HISTORICAL. 13 



sand pounds of iron daily, and operations were continued until a production 

 of about fifteen hundred pounds daily was reached, and new fire places were 

 being added as rapidly as possible. Perfect success seemed an assured fact 

 when the works were burned, as is supposed, by an incendiary. 



The production of this bloomary was only fifty thousand pounds all told. 

 The ore was taken from a mountain a mile north of Nechesville, and was of 

 the "curly" variety. As nearly as could be determined it worked nearly 

 sixty per cent The iron produced from it was of superior quality. The 

 fuel used was pine charcoal, burned in the vicinity. 



THE MONTALBO BLOOMARY. 

 This bloomary, which was situated about ten miles south of the Nechesville 

 works, was in operation at the same time. It was located on the south bank 

 of Mount Prairie Creek, some eight or nine miles north of Palestine. This 

 was one of the plants operated under the management of the Confederate 

 Government. From the iron smelted there gun barrels and other munitions 

 of war were manufactured. 



THE KICKAPOO BLOOMARY. 

 A short distance north of the Nechesville bloomary, in the vicinity of 

 J5,ickapoo, the Confederate Government began the erection of a bloomary of 

 the same character as the others scattered over the adjoining country, but, so 

 far as can be ascertained, it was never completed. 



THE McLAIN, OR LINN FLAT, BLOOMARY. 



This bloomary was located in the northern part of Nacogdoches County, 

 about twelve miles from the town of Nacogdoches and six miles from Linn 

 Flat. It was constructed and operated during the latter part of the war, and 

 at the cessation of hostilities work was stopped. According to Dr. Buck- 

 ley,* 150,000 pounds of hammered iron bars were made here in the eight 

 months during which it was worked. These works suffered the same fate, 

 that of fire, that befell most of the others. 



Besides the furnaces and bloomaries already mentioned, another was begun 

 by the Confederate Government a few miles east of Nechesville, in Cherokee 

 County.- The war ended before it was in running order, however, and it was 

 abandoned. 



KELLEYYILLE FURNACE. 



This furnace was erected in 1869 by G. A. Kelley. It was located five 

 miles north of Jefferson, and was put into blast in 1870. In 1882, owing to 



* First Annual Report of the Geological and Agricultural Survey of Texas. S. B. Buckley, 

 State Geologist, p. 19. Houston, 1874. 



