The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1874-07-30


and work on the new steel works being the
only exception. At least two thirds of the
employees are idle. And so we found it with
all the large factories-either working short
handed, or on short time, or both. Even the
railroad companies have come down to this
state of things-the ID. i. & W. running but
six coal trains per day, not more than one
half their number in good times, and their
shops and coal works that are not idle, run
ming on part time only.
During this portion of our pereginations
we visited the grounds to be occupied by the
Steel works of the Iron Company. Here we
found a busy hive of workers truly, though
we are informed that not a quarter of the
men are now employed here that were here
three weeks ago. Here we placed ourself
under charge of Mr. Theodore g. Wolf, a
former Stroudsburger who has charge Of the
men employed and to whom we are under
Obligations for all that we learned concerning
these extensive works The building will oc-
cupy space of some 60 by 100 feet, and will
be of brick OF the substantial character Of
the building some idea may be formed from
the fact that the excavation for the
| foundation is some sixteen feet deep,
and is dug in ground made OF the
cinders and Stag of the blast furnaces,
which had been dumped here to the
depth, in many places, of forty feet. This
excavation is filed up, on an average SIX feet
in hight with a concrete formed of cement,
sand and powdered Stag, which is thor
oughly prepared with water, then dumped
| to position from trestling and then stamped
down to solidity by heavy wooden mauls IN
the hands of stalwart men. We saw the
naOdus operandi and feel satisfied that the
work is thoroughly done. To complete this
concreting, four thousand barrels Of cement,
procured from the works along the Lehigh,
been used On this concrete the stone
| foundations are laid, in which stone are
used weighing, many of them, four and five
ton. The foundation completed will en-
brace over one thousand yards of stone ma
sonry of this massive character. In the
superstructure seven hundred thousand
brick will be used. Of the number Of thou
sands of bushels Of lime and sand required
to finish it only practical builder can form
an idea, we will not pretend to- Nor can
we form the least idea Of the number Of
squares of slate kegs Of nails and spikes, or
thousands Of feet Of lumber that will be
Io
which, like the building, will be most
massive and Of the most approved de-
sign, is now building in the companys
shops and at the Dickson works. That in
weight it will run up into the thousands OF
tons will readily be inferred when we men
ton the fact that many of the columns,
cross pieces, portions of the conyerters, and
sills are Of solid cast iron, and weigh from
| four to seven tons each, and that these are
almost nuuberless in the eyes of the mex
perienced beholder. The capacity of this
mill, which will be devoted to the manufac-
ture of steel rails, exclusively, will be about
$50 tons of finished rails per day. The cost
of the works, with the adjoining pudding
mill, is estimated at $780, 900. The power
used in driving the works will be steam,
furnished by six boilers Of the locomo-
tive pattern, having ll0 fues each, and
capacity of some 1000 horse power. Five
of these boilers we saw, and they were mon
sters truly. They cost FIVE thousand dollars
each, as they stood ready to be walled in
place That the general idea that the iron
and steel trade must soon improve is enter
tanned by this mammoth company, certainly
one Of the largest, if not the very largest, in
the country, is evidenced not only by this
large provision for the future, but also by
the fact that its direction, within a few
weeks back, resolved to increase its cash
capital 81 100000.
Through with sight seeing, we proceeded
to attend to the business which was the OBJ
ject Of our coming here. That finished, we
took another look around the city and, "a
mong other things, called in at the Sunday
Free Press Office where we made the acquain-
tance Of Mr.. Frank Clark 9nd Mr.. John O.
Conner, connectees of the establishment, and
undoubtedly clever and agreeable gentlemen
We missed the main object of our visit, how
ever, which was a sight of, and handshake
with, that live genius J. G. Coon, who we
regretted to learn was on a temporary tramp
to Michigan, to look after some friends =
Our disappointment however was partially
compensated by the meeting with our old
friend E. i. Wolf, who we found busily, and
we feel sure not unsuccessfully engaged in
supplying Mr. Coon's place during his alb
sence.
In this latter run around we were confirm
ed in many of our preconceived impressions
Of Scranton and Scrantonians. Not an insig-
nifcant characteristic of both is the love of
the "hoss, and " fine riggs" well handled,
we found to be the weakness of more than
its aristocracy Dollars are big thing but