Each community needed a blacksmith. He was relied upon to make, sell and repair the various metal equipment needed on the frontier. Additionally, he was needed to make sure the local horses were well shoed to protect their hooves from everyday wear and tear.

"Beyond the store there was a blacksmith shop. It stood back from the road, with a bare place in front of it. Inside it a big man in a leather apron made a bellows puff! Puff! At red coals. He took a white-hot iron out of the coals with tongs, and swung a big hammer down on it, whang!

Dozens of sparks flew out tiny in the daylight.

Beyond the bare place was the back of a building. The ground was hard there. There was no more grass to walk on."
-from On the Banks of Plum Creek

 

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