii) Virginia pine (Pinusvirginiana Mill.) The first DCA axis represents a successional continuum from more recently disturbed areas containing young pine forests to less disturbed mature oak stands, and is negatively correlated with stand age and species diversity. White oak and red oak (Quercusrubra L.) dominated presettlement forests in the area. Following European settlement, forests experienced intense logging associated with the charcoal iron industry, large-scale clearing for agriculture, and subsequent land abandonment. By coupling radial growth analysis with age–diameter figures, we evaluated the responses of stands to disturbances associated with various land-use practices. This analysis indicated that many Virginia pine stands resulted from agricultural abandonment during the early 1900s, while a majority of oak stands experienced peak recruitment and radial growth following periodic logging disturbances in the 1800s. Canopy closure, forest protection, and reduced fire and logging disturbance this century led to increases in dogwood (Cornusflorida L.) and blackgum (Nyssasylvatica Marsh.) in area forests. The oldest stands exhibited a lack of tall oak regeneration; however, they also contained a scarcity of potential oak replacement species. Therefore, oak will seemingly share future dominance with several mixed-mesophytic species, although the exact successional status of these stands is unresolved.

Age Structure and Successional Dynamics of a Presettlement-Origin Chestnut Oak Forest in the Pennsylvania Piedmont

MIKAN, C. J., D. A. ORWIG AND M. D. ABRAMS (School of Forest Resources, Forest Resources Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802). Age structure and successional dynamics of a presettlement-origin chestnut oak forest in the Pennsylvania Piedmont. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 121: 13-23. 1994.-This study investigated the community ecology of an old-growth Quercus prinus L. forest on a dry talus slope in southeastern Pennsylvania. Quercus prinus trees up to 367 years in age dominated the canopy layer. Acer rubrum L., Betula alleghaniensis Britton, Betula lenta L. and Nyssa sylvatica Marsh. occupied a small share of canopy space but dominated understory positions. Acer rubrum was the only canopy species present in significant numbers in the sapling layer. Presettlement forests of the region were dominated by Quercus velutina Lam., Quercus alba L., Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. and Carya spp. Following European settlement, frequent cutting and burning associated with the charcoal iron industry promoted oak coppice stands during the 19th century and prevented the development of a shade tolerant understory. Age determinations indicated that Q. prinus recruited continuously from 1625 until 1920. However, radial growth analysis indicated that peak recruitment of both the oak and mixed mesophytic tree species was associated with past disturbances. Cessation of frequent cutting, reduced occurrence of fire and the loss of C. dentata facilitated establishment of A. rubrum, B. lenta and B. alleghaniensis in the understory early this century. Results of this study indicate the potential for replacement of oak by more tolerant species on this and similar dry sites in the northern mid-Atlantic region which are traditionally considered to be physiographic or edaphic climaxes.

Community, edaphic, and historical analysis of mixed oak forests of the Ridge and Valley Province in central Pennsylvania

Fifty-nine mixed oak stands in the Ridge and Valley Province of central Pennsylvania were sampled to evaluate the potential for oak replacement by later successional species or oak stability across a diverse landscape. Using species importance, stands were separated into four groups along detrended correspondence analysis axes 1 and 2. Betulalenta L.–Quercusprinus L.–Quercusrubra L. and Q. prinus–Q. rubra groups occurred on sandstone-based Inceptisols and Ultisols on ridges, whereas mixed–Quercus and Quercusalba L. groups were representative of limestone-based Alfisols on valley floors. Quercus species dominated the overstory of all groups; however, the understories mainly comprised shade-adapted Acerrubrum L., Acerpensylvanicum L., and (or) B. lenta on the xeric ridges and A. rubrum and Prunusserotina Ehrh. in the mesic valleys. The presettlement forests consisted of Quercus, Pinus, and Castaneadentata (Marsh.) Borkh. on the ridges and Quercus, Pinus, and Carya in the valleys. Comparisons between presettlement and present-day forests indicate that Pinusstrobus L. and C. dentata have declined dramatically, whereas Quercus species have increased. Changes in disturbance patterns following European settlement (e.g., the charcoal iron industry) initially favored Quercus expansion, followed later by increases in Acer, Prunus, and Betula. Under existing conditions where large-scale disturbances from fire or logging are minimal, Quercus species are expected to decline slowly in importance, being replaced by Acer, Prunus, and (or) Betula species regardless of site moisture relations. Thus, mixed oak forests do not appear to represent a prominent edaphic climax in the region, despite the long history of oak domination.

