This 4:20 minute clip from the American Iron and Steel Institute's documentary film features Donald Duck demonstrating how medieval iron was made, and that the colonists used virtually the same methods.

In 1974, in preparation for the American Bicentennial, the American Iron and Steel Institute made a half hour film in cooperation with Walt Disney to promote an understanding of an industrial society. The film told the story of American steel making from its primitive beginnings to recent practices and future needs. Scenes of colonial iron manufacture [like the Saugus Iron Works in Saugus, Massachusetts], modern steel plants and steel products are interspersed with scenes of Donald Duck doing what he does best: being a good worker, getting run over by wheelbarrows and getting frustrated.

This scene, about 10 minutes into the film, explains how iron is mined and smelted in the Middle Ages — and it ends with Donald's literal transformation into a Colonial ironmaster.

You can download the film in a series of sizes (note the file sizes are quite large for high-resolution video)

This video was produced by Walt Disney Educational Media in cooperation with the American Iron & Steel Institute and appears here with both their permissions.

These files are QuickTime movies. For assistance with QiuckTime visit the Apple site here.