The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-04-26
wHEELINe,s OPPORTUNITY.
Plenty Of Manufacturing sltss-A New stesI
Process,

The folloWingextrsc from" Coldshorts"
latest letter to the St. Louis Age 0fStsal is
OF considerable local interest here;
In connection with the progress made
and making by PittsbuTghI understand
that q anew process for making steel direct
" from the ore Is about to BE- undertaken
in this city by Eastern capitalists, II Is
known as the Eahms process-something
akin TO the Blair process, The process
consists in bringing the ore mixed with
Rhode Island graphite toa sponge OF low
temperature In a heating f%urnanGe. lnthis
sponge condition 1t is chemically free
from phosphorus and sulphur. This
graphite Is Inexpensive and its use in this
case ia to reduce the oxide TO metallic iron.
The sponge Ia then subjected to q heating
process In pots for a short time TO bringit
to consistency, when II Ia ready for use.
Should this succeed 1t will eliminate q
good deal Of the cost from steel making,
and in it's order in this age Of displace-
ments upset some present process, II Is
true Of iron and steel as OF natural gas
that our knowledge Of them is but vague
and ridimentary, There Is no limit to raw
material in the region tributary to Pitts
burgh.
Reverting to Pittahurgh's advantages,
enterprise, progress, etc. Wheeling should
GoRe forward under all these advsnta-
gsOus factors, which are making Pitts
burgh q synonym for progress she has all
but natural gas, and that she will have in
the near future, Then she will have been
given the five talents; what answer will
she be prepared to give when called on 70
account for them? There has been 9 still
hunt for months past by agents OF large
eastern and western establishments for
available sites to which they could re-
move their works that they might secure
the use, Of this natural gas. Wheellng'a
chance Is coming; will fosilized CouserVa'
tlsm drive them of, or modern progress,
enterprise and municipal liberality invite
them to settle amongthem2 She has had
several opportunities, big with problem'
atiCally prosperous results; they generally
misCarried, because she either lacked
s~agaClty TO appreciate q good thing when
presented for her consideration, or being
loo gullible has been victimiEsd by sharp
ers. The time Is near at hand when she
can either prove herself or let the grass
grow In her streets and the porker
Wallow in her cutters. She pos
sesses, as l have remarked before, the
same geographical advantages as Pitts
burgh, with this superiority; she Is l00.
miles lower down the river, which in sea.
sous OF low water should give her tempo'
rary advantages, Then there need be no
crowdiug; available sitesar e nearly asthiCk
as leaves in V%allambross. But prOCrasti'
nation is an obsolete quantity In these
days OF progress when nature is supply
Ing man with potent agencies ready pre-
pared for uss; when business transactions
and manufacturing accomplishments
crowd upon each other so closely that
what is theoretiC or problemRtical to-day
Is developed or disproven and accepted or
rejected tomorrow and part Of history
the day after. HssitSting, cautious old
iOgyism has no part in the drama now be-
ing enacted, but alert, resolute, nervy, au'
daCious, II 1t better expresses II, spirits,
are the select and successful actors.
Wheeling cannot assume to be- arrival Of
Pittsburgh, she will do we'll II che proves
herself d successful and not too aspiring
imitator,