Pioneer Nail Making in Utah

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This page was last updated on August 7, 2026.

Overview

(The focus of this page is to develop a timeline of nail making in Utah in the Pioneer era, prior to the coming of the railroad in 1869, which greatly reduced the cost of nails, using sources not previously readily available.)

Nails were a precious commodity in Utah until the mid 1860s, when wagon-hauled freight rates along the Overland Route became much better established. In the early years, nails were handmade locally by blacksmiths, then by machines imported from the Eastern states. These machines were used to roll iron melted from scrap into flat sheets, and cutting the iron sheets into nails. Later machines cut the nails and "headed" them in successive operations. The first nail-making machines arrived in Utah in 1859, and nail factories were built in several communities, and by the mid 1860s, nails became more readily available. Also by the mid 1860s, the Union Pacific railroad was building west from Omaha, and the wagon-freight business rapidly expanded to serve the railroad construction crews. As the railroad construction moved westward, the wagon-freight route grew shorter and more cost efficient, all with Salt Lake City as the destination. Then when the railroad was completed to Ogden in 1869, and to Salt Lake City in 1870, freight rates plummeted, and the cost of a pound of nails went from almost $1 in many cases, down to 10 cents.

The Overland freight route began its growth in 1858-1859 when the U. S. Army contracted with the Russell, Majors and Waddell freight company to move 16 million pounds of supplies to Utah in a short period of time, using a reported 3,000 wagons. The wagons themselves were left behind when the Army retuned to the East in 1861, with many of the unservicable wagons providing much needed iron to the settlements in Utah.

In Utah history, the production and adoption of square cut nails preceded wire (round) nails by roughly three decades.

Square Cut Nails (1850s–1880s)

Square cut nails were sheared from flattened plates or strips of iron using mechanical cutting machines, producing the characteristic tapered, rectangular cross-section.

In early Utah Territory, nails were a critical and scarce commodity. Small-scale iron foundries and blacksmith operations began crafting square cut nails in the early 1850s.

Initiatives like the Pioneer Iron Company / Deseret Iron Company in Iron County produced small quantities of cut nails starting in 1852. Local pioneer nail works were soon established in communities such as Payson (circa 1860), Sugar House, and Sanpete County.

From the arrival of Mormon settlers through the late 1880s, square cut nails were the default manufactured nail used by Utah's early building trades.

Wire Nails (Late 1880s–1890s)

While wire (round) nail technology originated earlier in Europe and eastern U.S. factories, wire drawing required cheap, consistent steel wire stock, technology that matured in the 1880s with widespread industrial steel production.

Wire nails were first imported into Utah in notable quantities in the late 1880s following after the transcontinental railroad came to the Territory, and as the branch railroads spread across the region. Local industrial wire production and commercial availability in Utah markets accelerated through the 1890s.

During the 1890s, wire nails rapidly displaced square cut nails in Utah building trades due to lower manufacturing costs, ease of driving, and improved holding power in standard lumber.

Pioneer Nail Making

Based on historical records, several individuals and operations in Utah appear to have made nail-making machinery or produced cut nails in the 1850s and early 1860s. However, a single "first" is difficult to pinpoint because multiple inventors and factories were active nearly simultaneously.

The introduction of machine-made nails in Utah occurred in 1859, transitioning the territory from hand-forged blacksmithing to automated cut-nail production.

By the time major construction projects like the Salt Lake Tabernacle commenced in 1865, local production supplied machine-headed cut nails at scale, eliminating the steep cost of freighting thousands of pounds of commercial nails from eastern suppliers.

Research has found that the development of nail-making in Utah was not a single event. Several skilled pioneers like Samuel L. Adams and David Sabin developed their own machines and factories around the same time, making it difficult to declare a single "first".

The push to create local nail-making machinery was born out of necessity. Nails were scarce and expensive in early Utah, as they had to be freighted by ox team from the Missouri River. This scarcity drove pioneers to invent their own solutions or make nails by hand from scrap iron.

In the late 1850s, before fully automated heading machinery arrived in the territory, local machinists operated primitive cutting machines.

