Pactolus Furnace
Inscription
Built in 1824 by Joseph McMurtry and David L. Ward, on the site of an earlier bloomery forge. Its stone stack used charcoal fuel, and its air blast machinery was powered from a dam, 51/2 ft. high, in Little Sandy River. Capacity was about three tons of iron daily, mainly shipped via Ohio River. Last blast before 1835. See over. Marker presented by Armco Steel Corp.
[Reverse]
Iron Made in Kentucky - A major producer since 1791, Ky. ranked 3rd in US in 1830s, 11th in 1965. Charcoal timber, native ore, limestone supplied material for numerous furnaces making pig iron, utensils, munitions in the Hanging Rock, Red River, Between Rivers, Rolling Fork, Green River Regions. Old charcoal furnace era ended by depletion of ore and timber and the growth of railroads. See over.
Location
Sources
More markers in Carter
Eastern Kentucky Railway- Willard
Willard, KY
In 1873, line was extended from Grayson to Willard.
Eastern Kentucky Railway-Hitchins
Hitchins, KY
Here the EK had a junction with the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Rwy that connected with the Ashland Coal and Iron Rwy in Denton.
Eastern Kentucky Railway
Grayson, KY
E. K. Railway purchased 25,000 acres of land in Little Sandy Valley at close of the Civil War.
County Named, 1838
Grayson, KY
For Col. William Grayson Carter, state senator, 1834-1838.
Aviation Pioneer
Matthew Sellers, among first to experiment with gliding and power flight.