Bringing the Iron Age to California

The blacksmith used the mission's forges (California's first) to smelt and fashion iron into everything from basic tools and hardware (such as nails) to crosses, gates, hinges, even small cannon for mission defense.

The Catalan or Spanish forges date to medieval times and yielded malleable iron of excellent quality. A mixture of iron ore and charcoal was heated intensely for several hours in a forge, forming a spongy mass of iron permeated by slag. At the correct time, the glowing ball of iron was withdrawn from the forge and hammered while hot to expel the slag in a process known as blooming.

For a time, particularly in the heyday of colonization, each Spanish Presidio, mission, and pueblo was scheduled to have a blacksmith and forge for the needs of the community.