Iron Industry History

Iron Industry History

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The Iron Industry in Early Oswego

In the nineteenth-century, the discovery of iron ore in the hills surrounding Oswego transformed the small Oregon village into a bustling iron manufacturing center. William S. Ladd organized the initial company in 1865 with the backing of Portland financiers. In 1866, blast furnace construction began. One year later, the first iron was produced and the dream of freeing the West Coast from imported iron became a reality.

The manufacturing operation ran sporadically under different management, and in a second location, for about three decades before finally shuttering operations in 1894.

For more detailed information:

A Brief History of the Oregon Iron Industry (PDF 3.7 MB) was researched and written by Dr. Susanna Kuo and designed by Corinna Campbell-Sack.

Oregon Iron Chronicles A compilation of newspaper articles published between 1860 and 1930 compiled by Dr. Susanna Kuo. They document the colorful history of the Oregon iron industry, which opened the first iron mines and built the first iron furnace on the Pacific Coast.

Inside the Iron Furnace
Carleton Watkins Photo of Oregon Iron Company 1867
color engraving of cast iron furnace
Color engraving from the West Shore, November 2, 1889. Courtesy of the Lake Oswego Public Library.

Oregon Iron & Steel Company Records

In October 1888 the general superintendent of the Oswego iron furnace operations, Mr. F.C. Smith, submitted his letter of resignation to the board of directors of The Oregon Iron and Steel Co. The president of the board, Simeon G. Reed, read the letter into the record of the board minutes.

“…I have the pleasure to report that every branch of the business is handled well and
working successfully and harmoniously, and I hope you are satisfied with my past
management. It is today one year and one month that I took charge of the works at a
nominal salary, my reasons for doing so, were to stop the litigation then pending and to
get the property into better shape which would benefit not alone the stockholders but also this City and State.
I had confidence in my ability to do so. For the great confidence placed in me by you as
President and all the Directors I am truly grateful for, without this confidence I would not
have succeeded. I now tender you my resignation to take effect on the first of November
next as my time is worth considerable more to me than the Company is paying me, and
you now can get along without my service and besides I need a rest.”

Mr. F.C. Smith, Oregon Iron & Steel Minutes of the Board of Directors meeting October 1888

This bit of history, along with many others, is being revealed for the first time through a project the Lake Oswego Preservation Society is undertaking to transcribe 800 pages of the original board records of the Oregon Iron and Steel Company (1882 to 1930). The project is in partnership with the Oswego Heritage Council and the Lake Oswego Public Library.

This is avaluable historical asset about the industrial iron ore operations and land development of the OI&S Company and its development of present-day Lake Oswego. A grant from the Oregon Heritage Commission is funding a portion of the project, but we need to match $1,200.00. Please help us Make Our Match.

Make Our Match!

Additional Print Resources

  • Daniels, Joseph. Iron and Steel Manufacturing in Washington, Oregon, California, and
    Utah.     University of Washington Engineering Experiment Station Series. No. 2,
    Dec. 15, 1929.
  • Foster, Laura O. Images of America: Lake Oswego. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2009.
  • Fulton, Ann. Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego. San Antonio,
    Texas: Historical Publishing Network and the Oswego Heritage Council, 2002.
  • Goodall, Mary. Oregon’s Iron Dream: A Story of Old Oswego and the Proposed Iron
    Empire of the West.     Portland, Oregon: Binfords & Mort, 1958.
  • Hawkins, William John, III. The Grand Era of Cast-Iron Architecture in Portland.Portland: Binford & Mort, 1976.
  • Hergert, Herbert L. “Early Iron Industry in Oregon.” Reed College Bulletin 26, no. 2
    (1948): 1-40.
  • Johansen, Dorothy O. “Organization and Finance of the Oregon Iron and Steel Company,1880-1895,” Paci c Northwest Historical Quarterly 31, no. 2 (1940): 123- 59.
  • Kellogg, Claire and Susanna Campbell Kuo, Eds. The Diary of Will Pomeroy: A Boy’s Life in 1883 Oswego, Oregon. Lake Oswego: Lake Oswego Public Library, 2009.
  • Kirby, Ed. “A Connecticut Yankee in Oregon’s Court,” Seldom Told Tales of Sharon, Book III. Sharon, CT: Sharon Historical Society, 2011: 73-97.
  • Lake Oswego Public Library staff and volunteers, Eds. In Their Own Words: A Collection
    of Reminiscences of Early Oswego, Oregon.     2nd edition. Lake Oswego, Oregon: Lake Oswego
    Public Library, 2010.
  • MacColl, E. Kimbark, Merchants, Money and Power: the Portland Establishment 1843-1913. The Georgian Press, 1988.
  • Minor, Rick. Archaeological Investigations for the Oswego Iron Furnace Restoration, Lake Oswego, Oregon. Report No. 342. Eugene, OR: Heritage Research Associates, 2010.
  • Minor, Rick. Archaeological Monitoring at the Historic Oswego Iron Furnace. Report No. 291. Eugene, OR: Heritage Research Associates, 2006. Minor, Rick. Structural Foundation Explorations at the Oswego Iron Furnace, Lake Oswego, Oregon: Final Archaeological Report. Eugene, Oregon: Heritage Research Associates Report No. 324, 2008.
  • Pumpelly, Raphael. Report on the Mining Industries of the United States. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1886.
  • Truchot, Theresa. Charcoal Wagon Boy. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, Publishers, 1952.
  • “Iron Manufacture at Oswego.” West Shore (magazine), Nov. 2, 1889, pp. 232-238.
  • “Oregon Iron and Steel Works.” Supplement to West Shore (magazine), [1888].

Additional Online Resources