Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-02-07
sLAG VALUABLE.


Good Paint.-SoaP also Made oft.
When the ancestors OF the rich Lord
family in New York turned out cannon
at Boonton,N. ]. away back in 1881,
and piled up the cinders that came in
big chunks from the pudding furnaces,
they never supposed this refuse would
be good for anything. The cannon and
cannon balls that were manufactured in
this inland Jersey town and sent over to
Washington's army at MorristOwn help
ed to secure American independence,
and the cinders soon made huge pile
along the banks of the rushing Rocka-
way River.
In after years, as the BOOnton iron
works became more and more famous,
the piles OF refuse from the mill increas-
ed. High entertainments OF cinders sur
rounded the works, and 1t became o
problem how to dispose OF this heavy
and supposedly useless material. AS the
township laid out roads in the vicinity
this Stag, as it is generally called,
was carted into the country and used for
filling in or for roadbeds. The result
was that for miles around the iron Stag
became part of the soil. and is still mix
ed in with the clay and slate that COM
pose the earth. 1t was considered a
nuisance by the owners OF the iron
works, and they were glad to get rid Of
it in any way possible.
To-day the great heaps of Stag have q
commercial value that is constantly in
creasing, and the price OF Boonton Stag
promises soon to be quoted in the iron
market of the country. The discovery
that it had value is OF comparatively re-
cent date. The old furnaces were shut
down for years after the death OF one OF
the two Lords. and it was only after the
management of the Lord estate came in
to the hands of Benjamin Nicoll, who
married daughter of Daniel Lord, OF
Morristown, that the works were start
ed up and the Stag was found to possess
commercial value. Mr.. Nicoll is q
brother OF De Lancey Nicoll, who fol-
lows John r. Fellows rs District Attor-
ney of New York. He is an active, ath-
letic young fellow, @ graduate in the
famous Princeton class OF III, and Cap
tain Of the only boat crew that the
orange or black ever sent to Saratoga
and won pennant with. The moment
he was put in charge Of the Lord inter-
ests here he began to see what could be
done to bring the place out of obscurity
and make the native products profit
able.
Two years ago some New York capt.
talists and business men, including
Erastus Wiman, Aquilla Rich and Law
renee S. Mott, began an investigation
into the merits OF the Boonton Stag with
view to using it as base in the man.
ufacture of paint. Mr.. Rich, who was
formerly one OF the members OF the big
house Of C. T. Reynolds & Co., was in
terested in the process OF converting
Stag into paint, discovered and patented
by James P. Perkins, of Pullman, Ill
Mr.. Perkins was the manager OF the
IRON and steel works conducted by the
> Pullman Palace Car Company, and he
had made number OF successful exper'
: iments with Stag paint from the refuse
of the Pullman furnaces. The Boonton
Stag was subjected to careful analysis
by Prof. Ricketts,, of Columbia College,
and Prof. Austen, OF Rutgers Col
lege.
These careful chemists reported that
the Stag was very rich in iron, contain
from SIS to 20 per cent. of pure oxide.
Thew also discovered that in this Stag
the particles of iron were all incased in
particles OF silica or glass, which added
TO its value and had prevented the Stag,
much of which had lain for over CEN
tury, and had been subjected to every
kind of weather, from corroding.
On the strength of these reports q
company was organized, with Mr.. Wi
man as President, and buildings were
leased, machinery introduced, and the
manufacture Of paint begun under Mr.
Perkins supervision, as his patents were
purchased by the company. The pro,
duct has been marked success, and
Mr.. Rich says it is working revolution
in the paint trade.
When Mr.. Nicoll had made contract
with the paint company for the delivery
of the cinders at fair price per ton,
which made necessary the employment
of men to dig the Stag from the ancient
heaps and cart it toithe paint mill, he
began to look around for other fields Of
usefulness and profit for the Stag. He
introduced some iron furnace men to ex'
anime the material, and when Henry
Willard and his German friends establish
ed the United States Aluminium factory
here last spring the Stag had a big
boom. Furnace and rolling-mill owners
were astonished to find as much, and
often more, iron in this refuse material
than they got out OF their native iron
mines in the upper part of this state
and over in Pennsylvania. Instead Of
going to the trouble to mine the ore
here was an inexhaustible supply lying
around idle, and which could be bought
delivered and worked into mechantabls
products for less than the ore could b
mined for per ton. 4
That this dircovery is proving proAt
able to the Lord estate and Is consider
ed of inestimable benefit to the iron mer
is best shown by the fact that The Pc
quest Furnace Company, at Oxford
Warren county, sent in an order few
weeks ago for 1000 tons of the Stag
a H. ova6 chfV1rnod IN