Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-26
IRON ANU STEEL.
The United States Independent of Other
Countries.


Countries.
The United States may now be said to be
independent of other countries, both in the
mining of its ores for steel and iron, and
also in the manufacture of the finished
product. Heretofore it has been asserted
and believed that this country could not
furnish the required ores for steel, and re-
sort has been had to imported ores; but
the great demand for this important min
eral has stimulated new researches and
efforts, which have been crowned with sue
cess.
The Lake Superior region, for example,
has been so greatly developed that the
larger proportion of the supply now comes
from that source. The output of Superior
ore for 1889 is stated to have been I, 000,-
600 tons, and the estimate for 1890 is
100000 tons, of which 100000 have
already been sold at an advance of rs
cents to 81 25 per ton above last years
rates. 1t is understood the entire products
will be taken by Western iron men. This
the East. 1t is not believed the Cuban
ores can be supplied in sufficient quantity
to meet the steel demand of this region.
There is hope of steel ores in the Southern
States. As f,r Spain, its whole product of
100000 tons is required for England,
France, Belgium and Germany. All these
countries depend largely upon foreign i'm
portation for the best steel ores. This
country alone occupies the satisfactory po-
sition of possessing its own steel ore beds.
Many of the Southern mines now worked,
although yielding excellent ores for iron,
contain too much phosphorus for making
the best steel. 1t has however, been as
certained that by the adoption of the basic
process, now extensively used in England,
the iron from most of the Southern coke
furnaces can be made to yield excellent
steel. The introduction of the basic pro-
cess is now in progress at the South, and
prospects tor large production OF good
steel i'll the near future are cheering. In
addition to this there are mines more re-
Gently opened that are beginning to fur
nish tirst-class steel ores.
The prices of iron and steel have adj
vanced in Europe to a greater extent than
in this country, and consequently, except
in filling back orders, there is at present
little or no market here for the foreign
production. Americans now have almost
exclusive possession of the American mar
ket.
The great progress which has been made
in this country in mine development and
in the manufacture of steel and iron will
be evident when we consider that it is but
little more than twenty years since the
manufacture of steel rails was begun In
this country. In 1867 our production of
steel rails was only $3.50 tons. In 1887 it
was 1855, GOO TONS or double the quantity
made in England. AS to pig iron, we are
now producing in the aggregate about
100000 tons year, all of which we con-
sumo, and England produces about the
same, of which she exports much. In
steel production the United States is ahead
of Great Britain, our production being
about 100000 tons per annum, against
3,250,000 tons for England As for iron
our product is also much larger than that
of the royal kingdom, ours being about
100000 tons against 100000 tons Eng
lish production