Author Brings Cove's Iron Furnaces to Life in Library Talk

A few months ago, the Williamsburg Public Library announced each Thursday of May, it would highlight local authors and bring authors in to discuss their books.

This past Thursday was the first week of the author series, and Bryon Smail of the Cove came in to discuss his book “The Iron Furnaces of the Cove” detailing the Iron furnaces of the Cove.

Smail said he has always enjoyed history and credits his father Ron, who was in attendance, for that love.

“My dad always took us to state parks, museums, and now, with three young boys, I’d like to do the same for my boys,” Smail said, introducing himself to the crowd.

Smail said the Eliza Furnace in Vintondale was one of the first ones that piqued his interest.

“I just wanted to know what else was there,” he said.

In Pennsylvania, between 1800-1910, about 231 iron furnaces were in existence, before the industry switched to steel.

Blair County had 16 of those furnaces.

Smail went on to show several furnaces in other areas such as Huntingdon County, like the Greenwood Furnace, the Huntingdon Furnace, the Helen Furnace near Clarion, and the Paradise Furnace near Trough Creek.

Smail said furnaces were built into the hillside, and most of the materials used were ore rock, limestone rock and charcoal made from timber.

The furnaces would run at about 3000 degrees, and would have a constant running water source, most notably, a water wheel.

Smail said an acre a day would be cut down for charcoal.

He said that in touring the remains of most of these furnaces, visitors can see a flat spot around the area with no vegetation. That would be the charcoal pits near the furnace site.

The first cove furnace was the Mount Etna Furnace, which ran from 1809-1872.

In 1820, one of the most well-known in the iron industry, Henry Spang, would bring villages to the furnaces, which according to Smail

“It was everything you would ever need,” he said.

He sold his pig iron in Pittsburgh and with the canal business starting to come to the Williamsburg area around 1832, he could deliver that iron in about two to three days, Smail said.

“The canal system really made the iron industry flourish,” he said.

Another furnace in the Williamsburg area was the Canoe Furnace, also operated by Spang, which ran from 1838-1848.

With Spang’s health declining, he closed Canoe Furnace and kept Mount Etna running for a longer time.

The Canoe Furnace was located in the present-day area of Ganister.

Another furnace Smail mentioned was the Williamsburg Furnace in Juniata, which was located at the Martin General/Rails to Trails entrance today.

With the influx of the railroad, lots of iron came out of that furnace, which made Williamsburg quite a booming town.

John Neff, a farmer at the time, took advantage of the iron which gave him a lot of wealth and prosperity, and his house – present day Blue Lantern Bed and Breakfast, was a showpiece for the town.

Springfield Furnace, out in Royer was up next in Smail’s tour, which Smail referred to as “the master class” with ore mines, limestone mines, and forges all in that area.

Some of the other furnaces in the area mentioned were the Rebecca Furnace, out in Fredericksburg, and the Bloomfield Furnace in Sproul; Elizabeth Furnace in Woodbury from 1829-1844, and the more modernized Martha Furnace in McKee Gap.

The Martha Furnace, would use coal instead of charcoal.

“That was very innovative at the time,” Smail said.

The Martha Furnace would produce about 250 tons of iron a week, and it’s tenure was the longest in the Cove from 1838-1890.

Mount Etna, Smail said, would produce roughly 50 tons of iron a week.

He also talked about the “Andrew Carnegie of the iron industry”, Dr. Peter Shoenberger.

Smail said he went on to own 12 iron furnaces, and was arguably the wealthiest man to come out of the Cove.

Shoenberger would set up the iron furnaces, and then move on to the next one.

Smail said his motivation to write the book was there was just a lot of scattered history of the furnaces, and he wanted to put it all in one book.

“It was a lot of fun doing the research,” he said. “It was a special project for the Cove,”

Smail, who owns a landscaping business, says that typically his research is done in the wintertime, and it took an estimated eight months to finish this book.

His next book, which he wrote in four months, talks about Blair County iron, and is in its final proofread stage before publishing.

“All of these furnaces are very unique,” Smail said. “You really have to imagine what they did there.”

His favorite furnace? Smail admits that the Canoe Furnace, located at Point View near the Ganister area, is his favorite, and the Point View luxury cottages came up after the furnace industry.

Another one of Smail’s favorites was the Rebecca Furnace, with little to no remnants left,

“You just had to use your imagination — this was over two hundred years ago,” Smail said, “ but this is an industry that isn’t coming back.”

Head Librarian Roane Lytle was pleased with the first event by Smail and the crowd.

“You just never know with the first event, but this was fantastic,” he said. “There’s much more to come.”

The next event will take place today – Thursday, May 9 from 4-6 p.m. with Randy Stoltz, and his book, “Civil War and the Hearts of Morrisons Cove.”