Iron (often recycled from wagon tires or imported hoop iron) was heated and passed through rollers to form flat sheets about 1/8 to 3/16 inches thick. A mechanical shear then cut the plate into tapered square shanks.

These early machines only cut the shank. Blacksmiths still had to hammer the nail heads individually by hand on an anvil.

The first fully machine-headed nail factory came when the complete nail-making machine, capable of both cutting the tapered shank and mechanically forming the head in one continuous operation, was brought to Utah in 1859.

Salt Lake City leader and businessman Daniel H. Wells arranged for the heavy heading and cutting machinery to be hauled across the plains by ox wagon in 1859.

Millwright Frederick Kesler was commissioned to construct a dedicated Nail Factory building along Parley’s Creek in Sugar House (Salt Lake City) in 1859.

The nail factories in the 19th Ward in Salt Lake City, and near the penitentiary also in Salt Lake City, both closed in about 1864-1865. The need for locally produced nails in Salt Lake City was being fulfilled by machine-made headed nails from the East due to lower freight rates by wagon-hauled freight companies. Some sources had stated that the local manufacture of nails declined as the supply of iron and steel from the government wagons was used up.

Research strongly suggests that when the wooden arches of the Tabernacle were started in 1865, there was an ample supply of Eastern-made nails on hand. This applies only to the Salt Lake City market, with higher nail costs continuing for the outlying settlements such as Payson and Brigham City, where nail factories continued to operate. Then with the coming of the railroad in 1869, freight rates were considerably reduced, and even these outlying nail factories closed.

Timeline

1851
From Bancroft, History of Utah, 1890

Page 317, Cedar City

In October [1851] it was resolved to move the settlement to a point farther to the west and south, and before the end of the year a number of iron-workers and farmers arrived from Salt Lake City.[40]

[Note 40] John Urie, in Utah Sketches, MS., 93-4. The scarcity of nails hindered building. Workmen were brought from England to manufacture them from native ore, but the experiment failed; as the work could not be done on a sufficiently large scale to make it profitable, and it was abandoned. Years later, when the soldiers were ordered away from Camp Floyd, the settlers bought old iron cheap, and nails were manufactured to advantage. The price in market then was 30 or 40 cents a pound; afterward the railroad brought them in and they were sold at 3 to 5 cents a pound.

Page 317, Cedar City

In November of that year [1851] the site was occupied by a company from Parowan. The winter was passed amid some privation, mainly from lack of warm clothing; but on the 30th of January a dry-goods peddler making his appearance — probably the first who had ventured so far south into the land of the Utahs — the settlers were soon clad in comfort.[39]

[Note 39] "Building progressed rapidly, and during the following summer one Burr Frost, a blacksmith from Parowan, started the manufacture of iron, making nails enough to shoe a horse."

March 6, 1852
"We wish to inform the citizens of Utah generally, that we are going into the business of manufacturing nails, and wish to purchase all the old wrought and cast iron we can, for which we will pay a liberal price, either in nails, or apply the same to Tithing. Burr Frost & Co." (Deseret News, advertisement, twice monthly, March 6, 1852 through January 8, 1853) (Burr Frost left Salt Lake City on a church mission in October 1852 and returned in April 1855.)

(Imported nails sold for 25 to 35 cents per pound. - Deseret News, November 27, 1852.)

Burr Frost, Blacksmith

(Burr Frost Sr.; 4 March 1815 – 16 March 1878; KWJ6-2G7)

Burr Frost was a blacksmith that came to Utah as part of the original Brigham Young company in 1847. In December 1851 he was among the company that traveled to "Little Salt Lake" [Parowan]. He returned to Salt Lake City almost immediately, in time to marry his second wife in March 1852 in Salt Lake City. During January through March 1852, Burr Frost was a resident of Salt Lake City, and he and associates were advertising that they were making and selling molasses from beets, carrots and parsnips. In August 1852 he was called on a church mission to Australia, departing in October. The mission lasted until April 1955.

