The earliest mention made of industries in Port Royal is in connection with the busy rafting and commodities trade held on the Swatara Creek and the Susquehanna River. Guns, whiskey, and iron kettles were but a few of the items regularly traded for furs with the Indians. Later, logs from the banks of the river and creek were floated downstream for the construction and boat building trades. The area where the creek enters the river became a beehive of activity, a natural for the various industries soon to come.

THE CAMERON GRIST MILL

This was one of the first Royalton industries that can be found noted in historical records. It was built in Port Royal in 1803, directly across the Swatara from the Frey mill, on land formerly owned by James Hamilton, who had been a prominent Revolutionary War officer. Water to power his mill that dealt exclusively in lumber and grain was conveyed from a three foot high tumbling dam that crossed the Swatara approximately where the brickyard was situated. From 1862 to 1886 the mill was leased and run by Israel Deckard, and was known as "Deckard's Mill." The mill was torn down in 1903.

THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY

Iron was such a scarce commodity prior to 1800 that 100 lbs. was equal in worth to a cow. Iron ore (hematite), however, was available in numerous areas, so some diligent pioneers built iron making furnaces into the sides of hills. A mixture of limestone, ore and charcoal was dumped from the upper level into a hot fire; then the melted ore was run into "pigs" (iron bars). However, it was not fit for casting until it was reheated and puddled in a forge.

In 1796 two Quaker brothers, Daniel and Thomas Stubbs, erected a furnace in Port Royal near the mouth of the Swatara Creek, where they manufactured an excellent quality of blister steel. They called it "The Great Iron Works" and claimed to be the first steel manufacturers in America. (Blister steel was formed by a process common at the time. As the pig iron was reheated, carbon monoxide caused by the extreme heat raised the "blisters", and so the name, blister steel.)

In 1805 one of their sons, David, and a friend, John Elder, erected a much larger furnace a quarter of a mile further up the Swatara. It looked more like an overgrown bake oven than a furnace.

In 1831 John Gamber built a charcoal furnace on a tract beside the Swatara, close to the former brickyard property. He had purchased it for $4000 from the James Hamilton Estate in Port Royal He named it the Christiana Furnace after his daughter. The stack was thirty feet high and had an eight and one-half foot bosh (Bottom of the furnace). The capacity of the furnace was 1,350 tons.

In the beginning timber cut from the nearby Round Top woodlands furnished fuel; later anthracite was used. In 1836 Gamber built a $2,200 canal slip from the Swatara to his furnace. "Iron Master" Gamber produced the very best foundry iron, which he readily sold in Philadelphia. During the 1840's Gamber sold the furnace and several lots in Royalton for a total of $40,000.

In 1853 ownership of the foundry passed to J. Donald Cameron. He named it, "Cameron Furnace Company." By this time the furnace had a stack of 48 feet by 13 1/2 feet, and three tuyeres (furnace openings), and produced about 700 tons of pig iron a month. The iron ore came from New York and Cumberland County.

In 1879 improvements were made by Theodore Burr, the famous engineer who built a Harrisburg Bridge. The mill was then considered one of the finest in the state, averaging 170 tons per week. In 1886 the furnace was sold to Christian Landis and his sons, Joseph and George; and the Honorable J. D. Cameron. The firm operated under the name of Landis & Company.

In 1893 the entire property was sold at a private sale to Philadelphia partners. The brick portion of the furnace rapidly deteriorated, and provided a rendezvous for tramps and vagrants.

According to a Middletown Daily Journal account of 7/5/1894, the large brick stack of the old Cameron Furnace was thrown down at exactly 9 o'clock in the morning of the 4th. Mr. R. H. Weaver, of Royalton did the work. He calculated his time so carefully that he finished the job on the minute. The stack contained over 125,000 bricks and tons of stone.

The brick and stone were used in erecting Col. Young's new three-story building on Ann St., Middletown. It included two dwellings and a store room-a total of 19 rooms, and was beautifully trimmed with brownstone archways. Many pronounced it the most substantial structure of the kind in town, and soon named it "The Castle." It is still in existence, directly across the street from the Wesley U. M. Church.

SAW MILL

In 1866 Elijah and John McCreary built a saw mill on ground where Kiwanis Park is located today. Stairwork, house, and barn furnishings were their specialties. In 1873 the mill burned down, but was rebuilt and enlarged to include a sash and door factory and a planing mill. Circular, gang and upright saws enabled the company to provide lumber for seventy-five rafts in one year. The mill was again destroyed by fire in 1885. McCreary built a new forty by sixty foot planing mill in 1891 which he operated for several more years.

THE BRICK PLANT

About 1900 a group of businessmen, H. O. Keener, Frank Nissley, Joseph Landis, S. C. Peters, and Dr. J. C. Nissley, were operating a successful brick plant in Middletown where the Feaser School now stands. However, these enterprising men decided to erect a new brick plant on the southeast corner of Royalton, close to the County Bridge. The plant was called the Middletown Shale Brick Works.

By 1904 the plant employed thirty men. They daily turned out 25,000 bricks, most of them used to build the Middletown Car Works addition. Ice and water from the infamous flood of 1904 severely damaged the plant, however, so it was sold to William Furgusson, of Cornwall, PA, associated with Brochts & Colemans, investors in a Lebanon brick plant.

In 1906 the plant's new owners purchased the John N. Rife farm in Royalton, added new machinery, and put William A. Gery, of Reading, in control. They used the abundant shale deposits on the farm to manufacture their bricks, and shipped barrels of it to Reading.

In 1910 the plant was sold to the U.S. Brick Co. of Reading. Disaster struck, though, when high winds carried blazing embers from the great Middletown Fire of 1910 to the plant and partially destroyed it. In 1912 the plant failed again. Bond holders took over, and operated it under the name, Royalton Shale and Brick Co. Clinton Painter was the manager, and less than twenty men were employed.

By June of that same year excavation was begun to install five large firing kilns, each measuring thirty feet in diameter. Firing in the new "bee hive" kilns began in September, burning 80,000 bricks at a time. The new process produced bricks of excellent hardness for many different sizes and types of brickwork. In October, 1912 New York City granted them a contract for 5,000,000 bricks for a sewer company. That provided steady work for the next two years.

In 1924 the plant was called the Royalton Face Brick Co., with W. W. Swengle as general manager. The plant was enlarged again, enabling it to produce enough bricks to erect an average of three houses a day. But again disaster hit, when the 1936 flood caused thousands of dollars in damage. Nevertheless, the company survived, and continued to manufacture high grade face bricks for a wide variety of markets, including the Harrisburg Market House, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Hershey Chocolate Corp., the U.S. Government, and for municipal work in New York and Philadelphia.

When Glen-Gery of Reading purchased the property in 1939 they again enlarged and improved the plant enabling it to produce 300,000 bricks a week by some fifty employees. In 1946 the plant pioneered in making many different sizes and shades of bricks and exceptional quality. A gas producer and new brick forming machines were installed in 1954.

In 1967 the company closed the plant and sold the property. The buildings were torn down soon afterward.

Partial information for these sketches was found in "Early Industries of Middletown, Pennsylvania", by Grace I. DeHart; and from the Middletown Library's microfiche files of the "Middletown Journal."