The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-07-17
Statistics OF Virginia Iron Trades
in 1888.

We are indebted, says the Virgi,tias, to
Mr.. James M. Swank. secretary OF the
American Iron and Steel Association. for
his annual report for 1888, with statistics
of the American and foreign iron trades,
presented to the members of the associa-
Iion May, /, 1884. The tables of this re-
port are models of fullness and accuracy of
details. They fully answer all questions
likely to arise for information concerning
the subject matter of this report. and yet
they are embraced in the compass of hun
dred elegantly printed pages.
The following figures are given for the
iron trades of Virginia during the year
1888, in net tons.
Charcoal pig iron produced. .s5s
Bitumiu's coal and coke pig iron produced 1876, 128
Total production of pig iron...... ....l52,97
In the production of. charcoal pig Viz
ginia ranked 10th among the states in
that of coke pig 4th and in total produc-
ton It'll. OF the states that increased
their production in 1888 Virginia came
next to Pennsylvania, having increased
her product from 7.731 tons in 1882 to
152. 907 tons in 1888.
Of the IL new blast furnaces built III the
United States in 1888, four were built i'll
Virginia and one in West Virginia.
The condition of the furnaces of Vir-
ginia at the close Of the years 1882 and
1888 was:
1882 1888
Number out IN e Of blasi...:.... 8 s.
Total. .........................,. SO AZ
Neither iron nor steel rails, Bessemer
steel ingots. nor any other kinds of steel
were made in Virginia during 1888.
In the production of rolled iron Virginia
occupied the 18th place among the states,
producing as follows
Net tons.
Bar, rod, bolt, hoop. shaped, etc., iron
Cut nails made, Isl .27s kegs ............. S.O6i
Total production,of rolled iron..... sO,75l
Virginia produced neither plate nor
sheet iron except nail plate, in 1888. In the
production OF rolled iron proper her rank
was 10th, and in that Of nails it was 9th.
The production Of pig iron of all kinds
in Virginia for the years named. in 1000 lbs
tons, was as follows:
1880. ....29,93f 1882. ............ 81, 73l
lssl....-........ S3.7ll 1885,. ..l529 1901
The production of each kind of pig made
in the same year was
Charcoal. Coke
1885,. :. ............. I4.Ois 1881
1881 Observation-Disclosures. l9.USo 6i61.
1882 Observation-Disclosures. 26,l33 81 59s
SS3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ...... 1879 13602t
This shows that most remarkable
change has been made in the kinds of pig
iron produced by the introduction of coke
as fuel, change that will continue td
increase from year to year with the in
creased production of coke.
The Virginia production of rolled iron
for the years named, in net tons. was :
1885,. All l8S2..... ........ 81 55i
.3s.9Si 1888 %, 6S7
These figures show how sadly deficient
this state is in establishments for convert
ing pig iron into moIe valuable forms. 1t:
iron industry will never prosper as il
should until home markets are secured fol-
much of the pig iron product Of the state
The production of cut nails, in kegs Of
100 pounds, for the years named, was !:
1880. SS2..............1s9,S O
1881. 1885,. 16l 81!
Virginia produced only about 1-46th OF
the nails made in the United States il
1888, while Pennsylvania produced nearly
one-third of the product. There is no rea
son why Virginia should not produce a.
many as Pennsylvania does.