Henry Clay Furnace was an anthracite-burning iron furnace. Anthracite coal is a hard coal with a luster. It burns longer than any other coal and has a high carbon content. PA produces more anthracite coal than any other state. The coal was originally brought in on the canal you can see remnants of on the other side of the trail . The canal was abandoned after the railroad was brought in.
To the right of the info sign is a wall that is all that is left of the tenement house where the workers lived. Behind the wall, there is a small outcrop of phyllite. Phyllite is a type of foliated (repetitive layering in metamorphic rocks), metamorphic rock created from slate which is the parent rock of phyllite. Phyllite has fine grained mica flakes with a pattern of lines. Metamorphic rocks arise when existing rocks are transformed by heat and pressure and change into a different rock. They make up as large part of the earth's crust.
North of the sign is a limestone wall that looks like it is holding up the hill. There was a stone crusher there. Limestone was brought in and crushed to be used on railroad beds. Later it was used to quarry quartzite in the hillside. The crushed quartzite was used to make fire bricks used in the linings of furnaces. Optional: Post a photo that shows your caching party. Congratulations Dan, (levidan) on your FTF
Email the answers to the following questions to claim this Earthcache.
1. What was this furnace used for?
2. What year was it built and when was it abandoned?
3. The product produced here was sent to the rolling mills to make what?
4. Name two types of rocks found here.
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