The Overly Furnace
Compiled by William D. Conner
Ohio Archaeo-Pyrogenic (APG) sites includes those I classify as the "Deer Creek" type.
All sites appearing here have a minimal listing requirement: the presence of artifacts APG Society investigators have examined and consider to have been produced in a pit iron furnace (diagnostic artifacts). Additional information about these sites and the precise location of them may be available from the reporters listed. For more complete furnace data reported by Arlington Mallery consult his books, Lost America and The Rediscovery of Lost America.
Chronology: Thermoluminescence (TL) and radiocarbon dates in the 18th-19th century range have been established for the Arledge Mound furnaces, the prototype of the Deer Creek classification (See Arledge site data below). Wood used as fuel in the 19th century could have grown in the 18th if dry, dead wood had been used. However, Nikolass J. van der Merwe, author of The Carbon-14 Dating of Iron, points out that green wood with the sap still in it produces the best charcoal and has been used in charcoal production since ancient times. Therefore, it seems there is a low probability of old wood being used for smelting iron in the Arledge furnaces.
Location: Many of our furnace sites are found along streams close to sites of the first water-powered mills built by early European-American settlers or are near early centers of settlement. Close association sites include those along Deer Creek, and North Fork of Paint Creek in Ross County and Hoover Reservoir, formerly Big Walnut Creek, in Delaware County. Most sites are on private property unless otherwise noted. Some sites are named for property owners, while other sites omit the property owner's name to protect the site.
Unique artifacts: Actual furnace pits have found only at some sites. However, an assemblage of unique artifacts associated with direct reduction pit iron smelting is, in this writer's opinion, sufficient to indicate that a furnace was or is, there. Such artifacts were worthless to those who created them. Furnace refuse such as slag, slag-glazed stones, broken bricks, cinders, and waste charcoal and bog ore was surely just dumped aside
A Diagnostic Artifact: The slag-glazed stone emerged as our most reliable diagnostic artifact as a result of the Lynn Acres dig, the APGS project of 1992-93, which uncovered a direct reduction iron furnace in Pickaway County, Ohio. The evidence of glazed stones led us to the site and the presence of a red oval of burned earth (as uncovered by accidental bulldozing) revealed the cross-section of the furnace bowl.
Ackley: located on the Ackley farm on Ohio Route
104, north of Chillicothe, Ohio and opposite the
Veteran's Administration Medical Center, Ross County.
Reported, 1992, by Gerald Parker of the APGS. Findings:
glazed stones and pottery. Artifacts: APGS collection
maintained by David Orr.
Allyn: located on Allyn farm north of old U.S.
Route 35 just east of Frankfort, Ohio in Ross County.
Site: a mound. Reported and excavated by Arlington
Mallery in 1950. Findings: six badly decomposed human
skeletons, a furnace pit, glazed stones, baked clay, and
iron slag. Site vandalized before investigation
completed; no human remains were collected.
Arledge: located on Arledge farm along Pennyroyal Road west of Ohio Route 104, in Deer Creek valley south of Yellowbud, Ohio, Ross County. Site: a mound. Reported and excavated by Mallery, 1949-50. Findings: human bones, glazed stones, baked clay, bog ore, charcoal, iron artifacts, two furnace pits. Pit dimensions: No. 1, upper oval 7 feet, 10 inches x five feet; bowl depth 5 to 4 feet. No. 2, upper oval 7 feet x 4 feet 8 inches, bowl depth 4 to 5 feet . Re-excavated by Mallery and William Conner in 1963, and by Conner, Hugh McCulloch and David Orr in 1991.
Ceramic material collected by Conner in 1963 was matched with dosimeter chips buried in 1991 Arledge soil; the resulting thermoluminescence (TL) date of the mid-1700s (approximately 1740 ) matched an earlier radiocarbon dating obtained by Clyde Keeler for material from the nearby Deer Creek No. 2 furnace. However, for economic reasons alone, no dates prior to the settlement of Ohio beginning in the late 1790s make any sense!
Artifacts: the collections of Conner, APGS and the Fayette County Historical Society Museum, Washington C.H., Ohio. Site is highly disturbed by numerous excavations and other "off the record" intrusions.
Biers Run: located on this stream near Anderson
Station, Ross County, Ohio, several miles west of
Chillicothe. Site: creek bank. Reported by David Orr.
Findings: glazed stones.
Caldwell: located just east of Ohio Route 104 in
Pickaway County in a bank above the Scioto River, several
miles north of Fox, Ohio. Reported by B.E. Kelley in
1971. Findings: glazed stones, baked clay and charcoal.
Chillicothe Hospital: located on hillside north of
Adena Medical Center in northern Chillicothe, Ohio north
of U.S. Route 23, Ross County. Reported by Orr. Findings:
glazed stones.