Research suggests that his time as a blacksmith making nails was only a brief period, likely 1847 to 1851, and possibly for less than six months in Parowan. He is mentioned here because he is credited with innovating a more efficient process for the manufacture of nails by blacksmiths while living in Parowan, furnishing nails to Parowan (Little Salt Lake), Cedar City (Muddy Creek), Santa Clara (Rio Virgen), and other nearby settlements.

May 1, 1852
"There is a nail factory in operation in Iron County, another in San Pete, and another building in this city. Building has been materially hindered for want of nails, hitherto, which, we trust, will soon be prevented by the use of domestic machinery." (Deseret News, May 1, 1852)

March 19, 1853
A nail-making machine that was manually operated by a foot treadle. "Look in on Mr. Westwood's nail factory, south-east corner of 14th ward, and see him drop off his red hot nail, once in 15 seconds, from his little trip hammer, and you will be as much amused as you would to see one of our good old mothers spinning shoe thread, on a little wheel, and no blacksmith, who has once witnessed the exhibition of the treadle will want to spend the reminder of his days forging nails with a slight hammer." (Deseret News, March 19, 1853)

November 24, 1853
"Deseret Nail Manufacturing. - The subscriber would respectfully announce to the citizens of G. S. L. City and surrounding country that he has now in operation a Nail Manufactory. Horse and ox nails, and wrought nails kept constantly on hand, and for sale at store prices at his shop on the corner of Emigration and Council house street. Iron, Wheat, Flour taken in exchange for nails. Brands made to order, cut on Iron or Steel. - Wm. J. Westwood." (Deseret News, November 24, 1853, advertisement)

1854-1855 -- St. George -- Samuel L. Adams -- Built the first machine to cut nails in Utah. It was powered by hand and could produce 100 nails per minute. He later built a water-powered factory in 1857.

Samuel Lorenzo Adams was a successful blacksmith from the time he came to Utah in 1852 until his death in 1910. He established the first blacksmith shop in St. George in 1864 and made many contributions to the growth of St. George and the surrounding areas.
Adams had many accomplishments. He established the first flour mill and the first cotton gin used in southern Utah. He invented a nail making machine that produced nails used in the first buildings in St. George. This nail making machine can still be seen at the Daughter of Utah Pioneers Museum.
Iron work was very difficult in those days. Samuel had to mine and smelt the iron ore that he then hand forged with hammer and anvil into usable shapes. He told many stories about trips to the Grand Gulch Mine in northern Arizona and encounters with Indians and other hazards along the way.

"The first man to make a machine for cutting nails in Utah was Samuel L. Adams of St. George. He made it in December and January, 1854-55, and with it he cut nails, by man power, at the rate of 100 per minute. In 1857 he built a factory, and by water power made tons of nails. In 1856 his machine was exhibited in Nephi in a procession of all trades and attracted considerable attention. Mr. Adams now wants to construct a second machine for the jubilee and exhibit it in operation in the parades. He writes: "It can be placed in a wagon and nails at the rate of 100 per minute can be made as the wagon rolls along. It will cost at least $100 to make the cutting machine and header." (Salt Lake Herald, April 24, 1897)

c. 1855 -- Salt Lake Valley -- Unnamed "enterprising man" -- An account states that by 1855, a man was making nails from a hand-built machine in Salt Lake Valley, using Piute Indian workmen.

c. 1856 -- Payson -- David Sabin -- Sabin was awarded a silver medal in 1856 for the "best specimen of cut nails" at an exhibition in Salt Lake City. He had manufactured the "first cut nails in Utah" shortly after 1854.

1858
"About 1858, David Sabin, William A. Beebe, Joseph Bingham, and others, built a machine shop and nail factory. This was the only nail factory in the Territory and gives to Payson the honor of manufacturing the first nails. These were square and cut on an anvil. Henry Elmer hauled old wagon tires from Camp Floyd for this purpose. David Sabin manufactured guns and revolvers." (Memories That Live; Utah County Centennial History. Published by Daughters Of Utah Pioneers of Utah County, 1947, page 451)

c. 1858-1859 -- Payson -- Sabin, Beebe, Stewart & Co. -- David Sabin, William Beebe, and Benjamin Franklin Stewart started a nail factory partnership around 1858. Sabin made the machinery to use up iron from Camp Floyd.

