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Utah's Iron and Steel Industries

This page was last updated on July 9, 2026.

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Utah's Iron and Steel Industries

Information about the foundries, machine shops and steel fabricators in Utah in the period of 1850 to 1950. These companies helped form Utah's industrial base, especially the mines, mills, and factories. These were the companies that make machines that make machines. They make "big iron" that keeps industry going.

As a side note, the railroads in Salt Lake City (Union Pacific, and Rio Grande) had their own foundries and machine shops. In Ogden, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific shared a large shop facility until 1927, when UP built a new roundhouse and back shop, leaving SP in the previously shared facility.

Iron Ore Mining

Iron Mission -- Information about the early pioneer Iron Mission at Cedar City.

Iron Mountain -- Information about the history of iron ore mining in Utah, and the railroads that served it.

Iron Mountain Railroads -- Information about the railroad operations for the movement of iron ore from the mines at Iron Mountain in Iron County, to a connection with UP at Iron Springs on the Cedar City Branch. The rail line itself is owned by Union Pacific and has been leased for operation to several operators since 2006. First as Utah Southern (2006-2012), then as CML Railroad (2012-2015), then as Black Iron LLC (2015-2020), then as Utah Iron LLC after late 2020.

Iron Mountain Railroads Map -- A Google Map of the Iron Mountain area, showing the former Union Pacific Iron Mountain Branch.

Utah Iron Ore Corporation -- Information about one of the companies that mined the iron ore near Cedar City; unique because this company operated two Shay locomotives and two very early Vulcan gasoline locomotives.

Early Steel Industry In Utah

The early steel making industry in Utah was actually the processing of scrap iron and steel, recycling it into new products that included steel castings for machine used in factories and mills in Utah and the surrounding region. These were the early steel foundries and fabricating plants.

In early and mid 1890s, as the mining industry continued to grow, building steam and water power plants, and reduction mills and smelters, the need for steel castings grew also. Manufacturing and grain milling was also growing in Utah, which had its own need for steel castings. These steel castings were all imported from Eastern states, or from a few foundries in the Midwest, with the associated long lead times between an order, and the actual delivery.

An example of the out-of-region suppliers was shown in daily advertisements from August 1892 through early July 1893 for Fraser & Chalmers, a company with its works in Chicago, and a sales office in Salt Lake City. Fraser & Chalmers were "manufacturers of mining machinery, steam engines, boilers, cable and electric railroad power plants, and all kinds of machinery for the systematic milling, smelting and concentration of gold, silver, copper, lead and tin ores." They also "manufactured blowing engines, copper converters and electrolytic refining plants, shafting and pulleys. mining supplies." Their advertisements noted that they specialized in sectional machinery for mule-back transportation to remote locations. The company was also the selling agent for well-known brand names such as Rand Drills, Knowles & Blake Pumps, Root Blowers, Leffel & Pelton Water Wheels, Trenton Wire Rope and Tramways, Lidgerwood Hoists, Tyler Wire Cloth and Chromo Steel Works for Stamp Shoes and Dies.

First Steel Castings In Utah (1912)

The breakthrough for local steel casting in Utah occurred in 1912 when Joseph A. Silver of the Silver Brothers Iron Works mastered the Bessemer process. By implementing this method, Silver Brothers became the first company in Utah to successfully manufacture true steel castings, breaking the state’s reliance on eastern steel foundries for complex, high-strength machine parts.

November 15, 1918
"War orders aggregating $200,000, understood to have been obtained through the effort of Manager Simon Rosenblatt of the American Foundry & Machine Company, were placed with Utah firms late in October. The work involves the making of ship deck windlasses, cargo hoists, propeller "struts" or bearings, and steel plate water and oil tanks. The orders for windlasses and cargo hoists were placed independently with the above company on a guarantee of early delivery and the contracts for tanks and bearings went to the Utah Metals Industries Company for distribution among the Galigher Machinery Company, the Salt Lake Iron & Steel Company and the Provo Foundry & Machine Company. The orders were all subject to early completion and some of the shipments will have been made before we go to press. The propeller bearings, numbering about a dozen, weigh 11,000 pounds each, while the water tanks, which are designed to contain ship supplies of culinary water sufficient for voyages of considerable length, have a capacity of from 12,000 to 20,000 gallons each. The oil tanks have a capacity of from 25,000 to 30,000 gallons. All tanks are made of heavy plate steel. The Utah Metal Industries Company is composed of the American Foundry & Machine Company; the Salt Lake Iron & Steel Company, Galigher Machinery Company, all of Salt Lake, and the Provo Foundry & Machine Company of Provo. Most of these concerns individually have received former government contracts, all of which have been placed by the emergency fleet corporation." (Salt Lake Mining Review, November 15, 1918)

