Stafford Flint Furnace

Stafford Flint Furnace. . , The "flint furnace" is all that remains of the once thriving town of Stafford. Beginning in 1749 with the building of the Rock Forge, an iron works, by George Rock, a succession of furnaces, forges and mills, and other industries occupied the surrounding area. The population of the town fluctuated with the fortunes of the men who owned the companies. During one prosperous era, the town boasted a school, boarding house and post office. Much of the town was destroyed by an ice gorge in 1904 after several years of decline., The flint furnace was the last of these industries to survive. White flint quarried several miles north of Stafford and brought to the furnace by wagons on the canal. The flint was layered in the furnace alternating with wood and set afire. Heat from the drove water out of the flint, cracking it and reducing it to large pebbles. These pebbles were ground into a fine powder. Washed and bagged, the flint powder was sent by canal to Trenton, N.J. where it was used to porcelainize pots and pans and to make porcelain china.