ALICE

Lawrence County, Ohio
Built: 1875
By: ETNA IRON WORKS

     Alice Furnace was named for the daughter of George Willard. Blanche Furnace was named for Blanche McGovney. In the Spring of 1873, the company erected on the river bank, just above the city of Ironton, two hot blast coke furnaces, the "Alice" and the "Blanche." These furnaces are what is known as the Ferrie Patent Self-coking Furnace. The number of fire brick used in their construction was one million five hundred thousand, and of red brick, three million. Each of these furnaces has a capacity of 75 tons of iron per day, when confined to the ores of the Hanging Rock district; but if they were fed with the Lake Superior or Iron Mountain ore, they would each turn out 100 tons each day. They are among the very largest establishments of the kind in the United States.

Ironton Register, February 28, 1878 - Etna's Alice is cold. Between the financial embarrassment of the Etna Company and the proposed reduction in the tariff, the prospects for an early resumption of iron making in that quarter is anything but encouraging. Ironton Register, February 28, 1878 - The Alice has made over 30,000 tons pig, on present hearth - 20,000 tons being made after it had been supposed the hearth was practically gone, and in fact, after the iron had been breaking out through the walls. Ironton Register, October 27, 1887 - Cam Peters fell about 30 feet, from a scaffold at Alice Furnace, yesterday. No bones broken, but he is laid up.

BLANCHE

Lawrence County, Ohio
Built: 1875
By: ETNA IRON WORKS

Blanche Furnace was named for Blanche McGovney who later married Charles S. Gray, son of Col. George Noah Gray.

BELFONT

Lawrence County, Ohio
Built: 1867
By: BELFONT IRON WORKS

Ironton Register, February 28, 1878 - The Belfont Furnace made last week, 325 tons pig, and did it on 49.8 bushels fuel per ton of pig, using but one-fourth Iron Mountain ore. Where is the furnace that can show a smaller quantity of fuel per ton of pig? The average for several weeks will not exceed 52 bushels. They received on last Monday, 100,000 bushels of coke.

Ironton Register, October 1, 1885 - Fire was started in Belfont stack, last Tuesday, for the purpose of drying it out. The stack has been entirely overhauled - new hearth, inwall and lining complete. The hearth and top have been reduced a little but the bosh remains the same. The furnace is now supposed to be in better fix than ever before. It has also a new bell. The furnace will probably start this Fall sometime. The company have about 18,000 tons of ore at their mines, which they will work up, if business gets so they can do it. They have no coke as yet.

Ironton Register, November 19, 1885 - Belfont furnace blew in on Monday and made her first cast Tuesday morning - ten or twelve tons of No. 2. Mr. Rodgers says she is working well.

Ironton Register, November 26, 1885 - (Iron News) - Belfont furnace is running along nicely, making about 50 tons a day.

Ironton Register, January 14, 1886 - Belfont Furnace is now running on 30 per cent of Missouri Ore.

BELFONT NAIL MILL

By: Norton Brothers

Ironton Register, February 28, 1878 - The Belfont shut down Saturday, for probably two weeks. The factory will run but two weeks between this and April 1st; this under the combination regulations. They have an ample stock, however, of nails, to meet any order.

Ironton Register, April 4, 1878 - The Belfont nail mill is in full operation now. By the arrangement agreed upon at the Nail Manufacturer's meeting, at Pittsburgh, last week, there are only two weeks' run this month.

BUCKHORN

Lawrence County, Ohio
Built: 1833
By: JAMES & FINDLEY (or James V. Fraley??)
Daily Ton: 15
Stack: 32 Feet
Blast: Hot
Charcoal

From 1840-1843 (2 ½ years) John Peters, Sr., along with J. O. Willard, leased Buckhorn Furnace. John Peters, Sr., was the manager.

Ironton Register, July 13, 1899 - The Buckhorn Furnace, the property of McGugin & Co., Olive Furnace Post Office, Ohio, will probably be started in the near future. It is some time since the stack was operated. It is 38x10 and has a capacity of 8,000 tons annually. The Olive Furnace of the same firm is in operation and will run regularly. American Manufacturer.