Benjamin Franklin Stewart, Lifetime Pioneer. A Thesis Presented to the Department of Church History, Brigham Young University, By Janet Jenson, June 1960

[pages 48-49]

In 1858 Benjamin Franklin helped start a nail factory and by 1859 had given up the lumber business for merchandising. The nail factory venture was in partnership with William Beebe and David Sabin under the name of Sabin, Beebe, Stewart and company. Benjamin Franklin and his brother Andrew Jackson had brought a thousand wagons with chains and ox yokes from Camp Floyd, and the factory was begun in order to use up all this iron. David Sabin made all the necessary machinery as he was a talented inventor and mechanic. [1]

The nail factory was still in operation in 1861 when Isaiah M. Coombs attempted to get a job as clerk for the company. [2]

[1] Carter, Heart Throbs of the West, IX, 261; and Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, III, 451.

[2] Isaiah M. Coombs, "Journal of Isaiah M. Coombs," Ms. on file in the L.D.S. Historian's Library, Apr. 17, 1861.

1859
"The first nail factory in Utah worthy the name was built under the superintendence of James Finlayson in 1859, a little south of S. L. City. Before this date nails sold at 50 cents a pound." (no source given) (Bancroft, History of Utah, 1890, page 733)

1859
" It was during this year [1859] that a nail factory and machine shop was built in Payson by David Sabin, William A. Beebe and others, which for several years was in successful operation. In course of time the manufacture of nails was abandoned as they could not compete in price with the eastern factories." (Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, Volume III, Number IV, April 1885, page 395)

1859 -- Salt Lake City -- Brigham Young -- Machinery ordered by Brigham Young from the East arrived in 1859. By April 1861, public works employees were making nails from this machinery.

June 1, 1859
"The Payson Manufacturing Company are now ready to do all kinds of Forging, Fitting and Turning for machinery and mill work. Their Nail Factory will be ready for operation in a few days. Merchants and others wishing to supply themselves with nails or mill works will do well to send in their orders soon. All work entrusted to us warranted to be done in a workmanlike manner. We will receive in exchange for our work and nails, cash, iron, wagons, cattle, pork, butter, cheese, wheat, and most kinds of produce. - Sabin, Beebe, & Co." (Deseret News, June 1, 1859)

August 29, 1859
James Findlayson arrived in Salt Lake City on August 29, 1859. After finding a home in the 17th Ward, "His first work was to build the nail factory, in the Sugar House Ward, for Presidents Young and Wells. The building of this factory was an important item in the growth of the Territory, for up to this time nearly every nail used had been imported in teams when freight was high, and nails sold in Salt Lake City at fifty cents per pound. Before the building of this factory in the Sugar House Ward there was nothing of the kind in all the Territory excepting a little nail factory in Payson, which fact gives to Payson the honor of the first manufacturing of nails; and David Sabin, Sen., is to be credited with this enterprise. After the completion of the Sugar House nail factory Finlayson left Salt Lake City" moving his family to Payson to go into a cabinetry business with friends from St. Louis who had already moved to Payson. (Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, Volume III, Number IV, April 1885, pages 440-441)

September 7, 1859
The Church Train arrived from the East with "three sugar mills; two nail machines and a button machine, which are much needed in this territory." (Deseret News, September 7, 1859)

November 12, 1859
Daniel H. Wells was operating a nail factory near the penitentiary. (The Salt Lake City Mountaineer, November 12, 1859)

November 16, 1859
"Gen. Wells is also building an extensive nail factory on Big Kanyon [Parley's] creek, above and near the Sugar House, where the public machine shop, foundry, &c., is situated and in full operation. That part of the city has a very business like appearance at the present, and doubtless will continue so in time to come. A nail factory and an oil mill have long been needed in this part of the Territory, and when those now in progress of erection are completed, we trust that the importation of nails and of oil for painting will cease. There are several nail factories in operation in various cities and places throughout the Territory, but most of them are small concerns, and although they turn out very good nails, they cannot make enough to supply the demand there is and will be for them hereafter." (Deseret News, November 16, 1859)

