50 HISTORICAL SKETCH

During the 18th century the natural resources of Maryland were
still further explored and many important industries established,
Maryland ranking among the very foremost of the colonies in the
production of iron and copper. ¹ The Assembly of 1719 passed an act
for the encouragement of iron manufacture, in which it is stated " that
there are very great conveniences for carrying on of iron works within
this province, which have not hitherto been embraced for want of
proper encouragement to some first-class undertakers. " To encourage
the erection of furnaces and forges the laborers employed therein
were to be exempted from all levies and taxes.

One of the most important factors in the development of the iron
industry was the organization in 1722 of the Principio Company,
which in that year commenced the erection of a furnace in Cecil
county near the mouth of Principio creek. This company was com-
posed of English gentlemen of wealth who were familiar with iron
manufacture in the old country. At an early date in the history of
this enterprise, probably 1725, Augustine and Lawrence Washington,
the father and half-brother of the future President of the United
States, became interested in this company, which soon outranked all
others in America in the manufacture of pig and bar iron, being the
proprietor of three furnaces and two forges in Maryland and one
furnace in Virginia.

Many other companies were organized for the working of the iron
deposits prior to the Revolution. A Baltimore company, which was
incorporated in 1723, built a furnace at the mouth of Gwynn's Falls.
A blast furnace in Harford county was built about 1760. In 1761
the Governor and Council of Maryland reported to the Commissioners
of the Board of Trade and Plantations in England that there were
eighteen furnaces and ten forges in the state, which made 2, 500 tons
of pig iron per year.

Just prior to the beginning of the Revolution several furnaces
were built in central Maryland, among them being the Catoctin
furnace in Frederick county. Bishop says that during the Revolu-

¹ Description taken largely from chapters by W. and R. B. Keyser in
² Maryland, its Resources, " etc., 1893.