We live a few miles from Route 1, which for you Seattleites is like Highway 99 (and in fact is Highway 99's opposite counterpart in the federal highway numbering system). We use it often to get to destinations on the North Shore. For the two years we've been here we've driven by a sign on Route 1 for the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site (Wikipedia article). Saugus is the next town east of Melrose. A few weeks ago we finally visited the site.
I had read about the site a little but didn't know too much about it. We hooked up with a ranger-led tour to learn more.
John Winthrop, an early governor of the colony, recognized the need for a local source of iron so he commissioned his son to travel to England and bring back the technology and skilled workers to start an iron works. Winthop Jr. didn't last very long as the boss and he put the iron works in the wrong place (Quincy), but it was later re-sited to the Saugus River where there was ample forest to fire the blast furnace as well as bog iron (ore) and elevation change to provide water power. The iron works was started in 1646 - only 26 years after the pilgrims landed.
The iron works only operated for a little more than 20 years and then failed for various financial reasons. But the people who worked there spread out and built iron works elsewhere in Massachusetts and in other colonies. This was the very beginning of industrialization in America.
The Saugus site fell into disuse and in fact was eventually buried. The town preserved the main house and was proud of the it but the actual works were completely "lost". Just after World War II the town invited steel industry magnates to town in the hopes of raising preservation funds for the house. As the ranger tells it, they weren't so interested in the house but they recognized the slag heap in the river bed and knew that if there was a slag heap it pointed the way to a blast furnace. They funded excavation and restoration and rebuilt the blast furnace, forge, and rolling and slitting mill on the original foundations.
On the tour they activate the huge water wheels and drive the giant leather bellows of the blast furnace and the 500lb water-powered hammer in the forge. I found the machinery fascinating. The rangers are also skilled at evoking what it must have been like to work there with the heat of the blast furnace and the constant banging of the big hammer.
It was a very cool piece of history to discover. My parents were just visiting this week and I had to go again so I could take my dad who is an engineer.
I had read about the site a little but didn't know too much about it. We hooked up with a ranger-led tour to learn more.
John Winthrop, an early governor of the colony, recognized the need for a local source of iron so he commissioned his son to travel to England and bring back the technology and skilled workers to start an iron works. Winthop Jr. didn't last very long as the boss and he put the iron works in the wrong place (Quincy), but it was later re-sited to the Saugus River where there was ample forest to fire the blast furnace as well as bog iron (ore) and elevation change to provide water power. The iron works was started in 1646 - only 26 years after the pilgrims landed.
The iron works only operated for a little more than 20 years and then failed for various financial reasons. But the people who worked there spread out and built iron works elsewhere in Massachusetts and in other colonies. This was the very beginning of industrialization in America.
The Saugus site fell into disuse and in fact was eventually buried. The town preserved the main house and was proud of the it but the actual works were completely "lost". Just after World War II the town invited steel industry magnates to town in the hopes of raising preservation funds for the house. As the ranger tells it, they weren't so interested in the house but they recognized the slag heap in the river bed and knew that if there was a slag heap it pointed the way to a blast furnace. They funded excavation and restoration and rebuilt the blast furnace, forge, and rolling and slitting mill on the original foundations.
On the tour they activate the huge water wheels and drive the giant leather bellows of the blast furnace and the 500lb water-powered hammer in the forge. I found the machinery fascinating. The rangers are also skilled at evoking what it must have been like to work there with the heat of the blast furnace and the constant banging of the big hammer.
It was a very cool piece of history to discover. My parents were just visiting this week and I had to go again so I could take my dad who is an engineer.
No comments:
Post a Comment