The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1890-08-29
THE INEVITABLE.
Furnaces Being Rapidly Closed I'm Penn
sylvania, and Great Cutlery Over the
Prospect Of Universal Disaster
and Ruin.
CAN'T STAND COMPETITIONS.
From the Philadelphia Record: J

in the enjoyment of low costs of trans
portation on raw materials and still lower
charges on the product. AS an instance
of this an iron manufacturer of this vicin-
ity was urged recently to move his busi-
ness to the South, and he was assured,
with the guarantee of a contract, that the
freight charges upon his materials and
product should not exceed i, cent per ton
per mile for either long or short distances.
In the Schuylkill valley and surrounding
regions the charges for similar traffic range
from to 2Ila cents per ton per mile. For
eight anthracite coal furnaces given in
Carroll d. Wright's recent report the
average transportation on anthracite coal
was l06 miles, and the average freight
paid was 81 "a per ton.
Evidences of the results arc apparent to
anybody who passes through the Schuyl-
kill valley, even if it be no more than a
flying trip in the cars. Idle, abandoned
and dismantlcd furnaces may be seen on
every hand as monuments of great enter
prises that have been wrecked. Within
the past ten years full score of furnaces
in the Schuylkill valley have been ADAM
doncd, while during the same period only
Il single stack has been erected in the VAL
Icy proper, the Pottsville Iron and Steel
Company having built one new stack this
year to replace an old and small furnace.
The furnace of the Chester Rolling Mill
Company, at Thurlow, Delaware county,
which was built nearly ten years ago, can
hardly be considered as in the Schuylkill
valley.
FURNACES CLOSING Cr.
The work of destruction has been going
on steadily, however, for many years with
out interruption. The Philadelphia and
Reading Coal and Iron Company OWNS
seven furnaces in the Schuylkill valley.
Two of them, the Norway, at Bechteisville,
in Bcrks county, and the Swede, at Swede-
land, in Montgomery county, are leased,
and have been kept in operation most OF
the time by the lrssccs, although the Read
ing railroad efforts as excessive frciShts
from the lcssees as from those who operate
furnaces in which the company has no in
tcrest whatever. The two East Penn fur
naces at Lyons, in Bcrks county, have
been abandoned, and are now being torn
down, after years of idlcness. The three
other furnaces, Mt kutztown, Port Carbon
and New Ringgold, have not been in blast
for many years, and their abandonment is
now merely formaity and a question of
time, rs nobody seems to care to lease
them. The Monocacy furnace, which is
also owned by the Philadelphia & Read
ing Company, was demolished two years
ago; and the Marion furnace, ut Miners
ville near Pottsvillc, in which the COM
pany owns the principal interest, is idle
and as good Us abandoned The Philadcl-
pha furnace, at Beach and Vienna streets,
in this city, which was owned by S. Rob-
bins & Son. was forced to suspend opera
tons by the extreme high cost of anthra-
cite fuel. The furnace was built only
seventeen years ago, and it enjoyed the
advantage of water transportation on it's
Gre, much of which was brought from
abroad. Anthracite fuel proved to be too
costly at 81 to $3.50 per ton, and during
recent years the furnace was operated
only at intervals. When Hughes a. Pat
:erson bought the works Of S. Robbins &
So, few years ago, they abap ;oncd tho
inrnac ;. and last year it was torn down.
~ William Penn p. o., in Montgomery
county, there were three furnaces, which
were c@hed by d. o. Hitner by whom they
were operated Tor a great many Yeas. The
Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley railroad
bought two of the stacks in 1883 and tore
them down TO make way for its tracks,
and the third was wrecked last year. NJ
other furnaces have been built to take
their places. The Plymoath Rolling Mil
Company, of NorristOwn, 5ncc flourish
ing concern, and an empower of large
force of men, is now = thing eff the past.
The company failed ~ Af,cii Of last year.
Its rolling mill has .:cn idle since that
time, and is now reported rs about to he
dismantlcd The two Plymouth furnaces
tnt shOt UGH on fai
the company, are now being torn down;
and the Lucinda furnace, at Norristoyn,
which was formerly operated by the Ply
mouth Rolling Mill Company, has not
made any iron for long time, although it
is now owned by other parties.
At West Conshohockcn are the two fur
naccs of the Merton Iron Company, of
which the late j. B. Moorhead was the
president and principal owner. The fur
naccs have been out of blast for several
years.
The Mosccm furnace, at Moselem, Berks
county, which was. last operated by Lie
brandt & Mcdowell, of this city, has not
been i'll blast for about six years, and has
been for sale during that period. But
Schuylkill valley furnaces do not find pur-
chasers readily.
ROLLING KILLS. HAVE LIKEWISE SUFFERED.
Rolling mills have Jared as badly in the
Schuylkill Valley as have blast furnaces.
The Pulo Alto rolling mill, ut PottsviIle,
which began operations nearly forty years
; ago, and which was we'll equipped for the
production Of all kinds of railroad ma
terial, shut down about ten years ago, and,
after lying idle for four years, it was dis
mantlcd. The Standard Iron Works, in
Norristown. which were in operation from
1851 and which for many years did
profitable business, shut down three or
four years ago, and nearly all the ma
chinerv has been removed. The works
are now dismantlcd, and the company has
; wound up its affairs and gone out of busi-
ness. These works did not owe their fail
j. urc to any fault in their equipment or
facilities, for the machinery has been pur-
chased by mil-owners in different parts
Of the country and added TO works already
in operation. The Port Carbon Iron
\ Works, at Pottsville, which were owned
: by the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and
|, Iron Company, were last operated by the
:, Pottsville Iron and Steel Company, but
S after the expiration Of the lease the mill
remained idle for several years, and was
dsmantled during 1889. The works Of
the Philadelphia Iron and Steel Company,
u at No. 939 North Delaware avenue, in this
. city, were established in 1915, but after
G forty-fve years of existence they sue
y cumbed to the ever-increasing disadyan-