The Blacksmith Shop was moved to South Park City from the ghost town of Leavick. Its original site was located near the Horseshoe Cirque (a steep-walled basin on a mountain shaped like half a bowl), carved out by an ancient glacier. It is a small, hand-hewn log building with a front door and a deeply set window. Its contents came from the Hoffman Ranch near the old townsite of Dudley.
The blacksmith shop was an indispensable part of the mining towns and camps of the early west. The smith not only shod horses, oxen, and burros but also did repair work on mining equipment, wagons, and sleighs.
This building displays a large assortment of the implements used in the blacksmith's trade, such as hammers and tongs of all shapes and sizes. The tongs were used to hold the metal while it was being heated and formed. The huge forge and large, hand-operated bellows forced air through a bed of coals to make them red-hot. The blacksmith could work it after the metal was heated to a glowing red in the scorching coals. The metal was then taken to an anvil and hammered into shape. The sound of the hammering could be heard all over town. A cone-shaped metal hood hangs down from the ceiling to vent the smoke.
Significant strength was required to become a blacksmith, along with a considerable amount of skill. The fascination of the youngsters in the town, they would gather at the shop entrance to watch the blacksmith work for hours. All the young kids wanted to hold the rope while the family horse was being shod, or to operate the bellows, anything to be close to the blacksmith.
