Catoctin Iron Furnace's Claim to Glory
The Furnace is Believed to Have Built Parts for the First Steamship
Catoctin Furnace was built at the foot of the Catoctin Mountains in Frederick County, Maryland. Originally owned but the Johnson Brothers – James, Baker and Roger, the furnace made cannonballs for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
The furnace had other claims to fame, too.
Rumsey’s Steamboat
Following the Revolutionary War, Catoctin Furnace’s next venture into legend related to James Rumsey’s steamboat. Rumsey was a Maryland inventor who built a steam-powered water-jet that propelled a boat upstream on the Potomac River.
Baker Johnson’s great-great-granddaughter told the Columbia Historical Society in 1913 that Thomas Johnson had been with Washington to witness the steamboat on March 14, 1786 and that some of the machinery was manufactured at Catoctin Furnace.
“Afterwards the machinery was taken back to Catoctin and for many years the cylinder, four inches in diameter, stood three feet above ground as a boundary between the Catoctin Furnace property and the land of William Johnson.” (Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Vol. 16 Washington: Columbia Historical Society, 1913, pg. 46).
Though this shaft was never found, The Baltimore Sun noted in an October 25, 1925 article, “A large iron shaft, which marks as a cornerstone a street in Frederick, was cast for one of Rumsey’s boats at Governor Johnson’s forge.” This shaft is encased in cement at the corner of West Patrick Street and Maxwell Avenue. It is said to be a marker on the National Road, but it is unlike most markers on the road, which lends credence to the idea that it could be a shaft from Rumsey’s steamboat.
However, the 1936 federal government report on the historical features of Cunningham Falls State Park looked at the historical claims of Catoctin Furnace and found, “we have proof that the boiler, pumps, and pipes were made in Baltimore and that other parts were made at Antietam Iron Works,” according to an unpublished report by Charles W. Porter on May 11, 1936.
The Frederick News in an article on March 27, 1972 reported that Catoctin Furnace wasn’t able to manufacture the thin-walled cylinders that the Rumsey needed and, instead, copper cylinders were made for him in Frederick Town.
Lacking hard evidence, this is one of the historical claims about the furnace that remains in doubt.
Passing on the Legacy
The Johnson Brothers dissolved their partnership in 1793 and Thomas and Baker Johnson took control of the furnace. They ran it unsuccessfully until 1803. Baker then bought out his brother and took sole control of the furnace. He, in turn, rented the property to Benjamin Blackford for 10 years at $1,100 (about $13,000 in today’s dollars), according to Frederick County land records.
James Rumsey
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