Jones Iron Works

Blast Furnace (left) and Dedication Marker (right)

This site is a walking park in Enoch, UT. I may not have known to stop and investigate if not for the Pokestop indicated on my Pokemon Go. It is a historic iron works built by John Pidding Jones, a Mormon pioneer from England, in the 1870's. John had been involved extensively with the Deseret Iron Works previously, and before coming to Utah was engaged in iron working with his two brothers. Originally the iron works consisted of a foundry, blacksmith shop, blast furnace, coke oven, and a lime kiln. Today all that remain on the property are the blast furnace, made from an old steam engine, and the outline of the stone coke oven. The iron works was in operation from about 1875-1898.

The following is an excerpt from the Biography of John P. Jones, written by his son Hyrum. It gives details on the building and operation of the furnace, as well as what sort of products were made and where they were used:

John P. Jones

"Making iron was a part of John, and it was not long before another foundry and furnace were built at Enoch. He knew very little about farming and stock-raising. As soon as his new home was finished, he began the work of building another cupola furnace, a blacksmith shop, a foundry and a coke and charcoal oven. This proved to be a monumental undertaking for such a few workers. Un- daunted by the Herculean task, he and his four stalwart sons worked long hours until the buildings were finished. Raw materials for building the structures were nearby and plentiful. Rare sand for the foundry was needed. This was found in the springs just one-half mile west of the furnace. Fire-clay was needed to line the furnace, and this was found in abundance about three miles north of town. Rock for the coke and charcoal oven was plentiful. Wood to burn into charcoal could be brought in from the foothills; coal could be hauled in from Cedar Canyon mines about 18 miles away. All the hauling at this time was done by ox-team. This was slow, but dependable.

Blast Furnace

John Lee had already built a lime kiln to make quick-lime for the mortar to hold the sun-dried brick and rock together, which was used to build their houses. One item needed badly was a steel shell for the furnace. They heard of a steam boiler that had blown up at a saw mill in the mountains near Paragonah. A team of oxen and wagon were sent for it, after which it was set up on end and lined with unburned brick and plastered on the inside with fire-clay mortar. The shell was a little small but it would do. The steel shell was nearly eight feet high. This was not tall enough, so un- burned brick were used to extend the furnace up another seven feet. A platform was built within two or three feet of the top to hold fuel and scrap-iron as well as a man to stoke the furnace.

Coke Oven

Lumber for the foundry and blacksmith shop was available at a number of saw-mills in the near- by mountains. Scrap iron was brought in from the homes in the valley. Several tons of small cannon balls were hauled in from Camp Floyd, which were brought to Utah by Johnston's army. By utilizing scrap iron, little or no lime for a flux was needed. Very little iron ore was used in this operation so there was a minimum of **** to dispose of. The furnace would burn off most of the impurities when a combination of charcoal and coke were used. There would be very little sulphur and phosphorus to make the smelted iron brittle. The iron produced in this operation was not steel, for it was .not combined with carbon; it was not pig iron, neither was it wrought iron; however, it resembled wrought iron because it was malleable and could be worked in the blacksmith shop.

Producing the blast of air which was necessary for the furnace was a major problem. Among the few things that John Pidding Jones brought from England was a small copper fan. Each of the four blades were about 5 by 7 inches. There were two pulleys, one on each end of the shaft; about four inches in diameter and four inches wide, to accommodate two belts. This was placed in the bottom of the furnace.

The power to drive the fan was produced by a three-team horsepower machine -probably a relic from the defunct Deseret Iron Industries Company of Cedar City. The power was led by tumbling rods to a large wooden pulley about 20 inches wide and 26 inches in diameter. It had to be sturdy and well-balanced to reduce vibration. To make a pulley of this size required considerable skill. It was made wide so that the two leather belts would lead from it to the fan about 8 feet away. One revolution of the wooden pulley would turn the fan 6.28 revolutions, or about 1200 RPM. The speed thus produced would make the blast of air necessary for a real hot fire in the furnace. Just before it was time to tap the furnace, the sparks would fly eight to ten feet into the air and the noise was terrifying. The horses had to be driven at a slow trot in order to produce the necessary blast the last few minutes before the tapping was done.

At one time the noise of the furnace and the hustle of the men excited the horses and when some of the sparks fell upon them they became frightened and they began to run. Samuel B., a boy of about 12, was operating the horsepower. He jumped down and dodged between the frightened horses barely in time to avoid being trampled by them. Members of the crew stopped the runaway teams and quieted them, and then work went on as before.

Iron Ore, with Scrap Iron Behind

John P. Jones was the foreman and organizer of the crew. Each man and boy was instructed on just what to do. Spectators were not allowed too close in order that they would not interfere with the operation, although many people came from miles around to watch. One boy was assigned to drive the horses; two or three boys were to keep the piles of scrap iron, coke and charcoal in good supply on the platform near the top of the furnace. Molds were prepared days before in the foundry. They were of molder's sand and plaster of Paris so that the molten iron could be poured from the ladle carried by two men into them. The ladle had two long handles, one on each side of the castiron pot, so that the heat would not be too unbearable. Great excitement and anticipation was felt each time the furnace was fired.

Sylvester F. fed the furnace from the platform, John Lee worked in the foundry as the molder and patternmaker, Hyrum helped carry the ladle, and John P. was kept busy checking the blast controls and supervising the whole operation. One heat would last six to eight hours and no one had time to rest or scarcely get a drink of water. Products of the furnace were molded into stove grates, andirons, fireplace grates and parts of machinery such as cog wheels, shafts and pinions. Also forged were sawmill machinery such as tracks, wheels, levers and controls, pulleys and rolls for the molasses mills in Dixie. They also made horse-shoes and horseshoe nails. The largest single casting made was a 500 lb. hammer. It was almost more molten iron than the furnace could hold. The hammer, when finished, was perfect and was used to drive piles into the Virgin Riverbed against which the dam was built to get the water out onto the Washington fields. This hammer required 120 bushels of coke and charcoal to smelt enough iron to make it. Coke and charcoal were prepared in the coke oven days before, and this alone was no small operation. A number of large pieces of machinery were cast for the rock crushers at Silver Reef. They also made a large kiln in which to roast the ore and thus separate the minerals from the waste. The Silver Reef Company and the mines of Pioche, Nevada were the best cash customers of the John Pidding Jones and Sons Iron Company.

Brick-Lined Interior of Blast Furnace

The furnace was operated only when there was a demand for castings. In Margaret Lee Jones's diary she made the following notation: "John is preparing to cast tomorrow because the little pinion on the binder was stripped and there are many acres of grain ready to cut."

As you can see it took considerable preparation to prepare for a single heat. This furnace was operated off and on for nearly 20 years. A remnant of the old furnace still stands as a token of the hard work and indomitable will of a great ancestor. It remains a monument to the industry of those pioneers who sacrificed and endured so much for the sake of their posterity, as well as to their undaunted faith in their religion, which prompted them to such works."

Monument reads "IN MEMORY OF JOHN P.
AND JOHN LEE JONES & SONS
MANUFACTURERS OF IRON
1856"