Existing comment:
Iron Furnace:
Form the early 1820s to the 1880s, an iron smelting business here took advantage of the rushing waters of Gap Creek. Today, only the creek and part of the original 30-foot-high stone tower remain, a small part of an industrial complex of buildings, slag heaps, and machinery then called the Newlee Iron Furnace.
All the ingredients needed to make iron were nearby: iron-ore deposits close to the surface, limestone, abundant firewood to be made into charcoal for fuel, and waterpower to run the air bellows and a massive hammer mill. Some iron made here was sold to local blacksmiths. Some of the 150-pound ingots or "pigs" were shipped down the Powell River to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
What it took every day: 625 bushels of charcoal plus 6-1/4 tons of iron ore + 1,563 pounds of limestone equals 3 tons of iron.
Frontier-era ironworks had an enormous appetite for firewood> During the 60 years iron was refined in this tower, more than 10 square miles of trees went up in smoke. |