The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-16
NINE, MILL AND RAILROAD.

NINE, MILL AND kAlLhUAD.
The American Structural company is
the name of a concern recently char
tered in West Virginia for the purpose
of building a S1,000000 iron plant at
Tonawanda, eight miles north of Buff
falo, N y, to be operated with cleo
tricity. H. Sellers Mckee, Murray
Werner and NJ. w. Watson are among
the corporators. During the past week
fifty acres of land have been secured
by the company at Tonawanda. q. M.
Butt a Pittsburg engineer, will develop
a new process. The plant is to employ
$500 men and to receive its power from
the Cataract Power company. The
contract for the power has been let.
Mr.. Butz said: 1--WE will make beams
and structural shapes at the cost of
billets, and we will be able to manufac-
ture built-up columns at one-half their
present cost. We shall command the
market, especially for sizes of beams
over twenty-four inches, the largest
now made" The principle of the new
process is that beam is worked sim
ultaneously from all four sides and is
worked besides directly from the billet
into the finished article without any
intermediary heating stage. This will
be the first mill in the country to be
wholly operated by electricity. The
power will be drawn direct from the
falls.
At the Pennsylvania Steel works the
production of rails and Bessemer steel
last week was the heaviest of years
The three furnaces in blast averaged
nearly 300 tons daily. For three days
the Bessemer mill averaged 120 blows
tWpntU-fpIf hniIrC Tho rail mill
made 1900 tons of rails during the week,
the largest production in its history
On Thursday SIG tons were turned out
nearly a ton to ever two minutes. The
foundry Of the Maryland Steel company
is busy on an order for about 5000 cable
railway yokes for the Columbian Trac-
tion company of Washington, ID. c. The
ironworks at the Sparrow's Point ship
yards are now working night and day
forces in order to complete the lock
gates which are being built for the
government. The gates are TO be put
ut the cascades in the Columbia river,
Oregon.
The autumn season is being utilized
down in Hazleton by the formulation of
glittering new railway schemes-on pa
per. Here is the latest, as extracted
from the Plain-Speaker, which proposes
that two roads join and make one grand
air line between Gotham and Chicago.
The railroads referred to are the Lehigh
Valley and the Pennsylvania. The
Pennsylvania railroad has for years
been straining every effort to lessen the
time between the two cities. The pres
ent shortest route of that company is
via Harrisburg from Philadelphia,
thence over the Alleghenies to Pitts
hIIYor Tho distance hNr tbiC IOl1tn ig N13
miles. The route Of the Lehigh Valley
up through New York state to Buffalo
is well-known. At Buffalo the Lehigh
Valley makes connections with rail-
roads running into Chicago. The dis
tance in miles is little more than that
of the Pennsylvania. Now, a much
shorter route could be arrived at by
both companies running through trains
for the west over the Lehigh Valley
from New York city to Hazleton, from
Hazleton to Sunbury over the Hazleton,
Sunbury and Wilkes-Barre road, a
branch Of the Pennsylvania; from Sun
bury to Lewistown Junction over the
Philadelphia and Erie, another branch
of the Pennsylvania. At Lewistown
Junction the main line of the Pennsyl-
vania would be reached and traversed
via Pittsburg to Chicago. The dis
tance between New York and Chicago
would be S54 miles. or So miles shorter
than the shortest line now being oper-
ated between New York and Chicago.
Any arrangement that would be entered
into between these roads for the run
ming Of trains over this route would be
of immense advantage to both, as the
great volume of travel between New
York and Pittsburg-and all of the cities
west Of Pittsburg-would eventually
travel over this, the shortest line. A
traveller over this line would traverse
the picturesque Lehigh Valley from
New York to Hazleton, a distance of 143
miles; from Hazleton to Sunbury,
through a country of wild and rugged
scenery, distance of 50 miles, thence 8
miles to Lewistown Junction, where the
main line of the Pennsy would be trav-
ersed to Pittsburg through the grandest
scenery in the country, 1876 miles. The
distance between New York and Pitts
burg would be 3S6 miles. Thus the dis
tance would be shorter in reality, be-
tween New York and Pittsburg, and all
travel, not alone for Chicago, but for
the great and boundless west, would
pass over the route.
MINOR INDUSTRIAL NOTES:
Anthracite stove coal has been sold in
an