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"The Best in America": Juniata Iron and Those Who Made It

In the Cove region there are roadside historical markers with the heading “Juniata Iron.” The few words state that there was a significant iron industry here from the late 1700s into the mid-1800s – but what was the basis of that industry and why does it merit those roadside markers?

Pennsylvania had iron furnaces and forges for nearly a century before the industry established new outposts in central Pennsylvania. The first iron furnace was built in the region in 1785 at Orbisonia. Quickly thereafter more furnaces (which made the cast iron or “pig iron”) and forges (which hammered the furnaces...

 

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