The Opelousas courier., 1885-05-30
Louisiana Iron.

MINEAND MAKE 1T INTO IRON.
N. 0. Times Democrat.
The iron ore discovered late
ly in Claiborne parish, which
was brought to this city and as
sayed by DR.. J. Albrecht, of the
New Orleans Mint, was found
to contain 52-41 of metallic of
iron, with scarcely a trace of
sulphur and phosphorus, and is,
therefore, extremely valuable
for the making of steel. The
find of ore is immense, there
being hundreds of thousands of
tons on the surface with an in
exhaustible supply underground.
Mr.. Enderly, one of the Louisi-
an Commissioners at the Elk
position, a practical mineralo-
gist, thinks the supply mex
haustible. The mine is within
a mile of the Vicksburg and
Shreveport Railroad, about
twenty miles east Of Shreveport,
in the.midst of densely wood
ed country, which will secure
the manufacture of a high grade
OF charcoal iron.
The question now is, can this
ore be brought to New Orleans
and manufactured at a profit?
and we have obtained the fol-
lowing facts from DR.. B. E.
Smith, of this city, the inventor
of the combination furnace own
ed by the New Orleans Gas and
Smelling Company, and erect
ed by them at Leeds & Co.'s
foundry in this city. This fur
mace has been operated upon
experimentally by r. @. Hamp-
ton, a practical furnace man of
many years experience, on ores
brought from Birmingham, Ala.
In one of his trials 1872 pounds of
iron ore and .eighty-seyen
pounds of limestone were smelt-
ed into No. 1 pig iron with lat
pounds of coke at the same
time the waste heat from the
cupola was making common
coal gas and coke for future
charges, and also making all the
steam necessary for running the
machinery, and also the waste
heat sufficient to roast the ores
and puddle che pig iron into bar
iron if desired. It is, therefore,
proved that this single furnace
does us much work with one
ton of coal as is now done with
three tons of coal in the five
separate furnaces ordinarily
used in making iron. Applying
these facts to this Claiborne
parish ore we find that two tons
of this ore can be mined aud
transported to New Orleans fol
IS. a ton of coal will cost
$3.50. The necessary lime fol
fuxing the iron can be obtained
from oyster shells. which vii
cost over fifty cents per tor
of ore. The labor for smelling
will cost So a ton of pig iron
This makes the total cost of 81
per ton for the materials ant
labor necessary TO convert thl'
ore into a ton of pig iron, which
will readily command $1S a TOT
!, here in this market. There is
besides, made III this operation
J from the ton of coal 5000 fee
!. of carburetted hydrogen gas
Sold III this market at the prize
of $3.50 Il thousand. The VAST
!, Stag which runs out of the fur
naces makes excellent building
. or paving blocks, and is used il
: England.
a ton of this waste sla,
would cover six square yards 9
our streets six iiches deep, thu
forming an indestructible foun
dation for an asphalt surface 9
7 Z four inches thick. An expe
|, rienced payer has estimated th,
] cost of d pavement at $1.5O pc
7 square yard. The present as
! phalt pavement costs $3.50
\ square yard, and square bloc
y granite $6 q square.
From which it will be see
, THAT with an inexhanstibl
!, supply ofiron III Claiborne pal
: ish, at our very doors, by ra.
the ore can be brought here an
2 turned into iron at q profit I
Y "a per ton, and at the sam
time the city supplied with
J cheap, durable material for pa,
9 Ding the streets and lighting th
3 city with gas at s1.6O per 100
! feet.
So far as the Democratic pa
is concerned, Logan's ele'