Growth of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry Before the Civil War

Growth of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry Before the Civil War. .

ca. 1842: African American settlement near Millerstown. , 1850: Fugitive Slave Act enacted; Compromise of 1850. , 1852: First fair by the Agricultural Society of Perry County

, Relatively small-scale iron production began by 1808, after iron ore was discovered in the county. By the 1830s, the county's foundries made side hill plows and other popular patented plows. Constructed in 1835, the Caroline Furnace along the Pennsylvania Canal in Baileysburg is the only remaining cold blast furnace stack in the county., The county's iron industry had largely waned by the 1850s with the movement of the industry from the Juniata Valley to large industrial and transportation centers such as Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. Only the Duncannon Iron Works expanded. However, iron was becoming increasingly important in the production of agricultural goods., By 1811, Peter Moses operated his tilt hammer and edge tool factory south of Bridgeport, along Route 74. Included in the factory's output were sickles, scythes and reaping hooks. Reaping hooks were designed to both cut and gather the grain into bundles., The 1852 Fair at New Bloomfield, sponsored by the Agricultural Society of Perry County, was the first display of then-modern agricultural tools and methods., In 1840, the county produced 720,000 bushels of wheat, rye, corn and oats, of which only the wheat was grown for market. The county's 3,600 farmers relied on 4,000 horses and maintained about 50,000 other livestock, all supporting the county's industries, including thriving tanneries., [Captions:] , The Caroline Furnace viewed from the east, with the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks in the foreground, ca. 1880., Detail of door of a Juniata Furnace stove showing the panel design and riveted hinges. The Juniata Furnace operated from 1808 to about 1850, near Little Buffalo State Park., A typical, early reaping hook from the Blain area., Elias Widel established the Clinton Foundry by 1839 when his advertisement for plows appeared in the Perry County Democrat. Later, Samuel Liggett took over this foundry located south of Ickesburg., The Black-Achenbach barn in Raccoon Valley was constructed about 1858 as part of the Agricultural Reform Movement whereby farmsteads were re-built for greater ease in the farmer's work. This "triple decker" barn allowed grain to be directly deposited into the granary below.