Juniata Iron: The Charcoal Furnace Country
Pennsylvania
The streams threading through this valley once powered an iron industry that supplied some of the highest-quality metal in the young United States. Between seventeen ninety and eighteen fifty, ironmasters built a string of charcoal-fired furnaces and forges along these waterways, tapping the forest for fuel and the ore beds beneath the hills. The product, known across the trade as Juniata Iron, was prized for its purity and strength.
Springfield Furnace nearby ran from eighteen twenty all the way to eighteen eighty-four. Eleven other furnaces operated in Morrison Cove alone. The Royer Mansion, built here in eighteen fifteen, was the home of ironmaster Samuel Royer and stands as a reminder of the wealth this industry generated.
The reign of Juniata Iron ended when coal and coke furnaces elsewhere proved faster and cheaper. Today the ruins of furnace stacks dot the wooded hillsides, stone monuments to an industry that helped forge a nation.
