Often linked to Sciotoville or Portsmouth

Scioto, or Lafayette Forge

The forge first known as the Scioto and later as the Lafayette was located on the Little Scioto River in the north central part of the northwest quarter of Section 34, Harrison township, Scioto County. It was built as an addition to the saw mill and grist mill, erected a few years previously and owned by Samuel B. Burt. James Keyes wrote in his Pioneers of Scioto County:

"Mr. Burt, being in possession of a good water power, and Frank Valodin, Jr., his son-in-law, having plenty of ready cash, formed a partnership and built the forge for the production of bar iron drawn out and refined under the heavy blows of a trip hammer."

These forges furnished the blacksmiths of that time with their main supply of iron for various purposes. The dam for power at the mills and forge was placed on the stream where the floor is sandstone and the west bank a cliff of the same material. The stone thus provided substantial foundation for both the dam and the mills and for a ford on the road that led past the works.

The forge was built in 1826 and continued to run successfully for several years. The crude pig metal for refining came from Franklin and Scioto furnaces, the former ten, and the latter seven miles distant. A part of the product was used locally, a part hauled eastward to the furnaces in the Hanging Rock Iron Region, and a part wagoned to the Ohio River at Sciotoville, a distance of three miles, and shipped to down-river points by flat boats. It was managed by Mr. Wurtz and had three refinery or knobbling fires, one puddling furnace, and one hammer. Through misfortune of some cause or other the proprietors eventually ran into debt and broke up. The mills and forge then passed to the control of Duncan McArthur and others, under the name of Lafayette instead of Scioto. About this time the Purdy family came from the East to operate the forge. The refining of iron continued here until after 1853 when this method gave way to the more progressive steps of the rolling mill. The flour mill and saw mill passed successively to Joseph Smith, Silas Dixon in 1850, and then to George and Noah Dixon in 1866. The mills continued to operate until 1912, the last few years under the care of Noah Dixon's sons.

• "Early Iron Enterprises," loc. cit.; James Keyes, Pioneers of Scioto County (Portsmouth, Ohio, 1880), 37; George N. Purdy, Sciotoville, Ohio, to Wilber Stout, September 20, 1933; Lesley, op. cit., 213. OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY