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Some Interesting Facts Concerning the RichardContinued from page i. the mine that there was no possibility of it ever caving in. “The company,'' said ‘Captain’ Arthur, pointing along the ground under which No. 4 runs, “expects to build a row of twelve double dwelling houses here so they must think it is safe.”. The Richard Mine is the property of the Thomas Iron Company, of Catasauqua, Pa. David Thomas, the founder of the company, who has been called the “father of the American anthtacite iron industry,” was born on November 3, 1794, in the parish of Codoxton,GJamoganshire, South Wales. The company which bears his name was organized on February 14, 1854, and purchased the Richard Mine, known as the Mt. Hope tract and containing 6,271 acres, from Henry McFarlan on October 30, 1856. The mine had been worked previous to this purchase by the Dover Company and its succesors Blackwell* McFarlan. The price paid for the mine was $32,000. No record of the amount of ore mined prior to 1856 can be had but the records of the Thomas Iron Company show that the company bought 7,000 tons of Richard Mine ore from McFarlan on January 3, 1856, for $3.27 a ton delivered at the Morris Canal.At that time the Morris Canal afforded the only means of transportation and the iron ore was carted to the canal. in wagons. On February 1, 1859, the records of the company show that its board of directors authorized the building of a horse railroad from the mine to the canal but for some reason the plans did not mature. On the completion of the Morris and Essex Railroad to Phillipsburg in 1865 'arrangements were made to build a steam railroad from the mines to Wharton, then known as Port Oram, and ship ore by an all rail route. Owners of other mines joined with the Thomas Iron Company in building the Mt. Hope Mineral Railroad, which was opened on November 7, 1867. The capital stock of the railroad company is $160,-000 and there is no bonded indebtedness. On April 1, 1876, the High Bridge Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey was opened to Port Oram and this too connected with the mine railroad.The Richard Mine contains several shoots of ore two of which are worked at the present time. No. 1 shoot, called the Mt. Pleasant, is the farthest north and was worked first but later abandoned and No. 2, the Richard vein,, overlying the Mt. Pleasant, was opened. In 1893 a cross-cut was driven and connections were made between the two veins which are about three hundred feet apart'at a depth of four hundred and seventy-one feet. There are three slopes'on the Richard vein going down on the foot wall; No.1 being 533 feet deep; No. 2, 630 feet; No. 3, 738 feet. There are two slopes on the Mt. Pleasant vein; No. 4 being 938 feet deep, and No. 6 being 600 feet deep. A new slope, No. 5, was begun on August 1, 1895, and completed April 30, 1901, though which ore is now hoisted from both shoots. This slope has a length of 868 feet with a vertical depth of 685 feet. The total output of the mine from the time it was purchased by the Thomas Iron Company in 1854 to September 28, 1904, a period of fifty years, was 2,212,838 tons, an average of 46,000 tons a year. The average output for the first eight years of that time was 11,683 tons and for the last eight years 101,939 tons. The greatest amount mined in any one year was 122,000 tons.James Arthur, the present superintendent, took charge of the mine on January I, 1895, and lie has taken out in'the ten years he has been in charge as much ore, over a million tons in all, as was mined in the thirty-eight years previous: .The Richard ore is a magnetic ore of high grade, the average analysis for the last twelve years of over a million tons, every shippment being sampled, being 60. 19 per cent metallic iron. The highest percentage shown in any one analysis is 61.89 per cent and the lowest 58.54 per cent.During the year 1900 the mine was equipped with new Babcock- Wilcox boilers of 1,250 horse power and an Inger-soil compressor with a compound Corliss engine of 750 horse power, together with other new machinery at a cost of $68,417. In 1905 and 1904 the mine was equipped with electrical machinery so that now all the hoisting is done by electricity. The mine is one,of the best ventilated mines in the country. As ail the workings are connected there is a strong natural draught When “Captain” Arthur took charge of the mine in 1895 it, was thought that the mine was nearly played out. Since then, as has already been told, over a million tons, as much as had been mined in thirty-eight^years before, has been taken out and this last summer a prominent mining engineer after careful examinations of the mine reported that there was still 1,800,000 tons of ore to be taken out,About three hundred men are employed in the mine.
Newspaper Details
Dover Iron Era
Dover, New Jersey, US
Fri, Oct 20, 1905
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Sam M.
USA 24 Mar 2025
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