Mine Hill in Franklin and Sterling Hill in Ogdensburg, Sussex County, New Jersey: Mining History, 1765-1900 

FINAL REPORT: PART ONE, VOLUME 2

Table of Contents

Dedications v

Preface vii

Acknowledgements ix

Table of contents xi

9. Zinc-based activity at Sterling Hill in Ogdensburg; Oakes Ames's sale of zinc and franklinite mineral-rights; The South Boston Iron Company at Sterling Hill; Colonel Fowler's acquisitions of critical mineral-rights; The Sussex Zinc and Copper Mining and Manufacturing Company at Mine Hill in Franklin; The New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company at Sterling Hill in Ogdensburg and at Mine Hill in Franklin; The Sterling Hill Mine Tract and the Sterling Mine Tract; Sterling Hill zinc ore at the Crystal Palace in London; Prospecting for zinc ore; The merger of the Sussex Zinc and Copper Mining and Manufacturing Company and the New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company 145

Oakes Ames's split-deeding of zinc and franklinite mineral-rights 145

Cyrus and Francis Alger: the South Boston Iron Company at Sterling Hill 146

Colonel Fowler acquires mineral rights to the zinc-bearing properties 148

Acquisition from Oakes Ames 149

Acquisition from Cyrus Alger 149

The Mackerley Farm and other acquisitions 150

The Sussex Zinc and Copper Mining and Manufacturing Company at Mine Hill in Franklin 151

Incorporation 151

Acquisition of mineral rights 151

First deed 151

Second deed 152

The parallelogram lot 152

Third deed 156

Discussion 156

The New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company at Sterling Hill 157

A "partnership's'' acquisition and consolidation of peripheral mineral-rights 158

The Consolidated Exploring and Mining Company 159

The Consolidated Exploring and Mining Company sells mineral rights to the New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company 159

The New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company acquires mineral rights on Mine Hill in Franklin 161

Newly created mineral-rights tracts at Sterling Hill 161

The "Sterling Hill Mine Tract'' 162

First deed 162

Second deed 162

Third deed 162

The "Sterling Mine Tract'' 163

Fourth deed 163

Summary of Sterling Hill deedings to the New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company 163

Sterling Hill zinc ore at the Crystal Palace in the Great Exhibition in London: Sterling Hill on the World's stage 164

The disposition of the 8-ton specimen 167

Prospecting for zinc ore: the glacial complications and creative dowsers 168

Glacial complications 168

Creative dowsers 168

Preliminary exploration of the Franklin and Sterling Hill orebodies by the Sussex Zinc and Copper Mining and Manufacturing Company and the New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company 169

Exploration by the New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company 169

Exploration by the Sussex Zinc and Copper Mining and Manufacturing Company 170

Summary 171

The merger of the Sussex Zinc and Copper Mining and Manufacturing Company and the New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company 171

Stock transactions in the merger 174

Discussion 177

References 178

10. The New Jersey Zinc Company from the early years to 1862: incorporation, acquisitions, prospectus, and mining at Franklin and Sterling Hill 179

Incorporation of the New Jersey Zinc Company 179

Presidents of the New Jersey Zinc Company 180

The corporate logo: the horse-head as an icon 180

Acquisition of mineral rights at Sterling Hill 181

Acquisition of surface rights on lot #10 at Sterling Hill 182

Acquisition of other properties near Sterling Hill 182

Acquisition of some surface rights on lot #8 at Sterling Hill 182

Acquisition of mineral rights at Mine Hill in Franklin 183

The Mine Hill mineral rights 183

First deed 183

Second deed 183

Confusion with the deedings 184

The changing of words in the deed: discussions of importance 185

Epilogue 188

Prospectus of the New Jersey Zinc Company 188

The 1853 Annual Report of the New Jersey Zinc Company 190

The 1855 Report to the Stockholders of the New Jersey Zinc Company 193

The New Jersey Zinc Company: its continuing operations 193

The New Jersey Zinc Company's operating structure 194

The early superintendents: English Kimball and John George 195

English Kimball 195

John George 195

Earliest mining operations of the New Jersey Zinc Company 195

Mining operations at Sterling Hill in Ogdensburg 196

Mining operations at Mine Hill in Franklin 197

Carting: a day-to-day operation 204

References 206

11. Using the ores of Franklin and Sterling Hill: the development of smelters and processes; Experimental smelting operations; The New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company's and the New Jersey Zinc Company's smelter in Newark, New Jersey; Zinc oxide, the Wetherill furnace, processes, and patents; The franklinite problem, experimentation with anthracite and franklinite, and a new blast furnace

Products manufactured from the zinc ores: zinc oxide, zinc paint, spelter, and spiegeleisen 207