Comfort Inn: located on the site of the present
Comfort Inn motel on U.S. Route 23 in south Circleville,
Ohio, Pickaway County. Reported by Amy Spangler of the
APGS in 1993. Site destroyed by motel construction. Findings: glazed stones and slag. Artifacts: APGS and
Spangler.
Congo Creek: located along this stream in southern
Pickaway County. Reported by a Mr. Jones in 1975
(according to David Orr). Findings: glazed stones.
Artifacts: APGS.
Deer Creek No. 1: located along
this stream north of Pennyroyal Road west of State Route 104 and south of
Yellowbud, Ohio. Reported by Mallery in 1949. Site: furnace bowl in bank of
Deer Creek. Opened by stream erosion, site subsequently destroyed by further
erosion. Findings: glazed stones, slag, baked clay, bog ore, wood, iron,
brick, clay mortar, a furnace pit, ashes and lime. Artifacts: Fayette County
Historical Society Museum.
Deer Creek No.2: located near Deer Creek No.1.
Reported by Clyde Keeler and B.E. Kelley in 1971. Site:
creek bank. Furnace bowl opened by erosion; site
subsequently destroyed by further erosion. Findings:
glazed stones, slag, baked clay, charcoal, iron
artifacts, one furnace pit. Artifacts: Fayette Museum.
Garrett: located on Garrett farm along the North
Fork of Paint Creek near Anderson Station, Ohio in Ross
County. Site: second terrace bank of creek. Reported by
Conner and Orr in 1993. Findings: glazed stones, slag.
Debris spread and terrain suggest presence of at least
two furnace pits and possibly more. Artifacts: APGS,
Conner.
Glacial Kame: located in a farm field west of
State Route 104 and south of Yellowbud, Ohio in Ross
County. Reported by Orr; surface excavation by Conner and
Orr in 1990 to bottom of tillage zone. Findings: human
bones, glazed stones, slag, baked clay, bog ore,
charcoal, red oval outline of furnace pit. Artifacts:
APGS, Conner.
Gunflint: located near east bank of Scioto River
on Boulger farm about one mile south of Kellenberger Road
bridge, south of Yellowbud, Ohio in Ross County. Reported
by archaeologist Scott Troy in 1979. Findings: glazed
stone. Artifacts: deposited at Ohio State University
Anthropology Department.
Hallsville: located near this village on south
bank of Kinnikinnick Creek near junction with its south
fork in Ross County, Ohio. Reported to Orr by a Mr.
Ramsey in 1982. Findings: glazed stone
Haskins No. 1: located near Deer Creek No. 1 and
No. 2 sites on Pennyroyal Road in Ross County, Ohio on
acreage surrounding the Leroy Haskins home. Reported and
excavated by Mallery in 1949. Excavation was refilled
after investigation by Mallery. Site: mound. Findings:
glazed stones, baked clay, bog ore, charcoal, iron
artifacts and four furnace pits. Iron objects
included three cast iron bars weighing (55, 33, and 32
pounds), and a axe and a shovel made of wrought iron with
steel blade inserts. Artifacts: Fayette County
Museum (iron bars, glazed stones) and Conner (glazed
stones and other furnace debris).
Haskins No. 2: located nearby Haskins No.1. Reported by Clyde Keeler and Bennett E. Kelley in 1971; site also visited by Conner during excavation. Site: mound. Findings: Human bones, glazed stones, bog ore, a 42-pound cast iron bar, and one pit furnace. The cast iron bar was apparently cast in a sand mold with lettering; the letters on the bar were corroded, but Kelley interpreted them to read "OGNIY" while Keeler read "CONALY."
A radiocarbon dating of 1640 A.D. plus or minus 90 years was obtained for this site. (While this date seems too early for a Colonial period origin in this region, adjusting the plus or minus allowance upward by 10 years brings this date up to that of the Arledge mound furnaces.) A detailed report on the site by Keeler and Kelley was published in the Newsletter of the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) Vol. 7, No. 1.; 1972. Artifacts: Fayette County Museum (iron bar with letters), Keeler estate, and Conner (glazed stones, furnace debris, photographs).
Hoover: located on east bank of Hoover Reservoir, south of Galena, Delaware County, Ohio; the reservoir is part of the City of Columbus water supply system and the site is believed to be on city property (according to park rangers). Reported by Conner in November, 1996. Site: low mound, bank of Big Walnut Creek, now a reservoir. Findings: glazed stones, glazed brick, cinders, ashes from debris field below apparent furnace site on high bank above.
