Page 484

484       GREAT IRON WORKS IN THE UNITED STATES.
The Ulster Iron Works-J. & L. Tuckerman, Proprietors,
At Saugerties, New York, are celebrated for the excellent quality of
Bar, Band, and Hoop Iron made there, and known as the ULSTER IRON.
These Works were built by Henry Barclay, in 1824, who adopted the
style and carried on business as the Ulster Iron Company. In 1844,
they passed into the hands of Horace Gray & Co., as lessees, and in
1847 they were leased by Joseph and Lucius Tuckerman, who not long
afterward purchased them, and by whom they have been owned ever
since. In 1863, Mr. William Mulligan became connected with the
Works as Manager, and since 1864 the manufacturing operations have
been carried on under the name and style of Tuckerman, Mulligan
& Company.
The principal Mill is of stone, brick, and frame, two hundred and
thirty-five feet long, and one hundred and seventy-three feet wide. It
contains eight double and one single Puddling and five Heating Fur-
naces, six Trains of Rolls, and one Hammer. All the rolls are run by
an Overshot Wheel of twenty-five feet in diameter and eighteen feet
face. A large Breast Wheel, thirty feet in diameter and nine and a
half feet face, which was built for other works, drives the Hammer.
This hammer weighs, perhaps, four tons, is raised by a cam lift, and is
used for hammering puddle balls. There is also in the mill a very
large Burden Squeezer of the old pattern, which is used only in case
the hammer is out of order. The Blast for the furnace is obtained by
means of three Dimpfel's Blowers, which are run by a Turbine wheel.
The Works have the first right upon the creek to water, and have
never been stopped for want of water. The great flood of February,
1857, destroyed the dam, and consequently stopped the Works about
four months, but during this time a new and more substantial structure
was erected, which gives them one among the very best water powers
in the country.
The iron consumed is chiefly Anthracite Pig No. 1, with some Char-
coal Pig. No Scrap, except that made in the Works, is used. The
ore used in the puddling furnaces is known as the Cheever ore, and
the coal is Cumberland, Pictou, and Blossburg, mixed. The annual
product is six thousand five hundred tons of manufactured Iron, dis-
tinguished for its high grade, and the uniformity with which the quality
has always been maintained. About two hundred and eighty hands
are employed in these Works.