Clinton Iron Furnace, Venus, Washington Twp., Clarion Co., PA

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The Iron Furnaces of Clarion County Pennsylvania

Clinton Furnace & Iron Works
Village of Venus,
Washington Twp.,
Clarion County,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Pennsylvania Iron Furnace Sourcebook
Clarion County Iron Furnaces

A Tribute to the Iron Masters and Iron Workers
that built and keep in-blast
the old Stone Blast Furnaces of Pennsylvania.

by
Raymond A. Washlaski, Historian, Archaeologist & Web Master,
Ryan P. Washlaski, Technical Advisor.

Virtual Museum of Pennsylvania Iron Furnaces & Iron Works
A Publication of the 19th Century Society of Pennsylvania
Updated Nov. 2, 2002

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Clinton Furnace & Iron Works: Located on Hemlock Creek, 8mi. east of the Allegheny River, near the Village of Venus, Washington Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Date Built: ca. 1841
Date Out-of-Blast: ca.1858

Other names Clinton Furnace was known by:
Clapp & Seymour Company Furnace;
Clinton Furnace, Venango Co.;
Moore & Seymour Company Furnace;
Plumer's Furnace

Clinton Furnace & Iron Works:
A Stone Blast Furnace & Iron Works
Owners:
Clapp & Seymour Company (ca.1841)
Moore & Seymour Company (ca.1850)
Samuel F. Plumer (ca.1856)

Short History of Clinton Furnace:

Documents Relating to the Manufacture of Iron in Pennsylvania, 1850
A Detailed Statement of all the Charcoal Cold Blast Furnaces in Western Pennsylvania in the year 1850
Published on behalf of the Convention of Iron Masters,
Which met in Philadelphia, on the Twentierth of December, 1849
Philadelphia: Published by the General Committee. 1850

Name of Works	date of Sheriff's sale or failure	Furnaces in-blast 1849	Furnaces out-of-blast 1849	date of construction	Capacity in Tons
Clinton Furnace		1		1841	1,100 Tons

Owners	Post Office	Kind of ore used	No. of Men & Boys Employed	No. of horses & mules Employed
Moore & Seymour Company	Clinton Furnace	Argillareous Carbonate	56	36

Stack No. Tuyeres	Stack Bosh	Stack Height	Kind of Power used	Kind of Metal Made	Largest product	Actual Product in 1849
1	8 feet	33 feet	Water	Close Gray Iron	650 Tons	500 Tons

(Iron Masters Association,1850:n.p.)

From "History of Clarion County" 1887.
Clinton Furnace, 1841, on Hemlock Creek, in the extreme northwest corner of Washington township; owned first by Clapp and Seymour; afterward by Samuel F. Plumer, manager, William Hollis; nine and one-half feet across the bosh, thirty-three feet high; production, 1845, 1,000 tons; 1856, 2,000; forge metal, out of fossil buhr-stone and fossil limestone, lower coal measure ore, mined two miles south of the furnace. (Davis,1887:117)

Clinton Furnace. Located on Hemlock Creek in the extreme northwest corner of Washington Township. Height 33 feet, 9 1/2 foot bosh. Produced 1,000 tons in 1845 and 1847, 2,000 tons of forge metal out of fossil buhr stone and fossil limestone ore mined two mile south of the furnace, lower coal measure ore in 1856. Managed by William Hollis under Plumer's ownership. (Caldwell,1877: )

Clinton Furnace. This steam powered, cold blast furnace was built on Hemlock Creek in 1841 and was operated about 15 years. In 1850 it was owned by *Horner and Eaton and in 1859 by S.F. Plumer of Franklin.
(Sharp & Thomas,1966:32)

* [The owner in 1850 should read Moore & Seymour, Sharp & Thomas mixed up Clinton Furnace with Hemlock Furnace, on the owners.]

Clinton Furnace, Washington Township, Clarion Co.
1872 Map of Washington Township, Clarion, showing the location of the Clinton Furnace and the settlement around the furnace location.
(from "Atlas of the County of Lawrence & The State of Pennsylvania," Published by G.M.Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, PA, ca.1872)

Location:
From Oil City, to visit the site of Clinton Furnace, Washington Township, Clarion County, starting from Oil City, travel east on US Rt. 62 approx. 2.5 mi to Rose Garden, and the junction of PA Rt.157. Turn right onto PA Rt.157, Follow PA Rt.157 approx 12 Mi. through the Village of Coal Hill to Venus, which sits on the Venango Co.-Clarion Co. Line. In Venus take T-591 (County Line Road) north and then east approx. 1.5 mi., to the junction of another township road T-590 (Hoy Road) to the left and near a bridge over Auge Run, a branch of Hemlock Creek The site of Clinton Furnace and the ruins of the stack are against the hillside about 200 feet to the right on McCauley Run, another branch of Hemlock Creek. The junction of Auge Run and McCauley Run forming Hemlock Creek is right pass the Clinton Furnace Site. Large quantities of slag were everywhere ca.1966. Showing the amount of activity at Clinton Furnace during its operation.

Another Furnace, Hemlock Furnace, is close by and worth viewing.
(Sharp & Thomas,1966:32)

(It is recommended that you obtain and use the "Pennsylvania Atlas & Gazetteer" by DeLorne Mapping, as your map source in finding the Clarion County Iron Furnaces.)

The above Washington Township map is cropped from a 1/50,000 USGS Geological Survey Map of Clarion County dated 1986; based on 1/24,000 maps dated 1963 through 1969.
(Courtesy of the U.S.G.S. Topographic Survey, Washington, D.C.)

Bibliographical Sources: This section under construction.

[no pictures are presently available for Clinton Furnace, Washington Twp., Clarion Co., Pa.]
If you have pictures or know of where pictures of the furnace are located or additional information on Clinton Furnace, Clarion Co., please contact the Ironmaster

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