By December of 1718, it is reasonable to assume that Spotswood had proven iron mines but no furnace. The difficult part in this statement for most people is the claim there was no furnace by that date. The basis for this is Spotswood's own statement that the partners in the search for the iron had spent about three score pounds in the effort. This was a very small amoun.
The earliest mention of Spotswood's iron furnace in Virginia (actually he seems to have had partners) comes from Hugh Jones, cited here before. He lived in Virginia from 1717 to 1722 when he returned to England. In 1724 he published a book in which he wrote about the furnace:
"This iron has been proved to be good, and it is thought, will come at as cheap a rate as any imported from other places; so that 'tis to be hoped Colonel Spotswood's work will in a small time prove very advantageous to Great Britain . . ."
At a couple of points, Jones uses the future tense. Still it seems as if the furnace has produced some output because it has been proven to be good. Most likely, in 1722, the furnace had had a first "pour" which had been successful but the operation was still on shaky grounds.
There was another event in 1722 that bears on the subject. Spotswood purchased land from the Smith heirs, below the falls of the Rappahannock, so that he could build a wharf for loading ships with the iron. So in 1722 he was getting serious about shipping iron.
About this same time, in 1723, Lt. Gov. Drysdale, Spotswood's successor as Governor, wrote to the Board of Trade:
"I judge it part of my duty to inform your Ldspps. of an affair, that is at present the common Theme of people Discourses, and employs their thought. Coll Spotswood's Iron workes: he had brought itt to that perfection that he now sells by public auction at Wm:burgh, backs and frames for Chymnies, Potts, doggs, frying, stewing and baking panns . . ."
Evidently, the "iron works" was still something of a novelty. Considering the implications of the iron works and considering Drysdale's negative attitude toward Spotswood, had the works been in existence for any great length of time, Drysdale would have written to London sooner. It is said that in 1723 he shipped 20 tons of iron to England. Later his objective was to ship 1,200 tons of iron each years. Therefore in 1723, the furnace was probably just coming into regular production.
Though the First Germanna Colony had moved on to Germantown in January of 1719 (NS) and it would appear there was a mine by then, Spotswood did not patent the iron mine land until 1720(NS).
Putting this all together, the timetable looks like:
1717: iron ore is discovered about 13 miles from Germanna;
1718: the ore beds are developed and proven;
1720: the iron mine tract is patented and construction of the furnace begins;
1721: trial runs occur at the furnace;
1722: while production amounts are encouraging, flaws need to be worked out;
1723: the furnace is in regular and consistent operation.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.