It's not a John Hancock, but in Lakeville, Ethan Allen signature is very impressive

SALISBURY — When an important piece of Northwest Corner history goes on sale next month at a Manhattan auction gallery, the town of Salisbury will be represented by an eager buyer.

Ron Jones of the Salisbury Association will be at the Swann Galleries June 5 on the Lower East Side to try to purchase a 1762 partnership agreement to build and operate the Lakeville furnace.

The handwritten document, signed by Revolutionary War legend Ethan Allen, John Hazeltine, Samuel Forbes and Elisha Forbes, is estimated by Swann to have a value of between $10,000 and $15,000. Hazeltine was an ancestor of Jones.

“It’s an old crummy piece of paper,� Jones said in an interview. “But I can think of no other document of more significance to Salisbury.�

The document is being sold by the estate of the late Dr. William Adam of East Canaan. Adam, one of the founding members of the Friends of Beckley Furnace group, died a couple of years ago. Several years ago, Adam had lent the document to Jones, who reproduced it and gave it back. But the original would be a prized possession for the association.

“It is not an imposing document and, unfortunately, covers the front and back of a single sheet of paper,� added Jones. “Bill kept it folded in an envelope in a box in his back room.�

Jones said the agreement would be something of an oddity to add to a historical society’s collection, since it could not really be shown for an extended period time. Prolonged exposure to light would likely cause the nearly 250-year-old letter to fade.

“It’s kind of a funny item,� said Jones, who reproduced the entire document in his book, “John and Ethan: A Revolutionary Friendship.� “It’s not really for display. We would probably just stick it in a vault somewhere.�

Located approximately at the current site of Pocketknife Square and the Founder’s Group insurance building, the Lakeville Furnace produced some 75 percent of the cannons for Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army, earning it the nickname “Arsenal of the Revolution.� Indeed, the blast furnace was such an important part of the local landscape that what is now known as Lakeville was then called Furnace Village.

“It certainly is an asset,� said local historian Dick Paddock, referring to the furnace contract. “That partnership really launched the iron industry in this area. The history of Salisbury would have been much different without it.�

Paddock noted that Salisbury’s soil was not ideal for farming, so the town’s iron industry, which would die out with the advent of the steel mills in the early 20th century, filled a void.

Swann Galleries’ Web site describes the contents of the document as an agreement to “build a furnice to run iron ore into pig mettle ... on a stream and nigh by an ironworks ... in ye west part of sd Salisbury.�

Hazeltine had most of the money, as he agreed to contribute 50 percent toward the initial stock and construction, with the Forbes brothers each putting up 18.75 percent, while Cornwall resident Ethan Allen, who is thought to be the visionary behind the project, agreed to “build one eighth part,� or 12.5 percent.

Swann notes that “Allen’s involvement in this foundry was his first venture into public affairs, and it proved to have far-reaching significance to the armament of the American military.� Allen later moved to Vermont, where he gained greater notoriety as leader of the famed “Green Mountain Boys� during the Revolution.

Jones said the association is very interested in buying the document “if it can be had at a reasonable price,� though he did not want to say precisely what that price would be.

The auction begins at 10:30 a.m. at Swann Galleries headquarters at 104 East 25th St.