The Sale of Atsion Furnace

Ben Ruset

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Came across this while searching for something else.

Collection: The Pennsylvania Gazette
Publication: The Pennsylvania Gazette
Date: March 2, 1791
Title: TO BE SOLD

TO BE SOLD The ATSION IRON-WORKS.
WITH the Mills, Lands and Improvements appurtenant thereto, situate partly in Burlington, and partly in Gloucester counties, in the state of New Jersey, within thirty miles of the city of Philadelphia, and about nine miles from the navigable waters of Little Egg Harbour, and sixteen miles from a landing on the tide waters of Delaware; consisting of a blast furnace now at work, the stack of which is new, and the casting-house, bellows, &c. lately put in through repair; an air furnace in good repair; a forge with four fires and two hammers in complete order; a stamping mill for cinder; a grist-mill nearly new; two saw-mills, well repaired, and a seat for a third mill, which may answer well either for a grist-mill, saw mill, slitting or rolling mill, or other water-works, having a dam, &c. ready and well supplied with water; a spacious coal-house for the furnace, and another for the forge, the late just built, and the former nearly new; a smith's shop; a convenient large dwelling-house, with a roomy, commodious kitchen, a smoke house, spring-house and other useful out-buildings; an extensive storehouse, barn, stables, &c. a garden well inclosed, a young thriving orchard and several hundred acres of cleared plow and meadowland, enclosed with good cedar fence: also, three commodious farm-houses, barns and out-houses, and for the accommodation of workmen and their families, upwards of 20 good frame and log-dwellings, to many of which are improved gardens. Belonging to this estate are about 20,000 acres of land, conveniently surrounding the improvements, mostly covered with thriving and good timber for coaling and sawing; a considerable part of the soil well adapted to raising of rye and Indian corn, and latterly several large lots of bottom land having been cleared and drained, promise will for good meadow. The ore lies in great quantities from 14 to 12 mile from the furnace --- the most distant don't exceed four miles, and the roads level and good. The quality of the ore is well known, the refined bar-iron made therefrom being well approved both in New York and Philadelphia, and the castings are allowed to be equal to any, and superior to most for toughness of quality, the potash kettles made at Atsion having had the preference to most, if not all, brought to the New York market. Upon the whole, the main objects generally sought for in profitable iron-works are not wanting here. The stream of water is large and good, the ore and wood to all appearance may last a long series of years, and the carriage to market short and convenient. --- These works have been profitable to the concerned, as their books will shew; which may be viewed by persons inclining to purchase. The estate will, nevertheless, be sold on low terms, and a considerable sacrifice made for the ease and relief of one of the owners, who has long had the principal management of it, and is earnestly desirous of being released from the weight of the business. Any person or persons inclining to treat for the whole, or any part thereof, are desired to apply to JOSEPH SALTER, on the premises, GEORGE BOWNE, merchant, in new York, or to JOHN or HENRY DRINKER, in Philadelphia. 25th 2d mo. 1791.
 

Don Catts

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Ben, interesting find.
At the time, by deed, the Salter family owned 4/16, Henry Drinker owned 10/16, and John Drinker 2/16. This deed was also the first mention of the firm as the "Atsion Ironworks"

The Salter's lived in the original Mansion (before the Richards Mansion) so he would be contacted on the premises, I don't know who George Bowne was but he was never an owner. John and Henry Drinker were brothers and lived in Phila. This is five years after Salter's ditch was dug so they did have good water power.

"considerable sacrifice made for the ease and relief of one of the owners, who has long had the principal management of it, and is earnestly desirous of being released from the weight of the business" Probably Salter, he and Henry Drinker did not get along. In 1805 when Jacob Downing bought Atsion Henry Drinker stayed on as half owner so my guess is Salter.

Thanks for posting, Don
 

bobpbx

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Oct 25, 2002
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Very interesting Ben. I like the way they wrote. Surely did say a lot in one paragraph.

But this sentence has a discrepancy I think..."The ore lies in great quantities from 14 to 12 mile from the furnace --- the most distant don't exceed four miles, and the roads level and good." Am I reading it wrong? I think he meant 2 to 4 miles...
 

Teegate

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I wonder who wrote that? Maybe Salter himself?

There has to be an error in that line.
 

RednekF350

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Feb 20, 2004
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Another selling point, if it had it been there at the time, could have been this:

Just 320 rods to the north lies a warm tavern and inn with liquors and provisions of highest quality.
The innkeeper is heralded for his local fowl steeped in hot oils and dressed with elixirs that rival the heat of the nearby furnace.
 

MarkBNJ

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Jun 17, 2007
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I think I've run across this before... perhaps in "Iron in the Pines." Like many here I read a lot of old writing, and I often wonder about the differences in the use of language. In our day terseness and efficiency usually trump all other considerations. I think our forebears had fewer channels of communication, and the ones they did have required deliberation and considerable effort to utilize. I also think that they pursued refinement, in the arts and other areas of life, because so much of the actual condition of human life in the 18th and 19th centuries and before was base and unattractive. Of course, they only had their own history to compare with, and so it may not have seemed that way to them.
 
