The President Pumping Engine of the Lehigh Zinc Company Friedensville Mines 1872 (final)

The President Pumping Engine was located at the Ueberroth Mine in the village of Friedensville in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States of America. The Ueberroth Mine was the largest of five zinc mines in the district that supplied ore to Lehigh Zinc Company’s smelter and rolling mill in South Bethlehem which is about five miles north of the mines. The dressed ore was hauled from the mine by mule carts over South Mountain to the works which were located along the Lehigh River. Zinc is the 4th largest produced metal in the world and in the 19th century it was used in powder form as a paint additive and in sheet form to galvanize iron and to make stove boards, wash boards, and roofing. Metallic Zinc in ingot form was used to make brass (an alloy of copper and zinc). As the mines in Friedensville went deeper, many problems were encountered with water inflow. By the late 1860s, despite four different pumping engines at work, the water inflow continued to interfere with mining operations. Lehigh Zinc Company’s President gave John West, the company’s engineer, the task of building an engine which could not only handle current water levels when the mines were about 125 feet deep, but water levels expected when the mines reached a future depth of 300 feet. In 1868, John West designed The President Pumping Engine to be able to extract 17,000 gallons per minute of water from a depth of 300 feet. It was manufactured in foundry workshops located in Philadelphia. The President Engine was ready for operation in January 1872 and President Grant, the sitting US President, was invited to attend the inaugural ceremonies. President Grant was unable to attend, but Lehigh Zinc Company’s leader broke a bottle of wine on one of the walking beams and christened it ”The President” in honor of "the chief magistrate of our country and as a fitting name for an engine which is chief of all engines in power". Since that time, the engine has been known as “The President” and sometimes ”The President Grant Engine”. It was the largest and most powerful single cylinder stationary steam engine ever constructed anywhere in the world. Libraries and Museums: Bethlehem, PA Public Library (https://www.bapl.org ) Lafayette College, Special Collections, Easton, PA (https://archives.lafayette.edu ) Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum, Lancaster, PA (https://www.landisvalleymuseum.org ) Lehigh County Historical Society, Allentown, PA (http://www.lehighvalleyheritagemuseum... ) Lehigh University, Special Collections, Bethlehem, PA (https://library.lehigh.edu/research/s... ) Library of Congress Archives, Washington, DC (https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?... ) Moravian Church Archives, Bethlehem, PA (https://www.moravianchurcharchives.org ) National Canal Museum, Easton, PA (https://canals.org ) National Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem, PA (https://www.nmih.org ) Upper Saucon Township Library (https://www.solehipl.org)