Trifter

Boiling Springs Pennsylvania was a center of Iron production from 1762, just before the American Revolution.  Iron was dug there, wood for charcoal and limestone for smelting were readily available.  It was close enough to population centers to ship the product to market.  The deposits of iron throughout this area were small but rich.  During World War 2 the iron and manganese deposits in the area were restudied to see if they could be used.  They were not big enough to exploit.  The manganese deposits are very pure but are in small nuggets, almost like gold. The deposits were very near the surface which was necessary with hand digging.

This sign shows some history of this area.

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Here is the blast furnace.  It was loaded with layers of charcoal, ore, and limestone which helped pull the impurities out of the iron by making it float.   It was not unusual to build a furnace on a place like this with a hill next to it so that the charge (the term for a filling of the furnace) could more easily be loaded – from the top.  Once that was done the charge was lit, air was pumped in as hard as possible, either by hand operated or water powered bellows.  The furnace has an inner portion, the charge was in it and the air passes through it.   

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Here we can see the hill and the furnace.  I found charcoal on the side of the hill, an indication that it was filled from that point.  

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The center of the furnace can be seen through this opening.  Unlike many of the other furnaces in the area, this one has not been cemented up to prevent vandalism – note the iron gate that was used for that.   Some indication of internal collapse can be seen at the one side.

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This view shows the opening of the furnace where the air was introduced.  When the charge was finished the center area would be full of molten iron.  A hole was punched in it and the iron flowed out.  Before this was done ditches were laid on the ground for the iron to flow into.  They filled and cooled forming cast iron.  The billets were called pigs because the formation of them looked much like pigs suckling on a sow.  Two things were very dangerous in this process.  First was opening the port for the iron to flow out.  The second dangerous item was rain before the iron hardened.  A small amount of water under the iron, instant steam and the iron would be splattered through the air.  More than a few iron workers died this way.   But the iron had to be poured because if it cooled in the furnace it was destroyed.

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This picture shows the hill behind the furnace.  Note the black areas are charcoal mentioned before.  Apparently to make this work the hill was buttressed with a stone wall that has pretty much collapsed.  Most likely there was some form of bridge, probably of wood, that could be laid out and pulled back to fill the furnace.

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The furnace is located within about fifty yards of this stream.  It has some earmarks of being deepened and possibly dammed.  This could have produced the water power for the bellows.  The stream could also be used for cooling. 

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This picture shows a view up stream.  It would have been easy to dam this and channel water over a wheel.

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This picture shows more of the upstream in low light.  There is actually a good amount of fall in this area which is needed for power.

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