It may therefore be supposed that when the first Abraham Darby came to the Dale he found works already in existence. Mr. Smiles says “he took the lease of a little furnace which had existed at the place for over a century”; and, fortunately, since his time, the commencement of the 18th century, (1709), records of the proceedings have been carefully kept, so that there is little difficulty in tracing the progress of the art, or in giving prominence to important points which may serve to mark such progress. On page 60 are enumerated some of these discoveries, one being the successful use of coal in iron-making, another the adaptability of iron in bridge making, and a third to railroads. To these three starting points in the history of the iron trade was added that of the discovery of puddling by means of pit coal, by the Craneges; a discovery which preceded that of Henry Cort by seventeen years. It will be seen also from what has been already stated, that whilst Richard Reynolds laid down the first iron rails his son William and the Coalbrookdale Co. as early as 1800 were engaged upon locomotives to run on railways. These stages in the history of the works down to the commencement of the present century have been enumerated thus:— “Abraham Darby. 1707. Letters patent for a new way of casting iron pots, and other iron ware, in sand only, without loam or clay.” “Ditto. 1712. First successfully superseded the use of charcoal by that of coke in the blast furnace.” “Abraham Darby (son of above). 1737. First used coal instead of charcoal for converting pig iron into bar iron at the forge.” “Ditto. 1760–63. First laid down rails of cast iron, with carriages having axles with fixed wheels.” “Abraham Darby (the third). The first _iron_ bridge erected over the Severn in 1777.” “Richard Reynolds. Letters patent to Thomas and George Cranage, for a method of puddling, 1766.”