Expansion
In 1855, David Thomas left his post as superintendent of the Crane Iron Company to oversee the new Thomas Iron Company. His son John Thomas succeeded him, and served until he, too, took over at Thomas Iron, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Joshua Hunt.
The success of Crane Iron and the many other iron companies that sprang up in the Lehigh Valley led to a major mining boom in Lehigh County, with no less than 261 mines of varying size being opened. Some were worked by independent operators and the ore sold on the open market, others leased by iron companies, and some owned outright by the companies. In 1875, Crane Iron leased eleven limonite mines in Lehigh County, owned three outright and one jointly with Thomas Iron, and leased a hematite mine at Zionsville.
This was in part facilitated by improved transportation in the area. The Crane and Thomas Iron Companies wanted a railroad to bring local ore to their furnaces, but faced strong local opposition when attempting to gain a charter. As a compromise, the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Plank Road corporation was chartered on July 2, 1853, to build a plank road from the ore pits to the furnaces. A short section of plank road was constructed, but the exceptional weight of the ore wagons quickly destroyed it. Renewed efforts to palliate the local farmers were successful, and the plank road was renamed and rechartered on April 20, 1854 as the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad. The C&F began hauling ore from the mines near Fogelsville in 1857. In 1864, it was further extended to a connection with the East Pennsylvania Railroad at Alburtis and in 1865, to the magnetite mines at Rittenhouse Gap. Improvements to the physical plant also occurred, building No. 6 stack in 1868. The company survived the Panic of 1873 and the subsequent poor iron market, and No. 5 stack was rebuilt in 1877, introducing new firebrick heat exchangers (stoves) to heat the blast, rather than the iron pipes heretofore used. No. 3 stack collapsed in 1879 while out of blast, and Nos. 1 and 2 were subsequently demolished. A new No. 1 and 3 were built, and the site of No. 2 used for stoves for the new furnaces, which were built in 1880 and put in service in 1881. Joshua Hunt resigned the superintendency on January 1, 1882, six months before the death of his father-in-law, David Thomas.
By this time, the iron furnaces also boasted a substantial plant railroad. This began with the construction of a private wagon and rail bridge (which the company opened to the public) across the Lehigh River in 1847 to facilitate ore shipment. This rail line would connect with the Lehigh Valley Railroad in West Catasauqua in 1855, as well as the C&F when that line opened. (The Central Railroad of New Jersey would build a line along the Lehigh River in 1867 on the same side as the furnaces, giving Crane Iron yet another rail inlet and outlet.) The company received a supplement to its charter on March 15, 1872 (and was renamed simply the Crane Iron Company), allowing it to construct up to 2 miles (3.2 km) of rail line to dispose of slag or connect with another railroad. The plant trackage ultimately totaled 3.31 miles (5.33 km), and was worked by a number of 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 switchers, including one built on-site at the ironworks in the 1880s.
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