Iron Furnace: In Colorado?

Hi there - interesting historical project.  I was intrigued and opened the second image in a new tab.  I copied the URL and opened a new tab and loaded Google.  Go to the image search and paste the URL and write a brief description. "Iron Furnaces in Colorado."  You will see quite a few.

The most important link I found was from the Fort Hays State University foundation which annually hosts "The Western Cast Iron Art Conference."  My guess is they have some very knowledgeable staff.

I have added their link here:

http://foundation.fhsu.edu/pre...e/ironconference.php

Good luck

I tried that title, but came up with the same furnaces around the east as when I just

typed in "iron furnace", but will make another run at it.  Hays City Kansas sounds like

an odd place for even what they are doing, iron sculpture, an extension of blacksmithing, and an artistic endeavor. 

Colorado Springs:

Cokedale Colorado:

Yay!! Is that iron furnace, which looks like a twin for all of those in the east, in or

near Colorado Springs, no kidding?  It looks like cottonwoods or aspen around it.  Where is it, exactly?  I want to see that.  I have driven a lot on a number of trips all

around C. Springs and never seen or heard of that.  Cripple Creek/Victor area?  I have heard about Cokedale, west of Trinidad, for years but have not been there, but have seen and photographed the beehive ovens near Carbondale, at the turnoff for Marble.

I was born in Trinidad and spent a lot of my youth around there.  Steel was big . . . dirty, but big. 

Posted by Colorado hirailer:

Is that iron furnace, which looks like a twin for all of those in the east, in or

near Colorado Springs

It was identified in the search as being in Colorado Springs.  I personally cannot verify that.  Take the image and google it and add the description - "Colorado Springs".  When you find the picture you will be able to click on its source and that will have information about its location. 

Wood:  That photo is identified on the web as being of the Vesuvius Iron Furnace

somewhere near Willow Wood, Ohio, which is near Ironton, Ohio, terminus of Henry

Ford's DT&I railroad.  This explains why it so much resembles my posted photo of

the Hope Iron Furnace not too far from there SE of Zanesville, Ohio.  Both of these

were in a group of 69 furnaces that extended from southern Ohio down into Kentucky,

and made the region the world's largest iron producer in the 1800's.  However, it is

not near Colorado Springs or the Front Range of Colorado. Since railroads took a while

after the 1869 Golden Spike to reach Colorado, horeshoes and nails, and all other

iron products would have been in demand, and iron deposits, if any, would seem to have been exploited by local Colorado producers.  The search goes on...

So, except for the coke ovens and the mega Pueblo installation you are still without an iron furnace in Colorado.  Perhaps by the time the west was populated the technology allowed locations like Pueblo and thus the old iron furnaces were too minimal. (???)

I do like the new image feature of search engines, however, not always accurate in their results.  Those people at Hays may be able to help you better then we armchair computer explorers....

Well, an extensive web search turned up a Mormon furnace built at Cedar City, Utah

in 1857, and in 1864 a man by the name of Marshall built a furnace on Boulder Creek SE of present day Boulder, Colo., which is getting warm.  This verifies my thinking

that there had to be some in the Rockies; the Utah one that early surprises me.

(you really have to watch what you post on the web...some of my postings on some

subjects turned up elsewhere, not on this site, in my search)