Silver Brothers (1862-1915)

The Silver Brothers were among the first of several foundries and machine shops in Utah in the period of 1850 to 1950, that helped form Utah's industrial base, especially the mines, mills, and factories. First came the Silver Iron Works, established in 1874, which became Silver Brothers in 1886.

The Silver Brothers shop was in Salt Lake City. Their address was 540 West Seventh South. Although Silver Brothers itself is gone, that original building is still there, with numerous additions that were added over the years.

(Read more about the Silver Brothers)

Rosenblatt Family Enterprises

In the period of the 1890s until 1957, when the Rosenblatt family sold its control and majority interest in EIMCO, the Rosenblatts controlled and operated several iron and steel enterprises in Utah, starting with the Utah Junk company.

In 1916, the Rosenblatts brought the first electric steel furnace to the western United States and only the sixth electric steel furnace in the United States. Morris Rosenblatt "went to Sweden to bring back a Rennerfelt three and one-half-ton per melt independent arc electric steel furnace, and the crew to install it. In 1937 this pioneer furnace gave way to a five-ton, three-phase direct arc furnace, and in 1948 a Moore rapid five-ton unit was added, bringing capacity to 12,000 tons per year." (Salt Lake Tribune, November 5, 1950)

• Utah Junk Co. (1899-1919) (to Utah Steel Corp. in 1919)
• American Foundry and Machine Co. (1913-1918)
• Utah Iron and Steel Co. (1915-1919)
• Utah Steel Corp. (1919- ) (merger of Utah Iron & Steel and Utah Junk)
• Structural Steel and Foundry Co. (1925-1957)
• Eastern Iron and Metal Corp. (1918-1935)
• EIMCO (1935-1982)

(Columbia Steel Corp. opened its pig iron plant at Ironton, Utah, south of Provo, in 1923. The pig iron was shipped to existing steel plants in Pittsburg, California, and Portland, Oregon.)

(Read more about the Rosenblatt Enterprises)

Utah Steel Company (1915-1922)

In 1915 the Rosenblatts organized the Utah Iron & Steel Corporation, which opened its furnaces in the former Bingham Consolidated smelter at Midvale.

(The Bingham Consolidated site had been used between 1913 and 1917 as the site to do the rough finishing of granite blocks from the quarries at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, for use in the Utah state capitol, the Park Building at the University of Utah, the LDS administration building in Salt Lake City, and the D&RGW freight house in Ogden.)

In 1919, the Rosenblatts merged their Utah Iron & Steel company, with their Utah Junk company, to form the Utah Steel Corporation.

(Read more about the Utah Steel company)

Provo Foundry & Machine Company (1884)

(The foundry was located on the northeast corner at the intersection of 9th and L streets. Shown on 1890 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, Sheet 9. Today's 200 North and 200 East)

December 1884
Provo Foundry & Machine company was incorporated in December 1884. The new company moved into the old Cluff entertainment hall. The proprietors, Cluff & Booth, added on a 60 by 40 molding room, and additional engine rooms and shops. The company completed it first casting in February 1885. In 1888, due to declining business the foundry was shut down. John Devey was the superintendent at the time. During spring 1889, Thomas Pierpont, who had been in the foundry business in Salt Lake City, leased the plant and reopened it. In 1890 the company constructed four large boilers for the Bullion Beck mine at Tintic. The plant was closed again in 1893 during the financial panic, but reopened in June 1895. Late in 1898, the Provo Foundry & Machine company left the old Cluff building and leased the former Sun Foundry plant, buying the old Sun plant in 1901 from the estate of Amos Holdaway. The Pierpont & Heaton partnership was dissolved in 1904 and Pierpont became sole owner at the same time. (Provo Daily Herald, April 8, 2007)

