Oregon Iron Company

The Oregon Iron Company was an iron foundry in the area that today, Oregon is one of Lake Oswego. It was founded in 1865 and in 1867 the first companies in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains iron poured. The company went bankrupt after a few years, but was refounded in 1878 as Oswego Iron Company and in 1883 as Oregon Iron and Steel Company. This last foundation also brought by a larger blast furnace produced a profitable company that in 1890 reached the peak of production. The pressure from cheaper imports iron and the late effects of the panic of 1893 meant that the company was forced to close in 1894 its blast furnaces. A pipe foundry was still in operation until 1928. The company existed as a land management company until the early 1960s.

The discovery of iron ore in 1862 was near the settlement of Oswego in the mountains south of Portland is Morton M. McCarver attributed to the speaker of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon was. In McCarvers limonite a metal content of 56-75 % was observed, which made ​​it a convenient ore. In addition, the ore lay near the surface and the amount was 60,000 tons valued American ( 54,000 metric tons). Since the deposit was also surrounded by large forests that could serve for the production of charcoal for firing furnaces and water power was available, it was realized the potential of a successful mining company.

A group of financiers, including the former mayor of Portland, William S. Ladd and Henry Failing, as well as the founder of the Portland Gas Light Company Herman C. Leonard and John Green founded in 1865, the iron -producing companies, which they called the Oregon Iron Company. Ladd, who was active as president of the company and the others hoped to make Oswego the " Pittsburgh of the West". They believed that the local presence of iron would be beneficial also for their other ventures, including the Oregon Central Railroad and the Oregon Steam Navigation Company.

Construction

In order to monitor the construction of the wood-fired coal furnace, the company George Wilbur, who had built the Lime Rock Furnace in Lime Rock, Connecticut committed. The furnace was built by the British stonemason Richard Martin and completed in 1867. Meanwhile, a dam on the Sucker Creek was created to generate hydropower and forests were cut down to be processed into charcoal for firing the furnace. Limestone, which was used in the smelting of removing impurities, was broken on the San Juan Islands in Washington Territory and transported by boat to the loading facilities of the company on the Willamette River.

On August 24, 1867, the Oregon Iron Company was the first company in the United States, the west of the Rocky Mountains poured pig iron. The first pig iron was JC Trullinger who owned the land on which Oswego was situated. Between 1867 and 1869 the company produced nearly 2,400 American tons ( 2,200 metric tons) of iron.

Ladd's group found out soon that their expertness from other areas of their economic activities could not be applied to the production of iron. The lack of experience in the industry, as well as a dispute over water rights meant that the company was forced to close in 1869. A resurgence 1874-1876, when the company had an order of the Central Pacific Railroad to supply wheels, was short-lived; 1878, the Company completed final, and the property was auctioned by the sheriff.

Oswego Iron Company

The buyers were led by Ernest Crichton and LB Seeley, who gained experience in working iron as a manager in Ohio's Hanging Rock region hatten.iron region. Under the new name Oswego Iron Company, the company achieved a number of improvements, including the purchase of the urban area with extensive forests about the settlement of the problems with the water rights, the renewal of the furnace, the opening of several new mines and the construction of a narrow gauge railway to procure the iron ore. Between 1877 and 1881, the Oswego Iron Company 18,500 tons of American iron ( 16,800 metric tons) produced.

However, this company had large debts and as the market price of iron remained low, the company was sold in 1880 to another group of investors from Portland led by Simeon Gannett Reed and the railroad mogul Henry Villard.

Oregon Iron and Steel Company

The company was founded in 1882, reincorporated as Oregon Iron and Steel Company with Reed as president and William M. Ladd, son of the founder of the Oregon Iron Company William S. Ladd as Vice President. Reed borrowed money from Villard and let a new blast furnace north of the original building, the capacity of which amounted to five times the original blast furnace. The new iron factory was opened in 1888 and the production boomed. The company employed three hundred workers, and the population rose Oswegos as well as hotels, churches, saloons and an opera house were built. Eie railway line to Portland was completed in 1886 and made ​​more accessible Oswego.

The company reached its greatest production volume in 1890, when 12,305 American tons (about 11,160 metric tons) were cast iron. However, half of the company's resources were needed to win the charcoal needed for production. The availability of cheaper produced with coke import iron, the general decline in the demand for iron by slowing the expansion of the railroads and the economic effects of the panic of 1893 resulted in accelerated towards closing § clothes of the melting furnace in 1894. The company operated until 1928 on the site of a pipe foundry.

Land development

Despite the loss of its production, the company continued to exist and owned thousands of acres of land that could be developed. William M. Ladd, Reed as president of the Oregon Iron and Steel and his father as president of the Ladd & Tilton Bank, founded the Ladd Estate Company to manage these properties and utilize. Under this new real estate company the dilapidated housing settlement was transformed into a noble suburb of Country Club, golf course and polo field, and it was possible to change the bad sounding name of Lake Sucker Lake Oswego Lake.

The company existed as a shell until 1960, when the power plant and the dams were overwritten to unitholders.

Remains of the infrastructure

The original blast furnace still stands in Lake Oswego George Rogers Park on the Willamette River. He was the 1974 National Register of Historic Places added and plans for the conservation and restoration for inspection by the public are being implemented.

One of the first pieces of pig iron produced from 1867 issued by the Oregon Historical Society, the second is still in its place as a road marker on the northwest corner of Ladd and Durham Street in Lake Oswego.