The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-03

MAKING PIG IRON.

gtOn.
MAKING PIG IRON.
Leaving the mine, next went to one
OF the great furnaces at the foot of
Red mountains where the ore is turned
into pig iron. Iron,iyou know, never oc-
ours pure in atstate Of nature The ore
Of the Red mountain which is used
at the Bessemer furnaces, contains
only about As per cent of iron, and the
superintendent told me that the purest
iron stone fonndt anywhere contains
Only 70 per cent. The rest is made up
of rock and other minerals and IT ia
necessary to separate the iron before
1t can be used for manufactures. This
process Is known as making pig iron.
The iron is mixed with limestone and
coke in great furnaces, which are, I
Judge, as high as six-story house
The furnaces are filled with alternate
layers of coke, limestone and iron. 1t
takes am enormous blast to furnish
enough heat for such a furnace, and
the blast Is created by immense en-
g1nes, which force the air first through
what are perhaps the biggest stoves
or the world. They are immense tubes,
many feet high, and as big around as
the city gas tank. They are lined with
| hrebrick and are heated by the gas
which comes from the furnaces. The
air is made to pass through these enor-
| AAADNo 0NoNCS UELOIC 1t 6OC5 10 Lie DId%SI
| and 1t produces a heat so intense that
| the iron and steel machinery Of the
| furnace would not last minute were
/ not every bit Of 1t enveloped in. water.
! All OF the pipes are incased in other
| pipes which are kept full Of cold water,
and this water Is forced about the out
side Of the furnace whenever smelling
is going on. The heat is so great that
the iron is melted in very short time
1t is drawn off from each furnace
| twice a day. g.,
A RIVER OF GOLD.
1t flows out at the foot in a little
river of gold. The stream looks like
molten gold alloyed with copper; until
! 1t gets distance of perhaps thirty
feet away from the furnace. Here It is
divided into two streams. The iron
| flows one way and the Stag Or refuse
Which has formed a scum and floats
on the top, is carried off in another
The iron is now of a yellow gold color.
! 1t seems to have lost its reddish tint
/ It runs off in a golden stream into a
bed Of sand, i'm which little holes have
| been cut or nodded, so that 1t looks
for all the world Hike a garden patch
ready for planting These holes are of
/ just the size and shape of what is
known as an iron pig. They are about
as big around as the upper arm of
| good-s1zed man and about three feet
! long. The yellow stream finds its way
1 In through them and soon the garden
Is full Of these bright yellow pigs,
Which turn to copper tint as they
cool and them turn to the gray Of cold
| pig iron. AS the metal is cooling the
| heat waves dance over the garden
| patch OF hot iron, and you have to hold
your hat before your face to keep from
being scorched. After the pigs are
cooled they are piled up ready to be
shipped to different parts of the United
states for use in manufacturing. The
stag goes to waste. 1t runs off into
great iron pot fastened on car wheels
ana Is Wheeled on a railroad track
| some distance away and emptied out
upon the Stag heap. There are noun
ta1ns Of such Stag near every great
furnace. and the invention has yet to
De made which will turn it to any
other use than that of ballasting rail-
roads.
WE LEAD THE WORLD.
We lead the world not only in the
production Of iron, but also in the
| making of pig iron. We made 10000, 900
tons in 1892, which was an increase Of
more than 1000 per cent over the pro-
| duct Of 1865. Since that time we have
! increased our steel product $50. times
steel
! every year to give every man, woman
and child in the United States 140
| pounds and shavsnso1ne to spare Some
of our pig Iron which was lately sent
| to England, T am told, was sold for
less than 81 ton. We made pig iron at
| the time Of the revolution, which was
worth $50 a ton and we are making
steel now, 1t is said, almost as cheaply
as a good class of iron.@5 -
| 1t Is wonderful how iron increases in
| value after it is turned into machinery
or articles Of use by the people You
| get some idea Of what labor is worth
| when you think of it, 1T is estimated
| by Carroll D. Wright, Of the labor bu-
reau, for instance, that seventy-five
cents worth Of common iron ore when
| turned into bar iron is worth S. If you
make 1t into horse shoes it is worth $40,
or, If into table knives, $3.50. Seventy
! five cents worth of ore manufactured
into needles is worth $500, and when
made into buttons more than S29 000 If
the iron is converted into watch
springs its value is almost ten times as
great, and when turned into hair
springs your sSeventy-five cents worth
of rock and stone will sell for the enor-
nous sum Of 100000. The difference
between rs cents and $500. 900 is the
value paid for labor alone. So you see
that, after all, the real wealth Of a
country lies in the muscles and brains
Of it's people. If we could turn all our
! iron ore into hair springs, and could
find customers for them, we would be
so rich that we could buy the whole
world and take flyers in all the specu-
| lative property on the sun, moon and
stars and still have money to burn.
Frank G. Carpenter