The age-herald., 1898-07-31
THE INDUSTRIES
 OF BIRMINGHAM Great Manufacturing Concerns Which
 Develop Its Wealth AS WELL AS THE SMALLER CONCERNS Thousands Of Men Employed d-MiOns of Dollars Expended in Wages Their Products Are Shipped All
 Over the Civilized World.

The life of Birmingham consists of its manufacturing industries.
 If the above saying is accepted as true, Birmingham must indeed be a lively city, for never in the history of Jones' Valley have there been as many manufacturing concerns in active and profitable operation as there are at the present time.
 The clouds of smoke which rise continu- ally from their numerous smoke stacks speak louder than any words can of their successful operation. Brmingham's chief source of wealth is, of course, the inexhaustable supplies of coal, iron and limestone which are found in such close proximity to each other in this district, and right well they are de- veloped by the big mining and manufac- turing companies in operation here.
 The Tennessee Company
 The largest of all these companies is the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad com- pany, with a capital of $21 ,OOO,O 900. This enormous concern owns and operates large plants in Tennessee and Pennsylvania but it's heaviest investments are in the Bir- mingham district It owns four furnaces at Ensley with a yearly capacity of sS,OOO tons of pig iron. Two furnaces in the city, the Alice furnace, with a capacity of 10S,- GOO tons yearly; two at OXmoor, capacity 126,000 tons, and five at Bessemer, capacity 2SS,00 This gives total of thirteen fur naces in the immediate vicinity of Birming- ham, with a yearly capacity of S10,O0O tons of pig iron.
 This company operates ten coal mines at Pratt City, with yearly capacity of g. 100000 tons. Three at Blue Creek, yearly capacity 9O0,O0O tons; six at Cahaba, and Gurnee, with an output of 100000 tons, and two at Henry-Ellen, with a 1S0,OOO ton capacity This is a yearly capacity of A. 3S0,000 tons of bituminous coal.
 The company has in operation the fol- lowing coke ovens; S07 at Pratt City, ca pacity 420,000 tons yearly; 250 at Alice fur naces, capacity 112,500 tons; 42O at Besse- mer, capacity 1S9OO0 tons; 300 at the Rob- ertson furnaces, capacity 135,0OO tons; 467 ovens at Blocton, capacity 240,000 tons; 29S at Johns, capacity 000 tens; 100 at Hele- na, capacity 45,000 tons; making total of 2,642 coke ovens in the district with ySdIiy output Ol l,AfO,VuU lOHS Ol cOkt.
 In this district the company has fifteen ore mines on Red mountain, with an an- nual output of 1,S0O0 900 tons.
 The company employs over $500 men in this district, and its pay rolls amount to thousands and thousands of dollars month- ly.
 It owns 11704S acres of land in the War rior coal field, 72,04S acres in the Cahaba coal field, 15,225 acres of Red mountain ore lands, 3,4S acres of red ores, not Red mountain, Il, ,763 acres of brown ores and 9, ,4S0 acres of unclassified lands, making a total of 24O,SO7 acres in Jefferson county.
 The sloss Company
 The Sloss Iron and Steel company is the second in size only to the Tennessee com- pany. It has capital of 100000 and gives employment to 3,500 men the year round.
 It operates two furnaces in the city, known as the "Sloss Furnace" which, to- gether have an annual capacity of 129,60O tons. The company owns two more fur naces at North Birmingham, with an an- nual capacity of 129,600 tons.
 The company's coal capacity Is very large. From it's mines at Coalburg over 360,O00 tons are mined annually. The mines at Brookside yield 1000 tons annually. The mines at Brazil and Cardiff have an annual capacity of 540,0 tons. The Bloss- burg mine yields ,000 tons. This gives the company a total of about 900 tons of coal annually.
  been using in the past are those on Red mountain near Bessemer, with capacity of 432000 tons annually. Three mines at Irondale, with a capacity of over 600,0O0 tons, also some mines at Champion, Blount county, having a capacity of about 600,000 tons.
 During the past week this company has opened up what perhaps are the richest ore mines in the district Their output is brown hemetite ore and they are situated T adc oyat tho Col1t rail These ores are so rich and in such great abun- dance that 1t is estimated the cost of mak ing pig iron will be considerably reduced. At Coalburg the company has 156 coke ovens with an annual output of S4,6 tons; at Brookside there are 100 ovens with a ca pacity of about 32 400 tons At Blossburg there are 150 ovens, with Il capacity of 54,- GOO tons. This makes total of 1000 tons :, annually.
 In 1891 and 1895 the Unitod States govern ment made an official test on the cruiser Montgomery and the Sloss coal proved the most satisfactory of all southern coals.
 The Pioneer Company
 The Pioneer Mining and Manufacturing company at Thomas, is probably the third largest company in the district. It has a capital of $1, ,500,000, and its two stacks are about as large as those of any other com pany. The two have capacity of about IA 900 tons of pig iron a year.
 The company's brown ore mines are at Goethite, and its red ore mines a little southeast of Bessemer Their yearly out but Is about 252,000 tons. The Pioneer com bany owns a great deal of coal land in this district but they are still undeveloped, And all the coal the furnaces use is obtain Cd from the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail- road company It is coked, however, in the company's own ovens at Thomas.
 Woodward Iron Company
 The Woodward Iron company at Wheel ing has a capital of q ,000,000 and operates two furnaces there. This company has the distinction of having all of its materials closer together than any other furnace in the world and 1t is consequently run on a very economic basis.
 The yearly output of It's furnaces is about