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Geography, Timing, and Technology: A GIS-Based Analysis of Pennsylvania's Iron Industry, 1825–1875

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2006

ANNE KELLY KNOWLES  and
RICHARD G. HEALEY
ANNE KELLY KNOWLES
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA. E-mail: [email protected].
RICHARD G. HEALEY
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace, Portsmouth PO1 3HE, UK. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

This article examines key questions about the development of Pennsylvania's mid-nineteenth-century iron industry. The analysis is based on new data and exhaustive examination of previously underutilized sources within the framework of a geographic information system (GIS). Hypotheses are tested on the timing of adoption of mineral-fuel technologies across the state; the temporal relationships between investment in ironworks, business cycles, and tariff policy; the substitutability of different types and qualities of iron; how transport costs affected iron prices; and the geographical segmentation of iron markets in the antebellum period. The findings reveal complex and dynamic patterns of regional economic development.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , September 2006 , pp. 608 - 634
Copyright
© 2006 The Economic History Association

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