March 17, 1860
Sabin, Beebe & Co. began advertising their nail manufacturing in Payson. (Salt Lake City Mountaineer, March 17, 1860, advertisement)

June 27, 1860
Daniel H. Wells to David Sabin. "G.S.L. City, June 27th 1860. - Mr. David Sabin, - Dear Brother: - I have an iron rolling mill, and two nail cutters, shears, &c. ready for operation, but I lack an experienced man to adjust and regulate the machines and keep them in running order. I wish, therefore, to have you come down and stay a short time and aid me in getting my factory into successful operation, and learn the men whom I shall have to work there, so that they can carry it on." "I have sent Bro. Hinckley with a conveyance to bring you down, if convenient for you to come, and will esteem it a favor to have you accompany him back."

June 30, 1860
"Home Manufacture." "The want of no article of trade has probably been so severely felt by the citizens of this Territory as that of nails. In addition to the high prices demanded for nails, the payment has been exacted in cash by the merchant. This heavy cash tariff will measurably fall off as nail factories increase in our Territory. This period is near at hand, judging from the number of factories now in process of erection, some of which are nearly completed. One belonging to Gen. Wells, situated on Kanyon Creek, has just started, and from the specimen of nails we have seen, we should judge it promises to prove successful." (Salt Lake City Mountaineer, June 30, 1860, editorial)

July 4, 1860
"The large rolling mill and nail factory, belonging to Gen'l D. H. Wells, on Big Kanyon Creek, near the Sugar House, is nearly or quite completed and, as we are informed, will soon be in successful operation. Nails in this Territory have ever been in demand since the primitive huts of the pioneers began to be displaced by comfortable habitations; and the scarcity of those indispensable articles, together with the high prices that have been demanded for those imported and the few, comparatively speaking, that have been made in this Territory, has prevented more than one individual from building heretofore; but in all probability there will be enough manufactured here hereafter to supply the market at reasonable prices; and if the proprietors of some of the smaller establishments do not learn to live more economically and on less profits in time to come, they will, in our opinion, have to do more work or close up and turn their attention to some other branch of business." (Deseret News, July 4, 1860)

July 21, 1860
"Having bought one-half interest of the Nail Factory and Machine Shops, at Payson, known as the Sabin, Bee & Co's Nail Factory, are now doing business in said factory under the name, firm and style of Sabin, Beebe, Stewart & Co., are prepared to fill orders for nails at 25 cents per pound, also to finish any article in the wagon, carriage, cabinet, chair and blacksmith shops, on short notice and at reasonable prices. Call and examine for yourselves. They will take in exchange for nails and other manufactured articles, cattle, horses, mules, wheat, oats, barley and corn at the highest market prices. P. S. — We have already supplied samples to the amount of 50,000 lbs." (Salt Lake City Mountaineer, July 21, 1860)

August 4, 1860
A description of "the new Nail Factory and Machine Shop located on Kanyon Creek," summarized from the Salt Lake City Mountaineer, August 4, 1860.

"Having arrived at the Nail Factory, which is a spacious frame building, conveniently situated at the foot of a bench, with a tall chimney, which to my mind is always suggestive of something going on for the benefit of the community."
Heating Furnace: Built from Big Cottonwood cut fire-stone, this reverberatory furnace uses a blast fan and a tall chimney to rapidly bring raw iron to a welding heat.
Iron Rollers: Driven by a nine-foot undershot water wheel (with a fourteen-foot fly-wheel planned), massive cast-iron rollers repeatedly press the heated iron to thin it into sheets. Engineer F. Kesler added protective wrought-iron straps to the framing to prevent machine damage during accidental breakage.
Shears: Powered by the main roller shaft, high-power shears cut the rolled iron sheets into strips matching the intended length of the nails.
Nail-Making Machines: Two specialized machines process the red-hot iron strips, cutting and heading them in a single fast operation to yield finished nails ranging from shingle size upwards. "the iron strip at a red heat is placed upon a cutter; immediately you hear two smothered blows, and out drops a nail, finished and, in every respect ready for use."
Power Auxiliary: A novel reaction centrifugal wheel powers the nail-making machines, the furnace blast fan, and three large grindstones used for sharpening tools and cutters.
Signed, "D. J. B."

