Cl1apter 4 _ The Ironworks Study sruc1~, Me1hoc1O1ogy ____ ________ were in use in others~ both types were fou nd at some of the Ironworks on an indus1rial scale co,mnenced in Vennon1 a few works (Jacobs 1953:130). Jacobs' source of infonnation was years after the end of the Revolutionary War and ended about a a rnanuscript sent to him by Charles Rufus Harce of New Haven. century later. During that JOO.year pei-iod. bias, furnaces, bloom­ Connecticut. In an April 5, 1955, letter 10 Richard S. Allen of e.ry forges, and foundries made or work{.-d iron in all or lhc state's Albany, New York. Marte wrote that what he sent Jacobs was 14 counties. A majority of the blast fu rnaces and bloomer)' forges "a copy of a series of abstracL~ from various Vermont town lay wesc of the Green Moumain range. generally in the valley of histories, and fo r their accuracy- <>ther than to the copying- ( che Ouer Creek. accepc no responsibility, and of che furnaces I have very little Because few business records of these industries remain, it is personal knowledge." not known for sure where all that iron went. Some Vermont iron Harte was otherwise an accurate and thorough historian of found markets in local foundries and mills. but most probably ironworks in New England, and authored a number of valuable ended up in works at Troy, New York, and Boston. Some iron a,'licles and booklets on the subject in the 1930s and 1940s. might even have found its way to markets in Quebec. Research He visited Vennont in August 1935 and photographed furnace into 19th-century canal and railroad records could provide some remains at Manchester ("the merest trace"). East Dorset (.. a answers. 01her sources of infonnation might be hidde.n away in beautiful little stack"). Pittsford ("behind a Jiule mill on a state or federal tax records, papers of incorporation, and banking side-road"). Brandon ('"just south of where (Route] 7 crosses and financial papers. All that remains now of these iroo-making a big brook"}, and Forest Dale "the Green Mountain stack. operations are the historic.al records as gleaned from dozens of which was in very good condition"). town. coumy, and state hist0ries, and their physical remains along Archival research has not uncovered che same hisLoric.al ref­ mountain and valley streams. erences t,larte said he was using or the photographs he took. Archival and field infom1ation that follows is the result of work Researching sirnilat-named town histories in other New England done mainly from 1978 to 1988. When this projecc began in scates has likewise fa iled to resolve many of the iron-making 1978. the author knew of only two blast furnace sites in Vennont: site claims made by Jacobs ancVor Hane. But this does not one at East Bennington with the ruins of two collapsed stack.,; mean the data are incorrect. Many iron-making remains are and the other at East Dorset. 11,e sites were visiced, neighbors still waiting to be rediscovered in Vermont. were queried , and some libra1ies were visited where card fi les Three series or maps were used 10 det.ennine the existence, were inspected for anything related with the iron industry (and locacion . and time period of the ironworks . These were the card files yielded meager resuhs). Files were eventually created 1796 10 1838 fames Whitelaw maps of Vermont; che 1854 10 while studying town. county, and state histories. trade journals. 1859 Scott, Rice, McClellan. Walling. etc .. county maps; and and maps. Frequent rrips were made to the University of Vennont the 1869 to 1878 F. W. Beers county aliases. The Whitelaw (UVM) Special Collections Library and the Ve.-mont Historical maps used a Mars symbol o (which in alchemy stood for iron) Society (VHS) Library. with che purchase of many new and used to indicate iron•making sites without differentiating between books on loc,aJ history in the process. forges or blast furnaces. The county maps identify bloomeries Trade journals and repons that provided 19th•century oper.tting and rurnaces by owner or company name. Additionally, they and production fi gures and descriptions for forges and foundries display foundries, machine shops, mines and ore beds . race­ throughout che United Scaces were of immense value. Many of ways, dams. and buildings on village. cown. and county scale. these arc found only outside Vcnnont. Also used were I9 th­ Maps wi1h irooworks information were compared. site by site, ceotury county and town histories plus currently publi~hed and directly to each other and to county, tow,1, and state histories reprinted histories, publications of historical societies and and gazetteers. ironworks reporcs, and iron\v0rks-related