Dressed Ore

Dressed Ore. Station 7. , Ore comes out of the ground mixed with sand and rock. Before it can be worked, it needs to be broken up (crushed) and separated from dirt and rock. In the early 1830's, Penfield and Taft made history by developing a magnetic ore separator charged by an electromagnet designed by Joseph Henry., The new works developed by the Crown Point Iron Company in 1873 called for large scale separating, so a new separator building took the place of the old double sawmill that was built at the middle dam in 1830. Ore cars dumped their loads at the top (far end) of the building. A conveyor (on the near side) reloaded them with dressed ore., If you look closely, a heavy round iron pin anchored in the ledge can be found. This served as anchorage for a snatch block pulley through which a cable or rope operated the flume gate in the dam from someplace in the separator building. This point was the end of the railroad spur for a train load of ore from Hammondville. Here the cars dumped and, by gravity, the ore slid into a stone-walled bin where it was roasted. It was crushed and separated in the building that once stood on the foundations you see directly below you., It is also timely to think about the fact that the first industrial use of electricity occurred here in the summer of 1831., . This historical marker is in Ironville in Essex County New York