Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-17
THE TOPIC ON EVERY TONGUE
Steel Is to Be the Shibboleth of
Success.
GLIMPSE THR0' GATES AJAR
Reveals the Glory That Is Brmingham'S in the
Fullness of Time.
The FACTS THRILL, FIGURES ENTHRAlL
Mr., P. G.. Shook Writes of Steel From the
Experts Poina of View Birmingham
and the Basic Process Should Levy
Tribute Upon the World.

tinguisbed fellow citizen, Mr.. Z. T. Hill
man, acquired some ore lands on Red
mountain, near birmingham, Ana, at
price of $40 per acre, and later on, the fact
having been demonstrated that coke could
be made from our Goals, many wagon
loads having been hauled from slope NO.
l at Pratt mines to Oxmoor, a distance VI
ten or twelve miles, and there cooked In a
crude oven erected for the purpose OIL
making the experiment, Mr.. Hillman hlm-
self moved to Birmingham, and, In con-
junction with Mr.. Fl. f. DeBardeleben,
projected and built the Alice furnaces.
The furnaces at OXmoor were built preVl-
Gus to this time, and were being operated
with remarkable success. 1t was said at
that time, although making but fifty tons
of iron per day, the profit on the opera
tons amounted to $1,000 per day.
Immediately after the boom of 1879 and
1880 the furnaces of the Sloss Iron and
Steel company at Birmingham and the
Woodward Iron company were erected
Following this period little was done in
the building of blast furnaces in the south
until 1886 and 1887, when began the era or
our greatest development. In 1884 and
1885 the Citico furnace at Chattanooga,
Tenn, was built and this was followed
by the four great furnaces at Ensley, an
additional stack at Woodward's, two ad-
dltional stacks by the Sloss Iron and Steel
company; Mary Pratt, Williamson, the
five furnaces at Bessemer, the two Pho
neer furnaces at Thomas, Ala. and the
Vanderbilt furnace in North Birming-
ham.
Thus the south was given productive
capacity of pig iron largely IN excess OF
A.. l. IL WA RIO
the zenith of our prosperity in the manu-
facture of crude pig iron, and have ever
since been declining. This condition Will
continue so long as we are dependent up
on markets removed from us by great dis-
lance as to so per cent of our product
True 1t is that under pressure of adverse
conditions we have demonstrated our
ability to produce iron in birmingham
much below the cost or other competing
districts. Under this pressure badly 10
Gated furnaces and those built Tor town
booming purposes only have been aban-
doned and torn down and sold for scrap
iron; others have passed into the hands
of creditors. In contradistinction TO the
prediction of an overzealous writer IN
1880, when pig iron was selling at $40 a
ton, that 1T could be produced at Brmlng-
ham at less than $40 ton, l may say
that large quantities have been sold With
in the last few years at less than 30 per
ton at the furnace.
Perhaps the most serious and unpleas-
ant feature of the situation from the
standpoint of the crude iron MANUFACTURE
err is the remarkable rapidity with when
steel is displacing iron in many OF the
articles of daily use. Rails, structural
material for bridges and buildings, cot
ton ties merchant Steel boiler plates,
riyets, wheels, pinions and machine cast
ings are now made of steel instead OF
iron, and it is encouraging TO note a 1act
which we will later on bring out more
forPi b1U that in all of the above Tnen-
toned articles, or practically so, basic
open hearth steel, the product of the pro-
cess to be employed>in the south, and the
one so admirably adapted to southern
conditions and material, is in all cases
preferable and in very many specihed
over the acid Bessemer or acid open
hearth steel.
The production of pig iron in the Unit
ed States was in
1885. ...,....'....'.4 0ai9ao TONS
1896. s, 202,703 tons
1895 Observation-Disclosures. y, 446,30S tons
From the official reports of Mr.. James
M. Swank of the American Iron and Steel
q association we find that the production
of all classes of steel was as follows the
production of open hearth steel In 1888
being partially estimated):
1885. ................... 1.7l1,926 tons
1890. .........'.... '4'1lIVd LUIS
1893. ......-............ 0,5VJ,lzo LUIS
We find that after deducting the steel
produced in each of the three above
years from the iron produced, and allow
ing the amount of spiegelesen produced
to offset the small imports of iron, and
assuming that in each case long ton Oh
pig iron has made a short ton OF steel,
thus allowing for the natural waste of
conversion, 1t has left available for con-
sumption as iron in the United States
the following tonnage:
1885. .................. -1,oo,'ovo tohS
1890 ...-.. ...-...-...-. .foao'eoz LUIS
1895 Observation-Disclosures. 1857, $50 tons
The growth of the southern iron indus
try may be said to be confined to the past
twenty years, and its phenomenal de-
velopment and expansion has greatly
surpassed that of any other section OF
the country, and reached the point OF
supplying in the year 1894 from Alabama
and Tennessee alone 37ls per cent of the
entire consumption apart from steel in
the United States In this remarkable
expansion the Tennessee Coal, Iron ana
Railroad company has taken the lead.
That company produced in
1885,. ..........'''.'.' oI,aof toHe
1890. .soVsto tohS
1895. Observation-Disclosures: ,'.'-.' o'',o'o TONS
Taking these figures in connection with
those showing the consu .nI ton or iron
as ircn III the same years 1t appears that
that company alone supplied IN lSso ~
Der cent in 1890 5.2S per cert ard In 1880
1921 per cent of all the iron consumed as
iren 40 [. lifted States.
Is it not manifest, therefore, that the
diversion of at least part OF our pro-
duct to the manufacture of steel seems
absolutely Imperative? The shrlnkage
in the consumption of iron, aside from
that converted into steel, was from 1880
to 1895 100000 tons. while there was an
increase in the same period of 100000
tons in the production of steel.
Much has been said and written on the
Z. subject of steel making in the south.
Numerous ina ginary difficulties are en-
tertained by the skeptical few, while
others, in fact l may say all who have
investigated and familiarized themselves
with the few simple points involved are
assured. confident and convinced. Not
long since, only eight short years ago,
the process made perfect by a mbna-
tion of the great discovery of Messrs.
Gilchrist Thomas and Percy c. Gilchirst
OF England in the year 1877, with that OF
the regenerative gas furnace of Messrs.
Siemens and Martin In 1856, known as the
siemens-Martin open hearth furnace, the
process so admirably suited to our condi-
tions. in dealing with and eliminating the