Lonaconing Furnace, also known as The George's Creek Coal and Iron Company Furnace No. 1, is a historic

iron furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric p ...

Lonaconing Lonaconing is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, located along the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD- WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,214 at the 2010 census. History The first non- ...

, Allegany County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, United States. It is a truncated square pyramid constructed of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, high, 50 feet square at the base, and 25 feet square at the top. It first produced iron in 1839, then the iron operation was abandoned in the mid-1850s, the Loncaconing Furnace complex included a top house, molding house, engine house, and two hot-air furnaces for heating the blast. None of these ancillary structures remains. It played a significant role in demonstrating that both coke and raw

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...

could be used as fuels in the manufacture of iron. It is known as "the first coke furnace, whose operation was successful, erected in this country." Lonaconing Furnace was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973.

References

External links

*, including photo in 1979, at Maryland Historical Trust Buildings and structures in Allegany County, Maryland Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Industrial buildings completed in 1836 National Register of Historic Places in Allegany County, Maryland {{AlleganyCountyMD-NRHP-stub