Cambria County, Part 1 of 8

This story is about families that my great-grandparents knew as they were growing up in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. The story begins with an old man’s memories...

… and ends with a minister’s lie.

But first, some background. Henry Bessemer’s 1847 innovation in steel production revolutionized everthing. For the first time in human history, steel became cheap enough for mass production, which affected ever field of human endeavor. The "Bessemer process," as it was called, turned the Iron Age into the Age of Steel.

Like plastics in the 1950s and the Internet in the 1990s, mass production of steel unlocked never-before-seen possibilities. Skyscrapers. Battleships. Ocean liners. Automobiles and farm machinery. Better, more durable railroad rails. It even affected popular culture -- note that the first comic book superhero was the “Man of Steel.”

In the United States, Pittsburgh’s William Kelly independently developed and patented the Bessemer process, allowing steel producers in the area to simultaneously improve the quality of steel and increase output. This made Pittsburgh the center for steel production in the U.S., and this, in turn, transformed the economy of western Pennsylvania.

There was only one problem – there wasn’t enough fuel to fire the furnaces.

According to the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, “a few small-scale foundries began operating in the 1840s, but they were operating with [wood-based] charcoal.” Two tons of iron required an entire acre of woodland; over the course of a year, a typical furnace would burn through 150 acres worth of timber. [Source]

By mid-century, coal began to replace wood-based charcoal as an energy source for the foundries. The percentage of iron made with charcoal dropped to from 100% in the 1840s to 45% by the 1850s, then to 25% in 1865.

With Pittsburgh leading the nation in steel production, coal mined from western Pennsylvania’s Mountain ranges naturally became the preferred energy source. Demand for coal, in turn, drove demand for labor, and demand for labor brought immigrants from all over Europe to work in the mines.

By 1911, Pittsburgh steel accounted for half of all the steel produced in the United States. Concordantly, “the 1910s and 1920s were the most active decades for Cambria County coal mining, producing over 16 million tons of coal annually.” [Source]

This was the world into which my maternal grandparents were born. What follows is a story of hardship, tragedy, recovery, and hope.

It is also about community. Coal mining throughout Cambria County wasn't just a job; it was a community affair. And the town where my grandparents were born -- Barnesboro, Pennsylvania -- was definitely a small community.