Counting Colliers: A Demographic Profile of the Forgotten Charcoal Makers of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, 1850–1880

Abstract

ABSTRACT Clarion County, Pennsylvania, was a regional leader in historic iron production in the mid-nineteenth century with a majority of its furnaces fuelled by charcoal. Little is known about the colliers that crafted the charcoal used by the county’s historic iron furnaces. I used United States Census data from 1850 to 1880 to develop a demographic profile of Clarion County colliers. Collier numbers in Clarion County peaked dramatically in 1850 with the rise of the iron industry and declined exponentially through 1880. Most colliers were white, male and Pennsylvania-born. Few remained in the profession for more than one census date, largely becoming labourers and farmers that remained in the county or region. Likewise, movement of colliers from Clarion County to other iron-producing regions was minimal. The rise and fall of colliers in Clarion County suggest a local response to economic opportunity consistent with the boom-bust nature of the mid-nineteenth-century charcoal iron industry.