Slate Furnace

The Slate Furnace is an abandoned pig iron furnace in the Red River Iron Region near Owingsville, Kentucky.







Slate Furnace was built in March 1791 by Jaboc Myers in the Red River Iron Region near Owingsville, Kentucky. Myers had discovered iron ore in the area while searching for it in October 1782, and acquired 10,000 acres of land in the region which was granted to him by Virginia Governor Patrick Henry. 1 It was the first charcoal pig-iron furnace built west of the Allegheny Mountains.

The furnace was used to smelt iron ore to produce ten-gallon kettles, which were in high demand among early settlers for use in evaporating water from salt springs to produce salt and boiling maple tree sap to make sugar. 1 Initially powered by water from Slate Creek, the blast machinery at the furnace was later protected by a fort due to threats from Native Americans. The construction of Iron Works Road between Owingsville and the Kentucky River at Frankfort allowed the furnace to access new delivery markets in Cincinnati and Louisville. In 1807, it produced cannonballs for the United States Navy, which were shipped via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans.

Myers’ interest in the furnace was later sold to John C. Owings, Robert Wickliffe, and Major Mason, and it operated until its final blast in August 1838. 1

Directions: Slate Furnace can be seen in a roadside park along KY Route 36 south of Owingsville, Kentucky.


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Sources

  1. “The Early Iron Furnaces.” Forest History. N.p., 7 Apr. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. Article.

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