Iron Mining in Morris Cty - Montville Twp Historical Society Lecture

“Iron Mining in Morris County” is the subject of the next “Glimpses of the Past Lecture Series” at the Montville Township Historical Society’s program, February 10 (Monday), 7:30 p.m. in the Montville Township Senior House, 356 Main, Montville.  

The Highlands of New Jersey contain many veins of high grade magnetite iron ore.  In the 1700s this ore was mined and sent to local forges and furnaces.  With the completion of the Morris Canal in 1831, the mining business began to expand.  Towns like Dover and Rockaway grew from small villages to inland canal ports with transportation links to distant markets.  Hundreds of tons of ore were brought by wagon from mines at places like Mt. Hope and Hibernia to the canal for shipment to iron furnaces in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.  By the 1860s many more mines were opened and railroads were transporting thousands of tons of ore to all parts of the country.  Mines in Morris County continued in operation well into the 1900s.  It is estimated that more than 55 million tons of ore were mined and shipped.  Morris county produced over two-thirds of all the ore mined in New Jersey in the early 1880’s.  In this talk we look at iron mining in Morris County and we will learn where the mines were located, what kinds of technology was used and how the miners lived and worked. 

Joe Macasek, is the President of the Canal Society of NJ and he serves on the Society’s Greenway Committee.  He also leads many walking tours in the state on the Morris Canal and cultural industrial sites.  He is also author of “Guide to the Morris Canal in Morris County”, which sold out fast.  Mr. Macasek is working on a update of this book.