A 15- by 9-foot bed of ashes and cinders forms the top of a low mound, rising about two feet above the top of the bank. This is apparently the top of the intact remains of a pit iron furnace. The debris spread is on the bed of the reservoir and is only accessible during the lowest of water levels during a draw-down or drought. Artifacts: Conner (also photos and maps).
Hopeton No. 1: located at site of prehistoric
Hopeton Works several miles north of Chillicothe, Ohio in
Ross County, west of U.S. Route 23, 100 meters from a
historic log cabin site. Reported in 1995 by Troy.
Findings: glazed stone.
Hopeton No. 2: located 1,000 meters from above
site in a depression or pot hole. Reported by Troy in
1995. Findings: glazed stone.
Island Road: located on west bank of Scioto River south of Yellowbud, Ohio in Ross County. Reported by Parker, 1992. Findings: glazed stones.
Kilgore Bridge: located near this Scioto River
bridge of Eastern Avenue, Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio.
Reported by Parker in 1993. Findings: glazed stones.
Lynn Acres: located on
Bulldozer farm in southwest Pickaway County near
Laurelville, Ohio. Site: hillside slope. Reported by Orr
in 1992. Excavated by APGS Team led by Conner and Orr,
1992-93. Detailed reports in APG
Journal, September, 1993, Vol. 2, No. 1, by
Conner and Orr.
Findings: glazed stones, baked clay, slag, bog ore,
charcoal, iron artifacts (including nails and shovels),
one furnace pit with work area in front of air duct
opening. Furnace bowl at surface is oval, 3 meters by 2.6
and is 2.7 meters deep down to top of air duct (9.8 x 8.5
x 8.8 feet). The duct is 0.4 meter square in cross
section (l.3 feet). The furnace was identified as
direct reduction iron smelter by Carroll Mobley, a Ohio
State University professor of metallurgical engineering.
Thermoluminescence dating pending. Excavations refilled
for preservation. Artifacts: APGS, Conner, Bulldozer
(photos, Orr and Conner).
McCalla: Reported by Parker. Ross County.
Findings: glazed stones.
Mound City: located at Hopewell Culture National
Parks, Mound City unit, on State Route 104, several miles
north of Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio. Reported by Bret
Ruby, PhD., park archaeologist, in 1995. Findings: glazed
stone found along Mound City's north border. Artifacts:
Ruby.
Orr Farm: located on Orr Farm west of Kingston,
Ohio in Ross County. Reported by Orr. Findings: glazed
stone.
Overly: Located near village of Austin, Ohio in Ross County on former Overly farm, now a tree farm owned by the Mead Corp; north of State Route 138. Site: bank of small creek, a tributary of McCortney Run which feeds into the North Fork of Paint Creek. Reported by Mallery in 1950; re-excavated by Conner and Mallery in 1963.
Findings: glazed stones, slag, baked clay, bog ore, charcoal and two furnace pits (one much smaller). Mallery claimed five furnace pits at this site, but Conner can vouch for only two. Portion of remaining main furnace bowl refilled in 1963 after investigation. Artifacts: Conner (also photos).
Pickaway Airport: located just north of Yellowbud,
Ohio (Ross County) on opposite side of Scioto River at
county airport in Pickaway County. West of U.S. 23.
Reported to Orr by Decker in 1985. Findings: glazed
stone.
Richards No. 1: located on Richards farm, several
miles west and south of Circleville, Ohio in Pickaway
County, west of Scioto River, across river from Dupont
plant. Reported by landowner Mr. Richards in 1971.
Findings: glazed stones.
Richards No. 2: located on Richards property near
Yellowbud, Ohio in Ross County. Reported by Don Bennett
and Parker in 1993. Findings: glazed stones, 20-pound
iron bar, probably cast iron, irregularly shaped, use
unknown. Artifacts: APGS (including iron bar).
Ross County Airport: located alongside north end
of runway of county airport several miles north of
Andersonville, Ohio in Ross County. Reported to Orr by
Eley in 1990. Findings: glazed stones, colonial era
ceramic bottle fragments. Artifacts: APGS.
Sabre Farm: located on this farm near site of
former Fiesta Drive-In Theater, several miles north of
Chillicothe, Ohio in Ross County. Reported by Orr.
Findings: glazed stones.
Stoutsville: located near this town in Fairfield
County, Ohio. Reported by Orr. Findings: glazed stones.
Tarleton: located near this town in Pickaway
County, Ohio. Reported by Orr. Findings: glazed stones.
Unioto School: located near this school several
miles north of Chillicothe, Ohio in Ross County.
Findings: glazed stones. Reported by Parker in 1994
Yellowbud: located on a farm near Yellowbud, Ohio, in Ross County. Reported to Orr by Haynes. Findings: glazed stones, slag.