It has been said of England, that it is peculiarly the land of iron manufactures; and the same may, with equal justice, be applied to Scotland, where upwards of 120 blast furnaces continually belch forth their flames, producing a daily supply of pig-iron amounting to nearly three thousand tons; in addition to which there are also a large number of forges and mills, with their furnaces and powerful machinery, converting the crude iron into the malleable state, and rolling it out into every conceivable shape and form, according to the purposes for which it may be required.
These iron works have flourished and prospered in the district for upwards of thirty years-nay, some of them for the last sixty years; and this important branch of the nation's wealth and industry, in this district, has been the: nursery or handmaid for the extension of iron manufacture to many other parts of Scotland.
