In the area I’m describing, the forest, mines, and forges/furnaces were all in the same area; the rivers (in this case, the Hudson River) were used to transport the finished product/iron. The iron mining lasted until late in the 19th century (in NJ into the early 20th century); lower production costs, and higher supply of ore, out by the Great Lakes doomed the industry here.
I am glad you know the history of this important technology!!! New Jersey must have been full of trees same as Pennsylvania which as you know means William Penn’s forest.
Penn’s Woods = Penn’s Sylvania
Sylvania - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvania
Sylvania literally means “forest land” in Latin. The term can be used in a variety of contexts: Contents 1 Astronomy 2 Companies 3 Education 4 Places 4.1 Australia 4
*****The whole NE was and is full of trees due to natural rainfall