Rebecca Furnace was a blast furnace built by Gideon Hughes, who came to New Lisbon in 1807. A channel diverted from the middle fork of the Little Beaver turned an undershot waterwheel behind the furnace. This powered a bellows that forced air into the stack containing a mixture of charcoal, limestone, and kidney iron ore. The melted iron was collected behind the hearth dam and ladled out. The furnace had a capacity of 2 tons per day, used 200 bushels of charcoal per ton of iron, and the melt sold for $90 a ton. A great flood shut down operations in 1832.