Contact Us

Though what remains of the Iron Furnaces are 

in a variety of public and private ownerships, 

more information on the topic and on the 

Wayne National Forest is available from the 

Ironton District Office. Office hours are 

8 - 4:30 Monday through Friday. 

Ironton Ranger District

6518 State Route 93

Pedro, OH 45659

Phone: 740-534-6500

Federal relay system for the deaf and hearing 

impaired: 1-800-877-8339

website: www.fs.usda.gov/wayne

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/waynenationalforest 

Furnaces on Wayne National Forest:

Cambria Furnace

Center Furnace - No stack exists

Etna Furnace

Pioneer Furnace

Vesuvius Furnace

Furnaces on Private Land:

Buckhorn Furnace

Lagrange Furnace

Oak Ridge Furnace

Olive Furnace

Washington Furnace

______________________________ \x

USDA is an equal opportunity provider 

and employer.

Iron Furnaces

The Vesuvius Iron Furnace (abandoned stack 

above) was one of 46 charcoal iron furnaces 

located in the six county Hanging Rock Iron 

Region of southern Ohio. The furnaces produced 

iron from 1818 to 1916. By 1875, southeastern 

Ohio led the nation in iron production. Civil War 

armaments, pots, kettles, wagon wheels, and 

other tools were made of iron from this region. 

The hulls for both the Monitor and Merrimac 

were fired from ore mined in this region. 

Hanging Rock iron was noted for its rust and 

corrosion- resistant characteristics. A furnace 

would produce 8 to 12 tons of iron each day in 

the form of pig iron. Pig iron was then sold to 

manufacturers of other iron products. 

Early predictions had boasted the iron ore in the 

Hanging Rock region would produce iron for 

2,700 years. But shortly after the Civil War, the 

Hanging Rock seams were depleted and by the 

1900’s, most of the Hanging Rock furnaces had 

ceased operation. 

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Links for more general information on Furnaces:

http://www.oldindustry.org/OH_HTML/OhioIron.html

http://www.oldeforester.com/ironintr.htm

http://www.irontonfurnaces.com/

Iron Furnaces

 in the

Wayne National Forest

Area

Forest

Service

FS-R9-028

05/2015
History of Hanging Rock Iron Region -

The historic Hanging Rock Iron Region was approximately 100 miles long and 28 miles wide 

or 1,000 square miles stretching across a good 

portion of Ohio and extending into Kentucky 

and West Virginia. There were 46 charcoal iron 

furnaces built in Ohio, most between 1818 and 

1873. For nearly a century, the region produced 

the finest quality iron in the United States. 

In the early years, oxen hauled the iron by wagon 

from the furnaces to the shipping point. It took as 

many as 50 yoke of oxen to move the iron to the 

docks. Once loaded on river boats, the iron was 

taken to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. 

It was said that during the War, the demand for 

iron and its ingredients like charcoal became so 

great that many iron masters would have the charcoal loaded before it had cooled, and occasionally 

the hot coals would set the wagons on fire on the 

way to the furnaces. 

In 1849, at the cost of $500,000, some of the iron 

furnace masters incorporated a railway system to 

link their furnaces to the Ohio River. It was the 

earliest railroad in the region. Known as the Iron 

Railroad, it began operating in 1851, servicing the 

furnaces along its 13-mile stretch from Ironton 

to Center Furnace. The town of Ironton sprang up 

around its southern terminus on the Ohio River. 

The railway system was later known as the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton and was owned by Henry 

Ford from 1900-1929 who bought it to connect his 

industrial ventures with the Ohio River.

How were the furnaces used?

Viewed today, it’s difficult to imagine that the 

furnace stacks were once only a small part of an 

elaborate industrial complex. The picture from 

Hecla Furnace (above) shows how the furnace was 

part of a community. Workers were housed on site 

in “company towns” that sprawled around the furnaces. The workers were normally paid in “scrip,” 

(shown below) which was money printed by each 

A photo of the Hecla furnace operation, the furnace stack is just left of center.

furnace and redeemable only at 

the Company Store. This kept the 

workers tied to the site since the 

scrip they earned had limited use.

To fuel the furnaces, the forests 

were repeatedly cut, and the 

wood converted to charcoal. 

Each ton of iron required 190 

bushels of charcoal, three tons of 

iron ore, and 300 pounds of limestone. The three ingredients were 

poured in the top of the furnace 

and then the charcoal was ignited. Air was blown (hence blast 

furnace) into the firepot through 

openings called tuyeres on two 

sides of the furnace just below the widest part (top) 

of the firepot. The two smaller inverted “Vs” were 

to allow steam out, cooler air in, and provide access 

to the firepot and tuyeres. 

Once heated to the proper temperature the iron ore 

and limestone melted. Impurities in the mixture 

floated to the top and formed a glassy waste product

called slag. The larger inverted V-shaped opening 

was where the molten iron ran out into the hearth, 

past the dam stone and then into the sow and on to 

the pig iron molds. The central trench was called 

the sow, the side trenches, pig molds. The names 

came from the similarity of appearance to piglets 

nursing on each side of a sow pig. After the iron ran 

out, the slag was drained and sent through a trench 

on the other side of the casting house. The molten 

iron then cooled and solidified. 

As the quality of iron seams declined and the costs 

of production went up as the circle of denuded land 

required ever further hauls of wood for charcoal, 

the last furnace closed in 1916. Between 1900 and 

1930, census records show a 40 percent drop in the 

area’s population. 

Detroit, Toledo and Ironton train ca. 1926. 

Henry Ford is third from left. 

