To summarize the last four Notes, iron was recognized very early in the history of Virginia and was considered important. The smelting and casting of iron did not originate with Alexander Spotswood. There was a serious attempt in 1622, on Falling Creek off the James River near present-day Richmond to smelt iron, costing about five thousand pounds Sterling. Apparently there was every reason to believe that this could have been a very successful contribution to Virginia's and England's economic history, but the endeavor came to naught because of trouble with the Indians.
Why were not these iron works resurrected?
The disaster at Falling Creek did not encourage people to try again.
There was insufficient money in the hands of any one or group of people in Virginia to finance it. When Spotswood did raise the subject, he proposed the Colony of Virginia in its entirety be responsible. When the House of Burgesses refused to go along with this plan, Spotswood suggested that the Queen herself might like to finance it. Clearly he was looking for deep pockets. He personally did not have the money.
The distance from England with the slow communications of the day meant that capitalists there were not too eager to undertake the work. One of the reasons that Sir Richard gave for dropping his venture, after asking Spotswood to search for iron ore, was that the distance was too far.
The trade laws were very unclear. Whether cast iron would qualify as a raw material was not determined. When Spotswood told the Board of Trade that he was proposing the Colony of Virginia sponsor an iron works, he was told by the Board that the legislation should include a suspension clause, meaning that if the endeavor was not approved in England then the activity in Virginia had to stop. With an entry fee of five thousand pounds and the possibility of suspension hanging over the enterprise, it would take a foolhardy person to launch the venture. (When iron was finally launched, a combination of powerful and rich people in England contributed.)
William Byrd was a promoter and he owned lands with iron ore (the basis for the original Falling Creek furnace). He hoped to get iron smelting underway. When he testified in 1720 that Virginia could cast iron, this could be considered as a hope for the future based on the century earlier work. It might be considered as a statement of fact, based on the work of Spotswood; however, the testimony of people would suggest that Spotswood did not have a producing furnace in 1720. It was not until about 1722 or 1723 that he was producing cast iron in any quantities.
The First Germanna Colony did not come to mine iron for Spotswood, nor were they recruited by him. Eventually, they did find iron ore and developed an iron mine. Their obligations were over and they had left for their own land before the furnace was operating.
(26 Sep 04)
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.