The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-03-05


Is AT which figure Il has often been sold Ia the
past, iron, it Is said, can be made as cheaply
here as 1t can be put into this market by the
Southern manufacturers,
APoPuLAR MiscoNcErros.s Y Z. Z
The idea which seems to have gained
ground that there Is d vast extent OF iron ter.
ritory in Alabama which offers abundant op.
portunities for the manufacture OH az favor
able terms Us several firms now enjoy; 70 q
mistaken one. Itisgenerally conceded that
most profitable plant in Alabama. Tie Red
Mountain, which is the best iron land In the
South, Is about twelve miles long. and has II
well.deyeloped vein OF ore, the 0utcropping
OF which can be followed as plainly as one OF
the veins OF line stone in the Wheeling bills.
This territory Ia owned by four firms. The
Eureka Company has two furnaces at Red
Mountain. Their ore Is right at hand, but
their coal is on the other side; OF the
mountain and across VALLEY, 80 that 1t has
TO be transported 10 the railroad by tramway,
hauled to Birmingham, distance OF twelve
miles, transferred 10 another railroad and
thus hauled 10 the furnace. The Sloss fur
mace has two new stacks with all the modern
improvements for tho, cheap conversion OF
ore, but all their orc and cosl must be trans
ported ten miles by rail The Alice company
Is situated much the same, having one iar.
mace completed and another IN process OF
construction, at Birmingham. At recent
run OF this furnace for several months the
cost OF production on an average was Sl0.35
ner ton. The Woodwards have located their
furnace on the Nine OF the Cincinnati South
ern railway, and have railroads from their
furnace to coal upon one side. and ore and
limestone on the other. They svn about pne
and a half miles Of the length Of the noun
tain, and the remainder Of the valuable por-
ton Is owned by the other three firms.
FORTUNES uor HANGING on Bu4IIEs.
Such opportunities as arc afforded by this
location are rare indeed. Iron Mountain, in
Missouri, Is another instance OF an Isolated
property (which offers rare chance LOT the
fortunate owners 10; make themselves I'm.
mensely wealthy But, as one, Wheeling
mill owner said Saturday. 1t does not
follow that all over Missouri there are SIM.
lar deposits or outcroppings,of iron ore, and
that Missouri Is going TO 1eyolutioniEe the
iron world. In Pennsylvania, near Reading
and Lebanon, there Is anothersuch property.
the Cornwall mine. which has been operated
for years, and which contains richer stores
OF more valuable ore than any in
Alabama, Tennessee or Carolina. i has
enriched all the branches OF large family
who own and operate II, but II has not re-
suited In enriching anybody else. Capitalists
have been attracted to Alabama, by the
stories OF fabulous wealth TO be made in.the
iron business there, but have come back
after an examination OF the iron territories
without investing. One man offered the
Woodwards 4 good price for coal, stone and
ore, desiring to put up an iron plant beside
Al Il I,,t lanltnal htu nffAF EaFthAF
from Birmingham in the same, direction,
about forty miles, is the brown hemalita ore
country, but these ores are In deposits and
nothing rs TO the wealth OF any Of the show
ings can be told but by working them, In
the western end Of the Carolinss are some
fine Bessemer ores, and the Tennessee ores
make charcoal Iron which Is unsurpassed
anywhere. .....,
THE ALABAMA oREs AsD THE IRON THEY YIELD.
The Alabama ores are principally neutral
and down TO cold short All OF the Red
Mountain vein cannot be worked, and 1t Is
only by The most careful selection OF orc that
a quality of metal suitable for bar iron or
nails can be made. The general run Of the
iron turned out has found lis market at
Louisville and Cincinnati, and has been corr
sumed for foundry uses. There is a bar
mill at Birmingham which turns out o fair
quality OF bar, and nail mill is being built
at Briarileid, Alabama. - EWt
Some OF the Alabama irons have been Test.
ed In this city, the BaLelle mill having
worked considerable quantities OF It, and
found that II made . very fair quality OF nails.
Some bar iron has also been rolled from II
with satisfactory RESULTS.
: Opinions differ among the manufacturers
hers as to the possibilltyof making as good q
quality OF iron in Alabama as 10 made here.
One gentleman who has visited Alabama Is
confident that there Is BeSsemer ore 10 be
found there. Another who was recently in
that country Is us confident that there Is no
''red.shortn or BeSsemer ore, but that the
hest grade Of ore TO be found there Is neutral,
and that only by the most careful selection
can iron be made which will compare with
that produced here from Superior ores. The
high price OF ores at the mines, the heavy
cost Of transportation, and the excessive
ireights on coke are the main difficulties with
which, Wheeling furnace owners haye TO
contend. To compensate Tor these, about
their only advantage Is the. cheap coal, and
recent improvements In the. construction Of
works have so reduced the quantity OF coal
consumed In various operations Of iron man.
ufActure that this has ceased to be q great Rd.
vantage. n1sy 81 9,IaT gAgu.H.
H. HOPE ron IHE FUTURE, N;,t.,.
The prospect Is that ore will DO bought for
less money In the future, and the manuiac.
turers are still hoping for the construction Of
the Sonth Penrsyl Sania. road through The
Connellsyille coke country and to this city.
This will put Wheeling on m equal footing
with Pittsburgh as 10 distance Of Transports.
lion. One furnace III this city last year paid
$4,000 more for freight on coke than this
Item would have amounted TO bad the furnace
been located at Pithburgh. Even the com.
pletion OF the Pittsburgh Southern road as a
standard gauge will afford some relief from
this state OF affairs. As the B, & o. road Is now
compelled to haul eoke-yia Cumberland,
Md-it cannot compete with the Pennsylva-
mia cnmnanY. which carries Il via Pittsburgh.