816 i ASSEWBJLY 



oonsti'uction of nail plates. These plates were manufactured in 

 large qnantitieSj and sold at $8 per cwt. to the hail factory in 

 Fair Haven, Vermont. 



About the year 1809 Archibald Mfuntyre and his associates 

 erected iron TTorL^s upon.a branch of the Au Sable river, and in a 

 remote section of ihe county, comprised within the limits of the 

 present town of North Elba. It was a forge of four to six fires, 

 and designated " the Elba Iron Works.'' The ore used at the com- 

 mencement was found in that region, but proving impracticable 

 from the presence of foreign substances, was abandoned, and the 

 works were aftervrards supplied by ore transported from the Ar- 

 nold bed in Clinton county, a distance of many miles, over roads 

 only passable on snow. Tlie products of the forge were export- 

 ed both to the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlaln, but by routes 

 laborious and expensive. I have noticed in the preceding pages 

 the evidences which indicate the existence in North Elba of large 

 and valuable deposits of iron ore, but wdiich remain unexplored. 

 Situated in the midst of dense and stately forests, these works 

 possessed every advantage fjr the permanent supply of fuel. 



Tlie business fur a series of years was eminently prosperous. 

 The works, however, proved too remote from market, and ineli- 

 gibly situated for enduring success, and in the year 1815 were 

 abandoned. A dilapidated dam, and fragments of broken wheels 

 and shafts, and similar vestiges, are the only memorials of their 

 former existence. In the meanwhile other forges were gradually 

 appearing in the region, and when, in 1820, the Champlain canal 

 had been constructed, the iron interest rapidly expanded, and 

 at once exhibited in the increase of its varied works, an earnest 

 of its approaching prosperity and importance. The valley of the 

 Au Sable river was early distinguishett as the prominent seat of 

 the iron manufactories, and it still maintains that pre^iminenc^. 



The Au Sable river for many miles forms the boundary of Clin- 

 ton and Essex county. The dams erected to supply the water 

 power to the works, along its course, are necessarily in both 

 counties, although most of the structures connected with them 

 are situated in Clinton These establishments, however/ are al- 



