On July 10, 1850, Mr. King sold his interest in the Benscreek furnace to Dr. Shoenberger, and on September 17, 1852, sold him his one-fourth interest in the Sharon furnace. These sales did not affect the other partnership property.
No coke was made here in those days, and it was necessary to use charcoal in the furnaces; consequently a large amount of timber land was required, which the firm owned to the extent of about, twenty-five thousand acres.
The machinery for making a blast was very crude and to bank a furnace was a dangerous undertaking, in consequence of which it was kept going day and night to prevent a "chill." Subsequently improved appliances were introduced by which
the matter could be safely controlled and operation suspended temporarily. A furnace in Blair county was the first to introduce the new machinery which permitted work to cease on Sundays, consequently to this day the place is called "Sabbath Rest."
On February 14, 1847, the partners in Mill Creek and Bens Creek furnaces were George S. King, P. Shoenberger and John Bell. They made the following list of lands belonging to these furnaces, located in Conemaugh townships of both Somerset and Cambria counties:
| "2 tracts purchased of Oliver Woods and |
811 |
acres. |
| George Gates |
|
|
| 1 tract of David Shrock |
150 |
|
| 3 tracts of David T. Storm. |
1,320 |
|
| 1 tract warranted in name of J. Bell |
41 |
|
| 1 tract of Jonas Yodder |
2181/2 |
|
| 2 tracts of William R. Thompson. |
819 |
|
| 1 tract of John Wertz |
271 |
|
| 3 tracts of Jacob Miltenberger |
1,038 |
|
| 1 tract of C. Hershberger |
75 |
|
| 1 tract of John Alwine |
100 |
|
| 1 tract of Garret Beam |
2821/2 |
|
| 6 tracts of King & Shoenberger |
2,500 |
|
|
----- |
|
|
7,626 |
acres." |
Each of these furnaces had an output of from four to five tons of pig metal per day, the market value of which was from $22 to $25 per ton in Pittsburg. Sometimes it was sold as low as $17 and at other times bringing $30, but its value was always about twelve per cent less than other metals on account of its hardness, which will be referred to in detail hereafter.
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