Catherine Furnace and the Library.....

Took a ride over to the Shenandoah Library, which is only open 3 days out of the week and have missed it several times, to do some research on the Shenandoah River and Iron production during the 1800's. Was not able to locate a book that was listed in the online catalog and which only this branch of the library system has a copy. The librarian said "oh we have that but it's not kept on the shelf it's in a special place". She then proceeded over to her desk where the desired book is kept in a cardboard box under the desk (High security).

   

The book was well worth the wait and was full of some great information concerning the Catherine Furnace that I just visited a few weeks back and history of transporting Pig Iron down the Shenandoah River to Harpers Ferry.

One of the more interesting things found was when it came time to leave the Librarian asked if I had seen the model of the Catherine Furnace that was in the library. It turns out several years back a relative of somebody who actually worked the furnace back in the 1800's made this model and it shows the layout of the site in detail.

All that remains now is the actual furnace structure as well as several stone walls that supported the roadways and other foundations. Above is a photo that includes Red lines that I drew in to show the span between the top of the furnace to the Wall\roadway nearby. The Iron ore would be dumped into the top of the furnace along with the charcoal and limestone. Along the nearby water stream would be a large water wheel that powered a large air-bellow that fed forced air into the furnace to get the heat needed to melt down the ore. This Iron would run out the bottom of the furnace into troughs and into individual bars called "Pig Iron". 

This photo of the model shows in detail what the ramp would have looked like and puts the whole project in perspective. There are many foundations and stone walls in the area and a return trip is planned for some looking around time.....

*There is a local legend that the handprint that can be seen in one of the iron support arches above one of the furnace openings (you must look up while standing under it) is Noah Foltz's handprint; he having been forced to put his hand, along with a rat's tail to show his betrayal to the Confederacy, before the iron cooled.

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Just some random thoughts......

The Free Two Years of Community College "Bone"....

This past week President Obama came out with his newest idea of giving away two years of free community college to any “responsible” student. Interesting how he announced this prize idea on Facebook as compared to going in front of the mainstream media who might actually come up with a coherent, well thought out question, (Who pays?) but I will get to that in a bit. I think Rush might have hit it when he said that Obama is throwing this “bone” to his simple minded (economics) base because many do not know or understand, the hit they are about to take at “Tax Refund” time…

Rush predicts that many who took advantage of the subsidy money they took to buy into the “Obama-Care” program do not understand that is “taxable” income and will affect their tax-returns. Again, many of the simple minded (economics) base that Obama counts on, look forward to a large tax-return as a “bonus” when in fact all year long they paid too much taxes and the government is simply returning the overage without interest. The expected “bonus” tax return might just be greatly reduced or eliminated this year because of “Obama-Care”. Makes sense why Obama announced this “bone” via Facebook video and post…

Fact is much of “community college” is already financed by the government in forms such as “Pell grants” and other programs and are obviously counted on by these colleges. I recall when I lived in the Florida Keys and decided to take some marine biology courses since I was working on a sportfishing charter boat for a living. I had no intentions of becoming a “marine biologist” but took the courses to increase my knowledge in the area I worked in. I went in to register for my first introductory course at the registration office and when it came time to pay I pulled out cash to complete the transaction. The woman behind the counter looked at me with a funny look and asked if I was really paying with cash. She then said she had to find the cash box to make change and this took several minutes and help from another worker to locate the box. They then had to go into their own purses to make change for me to complete the transaction. She then asked me why I was not using the Pell grant program, which I could have since 80% of my income was cash and could easily be hidden, but I said I was paying straight out. Guess what happened when I went to the bookstore to buy my textbooks and paid with cash?....

Unfortunately many expect and take advantage of government programs to “do for them that which they could, and should do for themselves”…  Obama will once again take advantage of this…..

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