Norman H. Scott, who grew up in Clifton Forge, recently completed his fourth and final publication of the history of iron production in Virginia’s valley. The valley is formed between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains and extends from Frederick County in the north to Lee County in the south. High quality iron ore was extracted from both sides of the valley and numerus iron furnaces were constructed to smelt this ore into pig iron. Scott’s books detail the advent of the iron smelting industry from its earliest days, using the bloomery forge, through the cold-blast charcoal furnace phase to the final stage of using hot-blast coke furnaces. In Virginia, iron production began as early as 1727 and ended shortly after world war I. One of the largest iron concerns in Virginia was the Low Moor Iron Company which had two furnaces in Low Moor and one in Covington.
Scott graduated from Clifton Forge High School in 1960. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he completed his education culminating with a doctorate degree from VPI&SU in 1976. His chosen career, community college education, was completed when he retired as president of Rappahannock Community College in 2004. His research and writing about the iron industry has mostly occurred during his retirement.
Scott divided the valley into four sections and devoted a book to each section. “There is so much information and too many furnaces to include in one book,” Scott stated. “I thought it best not to overwhelm the reader.” The four books include, Iron and the Gap, A River of Iron, Shenandoah Iron and Big Lick, Cripple Creek and Rye Valley Iron. Scott also added Index and Compendium to index all four books and provide a list of all furnace names found, listed both by name and county of location. Each book describes a different geographical area roughly encompassing the watershed of the major river/s in each section.
The Alleghany highlands region is detailed in A River of Iron. This 346-page book includes a description of the earliest bloomery forges, later the charcoal furnaces and finally the large hot-blast coke furnaces of the area. Iron mining and mines are detailed and the significant impact of river and rail transportation is highlighted.
In 1824, Robert Gallaspy was believed to have built and operated a bloomery forge in the Iron Gate gorge. His property was purchased by the Jordans who later built a cold-blast charcoal furnace nearby. The remains of this furnace still exist along route 220 between Clifton Forge and Iron Gate. Scott details forty-nine similar cold-blast charcoal furnaces having operated in the highlands region. The Civil War marked the end of these type furnaces. By 1880, the new era of hot-blast coke furnaces emerged. There were eleven hot-blast stacks in this sector.
“Little remains of the more recent furnaces, yet most of the older ones are still standing,” Scott noted. He explained that the older cold-blast furnace stacks were made of large stone blocks and have survived. The recent hot-blast furnaces were constructed of iron and all have been torn down to salvage the scrap-metal. “A few concrete structures remaining from the Low Moor furnace are still visible at the Low Moor junction on Interstate 64,” Scott revealed. “The Covington stack is completely gone.” Scott also noted that the two smoke stacks of the Longdale Furnace are still standing and a few buildings of the Alleghany Furnace in Iron Gate are still being used.
Scott included numerous photographs and diagrams in his four books to illustrate how the iron industry functioned. How a blast furnace operated and the reaction of iron ore, limestone and charcoal/coke in the intense heat of the furnace are explained. The impact of river, canal and railroad transportation on the industry is detailed.
In his research, Scott found over 203 furnace names (several furnaces had multiple names). Each furnace is detailed with as much information as he was able to find. Scott began his research in 2014 and completed his last book, Big Lick, Cripple Creek and Rye Valley Iron last year.
Scott noted that it took him nearly ten years to research and write his four books but he enjoyed learning about how important the iron industry was to the local economy. “It was a labor of love,” Scott stated. “I enjoyed learning so much about this topic.”
All four books and index are available from Amazon Books but several titles are available at the C&O Historical Society in Clifton Forge. “If anyone is interested in reading about the iron history of the region, I hope they will support the C&O Historical Society and purchase a book there,” Scott emphasized.