During the period from 1892 until 1902, the furnace, when in operation, used charcoal for fuel. At one point, with both #1 and #2 operating, it took two acres of timber a day to furnish charcoal for the furnaces. The process was expensive and required many hands to cut the timber, saw it to length for the ovens, fire the ovens and then remove the finished charcoal. A review of the 1900 census for this area reveals that over 50% of the hands were involved in the timber operation.

In 1902, the Bon Air Coal & Iron Company took over the assets of the Buffalo Iron Company, which included the assets of the Warner Company in Hickman County, Tennessee. In exchange for $730,265.94 in preferred capital stock and $730,264.94 in common stock, the Buffalo Iron Company transferred all its assets, contracts, lands and its indebtedness to the Bon Air Coal & Iron Company.

At this point the furnaces at Allens Creek were changed from charcoal to coke fired furnaces. From an economic standpoint, this was a more profitable arrangement since the Bon Air company owned coal mines at Bon Air, Ravenscroft and Eastland, Tennessee. When necessary they also bought coke from the Virginia coal fields.

Then in 1917, the Bon Air Coal & Iron Company was reorganized as the Bon Air Coral & Iron Corporation with Mr. William J. Wrigley as chairman of the board, James R. Offield, president, Wm. J. Cummins of Nashville as vice-president, John Bowman, treasurer, and Frederick Leare as secretary. Mr. Wrigley, the principal financier in this reorganization was the founder and president/chairman of the board of Wrigley Chewing Gum Company of Chicago. Bowman, president of the Biltmore Hotel chain in New York was the secondary financier.

Mr. Wrigley’s perception of the problem with the iron industry was summer up in a letter he wrote to J. H. Patrick of Nashville on 5 August 1918:

Some of your descriptions have caused me to laugh for I know how true they are; especially what you say about the Iron Division.

First, they are long on coke and short on iron, and then long on coke and iron and short on limestone; then, they are short on all three.

Because of his sizable investment in the Bon Air operations, Mr. Wrigley made an inspection tour of the operations in 1917. He arrived by private railroad car in Collinwood, Tennessee from Nashville, Mr. W. M. Cummins in tow. While in Collinwood, they toured the Bon Air lands and operations west of the town. Then on the second day of the visit, they drove to Waynesboro where Mr. Wrigley delighted the children on the square by passing out free chewing gum. Returning to Collinwood, there was a grand reception in the evening at the Highland Inn, hosted by the Highland Inn Country Club. The following day, the entourage boarded Mr. Wrigley’s private care for a tour of the Allens Creek and Lyles, Tennessee operations before returning to Nashville.

The furnaces at Allens Creek continued intermittent operation until 1923. From 1920 to 1923, only one stack was in blast. The company underwent reorganization in 1920. In an attempt to remain competitive, the corporation induced the state legislature to change the county line between Wayne and Lewis Counties so that the Allens Creek operations were placed in Lewis County. This occurred in 1924. But all attempts at revitalization failed; the furnaces were dismantled in 1926 and sold for scrap iron.