I did a little poking around on the
Internet and found few items that might be of interest.
A short article on the "History of Corrugated Iron" at
https://www.world-archaeology.com/features/history-of-corrugated-iron/
A few excerpts from the article:
"The story starts with Henry Palmer of the London Dock Company
who, in 1829, took out a patent for ‘indented or corrugated
metallic sheets’. "
" By the end of 1849, over 80,000 gold diggers and their
hangers-on had arrived in California’s Sacremento Valley. San
Francisco was ‘a bawdy, bustling, bedlam of mudholes and
shanties’. Prefabricated wooden huts and tents sprouted but
corrugated iron buildings were cheaper, fireproof and much more
comfortable, according to Peter Naylor who shipped 500 of them
from New York. British manufacturers were not slow off the mark.
Edward T Bellhouse of Manchester sent houses of up to 12 rooms,
complete with wallpaper and carpets. As the Californian market
declined, the Australian gold rush kicked in."
The article is based on a book entitled
Corrugated Iron:
Building on the Frontier by Adam Mornement and Simon
Holloway.
Another article at
http://www.buffaloah.com/h/elev/hist/3/ has a
section on the motivation for using corrugated iron siding for
grain elevators: fireproofing and the relative costs of both the
building materials and associated fire insurance. The article
also notes that timber prices began to rise in the 1890s, which
would also effect the relative costs of wood vs. corrugated iron.
Gerry Michael
On 4/15/2019 1:48 AM, Denny Anspach wrote: