Oh the IRONy
/Tecumseh Drive
'Tecumseh allied his forces with the British. Painting by W.B. Turner (courtesy Metropolitan. )
We are all aware of the close ties between Pittsburgh -Bethlehem area and Marmora. Over a century ago, samples of Blairton iron ore were sent south. They were so well thought of that from 1867-1873 more than 300,000 tons were blasted off the rock face there, loaded onto a new rail line, specially built, and sent off for smelting in Pennsylvania. Much later, the Marmoraton Mines provided ore from the east of town and employed hundreds of villagers. What we still call the Townsite, on the plateau north of Highway 7 and west of the river, was established for the new homes to be built for the Americans sent to manage the. works. Within the Townsite, the streets were named after tribes or noted Indians. It was ironic that one street was named after the Indian leader Tecumseh. There was no one who fought more viciously or more successfully against the Americans in the war of 1814.
