This blast furnace was built in 1852 in Bartow County off Stamp Creek. Originally called the Union Furnace, its ownership changed hands more than a half dozen times between its start and 1880. In 1875, this site was the first furnace in the United States to produce a commercial, high-quality ferro-manganese product at 67 percent purity. Its one-time owner, Willard P. Ward, had trained in Europe before venturing into the business in the United States.
Ferromanganese is used in the steel, foundry, and other industrial production industries.
In the late 1880s, Georgia was only one of three states that produced any notable amounts of straight manganese ore. This site in particular was the most productive of the manganese furnaces in the state.
This site has fallen apart over the last 172 years. At one time there was a wooden race built from the top of an adjacent ridge to safely drop the materials in the furnace from above. The illustration below gives a fairly good representation of the process.
The hill to the rear left of the furnace would have been where the bridge would span from.
The furnace is located in the newly closed Pine Log Mountain Wildlife Management Area. The land lease of the Pine Long WMA was recently not renewed by the Neel family after a 46-year duration. On June 1st, 2023, the land became close to the public. The 14,000-plus acre site will likely be sold to real estate developers. Sadly, reports say only 5 or 6 thousand acres will be retained as green space. The Diamond Furnace is one of a handful of such furnaces in the Pine Log WMA area. Whether or not this includes this pre-Civil War industrial landmark or the other furnaces, remains to be seen.
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