The Graham Furnace

[NW Mailing List]

Dave,

Thanks for your information.  Learning about the existence of the old furnace in Graham, Va.,  made me interested in learning about its location.  Using what you furnished, along with Google Earth and an N&W track chart, I located a scrapyard (present-day recycling center, former junkyard) on the south side of the tracks just west of Furnace St. grade crossing.  Furnace St. crosses the tracks near the east end of Furnace siding at about  MP N-366.6 .  In view of your information about the scrapyard and the name of the crossing, it appears as though this scrapyard is on the site of the former furnace.

Thistle St. crossing, where the present-day foundry is located, is about 0.4 miles west of Furnace St. crossing.

Gordon Hamilton
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: WESTERN HISTORICAL SOCIETYNORFOLK &amp 
  Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 1:27 PM
  Subject: The Graham Furnace


        The Graham Furnace was located on the property which belonged to the Platnick Brothers Steel company. A consortium of Jewish immigrant brothers [Nathan, David, Phillip and Ben] Platnick formed a family partnership prior to World War One, and were engaged in the business of collecting and reselling scrap metals. When the Graham Furnace was no longer a profitable business and was shut down, this group of men bid on a contract to dismantle and salvage the Graham Furnace. They also purchased the buildings an property of the former Graham Furnace, located on Furnace Avenue in Bluefield, Virginia.

        The Graham Furnace went out of business for the following reasons: The ores brought to the Graham Furnace ( an iron ore smelter) from nearby counties in Virginia were very high in sulfur content. The high sulfur content made the iron extracted during smelting unfit for some steel making applications, whereas ore bodies discovered and developed elsewhere in America yielded a higher iron content per ton of iron ore, and a much lower sulfur content than those mined in Virginia.

        Around 1916-1917, the very rich-in iron, but low sulfur ores of the  enormous Messabe Iron Ore Range deposits reached development and production; thus making them available for shipment by Great Lakes Ore Carriers to the steel making centers which were closer to the Great Lakes than they were to Virginia. The combination of proximity,lower transportation costs and the chemical properties, all gave the advantage to the ores shipping from the Messabe Range mines.

        The Graham Furnace could not continue to profitably compete and closed down.

        Platnick Brothers Steel, bid on and won the contract to dismantle and salvage the Graham Furnace, and at the time the work was completed they bought the buildings, equipment and land associated with the Graham Furnace. Platnick Brothers Steel operated from that location until they also went out of business. 

        The property is now occupied by another "Metals" related business but still has the same boundaries as it had when the Platnick brothers owned it. The Keys Lumber Company was locally known as the Keys Planing Mill and the Thistle Furnace & Foundry was originally known as the Thistle Plow and Foundry. Thistle is still in operation at a different location in Bluefield, Virginia, and no longer has a direct service connection from the railroad.

        I have recently spoken with employees of Thistle by telephone and with a surviving son of David Platnick to verify the history. All of the original Platnick brothers are deceased but there are other companies that devolved from the original company; At least one of them is still operating in the area.

        I hope this will help whoever is interested in the Graham Furnace question.

        Dave Braum dcbraum at yahoo.com  
       




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