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Charcoal Furnaces, Wassaic, Dutchess Co., NY
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Graybeard
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Ca 1780. Built to make charcoal for the iron industry. A strategic industry for the continentals. It is said that later iron used in the Monitor was made here.

PDF DocDover_Charcoal_Furnace_101KB_04045.pdf (98 Kb, 343 downloads) Dover Charcoal Furnace
 
Posts: 210 | Location: Fingerlakes | Registered: 02 August 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Will Ghormley
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Those are a cool little piece of history!
Will


"When Liberty is illegal, only outlaws will be free." Will Ghormley

In 1913, the gold and silver backed dollar was worth a dollar. Today, that same greenback is worth 3 cents. In just under 100 years, the Federal Reserve Bank has made the dollar virtually worthless. Will Ghormley

"Exploit your strengths. Compensate for your weaknesses." Will Ghormley
 
Posts: 657 | Location: Ankeny, Iowa | Registered: 28 January 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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I wonder if they were also used to make charcoal for black powder manufacture too?

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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That is one of the questions I had. I will try to do a little research on this. Records on material culture are sparse. I checked Tiedeman (sp?) and Fingerhut-The Other New York and found nothing obvious in the index about production of war materials. Black powder and lead were in short supply. Lead, iron ore and copper were mined in Putnam County, NY. I don't know where the supplies for sulfur are.
The Hudson Valley was very important to protect during the revolution for the mineral resources, the grainery and strategic location so containing the British in NYC was of utmost importance.
 
Posts: 210 | Location: Fingerlakes | Registered: 02 August 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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I found the information and the pictures to be very interesting. I was also curious about what LD mentioned.

BC


"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad."
Thomas Paine
 
Posts: 649 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 27 June 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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Based on this article I would say that the charcoal was for steel production unless there was a powder mill nearby.
That's the first I heard of the use of pressed cake that would increase the density of the powder and reduce the volume. So any pre-1780 powder measures or references to measurements would be a less dense powder and less explosive power per volume.
 
Posts: 210 | Location: Fingerlakes | Registered: 02 August 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Well perhaps the question would be, "what was nearby?". Was this charcoal made to fuel local blacksmiths, a local steel foundry of some sort, a lead smelting operation, a powder mill, all-of-the-above, or was it simply made for resale? New York was a hotbed of loyalist activity, and it is possible that until the last couple of years of hostilities '80-'81, plus the two years of waiting for negotiations '82 - '83, that powder and steel production in NY were sort of "covert".

Also as charcoal kilns..., if sealed doors were fashioned, they would probably work today.

I wonder if they were constructed for charcoal use from day one, or could they have been pottery kilns converted over, or had dual purpose?

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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LD- That area was not settled until the 1740's. from what I read the iron industry spurred other development.
The charcoal for black powder was made from willow because it could be ground finer. I hills provided the hardwood for the charcoal needed for iron smelting. The road near then kiln is known as Iron Ore Rd. I will do the research to find out if other ores are in the area. Certainly 20-30 miles away other ores were common.
I wondered about the clandestine nature of the location. The Hudson Highlands (Appalachian Mountains) were in constant threat from the British. The line of troops in southern Dutchess, Putnam and northern Westchester Co. protected the graneries in Dutchess/Ulster Co. and West Point.
I will have to look further to find literature on the material war effort. Most of the histories focus on the political aspects and battles. If powder and resources are mentioned it was about the lack thereof, not how and where it was sourced.
 
Posts: 210 | Location: Fingerlakes | Registered: 02 August 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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Those two furnaces were built in the 1820's. There were earlier kilns built pre-revolutionary war.

See picture and citation: (S alidago spp.) Goldenrod blooms in late summer and is a ...
www.hvrt.org/pdf_ovals/wassaic.pdf
 
Posts: 210 | Location: Fingerlakes | Registered: 02 August 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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http://ameniany.gov/Orgs/AHS/quinnhistory.htm

Nice little history with names! Many local histories claim fame but here they have the proof. A more recent document about the geology of Dutchess Co. claimed there was no lead to be mined.

Iron furnaces were part of the war effort. Made muskets and the iron chain across the Hudson at West Point.

Pottery kilns would have been located near the deposits of clay formed at the bottom of glacial lakes. Where there were settlements there were kilns. I've seen a listing of of potteries in NYS and will have to locate the reference.
 
Posts: 210 | Location: Fingerlakes | Registered: 02 August 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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