Stockyard

Stockyard. . , The upper area of the furnace complex was known as the stockyard. Here, the raw materials were delivered, stockpiled, sorted, and graded., When Buckeye Furnace was operating, this area bustled with activity as teamsters delivered and unloaded their cargoes of limestone, iron ore, and charcoal., [Sidebar:] , Forests. The extensive forests that once covered the Hanging Rock Region provided the charcoal needed to fuel the iron furnaces. Each year thousands of trees were cut and converted to charcoal through a controlled burning process. Little through was given to replanting the areas that were depleted of rees. In time the industry felt the consequences of its neglect. In 1880, the Charcoal Iron Workers Journal lamented, ,

"There is no mistaking the fact that our timber is going … we have put off inspecting our national account until at last, in the matter of timber supply, we are but one step from bankruptcy."

, As the forests vanished, the price of charcoal rose. By the 1880s, furnaces fueled by coke, a much cheaper fuel, were making iron so inexpensively that charcoal furnaces were forced to close., After the furnaces closed, the land was abandoned. During the last half of the twentieth century, the forests have returned. The new, young forest on this hilltop contains faster growing beech and maple trees than the mature growth that was destroyed. In time, more oaks will grow, and the forest will once again appear as it did in the early nineteenth century.