After the charcoal was made and the cutters and wood haulers were finished, colliers had to ensure that teamsters carried the charcoal downhill in mule-drawn wagons to the Catoctin Iron Furnace. For nearly 100 years, charcoal produced the extremely hot fires needed to extract iron from ore, but in 1873 the furnace changed to coal. Hundreds of local residents, including African Americans who worked as teamsters and at the furnace, then had to seek new livelihoods.