CENTRE also spelled Center

Lawrence County, Ohio
Built: 1836
By: WM. CARPENTER & OTHERS

Daily Ton: 16
Stack: 40 Feet
Blast:
Charcoal

William D. Kelly leased Centre Furnace from 1862-1867 and made money. Another article stated that he bought Centre Furnace in 1862. (need to verify)

Ironton Register, July 30, 1885 - (Country Notes) - Center is quiet. There are only a few families living on the furnace grounds. The men are working on the farm.
      Richard Dovel is growing into a farmer. He stirs late and early. He is now in the midst of his hay and oat harvest.
     Lindsey Kelly spends part of his time out here, mostly at the station, where the company is having some ore mined. They get about a thousand tons a month. They ship now seven cars of burnt ore a day to Etna Iron Works. J. R. Cook weighs the ore at the station, and assists Mr. Kelly in the management of the work.
     W. D. Corn says he has a good school at Centre. His brother Ed is here attending school. W. D. makes things go. He puts Ed and some of the boys through some extra lessons before school in the morning and after dismissal in the evening. There is not a more energetic, indefatigable, or thorough teacher in Lawrence county than W. D. Corn.
     We met W. B. G. Hatcher at Center. He is making a survey of the Centre lands, for the purpose of making a topographical map of the same. He has quite a good deal of work yet to do in the field - four or six weeks - before he is ready for work on his map. Thomas Harris, brother of Dave and Al., is assisting Mr. Hatcher, and receiving instruction in practical surveying.

Ironton Register, August 17, 1899 - CENTER FURNACE - After a long period of silence this furnace is to resume blast, and preparations have been already begun. Mrs. Lindsey Kelly has leased the property to a company composed of W. C. Amos, H. L. Amos, L. D. Davis, Dr. O. Ellison, Dr. H. B. Justice and Wm. Laird, which company is incorporated with a capital stock of $25,000. Of this concern H. L. Amos will be President and Superintendent and L. D. Davis, Secretary and Treasurer. The lease is for one year with the privilege of five, and the rental is one ton of pig iron for every 15 tons produced.
     Mrs. Kelly bought in this property at a trustee's sale in June, 1898, paying therefore $19,700. It will take the lessees until December to get things ready for a blast, but this delay will be occasioned by the slow process of charcoal production. The furnace itself can be got ready for running in a short time. The store will be opened right away. We are informed that some prominent iron men are back of the enterprise.

ETNA

Lawrence County, Ohio
Built: 1832
By: JAMES RODGERS & OTHERS

In 1820 Joseph and Kitty Dollarhide Kelly moved their family to this area where Etna Furnace was later built. In 1832 Joseph Kelly sold this land to James Rodgers and others and built Etna Furnace. Joseph Kelly going into the company.

William Dollarhide Kelly, son of Joseph and Kitty Kelly, began his career as an Iron Man when he became a member of the firm of Dempsey, Rodgers & Co., proprietors of Etna Furnace in 1844.

Ironton Register, March 1, 1877 - (East End Items) - Thomas G. Scott died at his residence, near Etna furnace, last Saturday morning. The funeral services were conducted by the Congregational Church on Monday, from which the remains were attended to Woodland by one of the largest processions we have seen pass out of Ironton. Mr. Scott has been associated with the iron interests nearly all his life, and outside his large circle of relatives his loss will be felt to its greatest extent at the Etna, where he has managed the past year with remarkable success. (Same Date) - Elwood Hussey's school closed at Etna, on last Friday. (Same Date) - Mr. Burt, an experienced furnaceman from Milwaukee, takes charge of the Etna Furnace. (Same Date) A barge with sixty tons of iron which was dropped down to town from Etna, was sunk just below the furnace, one day last week.

BIG ETNA

Lawrence County, Ohio
Built: 1872
By:
Ironton Register, November 4, 1886 - Burned Down - The Etna house near Alice Furnace was destroyed by fire last Friday night, at about ten o'clock. The fire caught from a stove. There were seven families living in the house, but they managed to get out all their property. The blaze made by the fire was terrific. It reddened the entire southern sky. The Etna house was built when Big Etna Furnace was erected, and was used as a boarding house at first, and afterward as a tenement house. It was insured for $3,000. It is the purpose of the company to put up some smaller houses to accommodate their employees.

