Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1873-04-05

Ironton Jo,umaI thus describes the pro-
cess
"Our descriptive powers are not of
the best. but nevertheless we will try
to give our readers an idea how pig
iron is made.
"In the first place, they build a
stack-not a hay stack, nor stack OF
black cats-but huge iron, brick,
stone, and mortar column about as
high as two meeting-houses. At the
bottom of this stack they have little
hole about the size of Il piece OF chalk.
They then build three or four houses
all around this stack: one is called
pot house. another the engine-room,
a third--well, we don t know what the
third house is called. Then they put
in large engine to blow the fire; af-
ter this they send about fourteen or
fifteen hundred men out into the hills
to draw in the raw material. They
also have boats to tow it up and down
the river. A railroad is also used to
draw coal and such like. After they
get enough raw material in to cover
about ten acres of ground. they fire
The stack at the bottom and turn on
steam to blow it redhot -red-hot is
the word They want it so awful hot
that it will melt anything they can
find to put into it. Then a whole lot
of men get up at the top Of this stack,
and with the hosting machine they 90
to work. First they turn in about
seven carloads of coal, then some iron
ore, then little birthstone to make 1T
soft, then little more coal and some
more ore, and man or two once in
while, to make it hard-old boxes,
some kerosene-oil, or any thing else
that they can find laying around
loose then some more coal and ore,
and so on for about twelve hours
Then they all take drink and 90 to
dinner, when a bell rings regularly
'Pig-tail done, pig-tail done. After
this they ring another bell and they
are ready to let out 1t must be I'M
derstood that the material is red
hot The iron being the heaviest, of
course sinks to the bottom of the stack,
and here we will tell what they do
with the hole mentioned as being at
the bottom of the stack. Fourteen or
fifteen men have been at work all this
time making sand bed to receive the
iron. The sand is made wet by wa
ter, large gutter is made about a
quarter Of a mile long, and about sew
en- hundred and fifty small cutters are
made to lead from the larger one
This is called a pig-bed After this is
all done, a man then takes bar of iron
and punches the clay out OF this hole.
In less than tortieth part of second
twenty tons of pig iron come rolling
out of this hole and runs down into
this bed Of sand.
| The sparks fly, the iron is hot and
everybody seems to have lois offun.-
After this they all 90 and take drink
and another set of hands comes on to
run all night All this time the fell
lows up on the stack are hard at work
filling the thing up with the raw ma
terial, and when Saturday night comes
they are no nearer done than if it.was
only Monday morning. Thus every
twenty four hours, from one month s
end to another, these blasted furnaces
are in operation, making forty tons of
ron each day When the pigs gets
cold, they break them up and take
them to the mills, where they are made
up into stoves, nails, rolled iron, car
wheels, machinery, etc, and shipped
west to market.
During the past year iron has been
selling for 500 per ton; considering
that it costs but $35 to $40 per ton to
manufacture it, of course these Iron
tonions are happy"
APRIL COURT will begin on the
second Monday of the current month,
fourteenth instant.
The number of Original cases now
on the docket is seventy eight, and
will likely be about one hundred and
twenty-five.
The Appeals number twenty eight
and there may be probably few
more.
Trials are set down at one hundred
and forty.
Criminal Trials number twelve to
this date
Criminal appearances foot up nine.
The summonses for witnesses are
issued, returnable as follows, of which
the witnesses will take notice and re-
port to Court accordingly: For APP
peals the witnesses are required to
appear on the 18th; for the first sew
enty five trials, on the 10th; for the
,, remaining trials, on the 2lst; for
criminal cases, on the 2Sth.
E The number of chancery cases on
the docket of Allegany county is from
| to 205l inclusive.
Uuder the law all Magistrates are
required to send up their appeals ten
, days before Court. j. P's. will take
notice. Times. Z.
The ANTHRACITE COAL FIELEs.-
! II 10 l-nor, bo+ bo,,pc