The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1875-11-27
Editor.
ATURDAY, NOV. 81, 1875.
IRON.

cdIlou precious 1etdlS. are SOuSHl
after with the greatest avidity.
People go crazy in the pursuit of
these metals, and many sell both
soul and body to possess them.
But nobody ever gets excited
about iron. In the maddening
rush after wealth, men go past
mountains of iron, without a
thought, 1t is too common a me-
tai, il is too cheap to think about,
and they don't think about it I'M
til they happen to want a horse.
shoe, or plow, or wagon, or a
steam-engine or some other of the
millions of articles indispensable
in civilized life, and which can
not be made without iron.
In speaking of iron, of course we
include steel, for steel is only car
huret of iron. We have come
across some men who thought
that steel was a native metal. A
correspondent of the Scientific
american recently asked the edi-
tor of that journal if steel was not
native metal-that is if it was
not steel as it came from the
mine? OF course he got his an
sWer.
Yes, iron is by far the most val
liable metal in the world. 1t could
not be dispensedE with. If we
were deprived of iron, the world
would retrogade back to the
darkness of barbarisnn. There
was a time when the use of iron
was not known to some of the ma
tons and tribes of the earth. But
it was dark period. From the
discovery OF, iron and its uses, CT
viIization dates it's dawn. Gold
and silver might be dispensed
with, and civilization still keep on
its march, but not SO with iron.
In all the avocations of human
life, in all the occupations in
which men engage, in the arts
and sciences, in the navigation of
the sea and the cultivation of the
land, iron is indispensable.
Few people have any idea of
the money value of iron produced
annually in the United States.
The value of the gold and silver
extracted does not exceed eighty
millions of dollars per year, while
the value of iron extracted and
sold exceeds two hundred millions
in the same time. From a cir
cular recently issued from the
iron and steel manufacturers, we
learn that last year we consumed
nearly five millions kegs Of nails,
valued at thirty millions Of dol
lars in coin In 1874 our fOundries
and rolling mills turned out three
million tons of pig-iron and over
one million eight hundred tons
ofrolIed iron and nails. Our foun-
dries are now manufacturing steel
rails and steel for many other
purposes.
Now, we wish to call the atten-
ton of the people of Arizona, and
CAPITALISTS abroad to the fact that
we have the best of iron ore, in
great abundance, in this Territory,
and this, one of our greatest re-
sources, has been and is entirely
neglected. We are always i'm
porting vast amount of cast iron
and a large amount Of money goes
out to buy it and pay the freight
upon it. And these importations
are increasing as the working Of
our mines increases, and they are
bound to increase indefinitely, and
TO great extent. The heavy
castings are principally the shoes,
and stamps and batteries of quartz
mills, but there are a thousand
other castings used, all of which
are now imported at great cost.
Now we can utilize our own iron
ore and keep that money at home.
Years ago, when prospecting for
ooid in thiS u'nrritOrV. we came