Old Iron Furnaces

[deepskyal]

Got a question for you history buffs.

Those old iron Furnaces from back in the 1830's-60's, were there houses close by to them for people that worked or tended the furnaces?

I just discover a site near where i work using one of those aerial mapping services that show where one used to be. A couple weeks ago, a coworker and i was just cruising the back roads and i saw what looked like an old house foundation but was just a dump site for locals hauling their building trash.
But...there is definitely the remnants of a road through the brush. I walked it a bit only to find more piles of rubble. I wasn't aware that there used to be an old furnace back there until I saw it on the map and did a little research on the furnace itself.

I was looking for what might have been remnants of house foundations and believe I have discovered at least one. All that remains is that indentation in the ground which might have been the cellar and its a level area on a slope with what appears to be an old road through the trees to the foundation??

I visited Pithole,Pa years back and got a good idea how to spot such ruins. There, the only remains of that town is some raised areas and indents in the ground such as what I came across.

But I'm thinking.....if indeed what I think is a road, actually is, then maybe there are more foundation remains closer to where the furnace should be.
The brush is not overly thick but it is enough to obscure a view of the layout.

So, am I not too far off thinking that maybe workers lived fairly close to the furnace?

There really isn't much else nearby. The railroad passes by where the furnace was and about a mile away is an older village from the late 1800's I'm guessing.

How many people would have worked the furnace? And how close to the furnace would they have actually lived?
Al

 

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[LI Tom]

There is an iron furnace in a state park in upstate NY.They have preserved some of the workers cabins and they are about 500' from the furnace.Unfortuately you can't detect there.

 

[deepskyal]

Thanks for the reply....I kind of figured the way the terrain is there, houses were probably close or they surely would have come a long distance to work. This is pretty remote and abandoned and from what I've read, the mill is no longer standing...but I'll bet my detector will find chunks of metal easy to show where it was.

Thanks,
Al

 

[JOe L]

There is an iron furnace in a state park in upstate NY.They have preserved some of the workers cabins and they are about 500' from the furnace.Unfortuately you can't detect there.

Tom are you talking about the Tahawus Tract up by Newcomb. Fantastic area..

A quote from the Preserve...."Allowable public activities will
include paddling, hiking, skiing, hunting and camping at designated sites"

 

[thompy]

don't know how far, Ive checked out one around Marquette, found the foundry site with a lot of slag, kind of purple with white streaks, haven't found any evidence of houses in this valley, yet, supposedly around 300 lived in this area, the track system still runs on top of one side of the valley, for iron ore pellet shipment to the ore boats, this area was on its way out in the 1860,s, i haven't spent any time there this summer, been looking for some of the old gold mines in the area

 

[Rebel Man]

Hey Deepskyal
Are you referring to Alliance Furnace? if so I used to detect the area and it was a cool area 1984! If this isn't the spot all is well continue and good luck, I found many keepers but oh the trash & iron. This was with a Whites TR & Coin Master.
Rebel Man

 

[Zincoln Miner]

some will have a town nearby(a row of cellar holes within about 1.25 mi's)or a long
house with bunk beds(rectangular row of rocks no hole)on site.some structures may
have housed equipment or an engineer office.iron slag used to shore up roads or structures
will slow things down.company may have changed hands,redeveloping the site to different
needs or ideas and vein direction.wooden structures rotted away,iron infested soil,forest
reclaimation,limited historical data makes for tough work.good luck

 

[JOe L]

A good example, scroll down to the pics.. Joe

http://www.apa.state.ny.us/Press/OSI_Tahawus.htm

 

[deepskyal]

The furnace I'm attempting to find the remnants for is just above the existing Allegheny Ludlum steel mill.

The Sligo Iron works and Rolling Mill ran from 1825-1880's.

http://paironworks.rootsweb.com/allsligoiron.html

The big problem with location is people are pigs!

There are literally dozens of piles of rubbish from pickups and dump trucks scattered throughout the woods to the point that the old road access is completely gone except for a small walking path...and it's covered in dog poop!

I'm hoping that maybe further up river from the site I'll find some old foundations to homes. I can probably do some eyeballing from the railroad tracks that run parallel to the area, as long as I keep an eye out for oncoming trains.

Al