IRON MANUFACTURE. 503 
The character of the furnaces of the State will be perhaps best 
discussed by taking up the different regions somewhat in detail, and 
describing the principal works of each district, beginning with the 
Hanging Rock region as one of the oldest and most individual regions 
of the State ; the works of this district are of two classes—the charcoal 
furnaces and bituminous coal furnaces. The charcoal iron industry of 
the Hanging Rock region has been discussed already at some length. 
The charcoal furnaces of this district are mostly small, usually provided 
with stone stacks, and are large square piles of masonry built against the 
side of a hill, and so located that the top of the furnace is on a level with 
the bank on which the ore is burned, the charcoal stored, and in some 
eases the buildings of the company located ; below is the casting-house, 
frequently a simple wooden shed, sometimes a brick building roofed 
with iron; this is connected with the engine-room in which the blowing 
engines are situated. The boilers of almost all these charcoal furnaces 
are located above the furnaces, and are heated by the combustion of the 
gases from the top of the furnaces. The charging is accomplished by 
means of ore buggies, the ore being weighed usually on a simple beam 
scale, and the charcoal almost invariably measured. ‘These furnaces, 
situated generally at some distance from towns of any size, and sur- 
rounded by timber lands, comprising in some instances from ten to 
twelve thousand acres, form an institution of rather peculiar interest. 
The company invariably keep a store at the furnace, which forms 
the base of supplies for all the employes of the corporation. These live 
at or near the furnaces in small places rented from the company, who 
do, or did formerly, in some cases, pay off their hands in part in orders 
on the store; of course such a system as this led to some abuses, which 
gave rise to trouble at one time and another; the profits made by the 
store, it was claimed, were excessive, and that laborers at the end of 
the year found that their wages were about all required to cover their 
store account. That this was the case in some instances there can be 
little doubt, one storekeeper stating that (at least during the census 
year) the store profit exper sixty per cent. ad valorem. ‘This was 
probably exceptional. 
Figure II, representing the general arrangement of one of the 
charcoal furnaces of this region, is taken from a plan furnished by Mr. 
Campbell, of Ironton, and printed in the Journal of the United States 
Association of Charcoal Iron Workers. The works at Ironton com- 
