The factors that gave rise to the iron industry in Pennsylvania are detailed in many studies of early settlement and industrial progress. Both William A. Sullivan in his Industrial Worker in Pennsylvania and Arthur Bining's Pennsylvania Iron Manufacture in the Eighteenth Century describe the rich, natural resources of the early colony and the influx of wage earners from the Old World as the perfect setting for industrial growth and development.1
Cumberland County was an example of this vital combination of factors. The Scotch-Irish were the first to settle in the county, but German immigrants soon followed in increasing numbers.2 By the turn of the nineteenth century the county had attracted a heterogeneous pool of skilled and unskilled workmen, farmers, and craftsmen.
The iron workers in the county formed a diverse group. German, English, Scottish, and Irish names filled the ledgers of local works. Bining points out in his book that modifications occurred that differed from the labor system in the Old Country. Although land was plentiful, labor was scarce and expensive. The changes in labor conditions were the result of these conditions. In Pennsylvania there were fewer restrictions and regulations and more incentives to maintain a steady supply of productive, satisfied workmen.3 The problem of obtaining a sufficient pool of laborers confronted all employers, including ironmasters. 4 Advertisements in county newspapers attest to the fact that workmen, skilled and unskilled, were constantly in demand in the 1700s and 1800s. Bining also states that "opportunities were greater for the worker and class lines were less rigid, which offered greater advancement" 5 than English labor institutions of the seventeenth century from which the colonial systems evolved.
The iron industry progressed differently from other industries. Its organization remained the same, with dependence on traditional factors such as natural resources and technological improvements rather than the influences of organized labor systems or guilds. Although frontier conditions allowed for less rigid conditions than the English system, servile labor occupied a more important place in the colonies. 6
Workers in Cumberland County's iron industry until the 1840s could be classified in a general manner-free labor, indentured servants, slaves, apprentices, and women. This conclusion was established from tax records, advertisements, and day books of local furnaces. The following ad gives insightful information on conditions of labor and culture during that period.
Four Dollars Reward Ran-away about three weeks ago from the subscriber living at the Carlisle Iron Works, Cumberland County, a negro woman, named Bert, about forty years of age, speaks good German and English, her clothes unknown, and fond of strong liquor supposed to be about the river. Whoever secures said wench in any gaol shall be entitled to the above reward and reasonable charges if brought home. August 18th, 1789 Michael Ege
Such ads for runaways appeared frequently. Tax lists showed that ironmasters were assessed by the number of their slaves. Women were consistently listed in ledgers when paid for services such as mending, farming, and supplying wood. Regardless of the conditions, there were many instances of families of ironworkers who remained at the same plantation for generations. 7
I have never forgotten my first solitary walk through Camp Michaux. The sun was setting and visitors had gone. I explored in silence, hearing only a gentle breeze create an eerie creaking in the trees that made me strain my ear as if listening for voices of the past.