March 1861
There was a nail factory in the 19th Ward in Salt Lake City. (The Salt Lake City Mountaineer, March 23, 1861, advertisement)

(During the 1860s, Salt Lake City's Nineteenth Ward—originally organized in February 1849—covered an expansive area in the city's northwest section, bounded by 2nd North on the south, Main Street and Arsenal Hill on the east, Warm Springs [900 North] to the north, and extending west to the Jordan River. Gathering initially at Warm Springs and later at a permanent meeting house erected in 1866 near 400 North and 200 West, this large, open ward served as the administrative and spiritual hub for early settlers in the area before later being split into smaller municipal wards.)

July 1861
There was a nail factory in Payson during July 1861. It was operated by A. J. Stewart, B. F. Stewart, and W. A. Bebee. (The Salt Lake City Mountaineer, July 20, 1861, advertisement)

October 23, 1861
A report suggests that the nail factory in the 19th Ward in the northwest section of Salt Lake City was out of service. "Having rented and put in complete repair, the Sugar Mill and Molasses Manufactory, located at the old nail factory in the 19th Ward. - Israel Ivins." (Deseret News, October 23, 1861)

April 23, 1863
Nephi nail factory. "We then went to the nail factory, owned by Adams & Jones, with which we were well pleased. Mr. Adams stated, that they could roll out and cut from eight hundred to one thousand pounds of nails per day. Success to their business." (Deseret News, May 6, 1863, on the occasion of Brigham Young's visit to Nephi on April 23rd.)

August 5, 1863
"Nails!!! - Bring On Your Iron! - The subscriber is prepared to work up Iron on shares at the Nail Factory in the 19th Ward, where, owing to late improvements in machinery, he can guarantee an article unsurpassed in the Territory. - George J. Taylor." (Deseret News, August 5, 1863, advertisement)

July 4, 1864
Advertisement from William J. Silver, showing his location as "at the old nail factory, 19th Ward." (Salt Lake Daily Telegraph, July 4, 1864) (Advertisement ran daily through August 1864. Then until October 1864, and from the same location, Silver began offering the pattern making for castings. The location was also noted as being his residence.)

August 14, 1865
There was a nail factory in Brigham City. (Semi-Weekly Telegraph, August 14, 1865)

August 16, 1865
"Pail Factory! - The Deseret Pail Factory is now in successful operation at the old Nail Factory, between the Penitentiary and the Paper Mill. - E. D. Woolley." (Deseret News, August 16, 1865, advertisement)

(This suggests that the rolling mills at the nail factory had been re-purposed to roll thinner sheet metal for the manufacture of pails.)

Nails In The Tabernacle

(Construction of the Salt Lake Tabernacle began with the laying of its cornerstone on July 26, 1864, though planning and preparatory work had started earlier, with the project announced in April 1863. Construction of the massive arches was begun in 1865, using machine-made headed nails. The building was first used for general conference in October 1867 and was formally dedicated on October 9, 1875.)

Excerpts from "Design and Construction of the Great Tabernacle Arches" by Elwin C. Robison with W. Randall Dixon, BYU Studies Quarterly 52, no. 3 (2013).

Also an excerpt from the book "Gathering as One: The History of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City," by Elwin C. Robinson and W. Randall Dixon

The erroneous claim that nails were not used to build the Tabernacle has been repeated often.[18]

[18] For example, "Ancient Lighting Systems Gradually Give Way to New Units," Salt Lake Tribune, July 12, 1929: "A modern touch to Salt Lake's historic tabernacle, meeting place for pioneers as well as present-day folk, is added by the installation of an entirely new lighting system . . . in the building, which has gained world wide fame for its acoustic qualities and its construction without nails."

In reality, tens of thousands of nails were used in construction, although procuring nails was challenging at the time.

