Sandy Furnace was built in 1853 by Young, Foster and Co. consisting of Dan and John Young, William Foster, and Irwin Gilruth, on a 9,000 acre tract four miles west. Its stone stack originally stood 32 feet high and measured 10½ feet across inside. In 1854, its last year of operation, it made 1000 tons of iron, which had to be hauled by oxcart across country to Big Sandy River. Kentucky had been a major iron producer since 1791, ranking 3rd in the U.S. in the 1830s and 11th in 1965. Charcoal timber, native ore, 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, and the old charcoal furnace era ended with depletion of ore and timber and the growth of railroads.