The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-10-09
CUBAN ORES in VIRGINIA.
This Engineering and Mining
Journals Article.
1t Attempts to Disparagc virginia's Post
ton as an Iron State by Assuming that
Cuban Ores are Indispcnsable--Tho
Able Reply OF Mr.. Il. q. Pcchin--IIe
states the Exact Status of the Cuban
Ore Question.

Under the heedlng, carrying CUBAN
Iron Ores into Virginia. the Engineer
ing and Mining Journal of recent date
contains the following article
The statement is made by the Vir-
that the Norfolk and Western railroad
proposes to import Cuban ore via Norfolk
for smelling in furnaces along the line
of that road. Cuban ore is claimed to
be excellent for mixing with Virginia
ore to manufacture Bessemer pig iron
and this importation would furnish
freight for the thousands of cars that
now carry coal from Pocahontas east
ward and return empty.
We hope our Southern friends will
give us some fuller explanation of this
matter We have been told for the last
ten years that Virginia and other South
crn States possessed all the ore and coal
necessary to supply the markets of the
world with iron for ages to come: that
the orc and coal wore nearer together
than anywhere else. and that iron could
be produced as chcaply as in England:
but now we learn that Cuban ore is eX-
cellent to mix with Virginia orc-in
OelcI NOIoS, Outb virginia OTc HceuS
some other ore to be mixed with it to
improve it. II Cuban ore can DO carried
into Virginia to meet the Pocahontas
coke, it can quite as easily be carried
into Pennsylvania to meet the ConnellS-
Y vile coke. and, if so, with the exception
of the temporary difference in cost of
labor, wages in Pennsylvania being
higher, the much-lauded advantages of
Virginia do not seem so very apparent.
1t has not yet been demonstrated that
Virginia has any beds of ore which are
equal in quality and extent either to the
Cornwall bed in Pennsylvania, to those
OF the Lake Champlain region in New
York, or to those of Cuba, still less to
those OF the four great Lake Superior
regions.
However, we would by no means decry
the resources of Virginia. While we
do not believe that She is going to sup
plant either Pennsylvania or Illinois as
an iron center, we would not be at all sur
prised to see her surpass Alabama or
even Ohio. The accessibility of the
Cuban ore is the one thing which gives
her q great advantage over the two
last named States.
The fact is, the United States is too
large country to have only one great
iron center. No one state has such a
expect to retain control of the industry.
According to the census returns, Penn
sylvania increased her production of
pig-iron in ten years from 1,03O,3ll to
4,712,511, or 2,7S2, 200 net tons. Ohio
increased from 54S,T12 to 1,3O2, 900 or
753, 5S7 tons; Illinois from %, 467 to GA
SOC, or 759,03S tons; Alabama from co.
336 to So0,432, or S2S, log tons, and Vir-
ginia from 1906 to 3O2, 447, or 2S4, 541
tons. Pennsylvania percentage of the
total product of the country decreased
from 51.05 to 1919 per cent, Ohio from
14.51 to 1859, while Alabama increased
1.65 to 9.29 per cent, Illinois from $50
TO 9.04 per cent, and Virginia from O.5
to 3.16 per cent. Although the percent
age of Pennsylvania decreased, its
actual increase or production was more
than three times the increase of Ala
bama, and nearly ten times the increase
of Virginia. So, while the increase of
Virginia and Alabama has been phe-
nomenal when reckoned in percentages,
the actual figures merely show a ten
dcncy to distribution of tho iron produc-
tlor among many centcrs rather than to
concentrate ii in one.
The importation of Cuban ore is a mat
ter of considerable Importance to the
iron industry of the whole country as
we'll as of Virginia. If the new mines
now being developed should prove as
profitable as the Jurugua mines. which
shipped over 2d0 900 tons to this country
in 1889, they will make up for the deiici-
ency which is threatened in the Spanish
and other foreign ores, and make the
Atlantic SeacoaSt one of the best lOca-
lions in the country for the production
of pig iron. The Pennsylvania Steel
Company, in building it's new works at
Steelton, Md, has shown great foresight
in this matter.
Assuming that the Cuban mines are
going to be Il permanent source of a large
part Of our iron ore supply, the question
of the best location for iron manufacture
becomes very complex one. Some To-
cations have one advantage and some
have another, but there is no place with
out its disadvantages. Eastern Prnnsyl-
vania is accessible to foreign ores and to
the ores OF New York and New Jersey.
and it has its own Cornwall ores. which
will supply portion of it's demand only
Its anthracite is not as good fuel as it's
Connellsville coke, and that has to be
carried great distance. It's market is
close at hand, being the whole of New
England, New York and Eastern Penn
sylvania. Western Pennsylvania has
abundant fuel and access to all markets,
but has no iron ore. 1t always pays the
highest price for ore, and is the meeting
point for ores brought from points as
distant as Minnesota and Algiers. Its
location at the head Of the Ohio river is
uneqnaled for giving it command of the
markets of vast extent of territory,
and there can be no doubt that as long
as its fuel lasts, Pittsburg will be great
manufacturing city.
The greatsource of supply of good ores