Early Iron Works
Clay City, Powell County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Early Iron Works. Though there is evidence of iron production in area even earlier, land was bought for this purpose, 1805, by Robert Clark Jr. and Wm. Smith. Known as Clark & Smith's Iron Works, 1805-1808. A blast furnace called Red River Iron Works operated here from 1808 to 1830. Rebuilt as Estill Steam Furnace on another site; closed in 1869. (Reverse) Clay City Timber Industry - With Kentucky Union Railway Company's track laid in Powell Co. in 1886, the area's timber industry expanded. Red River Lumber Mills (1880) became largest steampowered sawmill in Ky. In 1890, the steady run began at one of America's largest timber processing plants. A 1906 mill fire and deforestation of area's timber led to the end of "boom days" in Clay City.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Robert Clark Jr. and William Smith bought land here in 1805 to make iron, and from 1808 to 1830 a blast furnace known as the Red River Iron Works turned local ore into metal on the Kentucky frontier. Decades later the region's timber wealth took over: after the Kentucky Union Railway reached Powell County in 1886, Clay City's sawmills boomed, including one of America's largest timber-processing plants—until a 1906 mill fire and exhausted forests ended the boom.
Why it matters
The site charts a frontier region's industrial arc from early iron furnaces to a railroad-driven timber boom, the resource extraction that built and then depleted much of rural America.
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Related people
- · Robert Clark Jr.
- · William Smith
Themes & tags
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