Connecticut western news., 1899-07-13
"Reminiscences of the Hurt Forge.
 Continued

"Reminiscences of the Burt Forge. Continued
 Iu my last letter the pudding furnace was built and ready for use. In Octo Der 1S44 1t was started; O. Huntington bookkeeper, Roswell day, foreman; Jos eph Bates and Beecher Toles, puddlers Andees Briggs, and myself, puddler's helpers; Abram Day, hammersman; E. D. Lawrence and Josiah Shook, heaters. With other minor help the furnace started. The pig iron used was made by Beckley and Peirce at the old Adam furnace.
 The iron was made for the Collins Axe Go. of Hartford, the works at Collinsville. At that time the output of their works was 1900 finished axes per day. Their plant was in its infancy comparatively at that time. Huntington & Day had contracted with the Collins Co. to de- liver specified amount of iron each month for one year. the price one hun dred dollars per ton-s fabulous price as compared with prices today. The furnace was 8 success from the start. The iron made was of a superior quality and was entirely satisfactory to the Collins O. At the close of the year they made a contract to deliver two hundred tons in the coming year, which they filled beside making iron for other uses. Charcoal WAS used for relocating the iron which improved the quality and gave employment to number of hands in cutting the wood, burning the coal and hauling it to the forge. The charcoal was made on Canaan mountain also in Norfolk and New Marlboro. In the summer of 1845 the forge took fire in the night and burned, entailing a heavy loss for them. It did not burn the wheels, but burned the blowing works, yet did not iniure the furnace to any extent. They immediately commenc- ed to rebuild tho forge and in q remarks- ply short time were in operation, not waiting to complete the building. but filled their contract with the Collins Go. They completed the building and put in the third hammer and wheel. In the fall they made some changes in the help. dischArging the two puddlers on account of bad habits Abram Day took the place of one of the puddlers, with A Briggs for helper. I took the place of the other. with B. Jsqua for helper; H 8. Ball and Royal Hubbel as ham. mersmen; E. D. Lawrence and Josiah Shook, heaters; the other help remain ing the same.
 In the fall of 1846 they made change in the help. B. Jaqua taking Abra no Days place at the furnace with Martin Jaqua as helper: George Richards talk ing B. Jaqua's place as my helper; John Hubbsll taking Shocks place ss heater. This work required skilled workmen. About this time the company purchased Q wood lot on Canaan mountain and cut it off for pudding wood. They pur- chased horse power and attached 8 cross-cut saw to the power by crank, out and hauled the timber to the power and sawed it into 3i feet lengths, snd split and hauled it to the forge for seas- oning. It was large hemlock timber and made fine wood. They also purchased of Abiiah Watson a wood lot adjoining the Holt farm. which they cut for pudding wood. The output from the furnace was about 5000 pounds of finished iron per day, requiring from three to four cords of wood to make it and 150 bush els of charcoal to reheat it. The fur mace was operated day and night with two sets of hands, one set making five beats, which required eight or nine hours. The second set then took the furnace, making five heats in about the same time, not stopping the furnace or hammers until the six days for each set of hands WAS finished, which was com pleted at or before noon on Friday, giv- ing the workmen a rest until the fol- lowing Monday.
 In 1S47 E. Grove Lawrence and Abram Day built forge and pudding furnace in West Norfolk, Day leaving the Burt forge also Shook and Briggs.
 In my next letter I will describe an other industry that helped to make the place busy one and added to the num- Der of inhabitants. and perhaps finish with the history of the forge.
 THOMAS RICHARDS.
 174 Summit Ave, Jersey City, N J.. July 3, 1899.