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The Crane Iron Works, Catasaqua, PA, circa 1860.
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The Lehigh Crane Iron Works, shown here in an 1860 etching, was the first commercially successful anthracite iron furnace in America.

Credit: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Canal Society Collection, Canal Museum, Easton, PA

Founded in 1839 by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, the Crane Iron Works helped revolutionize iron production in the United States when it became the nation's first  iron works to successfully smelt iron ore with anthracite coal. The company remained in operation until its sale in 1899.

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