Tracing Northern West Virginia’s Early Iron Industry

Travel into the snowy hills of northern West Virginia to document early three charcoal iron furnaces.

It was a snowy, bitterly cold, and blustery morning when I woke at my campsite along the Cheat River in West Virginia. Overnight, the landscape had been transformed. Fresh snow blanketed the riverbanks and forest floor, and strong winter winds moved steadily through the bare hardwoods. It was the kind of weather that discouraged travel, but it also sharpened the sense of place.

I set out that morning to document three historic iron furnaces scattered across north-central West Virginia. While the region was never a dominant producer of iron ore, it was home to some of the earliest blast furnaces west of the Allegheny Mountains. It played a significant role in the area’s early industrial history.

Iron production in Monongalia County began in 1798 with the construction of two blast furnaces and a forge. By 1823, northern West Virginia supported at least seven blast furnaces and three forges. In 1850, the region reached its peak: Monongalia County contained six furnaces, Preston County two, Marion County three, Harrison County two, and Barbour County one. The industry’s decline began with the onset of the Civil War, driven by depleted timber and iron ore resources and compounded by an underdeveloped transportation network that limited profitability and expansion.

My first stop was the Henry Clay Furnace, located within Coopers Rock State Forest. The forest lies roughly 15 miles east of Morgantown and overlooks the Cheat River Gorge, offering some of West Virginia’s most recognizable scenery. Known for its broad sandstone cliffs, dramatic canyon overlooks, and dense hardwood forests, the park contains nearly 50 miles of hiking and biking trails that follow ridgetops, descend into hollows, and trace old industrial corridors.

Completed in 1836, the Henry Clay Furnace was the first steam-powered blast furnace in western Virginia. It was fueled by charcoal and, at peak production, produced approximately four tons of pig iron per day. About 200 people were employed at the site, and a small company town sprang up nearby, with roughly 100 houses, a store, a church, and a school.

In 1839, the furnace was sold to the Ellicott family, who constructed a network of wooden tramways to move iron ore from nearby pits to the furnace. Until 1845, all iron produced at the site was floated down the Cheat River for shipment. The Henry Clay Furnace continued operations until 1847.

Reaching the Henry Clay Furnace required snowshoes, as nearly a foot of deep, powdery snow covered the trail. The Clay Furnace Trail descended gradually through the woods, following a fairly broad but rocky path that was made quieter by the snow. The hike was about eight-tenths of a mile, and despite the cold, it was an easy, scenic walk through the Appalachian landscape that now again looks largely untouched by modern development.

After a hearty lunch, I continued south and east along snow-covered two-lane roads toward the Virginia Furnace, which operated from 1854 to 1880. The drive passed through narrow valleys and wooded ridges, with occasional clearings that hinted at former farms and industrial sites now reclaimed by forest.

The Virginia Furnace was operated by Harrison Hagans, who contracted local mason Levi Kennett to construct the facility. Building began in the fall of 1854, and the furnace became operational later that year or in early 1855. The structure featured a 30-foot-tall stack topped by a six-foot trunnel and a 34-foot-wide bosh. It relied on charcoal for fuel, with a cold-air blast supplied by a blowing engine powered by a 52-foot-diameter water wheel located along Crab Orchard Run.

Once smelting began, operations continued around the clock. Every eight hours, molten iron was tapped from the furnace’s base and cast into sand beds, forming elongated ingots known as “pigs.” After cooling, the pigs were broken apart and transported to mills for further refinement. At full capacity, the furnace produced approximately 25 tons of forge-grade pig iron per week.

Under George Maust’s management, the furnace prospered. Following Hagans’s death in 1867, however, operations declined. In January 1874, John G. Landon purchased the site for $12,000. The economic Panic of 1873 ultimately led to foreclosure, and in November 1879, the furnace was sold at public auction to James C. McGrew, Hagans’s son-in-law, for just $75.80. In April 1880, Seely B. Patterson and his wife, Amanda, purchased the furnace for $6,000 and renamed it the Josephine Furnace. It failed shortly thereafter.

The arrival of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the county in 1853 revitalized the local iron industry. Recognizing the importance of rail access, Hagans constructed the Virginia Furnace along a turnpike that connected to the railroad at Terra Alta. When it closed in 1880, it was notable as the last charcoal iron furnace to operate in Preston County.

From there, I traveled north along a series of quiet back roads to the Old Valley Furnace, also known as the Douglass Furnace. Built in 1837 by Andrew Ochiltree and operated by James Caldwell, the furnace was active only briefly before passing into William Douglass’s ownership. Both the Old Valley Furnace and the nearby Greenville Furnace ceased operations around 1840, undone by long transportation routes and a lack of sufficient capital to sustain production.

By day’s end, the snow continued to fall, gradually obscuring the roads and softening the outlines of these once-busy industrial sites. What remained were stone stacks and scattered ruins, reminders of an early iron industry that briefly flourished in the hills of Virginia (and West Virginia) before fading into history.