The Iron Industry of the Weald.

This revised and expanded second edition (the first appeared in 1985) provides a definitive regional study of the charcoal iron industry, as well as a major addition on Wealden history generally. The new edition reprints the whole of the original text (and all the illustrations), covering the geology of the Weald (by Bernard Worssam); prehistoric, Roman, and Medieval ironmaking; the rise and fall of the charcoal blast furnace in the Weald; and the archaeology and technology of the industry during the blast furnace period. The extensive gazetteers of sites, which are an essential feature of the book, have been revised and extended in the light of recent fieldwork and research, as has the bibliography. There is also a completely new index, compiled by Ann Hudson, which now includes the gazetteers, as well as the main text.

Competitiveness and Obsolescence in the German Charcoal Iron Industry

Not until the latter 1850s did coke surpass charcoal as a fuel in Germany's iron industry. That this occurred seventy to eighty years later than it did in England is attributed by some historians to the backwardness and superstition of German ironmasters. Other traditional explanations include the abundant supply of wood for charcoal, the high cost of transporting coke before the advent of railroads, the absence of tariff protection, the scarcity of good coking coals, and the shortage of risk capital.' Iron making with coke, according to these interpretations, awaited the removal of these impediments and disincentives.

The Cumbrian Bloomery Forge in the Seventeenth Century and Forge Equipment in the Charcoal Iron Industry

(1979). The Cumbrian Bloomery Forge in the Seventeenth Century and Forge Equipment in the Charcoal Iron Industry. Transactions of the Newcomen Society: Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 25-40.

Raw Materials Supply and Technological Change in the American Charcoal Iron Industry

In the early 19th century, charcoal iron smelting was carried out in iron plantations-rural, small-scale operations which employed a primitive, age-old technology. Such crude techniques resulted in an enormous waste of the raw materials, particularly the charcoal fuel. The name plantation derives from the fact that these enterprises were often nearly self-sufficient communities, producing not only iron but also most of their own food, and were therefore as much agricultural as industrial operations. The quality of the iron produced at these plantations was usually quite good, but its price, due to the inefficiency of the processes used, was high. Two historians of the American iron industry-Peter Temin and Louis Hunter-have claimed that these characteristics of the charcoal

Lancashire Smiths in Sweden

Abstract Barbro Bursell's doctoral thesis deals with the Lancashire smiths at Ramnas Bruk in Vastrnanland: it is a study in ethnology, with an emphasis on industrial anthropology, and in this field it represents a relatively new trend, according to the author without true predecessors though she has clearly benefited from the extensive work of the economic historians of the Swedish iron industry. The smiths at Ramnas Bruk were interesting as the last representatives of the well-known Swedish charcoal iron industry: the book is a local study, concentrating on the years 1885-1925, and it deals with a labour aristocracy (in English they called themselves 'the Clog Nobility'). There were approximately thirty Lancashire smiths at Ramnas; as this works accounted for about 2.5-3.0 per cent of the Lancashire steel manufactured in Sweden, there can never have been many more than a thousand smiths of the type described here. The men were merely a small remnant and the works something of a relic, for the Lancashire forge was increasingly superseded by the advance of the new ingot steel process. Lancashire steel was produced for the last time in Sweden at Ramnas in May 1964.

Evolution, adaptation and survival: the very slow death of the American charcoal iron industry

Summary The last charcoal iron blast furnace in the United States shut down in 1945. The most obvious reason for the extraordinary longevity of this industry was the almost unlimited supply of virgin timber in the United States. Although an obvious explanation, it is deceptive. The much more crucial reason for the longevity of the American charcoal iron industry was the technical difficulties involved in adapting coke- and coal-smelted iron to existing industrial processes. Until these technological problems could be overcome, charcoal iron was able to preserve a place for itself in the industrial environment of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By concentrating their attention on the rapid advance of coke-smelted iron from 1870 onward, historians of the American iron industry have neglected this ability of the older iron technology to adapt to the new industrial conditions.

The Charcoal Iron Industry and its Fuel, 1540–1750

The Charcoal Iron Industry and its Fuel, 1540–1750