Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-05-26
IRON

speetfOn.
at a meeting Of the Iron and Steel In
stitnte Of Europe, held in Iiiege in 1873,
invitations were given to the members TO
visit the mines and irOn-wOrks OF the
United States. Although the Institute, as
a body, could not respond TO the invitation,
Mr.. j. J.. Bell, +. r. s., President OF the
Institute, did accept, and made an extend
ed tour through the iron and eOal-producing
States. He was everywhere welcomed,
and all sources of information touching
the character and extent Of our coal
measures and iron deposits, and the modes
Of mining and manufacturing, were thrown
open to him. The courtesy and cOrdiality
Of his reception he acknowledges in his
"NOteS Of a Visit 10 the Coal and Iron
Mines and IrOn-wOrks in the United
States, which he prepared afler his return
to England, and which is about to be made
public there.
1t is a paper Of considerable importance,
and one which the prOpTietOrs Of mines and
works in Europe will read with profound
interest, because it contains facts upon
which they will be abe 10 base an opinion
Of the relation this country will sustain 10
them hereafter as a consumer or eompeti-
tor. We are indebted TO the Cincinnati
Commercial for the following synopsis,
from Mr.. Belts advance sheets:
The fact that in 1871 the United King
dom exported 10000 tons of iron to the
United States and but 10000 in 1874
while the producing power in pig iron Of
what Mr.. Bell calls sour most valuable
customer" rose during the same period
from 100000 10 100000 Of tons, was
calculated to arouse the interest of the
foreign manufacturer in the progress of
the iron industry of the United States. To
this fact, quite as much as to ''the courtesy
and earnestness' of the invitation extend
ed to the Institute, we are doubtless in
debted for the visit OF Mr.. Bell.
The first subject of which Mr.. Bell
treats is ransportatiOn-the bringing to-
gether of the raw materials required in the
manufacture Of iron; and he confines HIM
self to the area east of the Rocky Noun
tains. The vast extent Of this area and the
wide distances that separate the mineral
deposits lead him to a consideration of our
facilities of rail and water communication,
and the cost Of transportation by both sys-
tens, and a comparison of the railway sys-
tens Of the United States and Great Britain
as affecting the question of cost. Under
this head lie says:
Gin the United Kingdom the average cost
per mile was E36,5S2, while in the United
States It only amounted 10 I'll 800. No
rigid comparison can, of course, be drawn
from these figures, owing to the extent Of
single line being very different in the two
cases. There are, however, two serious
sources Of expense connected with their
formation, in which our American friends
enjoy great advantages over ourselves; they
have not had to fight their way inch by
inch-Often at an enormous Outlay-in OBJ
tanning legislative authority to construct
their railways, and they have not to pay, as
we have occasionally 10 do, eXOrbitan:
prices for the land required for the works.
Of course, the conditions in the two cOun-
tries are very diSsimilar; but, looking at the
overwhelming Importance, particularly in
an industrial community like Our own, Of
having not only the most perfect but the
most economical means Of lOcOmOuOn,
cheapness Of construction cannot be oyer
estimated.
against the advantages just named, the
railway companies in the United States
have had TO contend with scarce, and, there
fore, dear capital, with all materials, save
timber, far more costly than with us, and
with the very high rate at which imported
labor had TO be paid. They have sought,
and often very successfully, 10 mitigate
those drawbacks by adopting less expensive
modes Of accomplishing the objects they
had i'm view, than have been c0,isidCrei
requisite in a more settled country, such as
our own. Il is true the results have been
such as would scarcely have satisfied The
Jealous eve Of 4 Government Inspector be-
fore 1uctiOEing the opening Of a new line
in Great Britain; but in America, the CON
venience of the many is allowed TO over
ride the possible injury TO tie interests Of
the few
The most abundant ores are the brown
and red hematite. The brown ore found
in the Lehigh district is beginning of the
deposits which, appearing in Alabama, pass
through Tennessee in a nOTtheastefly
direction, or from the sd 10 the 4lst paTal-
lei Of latitude. Il is to be found in all the
States through which the Appalachian
chain extends, and exists in enormous
masses along the line Of the Alabama and
Chattanooga Railway. Veins from fifty To
five hundred feet, and Of great depth, were
inspected by Mr.. Bell. His description
Of the prOfusiOn OF this variety
Of ore is calculated TO impress the
minds of the British irOn-masters. The
red lematite, a fOssilitcrOus ore, was found
in considerable quantities in Alabama,
Tennessee and Georgia, lying in regularly
stratifed beds among sandstone and shale,
and resting on the Silurian limestone; but
the contents Of most Of the veins are unfor-
ulnately mixed with a good deal ofsiliciOus
matter, so much so, indeed, that the variety
can only be used prOiitably when mixed
with other ores.
What Mr.. Bell has 70 say Of the blast
furnaces in the Southern States, is worth
producing:
'It can not be said that the actual pro-
duction Of pig iron in Carolina, West Nir-
ginia, Tennessee, Alabama, or Georgia,
gives at present any idea Of the future Of
these States as centres Of this branch Of in
dustry. Whatever their natural resources
may be, considerations Of a social charac-
ter, and, up TO recent times, the want Of
railways and the absence, in many cases, Of
navigable rivers, have intertered with the
progress of undertakings whose successful
pursuit demand easy and cheap means Of
transport.
"In the more Southern division Of the
territory Of which we are speaking, until
within the last ten years, the labor was
almost exclusively performed by slaves,
whose natural power and inclination, 1t was
imagined, gave peter results when applied
to agricultural pursuits than TO those Of
manufacturing description. 1t would ap-
pear, too, that the nature of the soil and
climate, and the then character Of the la
boring population, confined the attention
Of capitalists to growing cotton, particu-
larly as their property consisted chiefly in
estates and slaves, aud not in the means Of
building iron furnaces, 10 the working of
which they were, it it 20 be presumed, en-
tire strangers.
"FrOm whatever cause, however, the fact
remains, that although the works were nu-
merOus, the production of iron was limited.
They were on a very small scale, consisting
Of single furnaces of insignificant dimen-
siOns, and until recently were entirely de-
pendent on the forests for their fuel.
''The distances which intervene between
the coal and ore, and which are more or less
conspicuous in many other iron-makns
districts in the United States, are so modi-
fed in many parts Of Alabama, Georgia,
Tennessee and West Virginia as to place
several localities in these provinces IN a
position of equality with the most favored
of those which | have examined in Europe.
"As an example of this, would ask you
20 imag ne a section of country, Of which
the western potion is the Warrior Coal
field Between this and the CahaWbaC0al