Some ore was supplied from local limonite deposits: in 1875, Thomas Iron owned four of these mines and held a fifth jointly with Crane Iron, leased eight and had worked another for two years. The company joined with Crane Iron, which had chartered the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad in 1854, to begin construction in 1856. The rail line reduced difficult and inefficient wagon haulage to supply local ore to both companies. Thomas Iron also bought the Richard Mine near Mount Hope, New Jersey in 1856, which supplied large quantities of magnetite ore. Some magnetite was also obtained from mines at Rittenhouse Gap, at the south end of the Catasauqua and Fogelsville.