Bill,
 
We excavated an 1843-1847 blacksmith shop in Fort Wilkins, Copper Harbor,
Michigan in 1991, in preparation for reconstruction.  Copper Harbor is at
the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, the northernmost part of Michigan, on
Lake Superior, so I suspect that it doesn't satisfy your definition of
"West", but the time is right.  It is about 300 miles further west than the
blacksmith shop John Light described so well from St. Joseph's Island, near
Sault Ste. Marie!
 
 I'll send you the report, if you wish.  The building has been
reconstructed, by the way, and is an excellent addition to the interpretive
program in this very interesting and well-preserved US Army fort.
 
If Bob Clouse from Minnesota Historical Society doesn't respond to the list
or to you directly, you should contact him at Fort Snelling.  They dug an
appropriate shop way back when, and have a very active reconstructed shop
and interpretive program with one of the best blacksmiths in the country,
so they say.
 
Pat Martin
 
 
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Patrick E. Martin, Associate Professor of Archaeology
Director of Graduate Studies in Industrial Archaeology
Editor of IA, Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology
Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, Michigan 49931-1295 USA
Telephone (906) 487-2070   Fax  (906) 487-2468   Internet  [log in to unmask]
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