At the time the Tabernacle was constructed, there were at least two nail machines operating in the Salt Lake Valley. A. W. Sabin built one machine and later sold it to George J. Taylor.[19]

[19] Taylor, Autobiographical Notes. Taylor explained that he owned a "machine in Utah for several years. Used to make nails out of wagon tires and sell them for 50 to 60 cents a pound. The nail machine (now in my possession) was made principally of wrought iron by a man named Sabin, one of our earliest and most competent mechanics. I remember the rollers used for rolling out the metal were wore much and I had a new pair made by James Lawson, who hammered them out of tire iron on his anvil."

Taylor advertised nails for sale in the newspaper, but along with his offer of goods was the plea, "Bring on your iron!" He was just as concerned with securing a supply of raw material as he was with selling the finished product.[20]

[20] George J. Taylor, "Nails!!!" Deseret News, February 25, 1863, 280.

Another nail machine was made by Jon Pugmire and operated in Young's blacksmith shop.[21]

[21] Historian’s Office Journal, February 21, 1859, 171

The nail machines in Utah were relatively simple and consisted primarily of a set of rollers and a shear cutter. Iron was first heated and passed through rollers to produce a sheet of the desired thickness, typically about one-eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch. This plate was cut to the desired length of the nail and fed into a cutting machine that produced a slight taper on the shaft. The first nail machines cut only the shaft, leaving the head to be formed by hand in a blacksmith shop. Later, Salt Lake City businessman Daniel H. Wells introduced the first machine that actually formed a head on the nail.[22]

[22] "Utah Early Nail Making," Deseret Evening News, May 4, 1897, 1, col. 6. Adams said this machine was shipped across the plains by wagon in 1859 and set up in the old Sugar House Mill. A. R. Whitehead worked the machinery for Wells. See "First Nails Made in Utah," Deseret Evening News, May 3, 1897, 8, col. 3.

The tapered shafts were fed into a machine that clamped down on the shaft and formed the malleable iron into a head. During the seismic upgrade, the authors observed only nails with machine-made heads in the Tabernacle. This evidence indicates that by the time construction commenced on the arches in 1865, nails with machine-made heads were readily available. Although newspaper accounts reported finding hand-wrought nails during previous renovations, reporters probably assumed any nail that was not a modern wire nail must have been hand produced.[23]

[23] "Wrought Spikes Are Found in Frame under Choir Seats," Salt Lake Tribune, December 2, 1933, 24. The article states, "Tradition that the L. D. S. tabernacle was built without the use of a single nail — a story which has received credence the world around — was proved ill founded during the past week when a number of sturdy hand-wrought spikes were found in the original framework beneath the choir seats."

In reality, no serious production of handmade nails had taken place in most of the United States since the 1820s.[24]

[24] Lee H. Nelson and Penelope Hartshorne, "Nail Chronology as an Aid to Dating Old Buildings and Paint Color Research and Restoration," History News 19, no. 2 (1963).

What was unique about the nails of the Tabernacle was the source of the iron used in their manufacture. Young was eager to find local sources for needed commodities to prevent bleeding the region of currency and capital. He established a colony in Iron County with skilled members being called as "iron missionaries" to mine ore and smelt the metal. Although the Saints produced some iron near present-day Cedar City, the quantities consumed by large-scale construction would have taxed their production capabilities.[25]

[25] See Morris A. Shirts and Kathryn H. Shirts, A Trial Furnace: Southern Utah's Iron Mission (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2001), 379, xix–xx.

According to the nail makers, their primary source of iron came from the government wagons of the United States Army, which had marched on Salt Lake City in 1857–58. The heavy military wagons that accompanied the army had thick iron hoops around the circumference of the wooden wheels and heavy chains and bolts used with brake levers, axles, and wagon trees.[26]

[26] Hope A. Hilton, "Wild Bill" Hickman and the Mormon Frontier (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1988), 73, quoting army soldier Eugene Banal: "On the east side of the Green River we found ironworks of 25 burned wagons—chains, axles, and other wagon parts — covering the trail, on the west side of the Green River, the remains of fifty more wagons."

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