Five Vats Grew To Twenty-Nine

Did you know? George Mong began tanning on Warrior's Mark Run in 1809, with only five vats.

Africa's 1883 county history, in its chapter on Warrior's Mark township, places the tannery near the township line, in the same locality as a small grist mill run by the proprietors of Huntingdon Furnace. Its capacity was increased from time to time, and by 1883 it had twenty nine vats. David B. Mong had been the proprietor since 1840.

It was tanning six to eight hundred hides a year, the bark used being chiefly chestnut oak. About a fourth of the leather was finished at the tannery, and it bore an excellent reputation.

Farther up the same stream John Burkett began tanning in 1822, and his yard, carried on since 1840 by Peter Burkett, had twenty four vats in 1883, though it was not worked to its full capacity. At the Mong tannery, five vats had become twenty nine.

Checked 2026-10-30 · County histories and primary sources, read in full

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