Oregon Iron Company

By 1894, however, pressure from cheaper imported iron combined with the effects of the Panic of 1893 forced the company to close its smelter.

The discovery of iron ore near the settlement of Oswego in the hills south of Portland is credited to Morton M. McCarver (who had served as speaker of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon) in 1862.

[1][2] In addition, the ore lay near the surface and the Oswego bed was estimated to contain 60,000 short tons (54,000 t) of ore.[1][2] Since the site also featured vast forests that could be turned into charcoal to feed the smelting furnaces, and ready access to water for power, the potential of a successful mining operation was easily recognized.

[3] Meanwhile, a dam was built on Sucker Creek to harness water for power, forests were cleared to be turned into charcoal to feed the furnace, and limestone, used during iron smelting to remove impurities, was quarried from the San Juan Islands in Washington Territory, and shipped and unloaded at the company docks on the adjacent Willamette River.

[3][5][9] After a brief respite in which they filled an order for iron wheels for the Central Pacific Railroad from 1874 to 1876,[1][5] the company closed for good in 1878 and the assets were sold off at a sheriff's auction.

[3] The purchasers were led by Ernest Crichton and L. B. Seeley, experienced furnace managers from Ohio's Hanging Rock iron region.

[3] With the elder Ladd, Villard, and Darius Ogden Mills also providing financing, the company built a new smelter north of the original furnace with five times its capacity, 50 short tons (45 t).

The company employed 300 men and Oswego's population soared, as hotels, churches, saloons, and an opera house were built to support the town.

In 1917, the Pacific Coast Steel Company bought the furnace as a precautionary measure to insure a supply of pig iron during a present scarcity.