Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-08-14
The Iron Interest.

The Iron Interest.
To the editor of the Alexandria Gazette
For the benefit Of capitalists and also for some
of our own citizens, who do not appreciate our
position for the development of the mineral
resources of Virginia. enclose you an estimate
Of the present cost Of making coke pig iron,
anthracite pig iron, or cold blast pig iron at
this city, with modern furnace, with all the
late improvements, including the celebrated
Hot Blast, as invented by Mr.. WhitweIl, of
England, and estimating for furnace with a
capacity Of FROM % to 40 tons of pig iron per
day. The estimates Of expenses per too for iron,
aud tor management aud interest on capita, are
as row made III Pannsy lvania, Ohio and Mis-.
souri,. with magnetic, specuiar, and brown
and red hematlte iron ores Ia abundance Oh the
numerous railroads, aud those TO be built, lead.
Ing lotto our CITY, within radius OF one hun
drcd miles or less with wood for charcoal
abundant on our railroads, and water courses
sufficient to last Tor many years, and with iuex-
baustlble coal fields now open and to be opened
within radius of It's miles, and with the
celebrated Cumberland coal piled up on our
wharves at 81. rs to 81 so per ton, We have all
the elements to offer to capitalists a superior
| lccatioD for the manufacture of rou and steel
| il; all their forms. Pig iron alone can be here
made at large profit, taking the present prices
at the North auu LII Eogand. The cause Of this
| is explained when it Is proven that the cost of
making pig iron in Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Missouri IN the past twelve or fifteen years
has been doubled, as fully proven by the lengthy
report OF j. l.. Bell, of England, who visited
hn rod
been about the same 10 gand as here, caused
by the great advanceiu the ores and tuel, there
by doubling the cost Of making pig iron, and
running up the cost of making ton of pig iron
in all the Northern States and England to from
$23 up to $50, as to quality aud location Of the
tni pace, while 1t will be seen that in the South
The same can be produced at about one-haIt, or
| little over, therefore offering to capitalists to-
day large profit, even at the present low
| prices, Tor the manufacturing of iron in Vr-
slnla, and particularly in Alexandria.
The cost Of coke pig iron, from Cumberland
coal, is as follows
! i tons of coke at S.. 90 per ton, 5 6 25
q tons ores, average $500 per ton, IS
| 4UO lbs. limestone, so
Labor per t0n, 8 90
Interest ard superintendence per ton,
$l.0O, 100
Cost per ton, SIT 50
Worth at the present time about twenty-five
dollars per ton
For anthracite iron, requiring the same per
ton, made at, say, 5000 per ton for COAL in
large quantities, or Sl.O0 more than the coke,
| the cost would be $.25 more, or $lS75 per
ton; worth about S27 per ton.
For cold blast charcoal pig iron, recurring
n hDS hnl, If oh oh
Of pig iron (say average of l2O bushels, at nine
! ceuts per bushel delivered here, millions of
bushels can be delivered here for this price, or
| less, ~ bushels being the average TO a cord of
WOOD we have the cost Of cold blast charcoal
| pig iron. as follows:
! 10 bushels charcoal at &C., 5 10 50
u tuns of ole, So %, 6 IS
4UO lbs limestone, SD
LABOR, 90
Interest and superintendent, 90
Cosi Of charcoal pig iron, so Us
Worth to-day irom S333 to $40 per ton.
ln the event of making cold blast charcoal
iron there would have to be two or three
| furnaces TO make the quantity proposed per
day. The cost of these would not be material,
as each one would have to be of much less ca
paclty.
1t will be seen that any of these three kinds
OF pig iron, it made here DOW would pay about
lity per cent Pr I'll at the present low price of
lro4 less the cost Of delivery ia 3 lltimore, Phil
adelphla, New York or Boston, which would
be from 81 up to 81 50 per ton, as to place of
shipment. But with uakiog of cheap pig iron
here would thee COME the touudries torges,
pudding mills, aud the celebrated Bessemer
Steel Works, with all their attendant indus
tries. W DO could calculate where it would end :?
l would here state that the chief cause Of the
great difference IN the production of chea iron,
possible to-day 10 Virginia, is not wholly on ac-
count Of the Iumeuse prices OF mineral lands
at he Nor,h over The Domlual cost Of those at
| lhe South, tut IL also arises from the fact that
the late improvements 10 the building of mod
eln furnaces has made saving Of fully so per
| cent, between furnace built at the present
day and one built twenty, or even ten years
since; so that large Dumber of the furnaces
bu 1t even ten years since or over, will never be
able 10 the lul IRE to produce ton OF pig iron
at profit on the present price, and as proof of
his correspondent Of the Iron Age, of New
York, reports that at present, out of thirty-tour
furnaces in the Reading, Pa, district, only thir-
teen OF them are new IN blast 1t is DOW set
tied TACT that large furnaces, just built, such as
the Lucy, at Pltt>burg, and the Vulcan, of St.
LOUIS. With al the late improvements, are now
| making pig iron with but little over one
half the fuel aud ore used ten years since. We,
therefore, have all the experience of older
| countries to now adopt, with the mex haustabIe
mineral wealth OF Virginia all around U.s. at a
nominal cost. Viii we embrace the oppor-
tuuity? T.
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY ITEMS. We
Ieara through Mr. Henry Ovens, travelling
agent for the firm Of Messrs. Shinn g. Co., All,
exandria, that man uamed Henry 5. Speer,
new conner there, lde most uuprovoked
ard deadly assault with stick, on Mr.. James
Mount, railroad agent at Tnorougbfar station,
on Thursday last. Speer was arrested by Con
s able james McDonough and was to have had
hearing yesterday.
A commission, consisting of Justices Whit.