Photo courtesy of Lawrence Co. Historical Society

Photo courtesy of Lawrence Co. Historical Society
Furnaces on Wayne NF Land

Kentucky West

Virginia

Lawrence

County

Gallia

County

Jackson

County

Scioto

County

Sciotodale

South

Webster

Rubyville

Mercerville

Getaway

Blackfork

Eden

Park

Deering

Arabia

Rio

Grande

Cadmus

Scottown

Rock

Camp

Rodney

Crown

City

Slocum

Scioto

Furnace

Millersport Ironton

Lecta

Huntington

Patriot

Athalia

Chesapeake

Muletown

Andis

South

Point

Waterloo

Ashland

Sybene

Evergreen

Aid

Haverhill

Wilgus

Clarktown

Pedro

Gallia

Minford

Franklin

Furnace

Kitts

Hill

Powellsville

Linnville

Wheelersburg

Proctorville

Cambria

Furnace

Scioto

Furnace Bloom

Furnace

Oak Ridge

Furnace

Washington

Furnace

Pioneer

Furnace

Olive

Furnace

Buckhorn

Furnace

Empire

Furnace

Center

Furnace

Mt. Vernon

Furnace

Lawrence

Furnace

Etna

Furnace Pine Grove

Furnace

Union

Furnace La Grange

Furnace

Grant

Furnace

Hecla

Furnace

Vesuvius

Furnace

Monitor

Furnace

0 2.5 5 10 Miles

Charcoal Fueled

Coal Fueled

Extinct Furnace

Wayne National Forest

Map of

Iron Furnaces

Source Information for Iron Furnaces from Amos Hawkins.

Photo courtesy of Lawrence Co. Historical Society

Vesuvius Furnace From the Amos Hawkins Collection

The Vesuvius Furnace was built in 1833 and named 

for an Italian volcano. It became the first hot 

blast furnace in the region in 1837 and produced 

10 tons of iron daily. Vesuvius “blew out” or 

closed in 1905. Only the rock chimney and a 

wall, built without benefit of mortar, remains. 

The company town of Vesuvius, now gone, was 

The Vesuvius Furnace 

stack in 1920 (below) with 

the abandoned rail line.

Drawing of the 

front view of 

Vesuvius 

Furnace in 

operation.

located several miles west of the Furnace. 

The Furnace is now part of the Vesuvius Recreation Area and is on the National Register of 

Historic Places. Recognizing its historic value, 

a roof was added to the rock furnace in 1991 

to protect the massive stonework and firebrick 

from further water damage. Vesuvius Furnace, 2007 (above)

Cambria Furnace

The Cambria Furnace is difficult to find 

or visit. It was built in 1854 and produced 12 tons of iron per day. 

The owners of this furnace were sixty 

Welsh stockholders. They financially 

suffered in the Panic of 1857 and did not 

capitalize on the Civil War, when iron 

prices soared. The furnace closed in 

1878. The furnace stack, shown at left, 

is in poor condition. 

If you visit...

These furnaces are historic sites and are protected by law. They are 

unstable and fragile. DO NOT CLIMB on the rocks. It is also illegal 

to remove any artifacts, slag, or other by-products from the sites. 

The furnaces are treasures from the past. Help us protect them. Our 

vision is to someday have an auto tour of the sites and further interpret these fascinating resources. Keep in mind that you may not 

visit the furnaces on private land without permission. They are 

included here only as points of interest to view from the road. 
Etna Furnace

Etna Furnace (aka Aetna Furnace) was built in 1832. 

The Etna Iron Works owned several furnaces, including Vesuvius, Big Etna in Ironton, Alice, Blance, and 

this site. The company reportedly owned approximately 16,000 acres of land around the Etna and Vesuvius 

furnaces. However, the Etna Iron Works suffered 

a series of financial setbacks in 1878 that probably 

resulted in the shutdown of the “Little Etna” facility. 

The Etna Furnace produced 16 tons of iron a day until 

it closed in 1887. 

The ruins of the Etna 

Furnace stack (right) are in 

poor condition. The Etna 

Furnace Church House 

(below right) is still in use. 

Hauling charcoal to the furnace. 

Photo courtesy of Lawrence Co. Historical 

Society

Pioneer 

Furnace

The Pioneer Iron 

Furnace (right and 

below) was built 

in 1856 and began 

operation the next 

year. It was acquired by the US 

Forest Service in 

2007. 

The Pioneer Furnace was the first 

in the region to use 

coal to manufacture 

pig iron. It produced 

12 tons of iron daily 

and operated until 

the late 1870s. 

Center Furnace

The Center Furnace is now only an archaeological site. No 

stack or stone remain but other evidence of the old site have 

been found. The site has been determined eligible for the 

National Register of Historic Places. 

The Center Furnace was built in 1836 and produced 16 tons 

of iron per day. Nannie Kelly Wright (wife of the late Lindsey Kelly) bought Center Furnace in 1898, and assumed 

managerial duties in 1903. It is believed that Nannie Kelly Wright 

was one of the wealthiest women of her day and is noted as having been the only woman Iron Furnace Master in America. 

Center Furnace was also at the northern end of the Iron Railroad, 

a legacy of John Campbell (a known abolitionist and founding 

father of Ironton). As the iron furnace industry began to decline, 

the surrounding area that provided raw materials for Center Furnace became increasingly utilized for its limestone. Eventually the demand for 

cement was greater than that of iron. The town that once revolved around iron 

became a prospering cement industry; thus evolving into the village of Superior which produced cement until the 1970’s.

Center Furnace still standing. Photo above and 

below courtesy of Lawrence Co. Historical Society

Nannie Kelly Wright with her car. 

Photo courtesy of Lawrence Co. Historical Society

Workers at the limestone 

quarry in Superior, 1915