Caney Furnace stood five miles south. This stone stack, built in 1837-38 by Harrison Connor and Joshua Ewing, Sr., was among the first iron furnaces west of the Alleghenies to be equipped with a hot-blast oven, a device that preheated the air blown through the stack. Charcoal-fueled and steam-powered, it operated until 1849 and made iron again briefly in 1857-58. Kentucky had been a major iron producer since 1791, ranking third in the U.S. in the 1830s and eleventh in 1965. Charcoal timber, native ore, and limestone supplied numerous furnaces in the Hanging Rock, Red River, Between Rivers, Rolling Fork, and Green River regions that made pig iron, utensils, and munitions. The old charcoal furnace era ended with the depletion of ore and timber and the growth of railroads.