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The Beginnings of Iron Manufacture in Chattanooga:
The Chattanooga Region was rich in mineral resources, including hematite iron ore. The convergence of river transportation and railroads at Chattanooga guaranteed access to markets for iron products such as pig iron bars, and finished castings such as a railroad car wheels.
Ross's Landing 1838:
The Treaty of New Echota in 1835 opened the lands south of the Tennessee River to Anglo-American settlement. At the former Cherokee trading post of John Ross, white settlers landed in the shadow of high limestone bluffs. River craft of all sorts were unloaded at Ross's Landing to supply the pioneer town between built among the hills near the ferry landing. In 1839, the inhabitants of Ross's Landing met to form a local government for the new town renamed Chattanooga.
Seeking to open the interior of the State of Georgia to commercial development, the Western and Atlantic Railroad was chartered to run north from the railhead at Atlanta to a port town on the Tennessee River -- Chattanooga. By 1854, Tennessee had opened the Nashville and Tennessee Railroad from the state capitol to link with the W&A Railroad terminal at Chattanooga, thus securing the town's commercial future as a river and rail hub for the region.
Among those realizing the economic potential of the town were Robert Cravens and James Anderson Whiteside. Both were impressed with the industrial potential of the Chattanooga region, and together, they forged the cradle of iron manufacture in lower East Tennessee.
Robert Cravens, Ironmaster, 1805-1888:
Since 1839, Cravens had operated Eagle Furnace and Forge on White's Creek in Roane County. In 1847, with other prominent East Tennesseans, he formed the East Tennessee Iron Manufacturing Company. Moving to Chattanooga in 1851, Cravens began the construction of a blast furnace near the ferry crossings at Ross's Landing.
James A. Whiteside, Entrepreneur, 1803-1861:
Lawyer and politician, entrepreneur and businessman, James Whiteside served as president of the East Tennessee Iron Manufacturing Company until his death in 1861. Whiteside successfully promoted Ross's Landing as the terminus of the W&A Railroad, then spearheaded the incorporration of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad.
Bluff Furnace, 1858:
Their East Tennessee Iron Manufacturing Company expanded its operations from Eagle Furnace and Forge on White's Creek, and by 1853 had opened a foundry near the railyards at Chattanooga. The following year, the largest and most technically advanced smelter in Tennessee, called Bluff Furnace, was completed. In 1856, this steam-powered, hot-blast, charcoal-fired furnace began smelting hematite iron ores into pig iron bars.
Using natural resources found locally and around the region, this blast furnace produced quality cast-iron pigs which were then shipped down river to the iron markets at St. Louis.
The production of quality, foundry-grade iron in Tennessee placed it first among all southern states in the 1850s. However, the number of the technology of northern furnaces, in states such as Pennsylvania, made competition difficult. |