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Old Iron town, Utah
In 1850 this town called "Iron
Mission" was settled by 120 men
30 women and 18 children. In 1881 the Utah
Iron Manufacturing Company was
organized and was finished being
built in 1884. The
Deseret Iron Company was
founded and iron production was
under way. The Iron Mission plant was the
second only plant west of the
Mississippi where mined ore was
made into pig iron.
In 1890 after only 8
years of operation, the plant was
shut down because of floods, needed
repairs on the furnace and problems
transporting the iron and cheaper
imported iron from the east. Only 25 tons of iron had
been produced at a cost of
$150,000.00.
In
1948 when it was decided to make
this town sight an historic sight only
a chimney from a blast furnace and
one charcoal kiln was left standing
and is all that remains today. There are still old mine tailings piles that are
fun for rock hounds to sift through.
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