Ironton Register, December 6, 1888 - BIG ETNA - BLANCHE STACK IN BLAST, AND OTHER NOTES. - When the mammoth furnace of the Etna Iron Works at the upper end of town, was erected in 1872, only one of the twin stacks was completed. The Alice stacks was finished, but Blanche was left un-lined, and incomplete - a mere iron tube of ponderous size, with the bridge constructed at the top, and the connections, &c., arranged for.
     Blanche has now been lined, and workmen are filling the new furnace with stock preparatory to putting on the blast today or tomorrow. The work of lining has been going on for months. It has cost about $23,000, including all necessary changes and additions, and over 400,000 brick, including red and fire brick, have been used. Meanwhile, Alice has been blown out and the engines and Whitwell ovens used for that furnace have been connected with Blanche. These changes were practically made some weeks ago, but the starting of the furnace was delayed by the river water rising in the well hole, so it was not possible to reach the pumps until last week.
     Mr. Pleumer, the President of the Company, whom the REGISTER has interviewed on the subject, says he hopes to make 100 tons of iron a day in the new stack, when she gets fairly started. Alice, with the same outer dimensions as Blanche, made on an average about 74 or 5 tons in the last year of her run, but Blanche is new throughout and has been lined after the most approved pattern, hence the expected large increase. The most iron Alice ever made was a very exceptional day's run, several years ago, of 104 tons of mill iron.
     Mr. Pleumer said also, that it is possible in the coming year, that the other stack will be blown in. He has just returned from the East, there he spent several weeks among his associates in the Etna enterprise, and states that if he gets the assurance of Pres. F. J. Kimball, of the Norfolk & Western road, that his projected line to Ironton will be built to Ironton next Summer, and the rates of freight will be such as there is every reason to expect, there is no doubt that the Alice stack will be got in readiness to start at that time. He is now in communication with Mr. Kimball on that subject, and may learn his purpose in a month. If the Alice is started, it will involve an expenditure of $50,000 or $60,000, as the stack must be re-lined, and in order to run both stacks at once, additional hot blast ovens would have to be built, and two more blowing engines added. The operation of both stacks is simply a possibility of the future, and an event which Mr. Pleumer thinks is sure to follow the advent of the new road, that will furnish us such valuable access to the coking and ore regions of Virginia.
     In addition to the Blanche stack, now being started new, the Etna Co.'s Sarah furnace just above, is being overhauled to put in blast. It was expected to blow her out for that purpose as soon as Blanche was started, but last week the bottom broke out. The contemplated work is thus hastened. The lower part of the stack will be re-lined, so the furnace will be ready to start again, it is thought, by the first of the year.
     Sarah's output is about 35 tons a day, which, if the expectations regarding Blanche are realized, will make an output of 135 tons daily, and this means a consumption of 600 to 650 tons, or 40 to 45 car loads, of raw material at the two furnaces each day. Blanche will run on half Missouri ore, of which Mr. Pleumer has just purchased 12,000 tons for monthly delivery, and half native, with New River and Connellsville coke. The Company has also about 20,000 tons of native ore, and 18,000 tons of limestone on hand.

Ironton Register, September 23, 1897 - Etna Furnace Sale - Next Saturday at 10 a. m., the big Etna Furnace, in Ironton, will be offered at public sale, on the premises by the trustees, Messrs. Lee and Clark, both of whom are expected to arrive here Friday evening. Mr. Hart a prominent stockholder, is also expected. The notice of the sale is printed in full on the seventh page of this issue. The bondholders are likely to buy in the property.
      In this connection, we may suggest to the purchasers, why not make an effort to dispose of this splendid property to the government for an armor plate factory? The government proposes to establish such a plant. This property would suit. The location is the very best. No better place could be selected for a ship armor establishment. The combination of coal and ore is cheap here. We are on railroad and river transportation direct to the ocean. We have the best metal in the world for cannon. Ohio should be favored with his plant, and Ironton is the spot. The people of this city will second every effort of the purchasers in securing the plant here.

Ironton Register, July 13, 1899 - Etna Furnace is now in good working order, since getting their water from the City Water Works. They have plenty of steam and are burning but little coal. Are expecting to have natural gas soon to use when necessary. They are at present making 240 tons daily of fine Bessemer iron. They will begin next week to put in four new boilers.

