Boone Furnace

farlymac · 06-08-2012

In Carter County, Kentucky, there is an iron furnace that is the only survivor of three that were built by a man from Portsmouth, OH. The owner of the property surmises that it has stood for so long because its foundation was part of the stone outcropping it was hewn from, where as the others had built foundations, and collapsed.

It was last fired in 1858, and the steel liner was removed for scrap during the Great Depression years. A ramp was used by ox drawn carts to reach the top of the knoll, and the furnace opening. First charcoal, then the iron ore, and lastly a layer of limestone would be introduced in through the top. A series of pipes with a fan would have circulated the combustion gases through the pile to increase the heat, and to feed air to the pile.

The melt would then have been poured into troughs dug into the ground, and after cooling, the "pigs" would then be transported to market. When the ore fields in Upper Michigan and Minnesota were opened, it spelled the end of low production outfits like this one.

The owner told me a few stories about the place that would make for a great article, and I plan on stopping my next time through with a different camera, and a notebook.

Boone Furnace by br1078phot, on Flickr
You can see how the furnace was built from the rock that was cut out from this knoll.

Boone Furnace by br1078phot, on Flickr
The stones on the upper level were added in an attempt to increase production, but the furnace was never fired after that work was done.

Boone Furnace Perspective by br1078phot, on Flickr
In this six shot panoramic, starting from the left you can see where the stores of limestone, iron ore, and charcoal were kept above the furnace. Ox carts hauled the stores up a ramp on the left to the upper level of the knoll, and then the materials were fed into the furnace through the top. On the right is where the water tank stood. There may have also been a fan system.

Samsung Maxima Zoom 145 with a Schneider-Kreuznach Varioplan 38-145mm Super Macro on Kodak Ultramax 400

PF