Virginia Iron in the Colonial Era

According to mercantile theory, the English colonists in North America were supposed to supply raw products to the mother country - not to compete with industries in England or take jobs away from workers in the British Isles. After the iron furnace on Falling Creek was destroyed in the 1622 uprising, the colony depended upon European imports for a century.

By the 1730's, however, England was running out of forests to fuel the iron furnaces. England did not want to become too dependent upon imports from Scandinavian countries, so Parliament explored incentives to encourage iron production in the colonies. Prince William County had an iron furnace on Neabsco Creek in the 1730's, and George Washington's father Augustine managed a furnace in Stafford County.

Here's some of the debate on Parliament's Iron Act of 1750:

And on the other side, there was support for iron manufacturing in the colonies. Remember, the English were already importing most of their iron from Sweden, since the forests of England had already been exhausted while Scandinavia still had easily-accessible fuel resources. Thomas Jefferson described Virginia's iron resources as follows:
Iron The mines of iron worked at present are Callaway's, Ross's, and Ballendine's, on the South side of James river; Old's on the North side, in Albemarle; Miller's in Augusta, and Zane's in Frederic. These two last are in the valley between the Blue ridge and North mountain. Callaway's, Ross's, Millar's, and Zane's, make about 150 tons of bar iron each, in the year. Ross's makes also about 1600 tons of pig iron annually; Ballendine's 1000; Callaway's, Millar's, and Zane's, about 600 each. Besides these, a forge of Mr. Hunter's, at Fredericksburgh, makes about 300 tons a year of bar iron, from pigs imported from Maryland; and Taylor's forge on Neapsco of Patowmac, works in the same way, but to what extent I am not informed. The indications of iron in other places are numerous, and dispersed through all the middle country. The toughness of the cast iron of Ross's and Zane's furnaces is very remarkable. Pots and other utensils, cast thinner than usual, of this iron, may be safely thrown into, or out of the waggons in which they are transported. Salt-pans made of the same, and no longer wanted for that purpose, cannot be broken up, in order to be melted again, unless previously drilled in many parts.

In the western country, we are told of iron mines between the Muskingum and Ohio; of others on Kentucky, between the Cumberland and Barren rivers, between Cumberland and Tannissee, on Reedy creek, near the Long island, and on Chesnut creek, a branch of the Great Kanhaway, near where it crosses the Carolina line. What are called the iron banks, on the Missisipi, are believed, by a good judge, to have no iron in them. In general, from what is hitherto known of that country, it seems to want iron. 1

Links

References

1. Jefferson, Thomas, "QUERY VI A notice of the mines and other subterraneous riches; its trees, plants, fruits, &c.", Notes on the State of Virginia, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JEFFERSON/ch06.html

Minerals of Viginia
Rocks and Ridges - Where Did Virginia Get Its Mountains and Valleys?
Geography of Virginia