Raw Materials Supply and Technological Change in the American Charcoal Iron Industry

Abstract

In the early 19th century, charcoal iron smelting was carried out in iron plantations-rural, small-scale operations which employed a primitive, age-old technology. Such crude techniques resulted in an enormous waste of the raw materials, particularly the charcoal fuel. The name plantation derives from the fact that these enterprises were often nearly self-sufficient communities, producing not only iron but also most of their own food, and were therefore as much agricultural as industrial operations. The quality of the iron produced at these plantations was usually quite good, but its price, due to the inefficiency of the processes used, was high. Two historians of the American iron industry-Peter Temin and Louis Hunter-have claimed that these characteristics of the charcoal