December 25, 1884
"A new enterprise has sprung up in the Provo Foundry and Machine Company. Cluff, Boot & Co. are the promoters of the scheme and Leo. S. Whitehead, superintendent. They purpose manufacturing all kinds of iron and brass castings, etc.; manufacturing and repairing all kinds of machinery, etc. The old Cluff building is being fitted up for these purposes and and active operations will begin about January 15th, or soon after the arrival of the necessary machinery. The pig iron made from the Utah Valley iron will be used." (Salt Lake Herald, December 25, 1884)

March 28, 1885
"The Provo Foundry and Machine Company this week received a shipment of machinery for their works. It consisted of a lathe and planer. When they get all the machinery in they intend getting, they will have one of the most complete foundries in Utah, and will be able to turn out work of any description in their line. The starting up of the works to-day was witnessed by a number of persons, as this is in reality the opening." (Salt Lake Evening Democrat, March 28, 1885)

May 8, 1885
First Advertisement (Manti Home Sentinel, May 8, 1885)

November 4, 1887
The Provo Foundry & Machine company was the manufacturer of iron oxide paint being sold by A. A. Noon's Utah Valley Iron Mining & Manufacturing company, which owned an iron mine in the Tintic District. The iron oxide ore was being mined and shipped in its raw form to the Provo Foundry where it is ground and washed, then dried and ground again, then placed in barrels for shipment. Noon was selling the "iron paint" for much less than the product being imported from the East. The iron ore paint was being promoted as being fire-proof. (Provo Territorial Enquirer, November 4, 1887; Salt Lake Herald, November 6, 1887)

November 8, 1887
Among the products being manufactured by the Provo Foundry were parlor stoves, flat irons, skillets, stove grates, stove lids, and fancy ornamental items. (Provo Territorial Enquirer, November 8, 1887)

April 7, 1889
"T. Pierpont & Sons have leased the Provo Foundry and Machine shops and are running the business." (Salt Lake Herald, April 7, 1889)

October 26, 1889
John Devey sued the Provo Foundry and Machine company for an unpaid $1,000.42, and the judgment was in his favor. (Salt Lake Herald, October 26, 1889)

(There was also a suit by A. O. Smoot against the foundry company at the same time.)

(Advertisements for the Provo Foundry & Machine company stopped in February 1890.)

(In March 1891, advertisements for the Sun Foundry by C. D. Moore, Superintendent, included a sub-lettered notation for Provo Foundry and Machine company.)

July 1, 1891
"Some of the machinery of the Provo Foundry and Machine Co., was attached to-day by Sheriff Fowler, at the suit of First National Bank a note of $400." (Provo Dispatch, July 1, 1891)

July 2, 1891
"C. D. Moore has obtained the contract for furnishing connecting joints for the sewer pipes in Salt Lake City, and also castings for the waterworks. This will warrant the running of the Provo Foundry and Machine shops for about one year, apart from other business. This enterprise is to be highly commended, and evinces the practical business capabilities of Mr. Moore." (Salt Lake Herald, July 2, 1891)

August 5, 1891
"The Provo Foundry & Machine company has succeeded in casting two of the longest columns ever turned out in Provo. They are a trifle over twenty-three feet in length, and weigh over 1,500 pounds. They are to be used in the third story of the Academy. Preparations are being made for the casting of two more. A system of core-making, new to Provo, has been introduced. Formerly cores for columns were made with a sand — something like plastering sand, the cores have to be made in pieces; but with these long columns, loam-cores were used instead of common sand, and the result is that these cores can stand a greater pressure than the others, and with less danger of "blowing," as a moulder would say. The foundry has an order for six round columns and two square ones, for the Young Men's Co-op., at Spanish Fork." (Provo Dispatch, August 5, 1891)

October 7, 1891
There was a lawsuit Utah County Savings Bank vs. Provo Foundry and Machine Company. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 7, 1891)

November 17, 1891
"Papers have been filed with the clerk of the First District court in a suit brought by the Utah County Savings bank against the stockholders of the Provo Foundry & Machine Co. for the payment in full of their respective amounts of their subscribed stock, to satisfy the bill of the bank against the company for $1400. Other creditors of the company will probably become parties to the suit." (Deseret News, November 17, 1891)

(As with the Sun Foundry, the stockholders had not paid for their shares of stock, which was also non-assessible, providing the company with the needed working capital. Also like the Sun company, the company was depending on revenue for work completed to pay the bills in slack times. The stockholders wanted the benefits of stock ownership, but none of the costs.)

