St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-25

Need-Hundreds of Choppers
at Work to Supply Charcoal.
Special to the Globe.
WILSON, Wis, Feb. 24.-During the
last decade, no greater shadow of COM
ing events has been cast for this sec
ton of country, industrially and CON-
mercially speaking, Their the cast made
by the Eagle Furnace, at Spring Valley.
WIS.,, last Tuesday. "rell 1t not in Gath.
Let it not be known In Askelon." st.
CroiX county is now making charcoal
pig iron for the Northwest. Evidently
the Twin Cities have no adequate con-
ception OF the pregnancy of this state
ment; you will have later, e. G. The
GLOBE, being the only daily that
deemed the event OF sufficient import
anc e for q passing notice.
Feeling that your many readers will
be interested in learning some further
particulars with reference to a matter
that is fraught with so much material
interest to every resident of this county,
impels me to try and crafty them. The
Eagle furnace is q modern Sixty-ton hot
blast, and was erected last year under
the careful supervision of Frank Eagle,
who was drilled in the iron business, in
detail. by his father, who was also a
successful ironmaster away down at
Marietta, Oh the limpid Susquehannah,
OF the old Keystone state. When the
iron business began moving West of the
Blue ~Alleghanies. Mr.. Eagle followed it
up, graduating himself from the irou
school of experience In the Sucker
state. About two years ago Hon. d. NJ.
Sabin, who has done more for the de-
velopment of this county than any other
nonresident, had the good fortune to
interest Mr.. Eagle in the furnace pro-
lect. A visit and careful examination
satisfied his practiced eye that nature
had b0untitully prepared superior adj
vantages for the economical manufac-
ture Of charcoal iron; indeed all the
constituents that enter therein lie prac-
tically at the furnace doors. In addi-
ton to all this the question:: What
quality of iron will this brown
dynamite ore make? did not
become a factor in the es-
adjustment of this plant. thanks to the
persistent energy and enterprisIng
spirit of j. A. Wilson, Of this place,
who. at his own risk and expense.
shipped ore from the arthur mine'' to
the furnace of the York iron company,
at Black River Falls. and bad manu-
factured 500 tons Of pig iron, at a cost
exceeding SD per ton. Mr.. Burt, the
manager of the furnace, was highly
prejudiced against the ore, owing to the
fact that he had had a great deal of
trouble in trying to work the Black
River ore, which attempt he finally
abandoned. However, after working
his furnace a short time Oh this ore his
fears vanished, and he now regards it
as one of the very easiest ores to work,
son sold the product to TO undrieS in
Chicago. Eau Claire, Saltwater, ST.
Paul, Minneapolis, Brainerd and other
points. The iron, by his instructions,
was subjected to the most rigorous
tests, and without a single exception
was pronounced par excellence. Its
fine grain aud wonderful t1ulditY make
1T Il marvellous scrap carrier, testing
satisfactorily as high as IS per cent in
this direction, riyaling the famous
Scotch pig.
1t VIII be seen that Mr.. Eagle is in
dulging lin no experiment., but is ell
SaReu III turning out NOS. anu z nara
and soft charcoal pig iron that just
meets the requirements of our North
western foundries. Mark the prediction,
stick a pin here; inside. of i've years
CrOiX county will have the second
charcoal furnace in blast. The benefits
accIuing to this side of the county.
from this enterprise, can hardly be
estimated. II marks a new era in our
history. Three hundred men are now
chopping cord wood for charcoal, with
100 more engaged in the other depart
ments. This all means cleaning up
slashed LANDS, new farms. a vast con-
sumption OF supplies, mi general pros
perity for st. CrOix county.