S05 



all descriptions, that are used throughout the 

 provinces, large cauldrons or kettles for making 

 pot-ashes, machinery for mills, with cast and 

 wrought iron work of all denominations ; there 

 are likewise large quantities of pig and bar iron 

 exported : the number of men employed is from 

 250 to 300 ; the principal foremen and persons 

 engaged in making models, &c. are either En- 

 glish or Scotch men; the workmen are gene- 

 rally Canadians. In the early establishment 

 of this foundery, about 1737, the ore was found 

 in great abundance near the surface, of a qua- 

 lity not inferior to many of the best mines of 

 Europe for the pliability of the metal. At first 

 the mode of working the different veins was 

 managed with very Uttle skill, but in 1739 an 

 artizan was brought from France, who combined 

 a knowledge of the different branches of manu- 

 facturing wrought and cast iron with a compe- 

 tent skill in working the mines ; from this ac- 

 quisition great improvements took place, which 

 have progressively increased, and the establish- 

 ment is now carried on with almost as much 

 ability, and on the same principle, as similar 

 concerns in England and Scotland. It will 

 appear somewhat singular that neither of the 

 provinces should produce sand proper for the 

 purposes of casting iron, but such is the fact, 

 and the proprietors of these works, in conse- 



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