Eliza Furnace
N 40° 29.058 W 078° 55.327
17T E 676114 N 4483585
Eliza Furnace in Vintondale, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.
Waymark Code: WM8T
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 08/18/2005
Views: 60
This remarkably well-preserved furnace is also the location of the
Eliza Furnace geocache. It's on land managed by the Indiana County Parks, which have an excellent
web page with photos and history. You can reach the furnace by motor vehicle, or by bicycle along the Ghost Town Trail. Here is some background from the Iron Furnaces website linked to below:
Eliza Furnace was the first of three furnaces constructed in the Blacklick Creek Valley. The other furnaces were Blacklick Furnace and Buena Vista Furnace. The most important feature of this furnace is the heat exchanger pipes, which may be the only remaining elements left in the United States for this era. Water powered bellows pushed blasts of air up to the heat exchangers, which were heated by exhaust gases from the burning charcoal in the furnace. After being heated, the air was then piped down the side of the furnace stack to the left hand tuyere, where it was forced into the hearth. However, the entire process was very wasteful - the actual air temperature only increased 10-15 degrees.
