Running the Furnace

Ohio History

Stockyard

Not far from the charging shed stood this huge storage structure, which held the ore, limestone, and coal for the furnace. In a year, Buckeye Furnace used 8,000 tons of iron ore, 400 tons of limestone, and 12,000 cords of wood (burned down to make charcoal to power the furnace).

Samples

Besides this big exploitation of natural resources, workers were also treated very poorly. What meager pay they received for the long, dangerous workdays was not even real money, but “scrip.” It could only be spent at the “company store,” owned by the iron master, which inflated prices for everything. Thus workers often owed the store for even their own food. Not a little unlike the Southern plantations of that time!