THE NATURAL ADAPTATION OF ST. LOUIS ΤΟ IRON MANUFACTURES. BY S. WATERHOUSE. THE 10th day of April 1868 is the date of an event important to the industrial interests of the West. On that day, the experiment of making iron with mineral coal was successfully tried at Carondelet, Missouri. The furnace, then started, still continues in active operation, and has produced in all more than 3000 tons of iron. The character of this iron is shown by the following statement, signed by some of our largest and most experienced iron-makers and dealers. DEAR SIR: St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 20, 1869. In reply to your inquiry as to the quality of the Pig Iron made at Carondelet from the Big Muddy coal and Iron Mountain ore, I beg to state that it is of excellent qualitythe No. 1 being a superior foundry iron, and the Nos. 2 and 3 well adapted to forge purposes, both possessing extraordinary strength, and in that respect nearly, if not fully, equal to any other stone-coal iron which we have ever used. Yours respectfully, JULES VALLE, Vice-President Laclede Iron & Manufacturing Co. GERARD B. ALLEN & CO., Fulton Iron Works. Two or three of these firms judge of the properties of this iron merely from observation, but all the rest have used the iron in their manufactories, and express the results of practical knowledge. An old iron-maker from Pittsburg, observing the superiority of this metal, hesitated to believe that it was made with raw coal.__The proprietors of the Phoenixville and Danville Iron Works in Pennsylvania have testified to the excellence of this iron. Its fusibility, ductility and strength render it especially suitable for common and malleable castings. The iron is red-short. At first, the yield of furnace was from 60 to 70 tons of iron per week; now the mean product is 126 tons a week. The proprietors feel confident of their ability to increase this amount to 140 tons a week. But the present production is large for a furnace with boshes only 11 feet 3 inches in diameter. The first and poorest product of the furnace brought $33 a ton; the later yield has commanded from $34 to $42 a ton. Formerly the cost of producing iron at Carondelet was about $28 a ton. This high price of production was attributable to the radical defects of the furnace and machinery. Great credit is due to Messrs. McKernan, Lilly & Co. for the success which they achieved under grave difficulties. But though they introduced many improvements, the imperfections of the original structure were incapable of complete remedy. The height of the furnace is .... ..40 feet. 5 feet. ...11 feet 3 inches. It is apparent from a mere inspection of these dimensions that the furnace was not properly proportioned for smelting iron with raw coal. It is, too, a single furnace, and therefore does not permit that economy which a double furnace secures. The proprietors were not able to avail themselves of the latest results of experience and scientific investigation-they were compelled to use a defective furnace and inadequate machinery. It is a matter of just surprise that under such disadvantages the cost of production is so low. An old Pennsylvania iron-master, after examining the works at Carondelet and learning the cost of materials and labor, recently expressed the opinion that, with a rightly constructed double furnace and improved machinery, one-fifth of the above cost of production could be saved. In order that eastern and foreign manufacturers may not be compelled to rely upon mere assertions, the data for their own calculations are given. The distance of Carondelet from St. Louis is..... 6 miles. Pilot Knob ...... For the different kinds of labor, the Carondelet Iron Works pay the following prices in currency: Competition and greater facilities for transportation will materially reduce some of these expenses, but a calculation based upon present prices shows that iron can now be made at Carondelet for $25 a ton. The following statement of the cost of making one ton of pig iron at Carondelet is not an estimate, but an exhibit, copied from the books of the company, of the actual working expenses of the furnace during one week. 1.50 tons of Iron Mountain ore, at net cost of $5.50 per ton...$8.25 1.22 " "Big Muddy coal, .30 ton of Connellville coke, .37" "limestone, at $0.90 per ton.... .08 " "mill-cinder, at $2.50 per ton.. Clay and sand...................... Labor........ 66 ... 