Alabama Blast Furnaces

Pioneer Era - 1815-1861

PIONEER ERA 1815-1861 I N 1815-four years before Alabama was admitted to the Union-the first blast furnace was erected in the state. So closely integrated with community life was this and other blast furnaces built during this pioneer era of Alabama's iron industry, that any chronicle of these iron makers must be set against the frontier background of this early period in the state's history. In 1815, and for many years thereafter, North Alabama was a frontier where life was crude and extremely simple. Much of this section of the state was then a wilderness. Cherokee, Chickasaw and Creek Indians still roamed the forests. Such settlements as had come into existence were largely along navigable rivers. These were self-contained communities in most of which were found a blacksmith shop, a tanyard and a general store. Transportation was largely by river, despite floods and drought. Such roads as existed were impassable during much of the year to all but the man on horseback. Steamboats plied upstream to bring the products of civilization and returned downstream with raw materials from the frontier. As early as 1824 they carried cargoes up the Tennessee river to the shoals at Florence. An interesting sidelight on the price of importations from New Orleans is furnished by this price list of commodities, published in the "Enquirer" of Tuscumbia in 1824: Flour $8.00 bbl. Salt __ 1.50 bu. Whiskey .40 gal. Sugar. .15 lb. Coffee .40 lb. Iron .10 lb. Steel -------__________________________________________________________________________ .31 lb. -·Q+~115 15+0 . - ALABAMA BLAST FURNACES Also interesting as an index of the population characteristics of the period is the census of Tuscumbia in 1827 which listed: White males over 21 White males under 21 White females over 21 White females under 21 Blacks . . . . . . --------------------------.----------------365 185 184 183 403 1320 From 1815 to 1861, life ran on in Alabama like a slow moving stream. Settlements expanded, population grew, scattered industries came into existence, virgin forests gave way to farms. But on the whole, this entire period brought little basic change to the pattern of life in Alabama or the status of the state's iron industry. Like the life in Alabama, blast furnaces of this early era were very simple in design. All had certain similarities of construction. Most of these early isolated operations had forges. Here the cold blast charcoal iron was beaten into plow points, fire dogs and other domestic implements. If the plant was far enough removed from other settlements, a sawmill and grist mill were usually built. One such early plant boasted a machine shop "capable of executing the finest workmanship ." As a rule, however, the ingenious blacksmith was more than capable of making and maintaining the simple machinery of the furnace. These early blast furnaces were owned either by individuals or partnerships, rarely by a stock company. Despite this individuality of ownership, Alabama never had a "mansion furnace," so common in Virginia , where the furnace was usually operated in conjuction with a plantation; in Alabama the furnace was the main object. A furnace 30 feet high with a 6 foot diameter bosh was capable of producing from three to eight tons of pig iron a day, depending largely on the grade of ore. If the owner was not an iron-master, he hired an operator who was paid according to the tonnage of iron produced. These early iron manufacturers had no knowledge of chemistry, no analysis of the ore or charcoal; they depended on some ancient formula which they altered to suit local conditions. The iron-master stood on the top of his little stone stack amid the pulsating billows of smoke and sparks and gauged by eye the amounts of ore, fuel and limestone required. At casting time he stood in the high arch covering the iron notch and directed the cast. From the forehearth the iron was tapped into small sand beds or, if hollowware was being cast, the iron was ladled _.o~ 16 ~+o._ PIONEER ERA directly into the molds. When a sufficient quantity of domestic and agricultural implements had been cast, they were hauled by wagon throughout the surrounding country and sold or bartered to the farmers and small store owners. Quite often these wares were rafted down some river to larger towns. Most of the pig iron was shipped to small foundries, forges, gin manufacturers and other small users of iron...