BS: Saugus Iron Works

Subject: BS: Saugus Iron Works
From: robomatic
Date: 29 Jan 05 - 11:17 PM

The sub title of this thread is: The More Things Change....

Last week on a frosty Massachusetts morning I set off to visit the Saugus Iron Works, a National Park administered site on a small river northwest of Boston where the first successful tool metals of North America were turned out. This was about 1645. The Anglo part of the New World up here was dominated by the Puritans, Cromwell was boss in England. The locals wanted to set up their own metal works. First they tried to do it as an all Puritan operation. They tried a site south of town but it wasn't organized well and the investors back in England hired a non-Puritan of proven metalsmithing background, and in LESS THAN A YEAR he had picked out the site, had channels dug, waterwheels built, and most of the operation up and running. They turned out pretty respectable quantities of iron of good quality in an operation that would've been respecttable by the European standards of the time. One of the ingredients of their success was cheap labor. Where did they get the labor? Scottish prisoners. The Puritans had fought the Scots in order to finally defeat Charles I, who lost his head after being put on trial for tyranny. Anyhow, a lot of social problems had to be dealt with The Scots were basically indentured workers and eventually contributed to the community, but they were not Puritans. The boss of the concern felt he'd put heart and soul into it and was under-appreciated by the investors. He quit. The concern went on for twenty years and then stopped, not to turn out one more billet to this day. The reason? Litigation! Costs were high and the investors weren't happy. The site was cannabalized for parts and fell into disrepair until all that remained were bits of the woodwork, a sizable slag pile by colonial standards, and traces of the original road and water channels. In the 1950's restoration commenced. It's a pretty neat place and a reminder that money and lawyers have always been with us, not to mention the drive for cheap labor.

Subject: RE: BS: Saugus Iron Works
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Jan 05 - 10:10 AM

Refresh!

Subject: RE: BS: Saugus Iron Works
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 31 Jan 05 - 06:54 AM

The Scots were on the Parliamentary side in 1645, it was only in the second civil war (1648) and the third (1650) that the Scots disastrously took Charles' side. Scots were transported to the Colonies following the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, so that would date the ironworks to 1651 or after.

And, as you say, the prisoners were not in keeping with the religious atmosphere of the colonies- the experiment was not repeated, and thereafter prisoners went mostly to the West Indies. There is a sizeable 'poor white' population in Jamaica beleived to be descended in part from these.

I wonder if the ironmaster's departure was more to do with the politics of the time than to pique?