Pactolus Furnace
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 38° 21.893 W 082° 56.124
17S E 330914 N 4248073
This marker is located on Route 1 in Carter County, Kentucky.
Waymark Code: WM2BNP
Location: Kentucky, United States
Date Posted: 10/07/2007
Views: 27
Built in 1824 by Joseph McMurtry and David L. Ward, on the site of an earlier bloomery forge. Its stone stack used charcoal fuel, and its air blast machinery was powered from a dam, 51/2 ft. high, in Little Sandy River. Capacity was about three tons of iron daily, mainly shipped via Ohio River. Last blast before 1835. See over. Marker presented by Armco Steel Corp.
(Reverse) Iron Made in Kentucky - A major producer since 1791, Ky. ranked 3rd in US in 1830s, 11th in 1965. Charcoal timber, native ore, limestone supplied material for numerous furnaces making pig iron, utensils, munitions in the Hanging Rock, Red River, Between Rivers, Rolling Fork, Green River Regions. Old charcoal furnace era ended by depletion of ore and timber and the growth of railroads. See over.