modity was concerned, was to promote the blacksmith’s trade, but as it did not accomplish this among the other purposes for which it was designed, it was in 1658-59 repealed. In 1661-62, it was again enacted, only to be repealed a second time in 1671.[1] There is no indication of the manufacture of iron in Virginia in the period between the first enactment and the last repeal of this statute; in the interval, Berkeley had been instructed to report on the feasibility of establishing iron works in the Colony, the King having expressed a determination to erect these works at his own expense if the ore justified the great outlay necessary.[2] Berkeley in his reply discouraged the project on the ground that the quantity of iron ore in Virginia was not sufficient to keep one mill going for seven years.[3] Clayton, during his visit to the Colony, inquired into the practicability of carrying on iron manufacture there, and his conclusions were adverse to the undertaking. No one there, he wrote, had money enough to bear the expense of starting and sustaining iron works, and in view of the great distance rendering personal supervision impossible, it would be equally impracticable for a resident of the mother country to assume the risks of the enterprise.[4] In 1682, the original law prohibiting the exportation of iron, among other articles, which, as has been seen, was repealed in 1671, was reenacted in the hope of giving employment to many persons who were then idle and in want of the necessaries of life. The penalty for exporting a pound of the material was fixed at ten pounds of tobacco,[5] but this provision, like the original law, must
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