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Gentlemen:

It is always best to examine the original newspaper instead of the OCR transcription when such a discrepancy arises. Here is the original advertisement:

1791 Atsion sale ad.jpg


As you will notice, the actual type is “¼” and “½” instead of 12 to 14 miles. Now the verbiage make perfect sense!

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
Apr 6, 2004
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"...and latterly several large lots of bottom land having been cleared and drained, promise will for good meadow..."

What exactly did this entail? I'm assuming that this is referring to deforesting a swamp, filling it in with soil and planting grasses and what not. Am I thinking in the right direction?
 

MarkBNJ

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Jun 17, 2007
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"...and latterly several large lots of bottom land having been cleared and drained, promise will for good meadow..."

What exactly did this entail? I'm assuming that this is referring to deforesting a swamp, filling it in with soil and planting grasses and what not. Am I thinking in the right direction?


I don't know about the fill part, but I always assumed it primarily referred to draining.
 

Tracker Jim

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Dec 18, 2014
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"...and latterly several large lots of bottom land having been cleared and drained, promise will for good meadow..."

What exactly did this entail? I'm assuming that this is referring to deforesting a swamp, filling it in with soil and planting grasses and what not. Am I thinking in the right direction?
Having discovered this altered section of the river several years ago, I had long wondered what it could have been. It was again brought to mind after reading the 1791 advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette, and I wonder if it is this location that they were referring to ...
If nothing else, it is curious. Be sure to rotate it to the South and West view.
http://binged.it/1MwzLIY
 
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Don Catts

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Aug 5, 2012
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Indian Mills
Having discovered this altered section of the river several years ago, I had long wondered what it could have been. It was again brought to mind after reading the 1791 advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette, and I wonder if it is this location that they were referring to ...
If nothing else, it is curious. Be sure to rotate it to the South and West view.
http://binged.it/1MwzLIY


Tracker-jim,
It doesn't look like an ideal area for a meadow, but there was definitely something there. Does it look like it was drained at one time. I'm pretty sure they didn't bring fill in to make a meadow back in the 1700s. There are just too many other swampy areas on the Atsion property that could be drained and turned into meadows. One that comes to mind is across route 206 from the mansion. The area behind the Pineland Adventures and the other homes there on Atsion Road is low and looks like it could have been drained at one time. I know it was farmed back there for many years and there was a large barn there at one time. Just my guess, don't know any of this for sure.

Your area is within the limits of the Fruitland farm lots, a land development in the 1860s. Someone may have bought this lot and worked the bottom ground down by the river. These lots went to the center of the river. You would have to get the lot number from the Fruitland map and see if it was ever bought.
Don
 

Spung-Man

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Jan 5, 2009
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Before cranberries the drained lands were used mostly for cattle pasturage (savannah) and rough hay production without infill. Also, meadow ore, an early name for bog ore, could be more easily extracted.

"In the northern part of the county, between Atsion and Batsto, another system appears to have been adopted. The water from the main branch of Machesautuxen was carried to the eastward, through the high grounds, by means of ditches or canals, into a smaller stream known as Sleepy Creek, where dams were erected and where the beavers had their dwellings. It was a skillful operation to carry the
water in this manner from one stream to the other by reason of the slight fall, but it was accomplished, and their works may there be examined at this day to prove the engineering capacity and perseverance of this remarkable animal. What necessity there could have been for such extensive and laborious operations must be left to conjecture. Higher up the same stream a series of dams were erected, flooding the whole valley for several miles, and so destroying the timber, that to the present time but little has grown upon the soil, leaving it, however, a valuable Pasturage for cattle during the most of the year. The study of these evidences of animal sagacity, which were quite equal to the rude human intelligence that surrounded them, is deserving of more care than it has, as yet, received, and when properly considered, will disclose many things unknown in regard to them" (pp.405–406).

1880. Clement J. Atlantic County "In ye olden time"–and now. In Order of the Society [of the Surveyors; Association]. Proceedings, Constitution, By-Laws, Lists of Members, &c., of the Surveyors’ Association of West New Jersey. With Historical and Biographical Sketches Relating to New Jersey. Camden, NJ: S. Chew. pp. 401–420.

Also see Chapter 7: Savannahs of the Pine Barrens (pp. 124–150) In Demitroff M. 2007. Pine Barrens Wetlands: Geographical Reflections of South Jersey’s Periglacial Legacy. Masters Thesis. Newark, DE: University of Delaware. 224 pp.

S-M
 
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Apr 6, 2004
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Nice find, Spung-Man! That is a description of Wescoat Bogs. Tracker Jim and I were just poking around there today. The Mechescatuxen loses a significant amount of water to Sleepy Creek, which largely explains its extremely modest discharge into the Atsion Creek.
 

Teegate

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Wescoat Bog was there as early as 8/25/1803. Yes, 1803.
 

Teegate

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I should say the property lines as they are today were there in 1803. It may not have been a bog then.
 
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