Clarksville Iron Furnace facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Clarksville Iron Furnace
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 Location in Tennessee
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Erwin, Tennessee |
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| Area | 8 acres (3.2 ha) |
| Built | 1833 |
| NRHP reference No. | 73001852 |
| Added to NRHP | June 4, 1973 |
The Clarksville Iron Furnace was a special kind of factory that made iron. It was built in 1833 in Unicoi County, Tennessee. This furnace worked for about 11 years, until 1844. Today, you can still see its old ruins in the Cherokee National Forest. It's even listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's an important historical site.
Contents
What Was the Clarksville Iron Furnace?
An iron furnace is like a giant oven used to melt iron ore. This process turns the ore into useful iron. The Clarksville Iron Furnace used a method called charcoal iron production. This means it used charcoal, made from wood, as its fuel.
The furnace was built to make iron for different uses. This included making nails and wrought iron. Wrought iron is a type of iron that can be shaped easily. The furnace also made castings, which are metal objects made by pouring melted iron into molds.
Building the Furnace
The Clarksville Iron Furnace was built in 1833. It was a project by a company called Edward West & Co. This company was started by Edward West, Elijah Embree, and Montgomery Stuart.
Elijah Embree owned a place called Bumpass Cove. This area had lots of iron ore, which is the rock that contains iron. The furnace needed this ore to make iron.
Why This Location?
The furnace was built near Clark's Creek. This was a smart choice because the creek provided water power. Water power is energy from moving water. It was used to run a big waterwheel. This waterwheel then powered a bellows. A bellows is like a giant fan that blows air into the furnace. This makes the fire hotter.
Bumpass Cove, where the ore came from, did not have enough water power. So, a road was built to carry the iron ore. This road was about 2.5 miles long. It went over a mountain ridge to bring the ore from Bumpass Cove to the furnace.
How the Furnace Worked
The furnace started making iron in 1833 or 1834. It was quite successful at first. The iron it made was used in Embree's other iron works in Embreeville, Tennessee. There, it was turned into nails and wrought iron.
Some of the iron was sold to people nearby. Other iron was shipped out of the area. It was loaded onto river flatboats and sent to other towns.
Why the Furnace Closed Down
After a few years, the business partners started to have disagreements. In 1837, Edward West sold his part of the company. Later, in 1841, West and Stuart even filed a lawsuit against Embree.
The furnace stopped working suddenly in 1844. This happened because of a problem with the millrace. A millrace is a channel that carries water to a waterwheel. The millrace broke, and water spilled onto the furnace site. This caused a flood.
The flood put out the fire in the furnace. It also cooled down the hot iron that was being melted. To start the furnace again, they would have needed to take it apart and rebuild it. The owners decided it was too much work and chose to abandon the furnace instead.
Visiting the Ruins Today
The ruins of the Clarksville Iron Furnace are still there. They are part of the Cherokee National Forest. If you want to see them, the best time to visit is in the winter. During winter, the trees and bushes lose their leaves. This makes it much easier to see the old furnace structures.
