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Iron Mountain's Ardis Furnace, an experimental furnace used to process low-grade iron ore

Dickinson County Library

Furnaces

AF01a065

Item also published with caption in: Dickinson County, Michigan : from earliest times through the Twenties / compiled and edited by William John Cummings. Iron Mountain, Mich. : Dickinson County Board of Commissioners, 1991. 432 p. : ill, maps, ports. ; 3

Photograph of the Ardis Furnace, named after the daughter of the inventor, John Tyler Jones. This was an experimental furnace erected in 1908 to process low-grade iron ore. The 85-foot long steel tube was charged with ore and rotated by electric motors. Iron suitable for mill use was discharged from the lower end of the tube. The experiment was plagued with financial and mechanical problems and was sold in 1916 to the Thomas Iron & Steel Company of Ohio. ""Ardis Furnace, Iron Mountain, Mich."" is printed on the photograph.