(When the case came before the judge in January 1893, the judge found in favor of the bank, against the company and its stockholders, in the amount of $1,100. In September 1893, after several delays via the legal process, the judge ordered that the stockholders pay enough to satisfy the judgement.)

February 2, 1894
"First District Court. - Samuel Liddiard has filed suit against H. H. Cluff, J. E. Booth, H. W. Davis, W. R. H. Paxman and A. O. Smoot to compel them to pay the amount of their unpaid stock in the Provo Foundry & Machine Co. Liddiard obtained judgment against the company last October for $1,718.23, but as it was insolvent, he could not collect; hence his suit against the delinquent stockholders." (Deseret News, February 2, 1894)

1895
One of the earliest Utah steel-making pioneers came in 1895, when Tom Pierpont established the Provo Foundry and Machine Co., at Provo.

September 28, 1907
From Truth magazine, September 28, 1907.

Galigher Machinery Company (1909)

Galigher Machinery Company filed its articles of incorporation on September 9, 1909. "An important enlargement of one of the old business concerns of the city in order to keep pace with the growth of the city and the constantly increasing business. The old company, which has been known as the Utah Mining Machinery and Supply company, is located at 230 South West Temple street just south of the Dooly block, and was started in 1902." "No other change will be made in the company. The location will be retained as at present, there being ample space in which to expand in the present building, and the stockholders and officers of the company will be the same." (Salt Lake Tribune, September 10, 1909)

Galigher Machinery Company was located at 224-234 South West Temple street, and on the same block at 141-163 Pierpont Avenue. "It is the largest and most important business of its kind between Denver and San Francisco." (Salt Lake Herald, November 26, 1911)

The Galigher company was the supplier of Ingersoll-Rand compressors and tools for mines throughout the Utah, Nevada and Idaho markets.

Galigher Machinery announced on August 31, 1916 that it was moving to facilities at 8th South and 5th West, east of the Portland cement works. The company had been at its location on Pierpont Avenue for the past 13 years. The new site was 330 feet by 330 feet, and the new machine shop building would be 330 feet by 60 feet, with a new warehouse measuring 250 feet by 260 feet. "The Galigher Machinery company manufactures mining and concentrating machinery, and also that used in sugar manufacturing." Plans were to start using the new facilities after January 1st, 1917. The move took place in late February. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 31, 1916; September 24, 1916, with illustration; Salt Lake Mining Review, February 28, 1917)

The successor company, Prime Machine, Inc., is still in business today at the same location on 8th South, between 5th and 6th West.

May Foundry (1912)

Lundin & May Foundry & Machine Company, "since 1912." Changed to May Foundry & Machine Company in 1963 when Jack F. May bought out the Lundin family interests.

Lundin & May Foundry, along with Silver Brothers Iron Works (later as American Foundry & Machine), and the Galigher Machinery Company, was one of the big three go-to companies for anything big, heavy and industrial in Salt Lake City.

The site of the May Foundry at 476 West 600 North, is, by 2026, the home of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum.

Salt Lake Boiler & Sheet Metal Works (1915-1924)

November 1915
There are newspaper references to the Salt Lake Boiler and Sheet Metal Works, showing the address as 710 Portland Avenue in Salt Lake City. A photo of a recently completed special boiler was published in the January 21, 1917 of the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper, stating that the company had opened in 1915, and was located on Fourth West between Seventh and Eighth South, with E. L. Murphy as president. This remained as the address in advertisements as late as November 1918, when a news item mentioned that the company was "building a 50x200 addition to its plant on West Seventh South street, in order to be better prepared to take care of its boiler building" for upcoming government contracts.

This company may have been the same company that purchased the earlier Silver Brothers Iron and Foundry Works, located at 545 West Seventh South. The site on Fourth West remained as the company address. An ad in a September 1919 newspaper shows both Salt Lake Iron and Steel company, and Salt Lake Boiler and Sheet Iron Works, without showing each company's address.

