Stafford Flint Furnace EarthCache
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This cache is located in the scenic Susquehanna State Park just off the Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenways Trail which is marked with Greenways emblems at half mile intervals, a 2.2 mile improved section runs between Conowingo Dam and Stafford Road at Deer Creek.
Cache can also be accessed from the Deer Creek Trail - Blazed in green, the trail begins and ends at the Picnic Area. The Deer Creek Trail has magnificent views and giant trees. A moderate to difficult trail with a distance of 2.1 miles
The Deer Creek picnic area offers shaded picnic tables, grills, two picnic shelters and a modern restroom. Large open fields close by are great for family games or blanket and basket picnics. A freshwater pond is on site and is ideal for the novice angler. The pavilions are available for rent for your family reunion or company picnic. Pavilion use is by reservation only.
Rules and Important Information:
◦No alcohol. Alcohol is ONLY permitted at the shelters and ONLY if an alcohol permit has been purchased at the time the reservation was made.
◦This area is open 9 a.m. to Sunset.
◦Pets are not permitted in this area from Labor Day to Memorial Day.
◦Maryland State Parks are trash free. You must take your entire trash home with you when you leave.
◦The day use service charge for this area is:
Daily $2 per vehicle; out-of-state residents $4 per vehicle; open weekends only November to February.
The coordinates should bring you to the location of the Stafford Flint Furnace one of the area's first structures. In the late Eighteenth and the early Nineteenth Centuries, a small number of limonite iron furnaces flourished along Deer Creek. A 1719 Act of Assembly offered 100 acres to anyone who could erect a productive furnace. The furnace was not only employed as a smelter for limonite iron ore, but also, after the iron trade became unprofitable, a kiln for flint.
The Stafford Flint Furnace was built from granite, stone and brick. It's 30 feet high, with a square base of uncourse rubble stone and a cylindrical main portion of the same material. The cone shaped top contains the flue and is made of brick. There are two openings in the furnace, one on the northern side of the base, and the second at the level of the brick cone on the southeast side. These openings were used for the adding of fuel and ore and for the removal of slag and ash.
To get credit for this EarthCache, you will need to answer the following questions via e-mail to the cache owner. Logs that do not follow with an email of the correct answers will be deleted.
Questions:
1.) What year did the building of the Rock Forge begin?
2.) What destroyed the town and in what year?
3.) What is the process that was used to get to the furnaces final product?
4.) By what method and where was it sent?
5.) What was the final product used to make?
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)