It is not surprising that the providential combination along the stream above present day Barto was first given the name Mt. Pleasant, a name which was attached to the first furnace and the earliest forges of the Township.
Raw iron, called "pig iron" was produced in the furnace from the molten ore. These iron ingots had to be pounded at a forge while heated, to be made into more malleable but still crude bars called "blooms."
Additional hammering at the forge refined the "bloom" so it could be drawn into bars of any required size. This was called "bar iron" which could then be wrought or shaped into finished products.
For both smelting and forging operations a blast of air from large bellows was needed to raise the temperature of the charcoal to white-hot. The bellows were powered by water wheels.
Dams were built and water diverted through a "head race" to turn the wheels slowly, but with great power.
The same water power was used to lift mighty hammers called tilt hammers or trip hammers. The force of the blow from the falling hammer head transformed the heated iron bars into sheets of iron.
Thomas Potts Jr. built the first furnace at Mt. Pleasant as early as 1737. Two forges of the same name were established up stream, one at the location of the "ol' swimming hole" known as the Rocks, the second a short distance further upstream.
The other significant early furnace in the Township was the small furnace at Dale. Both furnaces were superceded by the forges of the valley.
The forges operated long after local smelting efforts were discontinued by using pig iron from furnaces as far away as Hopewell. These supplies of iron to be processed were hauled by teamsters in hugh wagons, not unlike the Conestoga style of freight haulers.
The most famous and longest operated forge was that owned by George Schall and then his son, David Schall, from 1804 to 1869 at Dale. Its name continues in the village of Forgedale. The photo at right shows the ruins of the Dale Forge in 1955.
The late Alfred Gemmell in his 1947 research on the forges and furnaces of the Perkiomen Valley, described the Dale forge as being a building 40 by 50 feet with walls twelve feet high. It had a tiled roof and two hearths with massive chimneys at each gable end. Two separate hammers, one 500 pounds, and the other 600 pounds, were worked by water wheels outside the gable ends.
The water wheels were of the "undershot" style, fourteen feet in diameter and eight feet wide, with the water pushing against the blades at the bottom.
The anvils weighed 800 pounds each and rested on several layers of chestnut logs which were on top of oak blocks imbedded eight feet into the ground.
The hammers were lifted by huge teeth-like prongs which pushed against the massive oak-beam handles of the hammers. As the tooth slipped off the end of the pivoted "handle," the hammer head fell with great force on the heated iron atop the anvil.
The bellows were operated by a separate water wheel twenty feet in diameter but only four feet wide. This was an "overshot wheel", with water flowing on to the wheel at the top.
The Dale Iron Works of the Schall family also included a saw mill, a black smith shop, wheelwright shop, stone quarry, a dam covering 14 acres, and several hundred acres of land for timber to supply charcoal.
Ironically the Dale Forge ceased operation the year the railroad was
finally built into Mt. Pleasant. But iron working technology had already left the charcoal operated forges behind.
Mines
Mining was an essential component of the iron industry in the early years of the Township. Several mines existed with varying degrees of success.
The earliest mine supplied the furnace at Mt. Pleasant, the original name of the Barto community. Operations were begun by Thomas Potts Jr. in conjunction with his building of the furnace in 1737.
The ridge from Crow Hill to the Huffs Church Road is pockmarked with open pit diggings, some shallow, others deeper. One of these early mines has the appearance of a cave.
Few details of the working of these mines have been found. Most documentation deals with the mines closer to the Schuylkill River valley.
According to a geological report written in 1883 by E. V. D'Invilliers, the Landis Mine was the largest. Mining began there in 1865 under the direction of William Rowe Sr. for the Grove Brothers of Danville, Pennsylvania.
The shafts were located north of the road to Bechtelsville about 500 yards west of the Barto railroad station. There were two shafts, eaeh with several cross cuts. Each shaft had a twenty-four horsepower engine pumping twenty-four hours a day.
Production in Shaft No. 1 contained a large room like deposit. While some areas of the mine were shored up by timber, the mining of this large area left pillars of the ore in place to act as columns to hold the mine ceiling intact. These pillars were fifteen feet in diameter. On one occasion Shaft No. 2 had a major cave-in.
Ore was loaded on railroad cars at Barto Station. The ore brought $4.75 a ton.
The mine employed twenty-four men and used twenty to twenty-four tons of coal a month in order to operate.
The Barto Mine was located 300 yards northwest of Barto Station near the road to Forgedale. One old shaft ran 15 feet deep with a 100 foot gangway and several crosscuts. This was mined by the Pottstown Iron Company until 1876. Several tons of ore were rernoved later from one shaft.
Other Township mines included the Stouffer Mine one half mile north of Bechtelsville at the base of a small hill. Here shafts were sunk in several directions with little success.
The Gilbert Mine a half mile further up the Swamp Creek had a shallow shaft with several small open cuts. The ore produced good, tough iron when processed at the Bechtelsville Furnace. It also produced a large amount of slag. In 1882 it was being mined by E. Lewis of Eshbach who leased the mine.
The Gilbergs Mine shared the same hill as the Gilbert Mine but closer to Barto Station. This mine began operation in 1868 with an 80 foot shaft and a twenty-five horsepower engine. The ore was hauled to Bechtelsville where it was shipped to the Pottstown Iron Company. The tough iron pruduced from this ore was used to create boilers, sheet iron and nails.
Thomas Edison showed great interest in area mines in the late 1800's. He experimented for two years with an extraction process which removed iron ore with the use of a nine ton magnet. A fatal accident reportedly hastened its end. His interest focused especially in an area between Bechtelsville and Heydt's School House. The entrance to Edison's mine is shown at left.
Silver, gold and lead were said to be removed from the Township hills but not in large enough quantities to pursue economically.
Excerpted from "CONTINUING THE VISION -- PRESERVING THE VALUES", the history of Washington Township prepared to commemorate the Sesquicentennial of the Township's establishment. Copyright 1990, Washington Township Historical Committee.
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