The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-05-18
RICHMOND MANUFACTURES.
Trsdesar Iron Works.

'hu WIG Nilsl eleinehIS IlaI Sustdlu lio, |
it is the indispensable ingredient or material
product of nature. 1t lifts the white man
above the tribal races of the earth, and
gives him his chief distinction as the archi-
tectural and historic man. Without iron,
the white man would be a mere cypher
beside some Of these tribal races. The
tropical heats he cannot endure. The
spontaneous fruits Of the earth he was
not made to pluck. Even his attempt
to pluck them, against the Divine man
date, resulted in his expulsion from Para
disc. The iron mountains were made for
him to get fruit out of-the fruit that comes
from sweat and toll, and sometimes through
fire and blood. 1t is your tribal races that
these spontaneous fruits were made for,
as the nut was made for the squirrel and
the banana for the monkey and the tribal
child. There is nothing that we can eat or
drink or wear, that iron does not enter into
as an ingredient, either in the process of
supply, manufacture, orinthe original COM
position. 1t is as vital to our civilization
as the hearts blood to our physical life,
and it is almost as universally diffused
through the climatic zone in which the
white man fourishes as water itself. And
nowhere lis iron more abundant-mors
generously heaped up in colossal mountain
structures-than in the State of Virginia.
And what would seem to be most provi-
dental ordering of nature, these iron
mountains are everywhere 'Siamesed with
lime and coal stratas, as if to invite the
labor of the white man to the work of
happily converting iron into gold. All the
iron that is found in Northumberland and
among the wild Caffres to-day, was dug up
by the white man from thousand feet or
more beneath the surface of the earth. 1t
furnishes to us the sword, the pillow, the
pruning hook, the needle, the graver, the
spring Of the watch, the spring Of the car
riage, the chissel, the chain, the anchor, the
cannon, the bomb, the iron rail, the iron
horse, the iron steamship, the iron nerve
along which pulsate the white mans
thoughts from continent to continent, and
through the mighty "chambers of the
Deep" and it enters, by its oxides and
peroxides, into the white mans blood,
forming the grand battery by which his
brain excels that Of the tribal races, How
emphatically is it, then, the king of metals,
and what nobler avocation than that of
worker in iron! 3H1sa adt=-fs3oh @
The history of civilization is, in fact, little
more than the history of what man has ac-
complished by the use of iron. In the
earliest OF the Greek poems there are no.
tees of the art of reducing mslleable iron
from the ores in furnace. Among the
Egyptians the art was known, as we'll as
that of tempering copper in such manner
as to preserve its elasticity, and yet to cut
the hardest granite with ease. In jeremiah
and Ezekiel there are references to the
"bright iron'' in which the Tyrians traded,
and ancient Scythia was called ''the moth
er of iron" at the earliest dawn of human
letters. Their methods of reducing iron
from the ores were, however, exceedingly
rude, as well as limited, in comparison
with the blast-furnaces of our time.
A visit to the TREDEGAR IRON
WORKS of this city will give one a better
idea Of the vast improvements that have
been made in the process of manufacturing
iron within the last half century, especially
in the handling and shaping of large
masses of iron, than it is possible to OBJ
tain from any description that we can give
or any that can be found in the books. =.
These works were founded in 1885 by the
late P. B. Deane, and were subsequently
transferred by him to the old Tredegar Iron
Company. This company continued to run
the works until 1S41, when they were
transferred to j. R. Anderson, who, indi-
yidually and through the firm of j. r.
Anderson & Co., conducted the business
until January LIST, 1867, when the proper
ty and works passed into the hands
of the present Tredegar Company. ~
This company is a joint stock corpora
ton, with a capital of one million dollars,
and their works, consisting of FORCES, fur
naces, foundries, rolling mills, machine
shops, car shops, etc., cover something
over fifteen acres Of ground. They are
situated just above the city, between the
canal and river, and have an almost unliln-
tied water power. for the driving of ma
II.
chinery. The officers Of the company
consist of Joseph B.. Anderson, President;
Archer Anderson, Treasurer; r. S. Ar
cher, General Superintendent Rolling
Mills q; +. T. GLASGOW, General Superin-
tendent Foundry, Machine and Car shops,
and L. A. Wickes, Agent in Charge Of New
York Office, 80 Pine street. Is gfas ~
4 The capacity of the works before the
war was estimated, for the Rolling Mills,
at 10000 tons Of finished railroad bars,
spikes, &C., per annum for the Foundry,
about the same amount of iron worked
into castings, and for the Machine shops, an
indefinite amount of work, depending upon
the force employed, and the amount of Or
ders in hand. Their present capacity is
considerably more than double what it was
before the war, it being, for the Rolling
Mills, 10000 tons finished bars, spikes,