Furnace-Below

Ohio History

Casting Shed

Now we’re standing in the casting shed (lower left in the last picture) at the bottom of the furnace chimney. After twelve hours, the molten iron would be drawn from the furnace into the casting shed, where it flowed into pig molds shaped in the sand floor. Then a “slag wheel” pulled a chain across the hot iron’s surface to skim off impurities, or slag. Once cooled, the iron logs were floated down the creek to be shipped away on the nearest railroad and used in industry. In fact, iron from these furnaces was used for weapons, especially battleships, in the Civil War.