arti­ museums. business direccories, and U.S. Census 1-epons. Much cles. \Vith this infom1ation. the sites were located as closely ambiguity in the historical descriptions of ironworks was as possible on current USGS copographic maps and the effort encountered. then shifted ouc of che house and library and into the fiel d. One of the more intriguing items was a shore article published Ac fi rs, chought, the search for an 18th· or I9 th-century stone by the VHS in 1953 by Stace Geologist Elbridge Jacobs on che blast furnace does not seem so difficult that it requires a subject of ironworks. in which he claimed the following loca­ technique. In terms of irs massive size, a blast rurnace is about tions and dates of blast furnaces in Vermont: the height of a two- or three-story structure. Blast funrnces were usually made of large stone blocks, were surrounded by Tinmouth 1783 Sheldon 1798 Dorset 1831 other stnictures and waterpowered devices, and thus should be Bennington 1786 Vergennes 1799 Fairfi eld 1831 in the midst of an acre or so of stone foundations. And some Pittsford 1791 Swanton 1799 Tyson 1837 standing blast furnaces were quickly located in the fie ld. But Fair Haven 1797 Porest Dale 1810 Bennington 1853 a collapsed furnace today resembles no more than a low. brush­ rvtanche.~ter Pittsford 1859 Chit1ende11 1797 1821 covered mound. It c.an be as deceptively difficult to locate as Blast fumaces were buiJt at many of these locations~ forges a fully standing 30- to 40-foot-high stack in the hea"ily fo liated 71 200 Years of Soot ancl Sweat Vermom councryside. The loc:ation of the few obvious blast second by following the slag indic.ations upstream until none furnaces. such as Benningco1l and East Dorset. were made rlght is found. Since slag and everything else washes downstream, from the cruck window. The more difficult ruins resulted in note the increased number of slag finds in the strcambed as the many hours, a nd sometimes many weekends, of hiking through inspection proceeds upstream. A mal'ked drop in slag fin ds brush and wading in sire.ams. signals the lime to search fo r the site itself. But this technique An e.le.ctronic metal detector was tl'ied with no satisfactory is not always foolproof: bits o f slag were tracked a q uarte r-mile result. Iron-making and il'onworking sites have become recip­ up the Konkapot Rive(. dght past 1he actual forge site at New ients of all manner or discarded machinery . some from later \\•larlboro. Massachusetts. to the back fill of a stream-side industries at the same site. some from trash d umped i11to water­ cemelery. 1n this c.ase . the slag existed both ups1ream and wheel pits, c.cllar holes, and abandoned waterways (Oumcs. downstream of the forge site. c.:mals, and raceways). Se.arching fo r ironworks by inspecting Since early blast furnaces and bloomcry fo rges depended on the gene.ral area with a de tector took time better spent looking waterpowe.r to produce lhe necessary draft , the.y located for more accurate surface clues. One. a lternative to electronic alo ngside dependably flowing streams, usually next to a major metal detectors is dowsing. It was not tried but is claimed to falls or rapids. With abandonment of the operations. most of have been used with some succe.ss around the world to find 1he remaining artifacts worked their way into these stre.ams and such things as buried pipes and cables. so why not a fo rge site were washed farthe r downstream by yearly cycles of spring (Hume 1969:36-39)'! freshe ts augmented by ice movement, The streambeds in the The most obvious anifact at a n iro11-making site. is 1he srnnd­ vicinity of mills, therefore, became the depository o f all manner ing or nearly sta nding blast furnace ruin. T he less obvious is of industrial a11ifacts (and contemporary domestic trash). In­ slag . that ubiquitous wasle by-product of the iron indusU)'. But spec tion o f suspect streambeds for artifacts is therefo re an es­ slag can be a misleading anifact. Good blast furnace slag is sential part of asearc h fo r and inspection of the industria l site. usually multicolored with a glassy surface. It will shanereasily The besc time to inspect the stream is late summer. prcfcmbly if stnick. and its slivers will injure. unprotected eye.s. hands. during an extended rainless period when water Jevel a nd turbid­ and feel. The slag can be shades of blue. green , black. a nd ity are low. A clear, sunny day is necessary to see the stream gray, Some slag will betray its fonner molten state through bottom clearly . strolling knee-deep into the stream, W0l'king ripple marks on the surface or holes left by gas bubbles.