Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-11-10
GREAT CANNON MAKERS.
The Krupps and Their Big Plant
at Essen.
Energy and Enterprise Achieve tn
surpassed succesS-Facts About
the Enormous Estab-
Iishment.

The city Of Essen is located in the
center OF hiily valley, which abonnds
ir coal and iron ore, and the digging
for both and the melting 0f the ore and
casting the metal into ingots and roll
irg it into bars have been the occupa-
tions Of the inhabitants for centuries
past. Frederick Krupp, the founder of
the great works bearing his name. was
born in 1871, and when crucible cast
steel was first being introduced in
England, and its importation from
there into Germany had been made inn
possible through the edict of Ma
poleon called the continental-speer
+. Krupp began to produce crucible
cast steel, first in small quantities for
files, stamps, rolls for coins and shears,
but only slowly could he convince and
persuade German manufacturers to use
his cast steel, and after a life full of
disappOintments and hardships he died
in 1926, after a long and severe illness,
leaving to his son Alfred little else than
the old homestead, which still stands
in the midst Of the great works, and
the secret of his invention.
Alfred Krupp's energy and enterprise
soon conquered. His first success was
to be able to furnish cast steel of
varying degree of hardness, thereby in
creasing its adaptability for many new
purposes. Next came the invention of
the weldless car wheel tires, which
were patented in 1853 in all countries
and furnished him capital for enlarg-
ing his plant. In 1865 he interested
himself in coal mines, iron ore mines
and furnaces, which should furnish the
material for his own works, and in
1867 he began to reap the harvest from
his experiments inaugurated long since
with steel cannons, and the great
Franco-German war of 1901 proved
beyond doubt their superiority as
against the old bronze cannons. Since
then the success of these works and
their growth have been phenomenal,
and when Alfred Krlpp closed the busy
and successful and philanthropic work
OF his life in 1857 at Villa Huegel, his
princeIy home on the side hills of the
valley of the Ruhr, the city of Essen,
in recognition OF his great work, erect
cd in his memory a beautiful monu-
ment on the most prominent square of
the city, and Populations from many
nations mourned at his grave.
Essen is a city of 10000 inhabitants.
and over 10000 of this population are
employed in the works Of the able and
energetic son of Alfred Krupp-Fred-
rich Alfred. Over 1900 acres of ground
are covered with buildings and ma
chinery. Many coal mines furnish fuel
for the works, over 400 iron ore mines
furnish the metal, and large iron ore
deposits in Spain, near Bflboa, have
Leen purchased in addition, and a spe-
cial fleet of steamers has been built
which bring over 300, 900 tons of this
Spanish iron ore from Spain to the
German coast and up the Rhine. Tween
" furnaces at Duisburg and Neuwied-
on-the-Rhine are reducing this ore for
the Krupp works and are owned or
controlled by them.
The main street of Essen divides the
Krupp works in 0 two parts, connected
overhead with innumerable mammoth
steam pipes and bridges. and parallel
with it, running east and west, the
tracl,s of the iihenish railway pass the
works in the north, while in the south
the railroad leading from Dusseldorf to
Bremen. Hamburg and Berlin skirts the
mill. Inuumerable tracks connect
these two main lines OF railroad. sur
rounding in an inextricable network
the buildings and crossing the street
leading 10 Muelheim below its level
Powerful locomotives bring train loads
OF raw material into the yards and leave
the works with valuable products,
finished and ready for shipment to all
PARTS Of the globe. Miniature engines
and cars move about between the build
ings on narrow-gauge tracks, bringing
material 81 smaller size from one build
ing to another until it is finished and
ready for the market.-Iron Age.