Practicum.docx
Posted at Feb 09/2011 11:36PM:
Max Monn:
ARCH1855: Group Practicum #1 Response
For years I have lived in ignorance of the iron-working industry that constituted such a large part of regional commerce in the Adirondack region throughout the 19th century. The roads now lined with lakefront McMansions were at one time speckled with roasting pits and bloomery forges. The history of this industry/art was buried within the changing times just as easily as its artifacts were lost within the earth. The remnants of ironworking often go unnoticed because of their subtle nature. The stratification of the soil with layers of slag and ferrous deposits, the crumbling remains of tuyeres and furnaces, even the bogs from which the ore itself was mined quickly become well hidden by the Adirondack wilderness. By reenacting the placement and development of a successful bloomery forge using modern day tools we were able to determine where the now forgotten ironworks of Tupper Lake may have been located. We also gained valueable information regarding the subtleties of the bloomery forge process, most of which were never decided upon explicitly but occurred through a natural means of optimization. By visualizing the process of creating a bloomery furnace through virtual experimentation we could develop justifications behind the many choices made by the ironworkers of the Adirondacks. Although it may seem most practical for the ironworkers to mine the iron-rich magnetite ores found in nearby mountains it would be very difficult for small ironworking communities to transport large amounts of this dense ore to the river where it would be crushed prior to smelting. This lack of manpower typical of small forge operations justifies the growth of towns near Tupper Lake. Near the lake itself it would have been simple for the ironworkers to sustainably harvest bog ore, which while lower in iron content was far easier to process and transport. If additional power was needed, the Raquette River, and its alpine tributaries, could be used to power bellows and triphammers. The high ratio of bloom furnaces to blast furnaces prior to the construction of the Adirondack railroad is simply a product of practicality. With an abundant mixture of hardwoods and softwoods, and a lack of local coal deposits, the Adirondacks were and ideal locale for the production and use of charcoal in the smelting process. This exercise demonstrated that although many of these design choices were created out of necessity and convenience they can be replicated in a controlled setting by analyzing both the limitations of the ironworkers as well as the resources available to them. This trial-and-error optimization was successfully replicated through research and experimental emulation.