5.25 6.40 "" 2.70 Total cost of one ton of Big Muddy coal $5.25 To supply the means of determining the relative cost of making iron, the following data, obtained from a leading manufactory in Johnstown, Pa., are submitted. The other elements of cost are not given. The subjoined table is furnished by one of the largest Iron Works in Pittsburg, Pa. Per cent. of iron in ore..... 11⁄2 tons of ore at $11.00 per ton............. 80 bushels of coke at 7 cts. per bushel ton of limestone at $2.50 per ton...... Labor ....... Interest and taxes on $200.000 invested for an annual pròduct of 20,000 tons of iron...... $5000 per year for repairs and incidentals. .$ 0.66 16.50 5.60 83 4.00 80 25 Total cost of one ton of pig iron $27.98 For ores containing but 57 per cent. of metal, add ton more of ore...... 2.75 $30.73 If these estimates, which are made by some of the first ironmen in the country, are correct, then St. Louis must inevitably become the great centre of American iron manufactures. The cost of making iron at Johnstown, Pa., Brazil, Ind., Massillon and Youngstown, O., varies from $25 to $33 per ton. Of the cost at Youngstown, the courtesy of the Proprietors of the Mahoning Works enables us to speak with certainty. We quote from a letter of Messrs. Brown, Bonnell & Co.: "In our manufacture of pig metal, we use about of Lake Superior and of native ore to the ton of pig. The Lake ore costs delivered at our furnaces about $9, and the native ore $3 per ton. Blackband ore, yielding about 50 per cent. of iron, costs $5 per ton. The coal costs about $2 or $2.50 per ton. It takes 24 or 21 tons of coal to reduce one ton of metal. The limestone used as a flux we get delivered to us at $1.12 per ton, and the whole cost of making one ton of pig metal is about $25." Possibly Brazil may be able to manufacture iron somewhat cheaper than Youngstown can, but even if the cost of production at St. Louis is no le less than at Brazil, still for the markets of that vast region lying West of the Mississippi St. Louis would have in its favor the freight between Brazil and the river. This alone, with no difference in economy of manufacture, would give our metropolis control of the trade beyond the Mississippi. This freight is about $4 a ton, and the cost of carrying Missouri ore to Brazil and of bringing back the iron to St. Louis is about $8 a ton. And if, as our iron-masters strenuously assert, iron can ultimately be smelted at Carondelet from $3 to $5 a ton cheaper than it can be at Brazil, then this is an additional guarantee of our supremacy in iron manufacture. The extent of our shipments of Missouri ore to the furnaces of other States may be inferred from the transactions of a single month. The quantity shipped over the Iron Mountain railroad in October 1868 was: To furnaces in and near Brazil, Ind................... "Pittsburg, Pa......... .1580 tons. ... .4500 During the year 1868, the Indianapolis and St. Louis railroad carried to Indiana more than 10,000 tons of Missouri ore. In 1868, from March to December, 72,400 tons of Iron Mountain ore were shipped to furnaces on the Ohio river. It is estimated that 120,000 tons of this ore will be sent to same destination in 1869. Doubtless a portion of the manufactured product will be brought back to St. Louis. Thus Missouri, with all its native facilities for iron-making, is now exporting its ore to distant States and paying to the railroads and manufactories of other commonwealths the cost of production and of a double transportation, while apart from the expense of freight, the iron could be made more cheaply within its own borders and the capital invested in the manufacture be employed for the encouragement of its own industries. The large production of stone-coal iron will cause a more active demand for charcoal iron. This demand Missouri can economically meet. The following exhibit of the cost of producing charcoal iron is kindly furnished by Edwin Harrison, Esq., Proprietor of the Irondale furnace : Charcoal-actual amount consumed in furnace in bushels of 2600 cubic inches... 133 ton of 2268 lbs. 148 08 11 84 Charcoal-by receiver's measure, showing waste times used with Iron Mountain ore-per ton Ore-Pilot Knob, richness about 50 per cent., sometimes used with Iron Mt. ore-per ton Limestone-Magnesian, 1 to 10 of ore Labor and superintendence of every kind, except that relating to and already estimated in the cost of coal, ore and limestone........ Materials, other than coal, ore and limestone Taxes-national, state and county ... Total cost 5 25 2 96 . 20 6 43 90 32 $24 10 The region adjacent to the ore is heavily wooded, and is capable of supplying large quantities of fuel suitable for making charcoal. |