Built here in 1871 by the Daniel Hillman Iron Co., Trigg Furnace was a brick-and-stone blast furnace producing pig iron from locally mined ore. It burned charcoal fuel and used steam power to blow preheated air through the stack. Most iron made here was processed at the works of the Tennessee Rolling Mills, 3 miles northwest. Operations ceased by 1878. Kentucky had been a major iron producer since 1791, ranking third in the United States in the 1830s and eleventh 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. The charcoal-furnace era ended in the 1880s with depletion of ore and timber and use of modern methods.