The blooms and billets were hauled by wagons and sleighs to Chateau-
         gay, N.Y., and shipped via the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad to the
         steel districts of Pennsylvania and Ohio.  There is no doubt but that the
         same inherent qualities of the Chateaugay iron, which are in demand by the steel
         men of today for their toughest projects, were known and appreciated during this
         period.  The records at this time indicate a large tonnage of Chateaugay blooms
         being made for shipment to the wire manufacturers for the Brooklyn Bridge.
 
               The Catalan forge furnace, in which iron was made direct from ore, was
         an open hearth, about 2 1/2 feet by 3 1/2 feet, with a stack 20 feet to 25 feet high
         for carrying off the gases.

               The blast of air was usually furnished either by a bellows, or by means
         of a trompe.  The pipe thai carried the air to the hearth was coiled in the
         stack of the furnace, the object being to preheat the blast of air, which resulted
         in a saving of fuel.
 
               The operation consisted of a charcoal fire, stimulated by a blast of air,
         iron ore and charcoal in small quantities being added alternately by the blooms-
         man, who also regulated and adjusted the fire, until the batch of iron, called a
         "loupe," weighing about 300 pounds, was made.  This usually took about
         three hours.

                The "loupe," in a pasty state, mixed with slag, was loosened in the
         hearth by means of bars, and then lifted from the furnace with tongs, known as
         "grampuses," promptly taken to the trip hammer and forged into blooms or
         billets, a bar of iron about 5 inches square, varying in lengths from two to
         six feet, depending upon the market demands.
 
              The iron made was exceptionally pure.  The following is an analysis
         made recently in the Company's laboratory of one of the old Chateaugay blooms
         which has been preserved:
                  Iron                        99.70 %
                  Silicon ..                    .08
                  Sulphur                       .017
                  Phosphorus                    .017
                  Combined Carbon               .130
                  Manganese                  Nil
 
              The Company at this time was fairly prosperous.  The following was
         told of the late Hon. John Moffitt, who for a number of years was President
         of the Plattsburg National Bank & Trust Company:
 
                   "It seems that in the early ' 70's Mr. Moffitt was General Manager
              of the Chateaugay Company's operations.  His responsibilities as Man-
              ager included the purchase of the Company's supplies, the payment of
              bills, the sale of products, and the collection of all money due the Com-
              pany.  Shortly after the close of one successful year, the Company
              having manufactured and sold some 4,000 tons of iron, the late Hon.
              Smith M. Weed, President of the Company, asked Mr. Moffitt how
              much money the Company made during the past year.  The reply
              represented a very substantial profit.  Mr. Weed promptly said that he
              had been to see the bookkeeper, and was quite sure that the books did
              not show net earnings anywhere near this amount.  Mr. Moffitt
              promptly replied that he did not care what the books showed.  He had
              paid all of his bills and had that much money left in the bank."
 
              This early period of development, however, was accompanied by a great
         deal of hardship for both the management and the employees.  The winters
         were cold, with heavy snows, making it very difficult at times to obtain food
         and clothing.  Wild meat, in the form of venison, rabbits, birds and fish, was
         quite plentiful and, had it not been for this, there would have been a great deal
         more suffering than there was.  Flour, one of the necessities of these hard labor-
         ing pioneers, was lacking for months at a time, and was obtained, when possible,
         at a premium.
 
              Late in the '70s, the Company realized that in order to develop proper-
         ly the rich resources of its property to the best advantage, it must secure rail-
         road communication with the great iron markets of the country.  The ques-
         tion was, which way should it strike out from the mine, lying in the very
         heart of the wilderness.   Two routes were open to it:   One down the
         Chateaugay valley to Chateaugay, N. Y., connecting with the Ogdensburg and
         Lake Champlain Railroad, and the other to Dannemora, to connect with the
         Plattsburg & Dannemora line.  In February, 1879, when the snow was four
         feet deep in the woods, the work of making a preliminary survey was com-
         menced, and early in the spring the following data were at hand:  Distance to
         Chateaugay, 17 miles, an almost straight line, with an easy grade all the way,
         and the line running nearly half way through the Company's own land, past
         its Catalan forge at Belmont, and the other half through a fine farming coun-
         try, from which considerable local traffic would be derived.  Distance to Danne-
         mora, 17 miles, ten of which lay through solid wilderness, a crooked line
         running around two mountains and alternately toward all points of the com-
         pass; a hard line to grade, with the promise of little local traffic.  Everything
         seemed to indicate the selection of the Chateaugay route as the most natural,
         cheapest and best.
 
              However, Thomas Dickson, President of the Delaware and Hudson
         Canal Company, a close friend of Smith M. Weed, concluded that the proper
         movement of this ore was to Plattsburg, then via the New York and Can-
         ada Railroad.  On the 20th of May, 1879, the Chateaugay Railroad was
         organized, with Thomas Dickson as its President.  Subsequently, the lease of
         the Plattsburg and Dannemora Railroad was secured from the State, and about
         the 5th of June the contract was let for grading of the Chateaugay Railroad
         from Dannemora to the Ore Bed.  On the 8th of June the work began, and on
         December 6th the track laying was finished to the first shaft.  On the 17th of
         December, the first regular train ran over the entire line, and on December 18,
         1879, the first train of ore was moved to Plattsburg. 

lmrr1880.jpg = fullsize 
              In the subsequent years, the operations at Lyon Mountain spread out
         and increased at a rapid rate.  Directly above the "Old Opening" shaft, where
         the first blow was struck toward developing the Chateaugay Ore Bed in 1867,
         and continuing southwest along the strike of the vein, the Williams Opening
         shaft had been sunk to a depth of approximately 200 feet.  Between the shafts
         was an engine house, 36 x 52 feet, housing a compressor for air drills, and
         pumping and hoisting apparatus for both shafts.
 
              Farther along was the railroad station, a building which now contains
         the offices of the present Company, and directly across the tracks a building
         40 x 50 feet, with two stalls for housing locomotives, had been erected. Adjoining
         this was the machine shop, 36 x 65 feet, with a second story for a carpenter
         shop.  This department contained the most up-to-date iron lathes, planers,
         drills, and other tools needed to repair or rebuild engines or machinery, or to do
         car repair work.
 
              On the east bank of Separator Brook, an engine house 40 x 50 feet,
         housing a 200 horse power engine, designed to drive the separator, tools in the
         machine shop, and hoisting apparatus, was erected.  On the opposite side of the
         brook was No.2 Separator, 40 x 60 feet.  Above, on the slope, were the roast-
         ing kilns, alongside of which was a side track from which ore from all shafts, to
         be separated, was dumped directly into the kilns, and thence worked down to
         the ground floor of the building, which was furnished with a Blake jaw crusher
         and a revolving Conkling separator.  A short distance above was a substantial
         dam.  Cars were loaded direct from the separator and hoisted by an engine on
         an elevated track to the main track.
 
              At this time the vein was uncovered for about 1,500 feet.  Shafts had
         been sunk at numerous locations west of No.2 Separator and were equipped
         with up-to-date steam hoisting apparatus, steam pumps, and steam-driven com-
         pressors for the air drills.  The average width of the vein was 20 to 25 feet,
         the depth unknown.
 
      Go to Mine History Page 3 .........

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