In 1834 the company made a policy statement which was designed to encourage the inquisitive and acquisitive ironmaster to take up the task that they, the managers, had dropped. The company offered economic aid for experimentation with anthracite coal in the blast furnace, and upon the successful completion of such tests further assistance would be forthcoming to carry the technique over into commercial practice. The total anthracite iron production reached 303,087 tons in 1854, while the total charcoal pig iron product moved to 305,623 tons. In 1849 nine of the ten furnaces in the Lehigh Valley, excluding the Phillipsburg works, produced a total of 35,759 tons of pig iron. The opening of the Sault Ste Marie Canal in 1855 provided direct communications with the Lake Superior deposits, resulting in reduced costs for the lake ores which provided further inducement for the expansion of the western iron industry.