Cedar Grove Iron Furnace

This Iron Furnace was built in 1834 by Wallace Dickson on Furnace Branch of Cedar Creek. It was rebuilt in 1846 and discontinued operation in 1862. At first the furnace had only one stack. Later it was partly dismantled and another stack was added, making it a double stack. The furnace is built with large limestone rocks, shaped and fitted with great precision, lined with fireproof brick that was made about three hundred yards down the branch from the furnace. The Civil War gunboats shot at the furnace... Most of the ore was brought from Marsh Creek. They tunneled through the hill between Marsh Creek and Cedar Creek. A small railroad track was laid through the tunnel and down to the furnace. They pulled the carts that were loaded with ore through the tunnel with Jenets, the reason being that a Jenet will not back up. A great number of laborers were employed in cutting wood in the adjacent forest and burning it into charcoal. They split this wood and stacked it on its end, set it on fire, and then covered it with dirt. Chestnut was a choice wood. The charcoal was hauled in wagons and dumped upon the hill above the furnace.

They obtained ore from ore banks, taking it from the earth with picks and shovels.... Reduction of iron ore is accomplished in a blast furnace. The pig iron was carried by wagons and placed on flatboats on the river. These boats were flat bottom boats constructed by skilled designers. They were about sixty-five feet long, twenty-five feet wide, and would carry several tons of pig iron. When a boat was loaded and ready to start on the voyage down the Tennessee River, some trusty man of nerve who was familiar with the channel of the river, the nature and strength of the current, and the different and difficult points which must be passed on the voyage, was selected as Captain and Pilot. He then selected as many men as he thought necessary. After taking on board a good cable, some bread, venison, dried beef, and a side of bacon, he started down the river on his journey and began his lookout for danger ahead. Sometimes they floated safely on to their destination, sometimes they did not. Sometimes they sank to the bottom, then once at the bottom, they were seldom removed, the river claiming the boat's cargo. When one of these boats sprang a leak, the pumps were worked rapidly because the heavy laden boats filled quickly, and to be on a sinking metal boat was hazardous in the extreme. I believe William Erwing, the only Iron Master that lived in Perry County in 1850 that we know about, was the one that managed the furnace. He cam from Scotland and was thirty-seven years of age at that time. His wife, Regina, age thirty-seven, was born in Virginia. His sister, Elizabeth, was twenty-five and was born in Scotland.