Bear Springs Furnace - 3 C 30
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LSUMonica
N 36° 28.620 W 087° 45.172
16S E 432556 N 4037120
Tennessee Historical Commission marker 3 C 30 - Bear Springs Furnace
Waymark Code: WM8WB
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 03/12/2006
Views: 40
3 C 30
Bear Springs Furnace
Joseph and Robert Woods and Thomas Yeatman built the first charcoal cold-blast furnace here in 1830. It used brown hematite ore from local deposits. Destroyed by Union Forces in 1862, the present stack was built in 1873, with a railroad to the Tennessee Ridge, on the route of the present highway. Operations were discontinued in 1901.
Tennessee Historical Commission
Marker reads the same on both sides.
Other Information:
The furnaces of the region were used in the indirect method of smelting. (Smelting is a two-step process involving the blast furnace to produce pig iron and then a refinery forge to convert it to wrought iron.)The furnace never produced any other than the pig iron, which for the most part was sold and shipped to foundries, mills, and pipe works. Tennessee's large capacity for iron production made the state of strategic importance to both the North and the South. The South needed Tennessee's manufacturing capabilities to produce weapons of war for its cause. Knowing this, the North made the capture and destruction of key iron production facilities a part of its strategy. Thus, iron furnaces, forges, and works were the sites of several engagements between the Union and Confederate armies.
Distroyed by Union forces in 1862, the present stack was built in 1873, with a railroad to Tennessee Ridge, on the route of the present day highway. Operations here were discontinued in 1901.
