- Founded by Thomas James in 1826, it began as a portion of the Maramec Iron Works. It was operated by the James family until it went bankrupt in 1878. In 1920, Lucy Wortham James, great grand daughter of Thomas James, purchased Maramec Spring so that it might be preserved for others. The James Foundation was established in 1941 to oversee the property left behind by the death of Mrs. James.
- Maramec Spring is the fifth largest in the state of Missouri with an average daily flow of one hundred million gallons of water. The entrance to the spring is about 7 feet below the surface of the water and descends over 220 vertical feet and 4500 horizontal feet.
- Of the 180,000 trout that are released each year, aproximately 55,000 12 inch trout come from Montauk fish hatchery.
-The ore for the furnace was mined about one-fourth of a mile from the furnace by pick and shovel with slaves doing the greatest amount of the work. They loaded it in wagons and hauled it to the bridge house where workers sorted it so there was a high grade and low grade ore mix. If they ran all high grade, they would lose a bigger proportion of the actual iron Content, so they mixed it with low grade ore.
- Personal Thoughts: There really isnt much to do hiking wise here, it is more of a place to enjoy on a sunday afternnon with family or take pictures. Or of course if your into trout fishing, Ive heard this is a great place to fish. If your into taking pics, come here, it is a beutifully kept park with alot to see. The old remains of the ironworks and the spring are a couple of great pictures waiting to happen.
- Site of the first successfull ironworks west of the Mississippi River. The furnace and refinery forges are all
that remain of the old ironworks.The furnace was built close to a perpendicular cliff to facilitate charging the furnace. The bridge house on the cliff had
a bridge that led out to the furnace top and trunnel head. At first charges were wheeled from the bridge house in little hand carts to the furnace where the
contents were dumped in through the trunnel head. In later years a rail dump bucket was added so the furnace could be charged faster. The bucket was attached
to an overhead rail on which the bucket was pulled. The bottom of the bucket was hinged so by tripping the lever on the side of the bucket the bottom opened and dropped in charges for the furnace.
The furnace was operated twenty-four hours a day seven days a week by men on twelve hour shifts. They charged the furnace nearly 100 times per day, with each
charging consisting of 640 pounds of iron ore, 18 bushels of charcoal, one bushel of brands (half charred wood) and 100 pounds of limestone flux all dumped in, in' alternating layers.
- The powerhouse was built in the 1920's to give power to the dairy farm and ice plant that operated here in the 1930's. The powerhouse was driven by a turbine and produced twenty seven kilowatts/hour of electricity.
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