The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-05-26
GREAT GOOD NEWS.
TEXAS TO BEGIN TO UTILIZE HER
GREAT WEALTH IN IRON.
The First Coke Furnace in Texas Under Con
tract at Llano-A Pioneer Iron Man
Of Alabama Quits Birming-
ham for Llano.
ALL TEXAS TO BE BENEFITED.

The first furnace ever built in Texas
to make coke iron has been con-
tracted for at Llano. 1t is moreover
the first furnace ever built south of
Maryland and Kentucky to make
Bessemer iron and steel. Texas may
well rejoice at this new era of its his
tory, for it means to the whole state
beginning of great steel-making
business. 1t is especially gratifying
that the furnace is to be built by Ala
bama and Tennessee iron men and
their associates, as it indicates that
they appreciate the marvellous iron ore
resources Of the Llano section
and are willing to invest here. The
Llano Steel Furnace and Manufac-
turing company was chartered yester-
day, with capital stock of $500, 900,
by Messrs. Eldwell Estmanand r. d.
Smith of Birmingham, Ala, Col. j. III.
Moore of Nashville, Tenn, and others.
Mr.. Eastman, the president of the
company, is one of the pioneer iron
men of Alabama, and was one of the
organizers of the Trussville Furnace
company, and the Attala Iron and
Steel company, and other iron enter
prises in that state and Georgia. For
many years he was connected with
the great 100000 Sloss Iron and
Steel company of Birmingham, devot-
ing his time mainly to the examina-
ton and purchase of iron ore prop
critics. Messrs. Moore and
Smith are also heavily interested
in Alabama and Tennessee
furnaces, the latter being president of
the Trussville Furnace company. Mr.,
Eastman, who is at the Driskill hotel,
was interviewed yesterday by a
STATESMAN reporter in regard to the
Llano ore fields and the prospect for
large developments in that district.
In reply to various questions he said:
Gin the first place, we have not only
contracted to build furnace at Llano,
but work upon it
HAS BEEN COMMENCED,
and it will be pushed as rapidly as
possible. 1t is true that at present
iron is low, but this is only tempo
rary matter and the best time to build
a furnace is during such periods OF
depression. Then the work can be
done at lower cost than when bust
ness is active, and the furnace is
ready to go into blast by the time the
inevitable reaction comes with its
higher prices. This gives the
best possible conditions for
large profits in iron making
and, by the way, few people realize
that the iron business, taking it year
in and out, is the most profitable in
dustry in America. This is illustra-
ted by the great fortunes made in
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Birmingham
and other iron centers."
Mr.. Eastman continuing said:
"My attention was called to the LlanC
ore fields some months ago by my
friend Captain John Orr of Austin. ]
went up there a skeptic, believing as
other A labama iron men, that no other
place in the world could equal Birm.
ingham for cheap iron production
After three months of careful investi-
cation 1 am confident that Llano is
destined to be one of the
GREAT IRON AND STEEL
making centers of the world. Its
Bessemer ores are the finest known
of in the world and are
vastly superior to the ores Of
Cuba, where l spent several months
last year on an Investigation trip and
yet two Pennsylvania companies are
spending $5,000,000 and $4,000 900. re-
spectively ON the purchase and dc.
velopment of Cuban ores for shipnirr,
to Baltimore and Philadelphia iul
steel making. The whole world is be-
oh al 60, nj
tunately Texas has enough to supply
the demand. Not only can we make
Bessemer iron and steel at Llano, but
we can ship ores at large profit t6
the furnaces of Alabama and the
north"
'I have found in Texas" he went
on to say, "a very great misapprehen'
sion as to the accessibility of fuel fol
iron making. The fact is, the LlanC
ores are probably nearer to
GOOD COOKING COAL
than any other such vast body of such
high grade Bessemer ores in the
world. England gets it's Bessemel
ore from Spain and Sweden; the
$4,000, 900 iron and steel plant recent
ly built at Baltimore imports it's ores
from Cuba, Spain and Africa and ther
hauls its coke from way up in West
Virginia. The Chicago steel works
haul their ores from Lake superior
and their coke 600 miles or more from
Pennsylvania, while the Pennsylva
MIA furnaces haul their Bessemer ores
over 1000 miles from the Lake Su
perior district No other furnace il
America will have high grade Bes
semer ores at such a low cost as oul
Llano furnace. While all other fur
naces pay from S. to So ton for thu
Bessemer ores, ours will cost only
from 75c to 81 ton. This in itsel
gives an enormous advantage. Ever
If we haul our coke from the Indian
territory it would not cost us mucf
more than many of the largest work.
in the west pay, while our ore cost
us about one fifth as much as theirs
But nearer sources of coke will
probably be developed at Eagle Pas
and Thurber, and at one or two neare
points, giving us as great an advant
age in coke as we have in ore. Be
sides it may come about that Ignite
can be used for part of our fuel, a
oil inUnctinQ