On January 1, 1924, Salt Lake Iron and Steel Company was taken over by Pittsburg Boiler Machine Co. of Pittsburg, Kansas. (Salt Lake Mining Review, December 30, 1923)

June 15, 1924
"W. H. Sagstetter, president of the Salt Lake Iron and Steel Co. announced a few days ago that his company had began the purchase of pig iron from the Columbia Steel Corporation's works at Ironton, the first carload having been delivered on the June 2nd. Mr. Sagstetter's company will use about 100 tons of this Utah pig iron a month to begin with and in the near future it is expected the plant's requirements will call for 250 tons a month and more. This Utah iron product will be utilized in the fabrication of castings and materials used by local and intermountain concerns in construction work and industrial purposes." (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 15, 1924)

(Read more about Columbia Steel Corporation)

June 28, 1924
A receiver was appointed for the Salt Lake Boiler and Sheet Metal Works. The business had been depressed for the past two years, and was in danger of shutting down completely due to debts totaling $40,000. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 28, 1924; June 29, 1924, "yesterday")

Sun Foundry & Machine

Provo, Utah, on West Center Street

(The foundry was located on the northwest corner at the intersection of 7th (Center) and E streets. Shown on 1900 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, Sheet 10. Today's 500 West Center Street.)

(Advertisements for the Sun Foundry & Machine company began in online newspapers in 1889. The company offered a full line of iron and steel working services typical of all such companies, including steam engines, boilers, all manner of wrought and cast iron work, and Devey's Patent Tubular Iron Wheelbarrows, and Leffel Steam Engines.)

1890
Sun Foundry & Machine Company was incorporated in Utah in 1890. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 4, 1891)

August 20, 1890
"The Devy & Sandberg Sun Foundry will be formed into a stock company and incorporated." (Salt Lake Herald, August 20, 1890)

August 14, 1891
"The smelter stamp mill and sixty-five horse power engine, which were purchased sometime ago from W. W. Riter, of Salt Lake city, by the Sun Foundry and Machine company, of Provo, are expected to arrive here to-day. The machinery has been employed in working the ore from a mine which has been exhausted and thus rendering the mills useless. There was considerable difficulty experienced in hauling the machinery from the mine to the cars and required the services of a heavy force of men. Two cars were loaded and will be run into the shops of the purchasing company sometime to-day. The plant is said to be comparatively new and will be brought into service immediately by Mr. C. D. Moore, of the foundry." (Salt Lake Herald, August 14, 1891) (The machinery came from the Copperopolis mill at Tintic.)

March 7, 1893
"Provo, March 6. — Deputy Marshal Monahan is busily engaged in selling out $1,500 worth of property belonging to the Sun Foundry and Machine company, under an attachment of R. S. Hines. Thus far the sale proceeds very slowly, as the property which is being disposed of consists of piping, an engine and iron fixtures of a great variety." (Salt Lake Herald, March 7, 1893)

(In April 1893 there began a series of small and medium lawsuits of creditors wanting what was due them. A receiver was assigned and among his first findings was that the stock had never been fully paid up, depriving the company of any revenue other the declining business as the area entered a severe financial slowdown. The majority and minority stockholders had wanted the benefits of stock ownership, but without the cost.)

May 25, 1893
"W. J. Silver has leased the Sun Foundry & Machine shops, and will commence operations in a few days. He has ordered several additions to the plant from the East." The Sun Foundry was renamed as the "Silver Iron Works." (Provo Daily Enquirer, May 25, 1893; June 1, 1893)

(The lease to William Silver, the foundry's superintendent, would have been from the court-appointed receiver, with lease payments going directly to the receiver's account.)

(On May 2, 1893, the Sun Foundry & Machine was to be sold on a Marshall's Sale on the steps of the Utah County courthouse in Provo. - daily legal notices in the Provo Daily Enquirer, April 14 through May 9, 1893)

(The sale did not take place, and the Sun Foundry having been placed into receivership on May 14, 1893. In late June 1893, the receiver sued all of the stockholders of the company for unpaid assessments. There was a total of $24,276 due on a total of 2,9508 shares of stock. - Salt Lake Herald, May 14, 1893; Provo Daily Enquirer, June 29, 1893; August 12, 1893)

June 26, 1893
"National Bank of Commerce vs. John Devy, M. J. Barret, Logan G. Holdaway, T. R Sundberg, Shadrich Holdaway, George T. Peay, John E. Booth, C. W. Smith, W. S. Holdaway, W. N. Dusenberry, A. A. Noon, and C. D. Moore, stockholders of the Sun Foundry, to recover $8,500 on a note with interest and 10 per cent. attorney fees, approximating a total of $10,000." (Daily Enquirer, June 26, 1893)

June 29, 1893
From the Salt Lake Tribune, June 29, 1893.

