Union Iron Works

Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.[1]

History

Peter Donohue, an Irish immigrant, founded Union Brass & Iron Works in the south of Market area of San Francisco in 1849. It was later run by his son, James Donohue. After years as the premiere producer of mining, railroad, agricultural and locomotive[2] machinery in California, Union Iron Works, led by I. M. Scott, entered the ship building business and relocated to Potrero Point where its shipyards still exist, making the site on the north side of the Potrero the longest running privately owned shipyard in the United States. After Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation bought the works in 1905, the consolidated company came to include the Alameda Works Shipyard, located across the San Francisco Bay in Alameda and the Hunter's Point shipyard to the south.

In 1885, the Union Iron Works launched the first steel-hulled ship on the west coast, Arago, built with steel from the Pacific Rolling Mills. In 1886, UIW was awarded a $1,000,000 contract to build the cruiser USS Charleston (C-2) for the United States Navy, which they completed in eighteen months. From the completion of Arago in 1884 to 1902, UIW built seventy-five marine vessels, including two of the most famous vessels of the Spanish–American War, USS Olympia (C-6) and USS Oregon (BB-3).[3][4]

An 1892 description of the yards stated that between 1200 and 1500 men were employed and the yearly gross revenue was between $2,000,000 and $4,000,000. By the turn of the century, the shipyard had expanded in area and employment had more than doubled to 3,500.[5] These industrial facilities used five types of power, distributed throughout; electricity, compressed air, steam, hydraulic and coal or gas fire. Union Iron works built a number of ships for the United States Navy. These ships include USS Oregon laid down in 1891, and Adder-class submarines USS Grampus (SS-4) and USS Pike (SS-6) which were launched in 1902 and 1903, respectively. The latter two were subcontracted from the Holland Torpedo Boat Company, and were the first submarines built on the West Coast.[6]

In 1902, the Union Iron Works was absorbed into a combine called the United States Shipbuilding Company and was mired in three years of litigation. In 1905, the entire 40 acre shipyard was purchased by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation for one million dollars. Charles M. Schwab stood on the steps of the UIW office building on 20th Street during the auction. At this point, he was the only bidder. Schwab was widely believed to have engineered the demise of the U.S. Shipbuilding Corporation in order to gain control of the industry. Whether or not that was true, he certainly benefited from the collapse of the US Shipbuilding combine.[3]

At the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the coastal passenger liner SS Columbia (1880) of the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company had been undergoing a refit at the yard's hydraulic drydock. The earthquake caused the iron-hulled Columbia to shift off her supports and roll onto the drydock on her starboard side. This damaged the drydock, a key feature of the yard, beyond economic repair. Columbia on the other hand, despite being partially flooded and damaged, was repaired and returned to service in January 1907.[7]

In 1908, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation bought the Hunter's Point drydocks. In the pre-World War I era, Union Iron Works built several navy ships that became internationally famous due to the Spanish–American War including Commodore Dewey's flagship the Olympia. After 1905, the shipyard operated as part of Bethlehem Steel, and produced both warships and merchant ships. The shipyard was expanded in 1911 by purchasing Risdon Iron Works, the land next to the shipyard. Risdon Iron Works built locomotives, this was closed and a new shipyard was built to build US Navy including destroyers and submarines. Risdon Iron Works was founded by John Risdon of Saline, Michigan in 1896. Risdon Iron Works started by building boilers, iron pipes, steam engines and gas engines. From 1873 to 1909 Risdon Iron Works also built ships, tugs, ferries and barges. John Risdon held the patents for the first river mining dredge.[8][9]

World War II slipways

Locomotives built

The named locomotives built by Union Iron Works were:[2]

• for the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad
• California, Atlantic, Union
• for the Central Pacific Railroad
• A. A. Sargent
• for the Pittsburg Railroad
• Mt. Diablo, Boston, Sampson
• for the Black Diamond Coal Mining Railroad (also known as the "Black Diamond Railroad")
• D. O. Mills
• for the California Pacific Railroad
• Calistoga
• for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad
• Lyon, Ormsby, Storey

Ships built

Some of the ships and ferries built by Union Iron Works include:

Ships reconstructed by the Union Iron Works include:

• El Primero launched in 1893, still in service as of 2019
• USS Oregon (BB-3) launched in 1893
• USS Wisconsin (BB-9) launched in 1898
• Berkeley, Southern Pacific Railroad ferry 1898, constructed simultaneously with USS Wisconsin in an adjacent drydock. First complete ferry built by Union Iron Works
• San Pablo, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad passenger ferry. 1899. Sold for scrap in 1937. Hull became first fish reduction plant on San Pablo Bay
• Tamalpais, 1900 Northwest Railroad passenger ferry. Burned for scrap 1947
• USS Ohio (BB-12) launched in 1901
• USS Monterey (BM-6) launched in 1891
• USS Wyoming (BM-10) launched in 1900
• USS Wheeling (PG-14) launched in 1897

See also

• Alameda Works Shipyard
• Potrero Point
• Pier 70, San Francisco
• San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

External links

• Images of America: Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve (Google Books "preview" version; contains some locomotive photographs)
• Museum of San Francisco
• Current photos and history
• A guide to the Irving Murray Scott Jr. business papers and plans, 1881-1943
• Finding Aid to the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Shipbuilding Division Photographs, circa 1900-1945
• A guide to the John T. Scott photograph collection, 1856-1923
• A guide to the John T. Scott photograph collection, 1900-1916