Grand Rivers Furnace was built one-half mile west in 1890-91 by the Grand Rivers Coal, Iron and Railroad Co. Its two stacks, each 60 feet high with a maximum inner diameter of 13 and one-half feet, together could produce 45,000 tons of iron yearly, using coal for fuel until 1901 and coke thereafter. These blast furnaces were operated intermittently until they were dismantled in 1921. Kentucky had been a major iron producer since 1791, ranking third in the U.S. in the 1830s. The state's iron ore, timber, and limestone supplied material for numerous furnaces making pig iron, utensils, and munitions in the Hanging Rock, Red River, Between Rivers, Rolling Fork, and Green River regions. The charcoal-furnace era ended in the 1880s with depletion of ore and timber and the use of modern methods.