ABSTRACT
The selection of a manufacturing site generally requires the combining and balancing of various economic and geographic factors in order to obtain the least-cost combination of the factors of production. Early in the development of the United States iron industry the inadequate transport facilities precluded the location of iron furnaces in a particular area of concentration and, as a result, iron furnaces were scattered throughout the states. In 1800 the Lehigh Valley was a sparsely settled country, and, though the area was rich in farm lands and potential timber supplies, little emphasis had been placed on any expansion of production of exportable surpluses. In every instance the optimum economic location of the manufactory will depend upon the efficient combination of the factors, though the importance of each will vary among different industries, and one, rather than the others, may play the dominant role.
