Spotswood saw lots of good reasons for the development of an iron industry in Virginia. He could see that Virginia needed an income source other than tobacco. Tobacco fluctuated too much in price and the production levels were at the whim of the weather. It wore out the land also.
There was nothing that Virginia lacked to develop an iron industry. It had proven deposits of iron ore of a good quality. More than a century previous to 1710, the date of the proposal made by Spotswood to the House of Burgesses, a quantity of the ore had been shipped back to England where it had shown good results. There were certainly plenty of trees from which charcoal could be made. Virginians were burning up their trees just to get rid of them. Water was needed for power and this was available readily at several locations, but especially along the fall line where Byrd's iron ore was located. Technically, there were no limitations on the smelting of iron in Virginia.
On the other hand, the picture was just about the opposite of this in England. So much iron ore had been smelted in England that the forests were depleted. The shortage was in charcoal (this was before it had been learned how to make coke from coal). There was still iron ore and water power in England, but without the charcoal little could be done. By 1710, England had to import much of its iron from the Baltic nations. Spotswood pointed out in his arguments that this dependence on a foreign nation was not the best security for England. He also pointed out that the Pounds Sterling being sent to the Baltic nations could be sent to America where they were apt to be recycled back to England to buy English products.
Spotswood's thoughts were excellent. He proposed to the House of Burgesses (where all legislation originated) that the colony of Virginia sponsor the iron industry. The idea did not get too far there because of sectionalism. Those Burgesses who lived in the counties away from the proposed iron works could see little advantage to their counties. So the whole idea was essentially "tabled".
It will be noted that Spotswood did not ask any individual to undertake this enterprise. He could see that there was no one in Virginia who could afford to do so. So he had to find an agency with deeper pockets than any citizen in Virginia had. In 1622, the iron furnace on the James River had been financed with a five thousand pound subscription. It took a lot of money.
After the rebuff by the House of Burgesses, Spotswood suggested to the Board of Trade that perhaps Queen Anne might like to underwrite the venture as a personal endeavor. Again, note that he was thinking of an agency with deep pockets. There is no evidence that the Board of Trade ever sent the idea along to the Queen. On the contrary, they were opposed to the whole idea.
(26 Oct 01)
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.