On this side of the furnace there was a large brick building with a curved metal roof called the casting shed. It was in this building that molten iron was removed from the furnace and cast into ingots called “pigs”. The ingots got their name from the fact that the shape of the molds resembled piglets nursing on their mother. These ingots were then shipped to other industries, some nearby, some very far away to make iron goods of great variety. One particular use of the iron made here was railroad car wheels. Wheels made from the iron produced here were particularly resistant to cracking. Thousands of them carried goods all over the United States as well as other countries during the great industrial expansion of the second half of the nineteenth century.
Railroad wheels
The low stone walls around the furnace stack are the remains of the foundations of the casting shed walls. We know from old photographs that the casting shed had two large doors: one in the front where the iron was removed and one on the side toward the Blackberry River where the slag was removed.
Watch this short video for a description of the Casting Arch and Casting Shed where you are standing.
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