The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1893-05-06
Where to Build Bias, Furnaces.

the production of pig iron Mr.. 4hi
Birkinbine, in the current EngineerSn
Magazine, gives clear statement -
the prime conditions necessary for ia,
successful operation of blast furnace
and OF the evil results which hleyitthIg
follow the artificial booming Of lhny lily
located town on the strength of the
prospective establishment and operation
Of such an industry.
OF the numerous schemes in which
blast-furnaces have been used as foun-
dations upon which to start realestate
! specnlaticns or town "booms" some
have had little, il any, subsiau'i |
basis, others have possessed one or
more OF the factors which are essential
for the eGonomic production OF pig
, metal, aud some which have been s,nrt-
ell and progressed well an toward con-
pletion have already demonstrated the
error OF attempting to produce pig iron
or OF using blast furnace as the initil.
tive industrial feature for the estah-
lishmcnt OF manufacturing celters
where othe' conditions do not d mand
such ceuters.
The employees about blast furnace
are not, as n rule, the best calculated 70
form nuclei of large populations. Out
side of such as are paid salaries, few re
ceiye compensation above that given o
ordinary abor Except for the exact
hours u day which they work., and the
labor about blast-furnaces cannot be
considered as fixed or permanent. Re-
cognizing this, some of the promoter,
of town ventures secured the promise, or
the actual establishment, of industries
which would use "a larger number OF
skilled employees, aud generally such as
better wages than the b'ast-
furnace offers. some of these advanced
industries rely upon the product OF
for their raw material
while others may he entirely indepen
dent of the furnaces. The industrial
plants proposed or erected may eithey
embodv new equipments or those moved
from other sites and renewed in apo NJ
ment so a to be creiitable to ANY
locality, but in other cases investments
have been encouraged by tue bodily re
noval to new sites OF plants which have
)utlived their usefulness in their old |
ocations. largely on account of anti
lntted equipments to which little or no |
addition was made for the chang Il |
conditions.
Disaster may he expected to follow
established at locations |
Which do not, as far as practicable. |
possess advantages equal or superior to |
thers which have been in operation |
lsewhere for term of years. A new
Industry, or the opening up of new
Industrial district, must meet COMPETE
ion, and break into established trade |
eld 10y older concerns fac. which
ften seems to be lost sight of by |
hose who press the claims of some
ocations.
III blast-furnace were necessarily the
est starting point for an industrial
own or city, the number of such settle
lcnts III the older iron producing dis
riots would be greater than the are,
Mt any one conversant with the location
t existing blast-furnaces recognizes
ow many of these, although they have
years and may have been well man
ged and operated with skill, have
altered scarcely more than a hamlet
bout them. Ga the other hand, Il
umber of instances could be quoted
here towns and cities have developed
ON single forge or blast furnace,
Inch was erected III such location as
} have the advantage of good and cheap
NV materials and ample market; in
lct, some new important settlements
riginated from the location of plants
hich did not possess all of the advan.
'ges named. But the exception proves
he rule--that the future advance i'm
aal estate or the prospective establish
tent of towns or cities should seldom
ave a prominent place in estimates
hen location is to be chosen for the
reduction of pig-iron. The prime
should rather be the
uantity, quality and cost at which raw
laterials and labor can be assembled,
lie character of pig-iron which can be
lade and market offered for it, sale.