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PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2006 10:44 pm 
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Wow, I'd love to check out the museum. I wonder when they tried to remove the ore car from the Roxbury Mine. Was this before the gates? I always wanted to crush rocks in a real ore crusher! :D

Hey Chris, doesn't Mike Pierca work in one of these museums?

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PostPosted: Thu May 18, 2006 7:08 am 
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Location: Monroe, CT
I think it was fairly recent that they tried to remove the ore car, they took an iron ladder too and who knows what else.


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PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2006 10:20 pm 
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Wow, that is really neat actually. Working steam engines? Very cool actually. I'd love to see some of the old pictures of the Roxbury mine. It is a very impressive operation, I would love to see what it looked like back in the day.


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PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2006 10:22 pm 
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I found a website for the museum which looks interesting, www.ctamachinery.com. I guess it is too bad they took stuff out of the mine, but then again, sometimes that is what needs to be done to perserve it ... so long people can see the stuff.


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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 9:58 am 
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Location: Closest to the Roxbury mine, CT
Blast Furnace tour 2006 Trip, Quick Summary:

Day 1:
 Skipped Roxbury (1867) and Bull’s falls (1826) furnaces since we’ve been there dozens of times and no guests came.
 Kent furnace (1826): Now fenced off to protect fire brick from destructive people. We saw 2 or 3 salamanders nearby, followed the race to the river and noted area where the dam once stood. The Museum on the site is awesome, it has several detailed models depicting mining operations and blast furnaces in the area. They also have a mineral collection, a small rock crusher, mining artifacts, and the curator has a wealth of knowledge of mining and blast furnace history.
 Cornwall bridge (1833): Lower remains of the furnace visible, charcoal shed enclosure nearby, huge pit for a water wheel, bright blue colored slag.
 Lime Rock #1 (1830): Met a cool local girl who was renting a house that was originally a blast furnace workers home. She introduced us to the owners of the blast furnace. The furnace is only a few feet away from the owner’s home. Surrounding the furnace are many pieces of iron parts discovered onsite. The best parts were 2 tuyeres, and 2 tapping holes. The remains of the slag-encrusted bosh were arranged to enclose an area for flowers.
 Hiked the AT 4 miles up a mountain to camp at a lodge a mile past lion’s head (Great views). Drank a lot.

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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 10:36 am 
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Good finds! Was there a Day 2 of the trip? Looking forward to hearing how that went. Even though I dislike fencing around furnaces, I prefer it to seeing mindless vandalism on structures that have stood for so many years. The Cobb Furnace in Rockaway was one such furnace until it became vandalized in the past couple of years. The area was opened up as a park and with that came every idiot with no respect for history or what the structure even actually was. Very sad. Fortunately the Cobb Mine is still around and hidden from most idiots.

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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:23 pm 
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Location: Closest to the Roxbury mine, CT
Fortunately you can still observe most of what you want to see of a blast furnace when it gated, unlike if a mine was gated.

I’ve been pretty busy, day 2 will be posted later.

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PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2006 11:29 am 
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I guess you didn't quite hit the 20 - 22 blast furnaces, but it sounds like you stumbled into a lot of good finds on the first day. Can't wait to hear about the second day!


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PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2006 1:18 pm 
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Location: Closest to the Roxbury mine, CT
Day 2:
 Mt. Riga (1810): Outer wall totally rebuilt, Some slag-coated rock was used to build some of the wall. Telephone poles instead of metal plates were used in its construction. The best part was crawling into the Crucible and looking up to see the totally intact brickwork and the shape of the bosh on up through the stack top. The shape reminds me of a glass cover for an oil lamp, how it is narrower at the ends but is bulged in the center. The charging ramp was in good condition in contrast to what “echos” says. The dam down stream was in great condition and is huge. Near by a natural spring was bubbling water out of a pipe into a deep pan.
 Beckley, AKA East Canaan #2 (1847): Set up as a national industrial Site. Every thing is here. Huge furnace (fenced off). Plaques with descriptions and pictures of the operation are very insightful. A wide dam upstream channeled water into a giant pipe which fed a turbine! The turbine was now apart for viewing. Amazingly some of the sills of the old buildings are still intact. Nearby are 2 huge piles of slag, A plaque says about 900,000 tons of slag was produced.
 Town of Salisbury: Stopped at the town hall to look at the helve hammer used to shape wrought iron at the dam near MT. Riga. Also nearby was the infamous “SALISBURY” cast utility kettle used at the davis mine. Across the street the Academy Building was closed but apparently has a good selection of books concerning the iron industry.
 Salisbury (1762): Nothing left of the furnace, site is marked with a plaque. Another turbine in good condition found in a small stream with a boardwalk around it for easy observation. Across the street is the cannon museum, which also must provide tours, considering the many numbered plaques. Around the building itself are 4 or 5 more utility kettles, including another one with “Salisbury” cast on the side. One of them was so big it could fit the “Salisbury” one inside it. Too bad the museum was closed.
 Macedonia (1826): In the upper Macedonia State park. Only the lower portion of the furnace is visible even being partially covered with rubble. Wheel pit and small race seen.
 Lime Quarry: In the pouring rain Mike and I dashed through the woods, dropped down a wall, scuttled through the tall grass along a stream trench, hopped 2 fences and darted into the opening in the wall of the quarry. The tunnel is straight in about 250 feet the turns north about 30 deg. We slosh through one-foot deep water for another 300 feet and we find ourselves outside again! All around us are blasted out cliffs towering at about 100 feet! There is no way else out, the opening was a connecting tunnel to another part of the quarry which happens to be like a canyon.

That is the end of Blast Furnace Tour 2006: 7 furnace sites visited out of the 14 I originally planned and out of 21 known in the CT. We tried.

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PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2006 10:16 pm 
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Still a very impressive number of furnaces given the amount of time you had to study them. Next, it would be great to see some pictures! Did you guys take any?


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PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2006 10:52 am 
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Location: Closest to the Roxbury mine, CT
Michelle, can you toss your some of your best pics from the trip on this page? The forum demands it.

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PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2006 11:06 am 
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Yes, we are all anxiously waiting. :D

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PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2006 12:44 pm 
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Location: Monroe, CT
I will send all our best pictures from the blast furnace trip to miner mike tonight, and he can put them on the forum, since I cant seem to do it for some reason.

Marc- maybe you can write up a brief history and description of each furnace?

-Mike


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PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2006 1:20 pm 
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That would be great. To all that are curious, we will be adding a special section to the site for mine related articles. We already have a few waiting to put up. If you are interested in contributing, please send me a private message on the forum.

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:39 pm 
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Location: Easton, CT
Check out updated BLAST FURNACE! page.

http://hometown.aol.com/oldclock50/page5.html

NOW WITH CAPTIONS!

and there is more to come.


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