LITTLE ETNA

Lawrence County, Ohio
Built:
By:

Ironton Register, April 21, 1887 - The glory of "Little Etna" as a furnace, has departed. Her machinery and buildings have all been removed, and only the stack and abutting masonry, which stand amid drifts of ore-dust and cinder deposit, are left to mark the site of an ancient and profitable concern. They will blacken with age, and in their widening crevices, tufts of grass and moss may find lodgement ere they feel again the heat of furnace fires. But the business of the furnace grounds is still kept up. 250 men are employed there among the hills getting out ore and lime for Alice furnace, so the office and store, the main center of these operations, are not foresaken, but very active.
     One is reminded as he approaches the company's office from the railroad, of the wood cut pictures of a village street found in old-time story books. The office is a very old brick structure with small windows and a steep roof, whose long slopes quite overbalance the height of the sidewalks. Its big gable end rises prominently in the picture. Just beyond the office the higher walls of the store house appear, and beyond these again, the Manger's residence, almost hidden from view. This row of buildings occupies a slight eminence in the narrow valley, over which the road runs from our point of observation, descending again on the other side as it passes the dismantled furnace near by. A well trodden path leads up to the corner of the office, where begins a stone pavement rudely constructed of angular and uneven blocks of flagging long ago. It has worn smooth under the pressure of many feet. In the forks of a grand old tree near the corner, there is a bell whose notes proclaim at intervals the working hours of the day.
     When the reporter made these observations, the weather was most propitious. The earth was clean from the washings of a recent rain. The sun shone brightly through cloudless skies, and a delightful breeze made manifest its bracing influence. Under these lovely conditions he took a seat beside the Etna manager, George Cox, and accompanied him on his daily ride over to Vesuvius furnace.
     The Etna Iron Works Co. owns 16,000 acres of land around Etna and Vesuvius furnaces, and a short time ago, an expert geologist was sent out to determine how much of the tract was ore land. He made an estimate showing there were six or seven thousand acres. The ore will average at least 12 inches thick, and at that thickness a square yard produces a ton. The Etna company mines about 30,000 tons a year. Following the calculation based on these estimates they only use a little more than 5 acres per annum, and have enough ore to last, at the present rate of consumption, over a thousand years.

ETNA IRON WORKS

Ironton Register April 4, 1878 - ETNA WORKS AFFAIRS - JOHN H. MOULTON, APPOINTED ASSIGNEE.      Last week, when we went to press, the Etna Creditors' meeting was in session, but we stated the probability that no understanding would be reached. The committee which waited upon the Directors returned with a proposition to settle at 40 percent, payable 2,3,4,5, and 6 years, and no interest in the first year. That proposition was rejected by a close vote. A resolution was passed recommending that the company make an assignment. A committee was also appointed to view the assets of the company and estimate their value. Said committee are John Means, G. N. Gray and George Clarke. The meeting lasted from ten o'clock in the morning until nearly dark, excepting the noon hour. Of the $350,000 unsecured creditors, about $224,000 were represented. Those present seemed desirous of a agreeing with the company upon some settlement, but there was a variety of views as to the valuation of the real estate, and this prevented. When the meeting was over, a majority of the indebtedness represented at the meeting manifested a willingness to accept the 40 per cent proposition.

The following circular has been issued by the Directors:

OFFICE OF THE ETNA IRON WORKS, }
IRONTON, O., MARCH 27, 1878 }
     We the Directors of the Etna Iron Works, beg to submit the following terms and conditions as a basis for a compromise and settlement with all of our unsecured creditors; reserving, however, the right to prefer and pay in full all that may found due our employees to this date:      To pay forty cents on a dollar, payable in two, three, four, five and six years from this date, with interest at the rate of six per cent per annum after one year; secured by a Second Mortgage upon all the Real Estate owned by the Etna Iron Works in Lawrence County, State of Ohio, amounting to some sixteen thousand five hundred acres, with all improvements thereon. Such Mortgage to be made to a Trustee, who shall be selected by a majority of Creditors in interest, and for a sufficient amount to cover all of said compromised claims and interest to date of maturity.       A majority of the indebtedness represented at a meeting of Creditors held March 27, 1878, expressed a willingness to accept the above proposition.      You will be waited upon in a few days by a representative of the Company.

GEO. K. HOSFORD, SEC'Y.      

In compliance with the resolution by the Creditors recommending an assignment, the board elected John H. Moulton as Assignee, who accepts the trust and proceeds to work. The appointment is a good one. Mr. Moulton is a bookkeeper, a practical man and a person fully qualified in every way for the task assigned him.