M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1857-03-05
From the spirit Of the Tlmes.l /

From the Spirit of the Times
Tho Reduction OF Iron Ore 20
Pig Metal with Stone Coal dem-
OnStrated.
The Pioneer Furnace, in Washing
ton township, Lawrence Co., Ohio, has,
within the past ten days, successfully
tested the experiment of reducing iron
ore to good pig iron, with the stone
coal Of the vicinity.
This furnace commenced its first
blast on Friday, the 9th inst, with the
following results:
The first run of iron was made on
Saturday night 9TH at II O'Clock; and
five tons and a half were made.
% run-sunday, o'clock P. M.-5Jl. tons.
"a "a :. AGnd'y'SS q. q n n s @
e. 5iR% e Tuesday 4 f.T: !
This was the beginn;ng-the trial
blast. Since the above statistics
were furnished us, we have been in
formed that the furnace has increased,
in quantity, from day to day, and, it
is thought by good judges, that, as the
stack becomes well seasoned this fur
mace will yield from fifteen to eighteen
tons per day.
The quality of metal already pro-
duced is said to be good for the kind.
1t bears all the ordinary tests Of
strength. The success of this expert
ment, which is no longer a matter Of
doubt, will be likely to effect radical
change in the iron business of this en-
tire region, and open new avenues to
fields of industry and employment,
now discerned only by a few. 1t will
add hundreds of millions to the pro-
ductive resources of this iron region.
Instead ofa few charcoal turnces, that
will in a short time, consume all the
timber in the iron district, we antici-
pate the building Of stone coal furna-
ces, not only on the old lands, where
the timber is exhausted, and the
grounds" stripped of their inhabit-
ants, but wherever the two essential
minerals are found together. 1t would
not surprise us to see two hundred
stone-coal furnaces put into operation
in this iron region within the next ten
years, then indeed will Portsmouth
and lronton become cities Of magni-
tnde.
The " PIONEER FURNACE" as it is
properly called, was built by the firm
of WM. CoLvIN & Co., consisting Of
VIM. OoLv1N, +. j. OAKEs, URr
TRACY and THOMAS PUeH. Forum
tunately for them, and for the success
ofthe enterprise, they procured the
services of Mr.. BENJAMIN PERRY, to
direct the construction Of the work.
He is said to have more experience in
this department of the iron business,
and to have met with better success
than any other Furnace builder in the
United States. Without the help Of
his skill and experience, it is likely
that this experiment would have
failed, as Gll similar ones have
done. We hope that he may be EN-
ployed for the next ten years in this
section, in the same kind Of work he
is now engaged in.
These men by their own energy and
determination, have achieved what the
L" Ohio Iron & Coal Company" eight
years ago was chartered by the State
to do, but which they failed to accom-
lish; although they had an abundance
ofmeans. Hence the absurdity of !
creating corporations, with extraordi-
nary privileges, to do what individu-
ais will perform with much better sue
cess.
In addition to the above, Mr.. .OAKEs,
one of the proprietors Of this Furnace,
informs us that they have made from
IA to 16 tons of metal in "a hours,
since the above article was written.-I
Yesterday, (the 15th) he refused S2S |
per ton for quantity of pig IRON
The Furnace works very fnely.-IT-
buno.