Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-08-09
An Hour in the Rolling Mill.

The passenger on the. Chicago and Milwaukee
or the Chicago, ST. Paulapd Fond du Lac Rail.
road. as he looks from the car window while
trundling through oar remotest northern suburbs.
secs to the east of the track, and upon the west
bank OF the North Branch of the Chicago River n
huge dark building. with forest OF smoke stacks
Of it's own, from which ut all hours Of The night
and day roll forth dense, dark volumes Of conf
smoke, iuterspersed and contrasting with the
snowy jets OF steam from the escape pipes.
The establishment is the extensive Rolling Mill
of Z. b. Ward, Eco, for the re-rollng railroad
iron. n new feature in the manufactured our
city, and the North west and the first of its class
ever erected west of the Lakes.
Our readers may be interested To learn littlc
Of the enterprise In detail, and we give them tho
resultsof our visit to the premises yesterday,
where we we passed an agreeable nni most in
structye' hour,
AS the proprietor Of a large tract cf land selec-
ted quietly, and expressly for this purpose, Capt,
Ward has given to his establishment neigb6r-
hood Of its own. Manufactures have not yet be-
gun TO grow in our city, crushed ont rs they have
been by the high rents. Where the mechanic
and the laborer must pay exhorbtant living ex-
psnscs the capitalist knows well he cannot found
such enterprises successfully.
Dir. Ward w,nt TO work at the foundation and
secured cheap homes for his workmen and opera
tives by erecting little settlement of neat dwell
hngs, each comfortable and distinct bv ITSELF vet
varying in size and price. The rent is fair rer
cent, upon che cost vt erection, and the occupant
may by his industry and frul lily 20 further, aud
buy his home frnn h.s EN- loyor on easy terms
always, however, made depende upon the ques
tion Of his charactera,,d WORT
In this neighborh"'d, upon the river na.k with
o vida dock, in few weeks to he 10 yes
sells drawing twelve feet Of water, aids he Ra-
ling Mill, the centre IL bushes and occupation Of
two hundred operatives.
81. II
is required monthly the sum Of 5000. to meet
the payroll Of two hundred men, with inciden-
tails.
The life of a rail in constant wear by the pass
ing wheels Of heavy trains varies, intelligent rail
road men say, from eight TO ten years. or in other
weris, the wear is from eight 10 ten per cent per
annum. The rnI il even more short lived mt tho
stations and turnouts, BY tho obviously greatly
increased wear at these points. These worn out
rails must be re-rolled
A rail best adapted to wear well, must unto in
two different parts two qualities, tue reverse ot
each other. The heavy tread Of the car wheel
and the massive locomotive driver must no, be
met by soft iron surface, and on the other hand
the rail itself would be brittle and lack tenacity
under the heavy strains, if entirely composed Of
hardened iron. The upper surface of the rail
must give the resistance Of a hard iron the lower
ia softer and tenacious. 49,
Re'rolling is then to roll anew the ron of the
wo1n W. rah' giving IL An upper surface ii new
iron. The cost Of re-roling at this establishment
10 80 per ton, and $50 rer ton is paid the rail
road companies for their old,rails In effect every
ton Of rerlled iron Is worth two tons Of old rails.
The market price of new railroad bars in Chicago
10 about sixty dollars. The railroad companies
arr very geasrally awaiting themselves of the re-
rolling process.
Tho Rolling Mill 10 . vast frame structure, two
hundred and ffty feet long on the river bauk. by
one hundred and fifty feet in depth, the interior
area and space being given up TO q single lofty
story Ihe dock 10 piled with coal, the Brnr
shiiI bel g chiefly used, with piles, of old rail,
rails. '''''''N
Within, the eight furnaces, the eight boilers,
20 eight lofty smoke stacks the .srail mill train
and the top and bottom mill train, and the mo-
tors. tw" line engines Of two hundred horse power
each, with third smaller engine. with other ma
ehinsry and appliances. Here follows de-cr,,-
taos Of che process. q rs-rellss oh! Rails, which
This completes the processes, and give, the
complstef and finished rail from The worn out bar
o. he old scrap iron faced wisk new iron, ut the
rate Of ffty tons of avessgs efAve rails to the
ten} pr day working up to the psesess eas.aeity
Of the mille fARitk .six thsrs 10 a cslsumptiem 81
ny etps o. OH pef dAy. To Ibeif this flemaad
~ fsef two new scheoners. che Marquette and ~
anI1pfk 14ued lys1lrs Ward, are esGaged IN nj =
IN - e 7brt and Cleveland
H. = spgines is generated by con
&03x = rom the farnscss beneath az
beilSf4 &k1ok have no separate furnace. Tn,