September 14, 1893
Judge Smith at Nephi... "The National Bank of Commerce has got judgment against John Devy, et al, on an $8,000 Sun Foundry note. John E. Booth and C. W. Smith were exempt from the costs of the suit, as they did not contest the note with the other signers." (Provo Daily Enquirer, September 14, 1893)

January 6, 1894
On appeal by the defendants, the receiver's case against the stockholders was dismissed, "at the cost of the defendants." (Provo Evening Dispatch, January 6, 1894)

(To avoid paying the judgment ($9,879.82), some of the stockholders tried to liquidate their other holdings to show a lack of assets. But the movement, especially in real estate, was found out and brought to the court's attention. - Provo Evening Dispatch, January 11, 1894.)

(The daily advertisements for the Silver Iron Works at Provo, Utah, in the old Sun Foundry with William Silver as superintendent, ended in late May 1894.)

(In July 1895, Silver leased the former Sun Foundry to Henry Stagg, who resumed the business at the same location. - Provo Daily Enquirer, July 1, 1895)

(There are no more references to the Sun Foundry after the above item about Henry Stagg leasing the plant.)

Late 1898
Late in 1898, the Provo Foundry & Machine company left the old Cluff building and leased the former Sun Foundry plant, buying the old Sun plant in 1901 from the estate of Amos Holdaway. The Pierpont & Heaton partnership was dissolved in 1904 and Pierpont became sole owner at the same time. (Provo Daily Herald, April 8, 2007)

(Sun Foundry and Machine Company was among the thousands of corporations shown in March and April 1910 as being delinquent in paying their Utah corporation license fee.)

Other Iron and Steel Pioneers

1881
One of the early iron and steel fabricators in Salt Lake City was Haynes & Son. This company supplied the boilers and other iron work for the Horn Silver smelter in 1881, and in mid 1882, was supplying the iron work for the paper mill being built at the mouth of Big Cottonwood canyon. (Salt Lake Herald, August 9, 1882)

1883
According to H. H. Bancroft's 1886 History of Utah, in 1883 Utah's foundries and machine-shops produced an estimated $360,000 in iron products, being second only to the territory's flour and grist mills. He also estimated that with suitable and abundant fuel, there would probably be no state west of the Missouri with better facilities than Utah for the production of iron. (Bancroft, page 735)

In 1884, it was reported that the greatest use of iron ore was for the use as flux in the smelting of precious metals in the territory. The Utah Gazetteer for 1884 noted that the Salt Lake and Western Railway was built to transport both precious metal ores from the Tintic area and other mines in western Utah, and iron ores for smelter fluxing purposes; low grade iron ore deposits having been discovered in the Tintic mining district. This line was constructed in 1882 as a standard gauge branchline of Union Pacific. (Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 10, page 164)

July 24, 1906
Utah Mining Machinery & Supply had just been contracted to furnish 312 eight-foot diameter settling tanks for the Boston Consolidated company's new mill at Garfield. The steel for the tanks would be imported but the 50,000 pounds of castings (presumed to be iron castings) were to be made locally. The same company had already furnished 400 tanks over the past two years, for the Ohio Copper mill at Lark, and for Nevada Consolidated Copper in Ely, Nevada. (Salt Lake Herald, July 24, 1906)

In April 1909, Enos Wall (the forever promoter of Utah mining) and an associate, Reuben May, grandly announced their plans to build a foundry that would produce pig iron from scrap, with definite plans to begin producing steel castings. The company's plant was to be located on land immediately south of the D&RG locomotive shops in Salt lake City, on property that Wall already owned. As with many of Wall's plans, the enterprise came to nothing. (Numerous newspaper accounts dated April 20 through May 7, 1909)

U. S. Steel In Utah (1946-1986)

U. S. Steel Geneva Works -- Information and locomotive rosters for U. S. Steel's Geneva Works, later operated by the independent Geneva Steel Corporation.

