LB2016.15.809

LB2016.15.809

Scene at Katahdin Iron Works Katahdin Iron works operated for a total of about 25 years between 1843 and 1890. Although isolated, it was tied closely to outside markets and technological advances in the iron industry. Its beginnings, for example, paralleled a growing demand for iron farm tools, machinery and railroad car wheels. In the end, the iron works failed when huge mills in Pennsylvania brought the nation’s new age of steel. The heart of the Katahdin Iron Works was its blast furnace where intense heat separated iron from other materials in the ore. Workers poured ore, limestone flux and charcoal into the top of the furnace. The charcoal was then ignited from the bottom and the mixture was heated to high temperatures by a blast of air circulated through the base of the furnace. As the iron melted, it dripped into a crucible, which held about two tons of liquid. When the crucible was filled, workers broke a clay plug in the tap hole. The liquid ran down a long trench onto the sand floor of the casting room and flowed into shorter trenches. Here, the molten iron cooled into pig iron ingots, each weighing about 80 pounds. In the 1880’s when production was at a high, 8-20 tons of pig iron were produced daily.https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parksearch/PropertyGuides/PDF_GUIDE/KatahdinIronWorks.pdf