The History of Nails — The Currency That Burned Down Houses

In 18th-century America, pioneers migrating west frequently committed arson against their own homesteads before leaving. They were not destroying the property to spite their enemies, but to harvest the most valuable asset they owned from the ashes. They were burning down entire houses just to recover the hand-forged nails.

⏱ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 The Homestead Arsons
1:49 The Roman Iron Scarcity
3:58 The Blacksmith's Monopoly
5:46 Iron as Colonial Currency
7:36 Thomas Jefferson's Nailery
9:18 The Slitting Mill Secret
11:26 Ezekiel Reed and the Cut Nail
13:25 The Collapse of the Anvil
15:42 The Chicago Balloon Frame
17:20 Building the American West
19:09 The Bessemer Steel Disruption
20:58 The Wire Nail Invasion
22:52 The French Steel Monopolies
24:55 The Architecture of the Trenches
26:53 The Death of the Forged Spike
28:32 The Invisible Skeleton of Suburbia

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