Connecticut has a rich history in the manufacture of iron and its finished products. Its presence can be relived in the beautiful northwest corner of the state where existing remains can be discovered by the secondary and backroad explorer. An enjoyable trip to towns such as Canaan and Salisbury will open your eyes to some impressive structural remains of this industry that I assure will please the archaeologist and historian in you.

To make iron, three basic ingredients are needed; iron ore, charcoal and limestone. Connecticut's northwest hills have all these resources readily available. There were abundant forests for making charcoal, large limestone deposits to be mined, and high quality limonite and goethite iron ore (Kirby 1998:p1). Additionally, water power was available to drive the air bellows in the blast furnaces which will be described and discussed below.

The discovery of iron in the region began in 1731, when a large and rich deposit was found at Ore Hill in Salisbury. This Salisbury ore was of superior quality because of its high content of manganese and low content of phosphorous. This quality ore is found in a narrow belt along the MA, CT and NY border (Kirby, 1998:p2).

Smelting of iron began in Salisbury in 1735 and would continue for 188 years. In the early smelting process, iron ore was processed in a large, stone, bloomery forge that was heated with a charcoal fire assisted by forced air. Later, the impurities were hammered out. This made good iron but not large quantities of it. It took large blast furnaces to produce greater quantities. In 1762, the first blast furnace was built in the area. Its stone chimney stack stood 28 ft. high and the operation employed sixty men. With the start of the American Revolution and the need of iron for armament, this area became known, at least locally, as "The Arsenal of the Revolution" (Kirby 1995:p3).

There are several sites that still contain the ruins of the stone blast furnaces that were the center piece of the ironmaking process. The wooden enclosures and attached buildings that surrounded the furnaces are long gone, but some of the stone furnaces and foundations remain. A sketch of the type of blast furnace that was used in northwest Connecticut is shown in Figure 1 (Chard 1995:p3).

The Blast Furnace

The furnace is usually about 25 feet high, but some were even taller. Charcoal is first added to the furnace to get it up to the required temperature before all the ingredients are added. Figure 1 shows a worker charging up the furnace with iron ore, charcoal and limestone. He carries these ingredients in a wheelbarrow by way of the wooden charging bridge, running from an adjacent slope to the top of the furnace. The mixture is fired in the furnace with a blast of air from a bellows into nozzles called tuyeres at the base of the furnace to raise the temperature to over 2800 degrees Fahrenheit. In the process the carbon in the hot charcoal combines with the oxygen in the iron oxide ore, exhausting off carbon monoxide gas through the top of the furnace stack. This causes the iron to separate, resulting in a liquid state that flows to the bottom of the furnace's hearth and into a crucible. The iron liquid is poured from the crucible every twelve hours into channels formed in the sand floor of the casting house. A main channel with side channels forms, appearing to look like a sow with her suckling piglets, and thought to be the origin of the term pig iron (Chart 1995:p4-5).

In East Canaan, some of the most successful blast furnaces in the area were the Beckley furnaces #2 and #3, built in 1847 and 1872 respectively; with another built in Lime Rock in 1865 (Kirby 1998:p5). With the advent of the railroad, the demand for iron was great and northwest Connecticut quality iron was especially needed for train wheels which became a primary product for domestic and foreign markets. Finally in 1923, outdated furnaces and bankruptcy ended iron production in the area with the closing of the Beckley furnace (Kirby 1995:p5).

Today, out of the original forty furnaces that were in the area only of six remain. The most substantial for public view is the Beckley stone furnace in East Canaan. In 1946, the state purchased it and designated it as a Connecticut Industrial Monument. During Gov. Rowland's administration, $250,000 was bonded to preserve it (Kirby:p5). Another substantial furnace is in Lime Rock but it is on private property. It was restored 1996 and I had the privilege of being invited to visit the site during an Ironmasters Conference in 1998.

Therefore, a good choice for a furnace to visit in one's travels to northwest Connecticut is the remains of the Beckley complex with its furnace shown in Photo 1 and its beautifully preserved waterpower dam on the Blackberry River, in Photo 2.

As can be seen in Photo 1, there are two arches in the furnace. One arch would face the casting room where iron would flow onto the sand floor molds and be cast into sows and piglets. The other arch would house the tuyere or valve to blast air into the charge. Also notice to the very left, directly behind the "V" that the two trees make is a stone abutment. This abutment is one end of the charging bridge that spanned the top of the furnace. In Photo 2 are pipes from the dam that supplied waterpower to the bellows or generator providing the force necessary for the furnace charge. On the right hand side of Photo 1, just below the smaller stone arch of the furnace, is what appears to be a large, flat stone. This object is called a salamander, which is the slag left in a cooled down furnace. This is an undesirable situation because it fuses to the inside of the furnace and is difficult to remove. The furnace and its grounds can be reached by following US Route 44 West to East Canaan and taking a left onto Lower Road. The site is within one mile on Lower Road.

A little farther to the west is the Mount Riga furnace complex. This is also off US Route 44 in Salisbury center, just after CT Route 41, near the town hall. Take a right on Mount Riga road to Cemetery Road. Mt. Riga was in operation until the 1850's.

I hope with the coming beautiful weather, you will enjoy a nice trip to the gorgeous northwest hills. As historian or archaeologist, I'm sure you will be impressed by the iron industry remains and their surrounding environments.

In closing, I want to make you aware of the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, located in a quiet neighborhood in Saugus MA., just north of Boston. For those interested in seeing firsthand a recreation and restoration of the type of blast furnace operation described above, you'll find this a very interesting tour. It's complete with the stone furnace, the charging bridge, water power to operate the bellows, trip hammer (bring your ear plugs), slitting mill and other iron making machinery. I visited it many years ago and found it very educational and well worth the trip.

Ed. Note: Additional information and photos of the Beckley Furnace can be found on the Friends of Beckley Furnace website, which can be accessed by clicking https://beckleyfurnace.org/.

References:

Chard, Jack. Making Iron and Steel, Historic Processes 1700-1900. New Jersey Highlands Historical Society P.O. Box 248, Ringwood, N.J. 07456, 1995

Gordon, Robert B. Iron in Connecticut's Western Lands: Setting the Salisbury Scene. 1998. Ironmasters Conference Papers Session Abstracts and Speaker Program.

Kirby, Ed. The Salisbury Iron District. No Publisher. Author's own paper presented at the 1998 Ironmasters Conference, 1998

The Iron Industry in Connecticut's Northwest, 1734-1923. Prepared and Distributed by Tri-Corners History Council c/o The Salisbury Association 24 Main St. Salisbury, CT. 06068