The new dynamics of the local metal industries in the middle 19th century 207

Ore mills: general discussion 208

Early smelting operations 208

Economic evaluation of the zinc ores by Francis Alger 209

The experimental smelting operations of the Sussex Zinc and Copper Mining and Manufacturing Company 210

The New Jersey Exploring and Mining Company's smelter at Newark, New Jersey 212

The site of the smelter 212

Construction of the smelter 215

The retort furnaces 215

General discussion 220

The New Jersey Zinc Company takes over the smelter 222

The Wetherill furnace and zinc oxide 224

Direct and indirect processes for making zinc oxide 225

Patents and inventions 226

Patent litigation 227

The franklinite problem 228

Experimentation with anthracite 230

Experimentation with franklinite 231

Edwin Post, the Stanhope furnace, the Sussex Iron Company, and experimentation with franklinite 233

A new-style iron-making blast furnace at the New Jersey Zinc Company's smelter in Newark 235

"Franklinite iron'' 238

Summary 246

Products made from the zinc ores 246

Zinc oxide 246

Zinc-based paint 247

Introduction 247

Zinc-paint discoveries in Europe 248

Zinc-paint discovery in Franklin 248

The New Jersey Zinc Company's paint making 249

Spelter (zinc metal) 251

Spiegeleisen 253

Other products 254

Epilogue 254

References 254

12. Joint stock associations; Small companies on zinc-barren lands; The Union Exploring and Mining Company; The Tri-Union Company; The Sussex County Zinc and Iron Company; The Sparta Iron Company; The Jersey Franklinite Company; Individual mineral-rights traders; Miscellaneous small companies 259

Joint stock associations 259

The Union Exploring and Mining Company 261

Inception 261

Acquisition 261

The Tri-Union Company 262

Incorporation 262

Acquisition 263

The Sussex County Zinc and Iron Company 263

Inception 263

Acquisition 263

Silas M. Stilwell 264

The Sparta Iron Company 264

Incorporation 264

Acquisition 264

Discussion 264

The Jersey Franklinite Company 265

Incorporation 265

Acquisition 265

Prospectus of the Jersey Franklinite Company 265

Individual mineral-rights traders 271

Whitfield S. Johnson near Sterling Hill 271

Michael R. Kemble 271

Drake DeKay 272

The Losey option 272

The Kemble family option 272

Daniel D. Chapin 272

The VanKirk acquisition 272

The Farrington acquisition 272

A sale to Curtis 272

The Curtis-Farrington acquisition 272

The Michael R. Kemble acquisition 272

John H. Brown 273

Exploration lease from Thomas A. Ogden 273

The Pochuck Mine acquisition 273

Acquisition from Thomas A. Ogden 273

Sale of the Pochuck Mine to Moses Taylor 273

Acquisition from William A. Ogden 273

Acquisition from Thomas A. Ogden 273

Miscellaneous small companies 274

The Sparta Manufacturing Company 274

The New Jersey Paint Company 274

The Passaic Paint Company 274

The Layton Franklinite and Zinc Mining Company 274

References 274

13. The Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company and the Passaic Zinc Company: mining at Sterling Hill and Mine Hill, and smelting in Jersey City 275

Incorporation and names: the Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company and the Passaic Zinc Company 275

Context for the beginning of the Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company 275

A complicated stock transaction; James L. Curtis once again 276

Acquisition of land and mineral rights 277

A confusing deed to James Elnathan Smith 277

The Rosses' 1848-deeded property and mineral rights are deeded to the Consolidated Exploring and Mining Company 278

The Consolidated Exploring and Mining Company acquires a clear mineral-rights deed to lot #9 279

Discussion of lot #9 zinc ores 279

Acquisition of mineral rights on lot #9 at Sterling Hill by the Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company 279

Mineral rights east of lot #9 280

Nearby land acquisitions 280

The mining superintendents 282

Thompson Hubbard 282

Timothy Marshall 282

Mining operations 282

Mining in primary ore 284

Mining in secondary ore 285

The shipment of ores 286

The Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company's purchases of additional ores 287

Ore from Pennsylvania 287

Ore from the New Jersey Zinc Company 287

Ore from Moses Taylor at Franklin 287

Ore from the New Jersey Zinc and Iron Company 288

Ore from Charles W. Trotter 288

The Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company's mill at Sterling Hill 290

The smelter of the Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company 295

The Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company's interaction with the American Zinc Company 299

The Passaic Mining and Manufacturing Company changes its name to Passaic Zinc Company 303

Spelter and spiegeleisen made by the Passaic Zinc Company 303

Disasters in Jersey City 308

Some legal cases in which the Passaic Zinc Company was involved 309

Retrospective 309

References 309