Construction on the forge, supervised by William McNair, was begun in 1847 at a site on the Carp River, a few miles from the then-new Jackson Mine.

[5] McNair, however, knew nothing of forge construction, and progress was slow until forgemaster Ariel N. Barney arrived in July.

[6] The site was large enough to be assigned its own post office, the Carp River PO, in 1847.

[6] Construction continued until early 1848, and the first iron was made on February 10, 1848, by forgemaster Ariel N. Barney.

However, in March, a wave of snowmelt carried away the dam on the river, and the forge remained idle until repairs were made in the summer.