In the February issue of New Milford Living, we began to explore our environment by shedding insight on Earth’s geological timeframe and its impact on us here in New England, and in particular Connecticut.
What began some 490 million years ago during the Pangea episode when the continents of North America and Africa collided and millions of years of ensuing ice ages, would ultimately culminate into a rich tapestry of geological providentially that has enriched all of our lives. Woven into this tapestry, here in Connecticut, we inherited a diverse number of mineral elements early industrialists took full advantage of. These minerals include pegmatite, lead, copper, nickel, and several others, but none more important than limonite or what is more commonly known as iron ore. The discovery of limonite in northwestern Connecticut is a fascinating story, which is truly transformative, as it shaped the very town we live in today as well as having a profound impact on our entire nation.
One of the very first acts of settling a new area, or territory, would require the region first be surveyed by officials representing a governing body to determine boundaries in order to establish townships. This is exactly what transpired in the summer of 1728, when surveyors from Hartford were mapping out the western reaches of Salisbury when they began to experience difficultly with their compasses and soon realized they were standing on a large deposit of iron ore. As they viewed their surroundings, they discovered a freshly dug woodchuck den with pieces of limonite and goethite surrounding the entrance. It wasn’t long before word of this discovery got the attention of early industrialists who immediately began prospecting for additional favorable deposits. Mining for iron ore in this region began with digging an open pit in 1732 on Ore Hill located in Salisbury, Connecticut and was referred to as “Salisbury Iron.” As prospecting expanded, the discoveries of iron ore deposits covered and extended into a narrow belt from western mid-Vermont, south along the New York-Massachusetts line reaching down into Connecticut as far south as Kent. However, historically the entire iron ore region was, and will be, referred to as simply Salisbury Iron.
The laborious process of extracting the actual iron from the host rock involved first digging it out of the ground by hand and transporting it in bags on horseback, or dreys, to a furnace where the ore could be heated in order to melt, or smelt, out the actual iron. Separating the iron from the host rock and earth is not so simple of a process. For all of this to happen, you need rich and abundant ore, copious amounts of lumber for charcoal, limestone to remove slag during the smelting process, and dependable fast-flowing rivers and streams, along with abundant cheap labor. All of these elements are critical to the iron process, and fortunately all were abundant in the northwest corner of Connecticut. A few examples of fast-flowing water sources include the Salmon Kill in Lakeville, the Blackberry in Norfolk and Canaan, and the Macedonia Brook in Kent.
The early furnaces used for smelting iron were referred to as Bloomery Forges. They were of a small German design capable of producing high quality iron. However, their production capacity was limited to 400lbs of iron daily, as the slag needed to be hammered out of the melt by hand producing something that looked similar to a flower, hence it was called a Bloomery Forge. It wasn’t until 1762 that our revolutionary war hero, Ethan Allen, at the age of 23 along with ironmaster, Samuel Forbes, built a much larger blast furnace capable of producing tons of iron daily. This is the same furnace that produced 80% of the American Revolution cannons and shot, which helped identify the town of Lakeville as the Revolutionary Arsenal.
For almost 200 years, high quality iron would be continuously produced from the Salisbury Iron Field, contributing to the Industrial Revolution and our nation’s Civil War. As time passed, cheaper iron being produced in other parts of the country and the introduction of the Bessemer Method of Steel Production in 1856, Connecticut would eventually cease all of its iron furnace operations closing the last blast furnace in 1923.
To read Part III of this 3-part study, please see the May 2026 issue of New Milford Living
