Dayton Coal and Iron Company Limited

Company founded in Dayton, Tennessee, United States owned by the Salts company. The company manufactured iron and stell, based on the large local deposits of iron ore and coal. The Salts made major investements in the company which were partly to blame for the subsequent financial difficulties of the textile business in the UK. The Salts gave up their interest in the Dayton company in 1892 and sold the textile business the following year.

Dayton was the site of rich coal and iron deposits. Its original developers obtained a loan from Sir TItus Salt Bart. and Sons Ltd, but they went bankrupt. The directors of the Salts company, including Titus Salt Junior, took over the Dayton firm and made large investments to develope the site.

They built: two large blast furnaces with a capacity of 250 tons of iron ore per day, three fire brick kilns and 200 coke ovens were constructed as well as 200 homes, a manager's house (costing $15,000), a company store, a schoolhouse and other social amenities. What had been a small hamlet grew into a sizeable town over a very short period.

In 1892 the Salt business partners had to surrender their interests in Dayton due to the collapse of Sir Titus Salt (Bart) Sons and Co. Ltd. The investment the company had made in Dayton was a significant factor in the Salt family’s loss of their business and the estate of Saltaire.