Crittenden Furnace was built a mile west by Gideon D. Cobb in 1847. It was 9 feet across inside, 30 feet high, charcoal-fueled, and equipped with steam-powered machinery. In 1855 it made 1300 tons of iron. Named for the newly formed county, it was the last of several ironworks operated by the Cobb and Lyon families, who came to the area about 1800, when Andrew Jackson told them of iron ore deposits there. 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 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 depletion of ore and timber and the growth of railroads.