The age-herald., 1898-01-02
The Great Steel Plant
 @mm>And Rolling MiH.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE SAME
 BY ". F. T. FINCH


eeeseeeeessseeseeseessessoeese motive power of the entire plant is a rare sight. It consists of
 Twenty Boilers,
 possessing 5000 horse power. Near the boilers are twenty-one gas producers; for some of the furnaces are heated by gas, in- stead of coal All the gas used is pro- duced on the premises. It is striking feature of the plant. Without the use of gas, it would perhaps be difficult to bring the steel ingots to condition that would admit of the shaping of them into plates for boilers and other forms into which steel is now-a-days put.
 The Steel Plant.
 In the new building, 125 feet long and 100 feet wide, are two stationary regener- ative basic open-hearth steel furnaces, each having capacity of 10000 pounds per charge, both turning out about 100 tons of ingots every twenty-four hours These ingots are bottom cast in groups. At pres ent the initial ingots are used in the finish ing department They are converted in the plate mill, the frebed and bar mills into finished material, and some of them are converted in No. 2s furnace into sheet or tin bars for sheet or firebed mills or into billets for the guide mills.
 No. steel furnace was started on July 22, and No. steel furnace on Oct 25, and both have been in continuous operation giving excellent results so far as physical and chemical requirements go. The fin- ished material more than meets any speci- fled demands, and boiler makers report that superior results are obtained from this steel over any other steel made in this country. In one of the steel furnaces no scrap iron is used; in the other 40 per cent. of scrap is used; and one furnace turns out as good steel as the other. The basic pig at present used in the steel mill comes from Alice furnace. Basic pig diff fers from common pig in several import ant respects. It contains very little phos- phorus or silicon, and scarcely a trace of sulphur. Near the steel plant is located
 The Laboratory,
 in charge of Dr. W. B. Phillips, chemist Among other things in this department of the works is a Reihe testing machine-a powerful machine that takes a piece of steel and determines what it's tensile strength is, what it's ductility Is, and its elongation, and it's reduction of area. By means of this machine the steel made in these mills is kept rigidly up to standard. Birmingham steel will soon be as favorably known as Birmingham iron is. These mills
 Are Run Day and Night.
 In most of the departments only two shifts of men are employed, but In the more exacting departments the work is done by three shifts, each serving eight hours. This is the case in the pudding department and in the light sheet finishing mills. Thirteen hundred men are em- ployed. These men represent about 5000 people, or about one-tenth of the citys en- tire population. The monthly pay rolls foot up $4O,00O-about $5O0,000 year. These figures not only show the immensity of the plant, but they also show what an ele- ment of strength these mills are in this in dustrial city.
 The Products of the Mill
 are sold all the way from the South At lantic coast to the Pacific, the trade in California being very satisfactory. St. Louis is connected with the mills by the Louisville and Nashville, there being a switch from its main line into the com pany's property. The company's goods are also freely sent into Mexico, and the hope is that trade in the West Indies and in South America can soon be built up.
 The Management.
 The men upon whom the task falls of keeping this complicated establishment in continuous operation are President James G. Caldwell, General Manager Thomas Ward, General Superintendent John D. Dwyer and Secretary w. w. Hite Upon their shoulders rests the task of securing each week to a small army of people their pay, of making month in and month out articles as good, perhaps little better, than their competitors make, of finding markets for all the goods they can make, and of securing men, machines and mate rial at all times and under all circum- stances to feed nearly fifty voracious fur naces. It is enough to give one headache to even suggest the work done in the com pany's offices, and yet it is done so syste- matically and quietly that to an outsider