Dear Sherry Lowe and the Carter County, Kentucky List, Thank you very much for taking the time to look up information about Pactolus Furnace. I do appreciate your help on my puzzle relating to two [or one] explosions of one or two iron furnaces in Carter County, Kentucky. Based on your information, that Pactolus ceased operations in 1833/34, Pactolus Furnace would not have been the one which exploded "about 1850", killing James M. THAYER, Sr. and several others. I have received information that Boone Furnace exploded, killing William HIGNITE, but the researcher did not have the year of that exposion. I have also received information that Star Furnace in 1853 had an explosion of its boiler, resulting in the death of two boys. As for my side of this puzzle, I have a victim, James M. THAYER, Sr., who at the time of his death was married and had at least one child, and an approximate date for the explosion ["about 1850"], but do not have the name of the furnace. Could these two explosions [Boone Furnace and the Employer of THAYER] have been one and the same? By finding the date of the explosion of Boone Furnace, the mystery could be solved. Thank you for your help! Randal W. Cooper Lorain, Ohio