U. S. Steel - Columbia Steel Ironton Works -- Information and locomotive rosters for Columbia Steel's iron works at Ironton.

U. S. Steel Wellington Coal Wash plant -- Information and locomotive roster for U. S. Steel's coal washing plant near Wellington, Utah.

Defense Plant Corporation -- Information about the World War II era government program to expand the production of steel in Utah, including a new coal mine in Carbon County, additional iron ore mining capability in Iron County, and the Geneva steel plant.

Book

The Magnet, Iron Ore In Iron County -- An excellent 75-page history of iron mining in Iron County, Utah; written and self-published in 1991 by Graham D. MacDonald, mining engineer and later General Superintendent of the U. S. Steel iron mining operations. (PDF; 76 pages; 16.3MB)

Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co.

May 1926
The site for a future cast iron pipe foundry and plant was inspected by James R. McWane of McWane Cast Iron Pipe Co., and negotiations were started for the formation of the company, and construction of the plant. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 18, 1926)

July 2, 1926
Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company was established in Utah on land adjacent to the site of Columbia Steel's Ironton plant. Land for the Pacific States site was purchased from the same Provo-Springville Holding Co. that had acquired a large parcel of property for the location of the iron plant, but which was not actually needed by them. The Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company was incorporated in Nevada on July 2, 1926, with L. F. Rains as president, who was also president of Columbia Steel. Construction of the plant had already started. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 3, 1926)

By early August 1926, erection of the steel buildings was started, with October 1st as the target date for completion. Construction was under the direction George E. Sibbetts, chief engineer of Columbia Steel, and manager of Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co. Sibbetts was also shown as vice president, treasurer and consulting attorney of the company when it was organized in early July. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 4, 1926; July 3, 1926)

During a late September 1926 visit by J. R. McWane to the Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe plant that was under construction, McWane is shown as being the president of the company, with George Sibbett as general manager and L. F. Rains as a director of the company. The planned completion date had been pushed to November. The first carload of equipment for the plant, made at the McWane plant in Birmingham, Alabama, had been received at the new Pacific States plant "ten days ago." Prior to the decision to open a plant in Utah, carload lots of pig iron and sand had been shipped to Birmingham to test the process. McWane held several patents for the manufacture of cast iron pipe, including the "forecaulked joint and the horizontal process of casting pipe." Before opening his own company, McWane had previously been president of American Cast Iron Pipe Co., also in Birmingham. (Salt Lake Tribune, September 26, 1926)

November 22, 1926
The first production of cast iron pipe took place at Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co. on Monday November 22, 1926. The cast iron pipes produced were 4-inch soil or sanitary pipe, five feet in length, using the process patented by J. R. McWane. There were a total of 80 employees at the time. Pacific Cast Iron Pipe used pig iron, foundry coke, and electrical power from the adjacent iron plant of Columbia Steel Corporation. Construction of the plant began on July 10th. Full production commenced in late December, and by early January, a full carload of cast iron sanitary pipe had been delivered to a local Salt Lake City plumbing distributor. The plant was constructed to supply cast iron pipe to the Intermountain and Pacific Coast regions, and several carloads had already been shipped to California. (Salt Lake Tribune, November 23, 1926; January 9, 1927)

December 1926
In a brief review of the iron industry in Utah, it was reported that Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co. was a joint operation of McWane Cast Iron Pipe Co., and Columbia Steel Corporation. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 4, 1926)

January 31, 1930
"Provo, Jan. 31 -- The U. S. Steel corporation's interest in the Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe company has been purchased by J. R. McWane, president of the latter company, and his associates. The amount involved was not announced. The Pacific States company was formed in May 1926, by the McWane Cast iron Pipe company and the Columbia Steel corporation. The company's plant is situated at Ironton and has a capacity output of 80 tons of cast iron pipe per day. The U. S. Steel corporation recently acquired the Columbia properties." (Ogden Standard Examiner, January 31, 1930)

1977
As part of its continuing expansion, McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company formed McWane, Inc., as a corporate holding company to better manage and control its growing number of subsidiaries.

January 26, 2015
McWane Cast Iron Pipe Co., Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co., Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co., and Clow Water Systems were consolidated under the new name McWane Ductile. (McWane Ductile press release dated January 26, 2015)

(Read the Wikipedia article about McWane)

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