Editing Sparta, New Jersey (section)

====Iron====
Robert Ogden settled in 1778 near the present town of [[Ogdensburg, New Jersey|Ogdensburg]] and built an iron forge, utilizing local ore from his Ogden Mine on Sparta Mountain. The Horseshoe mine was opened in 1772 by the Englishmen Spargo and Harvey who shipped ore by horse and mule to the forges at Sparta and Hopewell. It wasn't until 1868 that the [[Ogden Mine Railroad]] began operations and made it economical to ship zinc and iron ore to Nolan's Point on [[Lake Hopatcong]] where the [[Morris Canal]] had a marine terminal that could ship ore to [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]]. In 1872, the [[New Jersey Midland Railroad]] (later known as the [[New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway|New York, Susquehanna & Western]]) extended to Ogdensburg and captured the zinc ore traffic.

In 1836, Henry Decker, along with Nelson Hunt and Lewis Sherman, began the manufacture of anchors at their forges in Sparta. Their success led to a small industry of forging anchors in Sparta, but by the end of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] the forge industry in Sparta had come to an end.

In 1889, [[Thomas Edison]] invested $3.5&nbsp;million in his [[Edison Ore-Milling Company]] to build iron operations on {{convert|2500|acre|km2}} of Sparta Mountain. Edison hoped to concentrate the mountain's vast quantities of low-grade ore and supply East Coast mills with raw material. At its peak Edison's operation employed 500 people, but after a 10-year effort he abandoned his attempt to compete with more economical ores from [[Minnesota]]'s [[Mesabi Range|Mesabi Iron Range]]. The availability of the cheap Minnesota ores put an end to iron mining in Sparta.<ref>Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/20/archives/a-town-marks-its-ties-to-edison-invented-separator-for-ore.html "A Town Marks Its Ties to Edison; Invented Separator for Ore"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 20, 1979. Accessed October 25, 2018.</ref>