Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-12-21
Interesting Facts About iron.


interesting Facts About Iron
The manufacture of ion imp
ments and the extraction Of the met
from iron ore, says an exchange, reaehs
back To the earliest record Of the rae
The book of Genesis tells usthat Iub
Cain was an constructor Of every ar
ficer in brass and iron" Travele
have found iron in positions indicat
its use in many of the earlier 81
ures Of cities ancient Of the.Es.
There is hardly country Of Ith qcts
mt day, however uncivilized n.
the people are skilled in
primitive iron-smelting flIr1tesA1.. MI
they produce many articlese
cultural and household purS
is well known that during ~
occupation Of England mangty and
Of iron ore were worked X
mense scale, while the rich
debris and cinders left by FoI ous
full habits Of the invade
worked over again with
present operators.
The chemical nature oyer enc
combinations are as univRd fashio,r
as it is widely di5tribut
largely into the coloririg matter
human blood, and abounds in plants
and minerals. and the red color Of some
earths and rocks is due to its presence
in fact, common clay is composed of
oxide Of iron and a part from which
ordinary alum is extracted Iron and
platina are the only metals that are
capable OF being welded at red heat
the union of iron and steel is seen in
the manufacture Of axes, where N
steel is Joined to the main portion
the ak which is of iron, In the prc
cess of handling iron in the several
processes of hand forging, annealing
and tempering we Of this day can Lay
claim to no superiority to the Ph9ni-
clans. Arabs and Persians Of long ages
past. But when we look at the enor-
nous quantities now produced through
out the globe we see the many uses to
which it is put, and the prominent
part it plays in all our a8EEAeareial .afItI
industrial enterprises one
mines alone, the Lake Supe
mines at Marquette, are p
100000 tons of ore yearly.
New Jersey, we believe,
credit Of being the first State
bar-iron was made from the or
1874 iron works were establish
Shrewsbury, Monmouth county
from 1925 to 1776 many forges W
built in Morris county, some of whic
are still operated. These served valnA
able purposes to- the American cause in
the war for independence, in the cast
ing Of cannon balls and other imple-
ments Of warfare. In 1645 Peter
Cooper, the almost centenarian, en-
gagged in the iron business at Trenton,
and erected the largest rolling mill a
that time in the United States for the
manufacture Of railroad iron. Now
we have immense mines of iron ore ID
several Of the New England States.
while New York is largely represented
| in the list, some of the most extensive
producing mines being found in the
Empire State. Pennsylvania, Of course,
is prolific in this respect, and in most
Of the Southern States iron is produced
in large quantities.
The consideration Of the multifarious
uses to which iron is put points 10 thf
fact that the supply must needs be inn
mense to meet the demand. All oui
ships Of war and ocean steamers ari
now constructed Of iron many large
warehouses are almost entirely bull
Of this material while the endless lis1
Of mechanical, agricultural and house
hold articles only bewilder the mind ii
endeavoring to compute the quantity
We need only ada that In the bowel
Of the land in our own country lie i'm
bedded enough OF the ore for every
conceivable demand Of the merchant
or manrfactnrer