Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-11-10
BY LAND AND WATER.
A Study Of the Industrial Conditions Of
the Central West.


Furnaces, FOundrIes, and Iron and
steel Plants, aud Its Atmosphere OF
stIflIDR smOke---sandusky, TOledO---
Exports and Farm Products OF this
Fertile Section,
Especial correspondence Of The Phenx.
IL was clear, cool morning when went
on board one of the Buffalo, Cleveland and
Detroit line of steam packets for a cruise
along the south shore of Lake Erie TO
Cleveland. An autumnal breeze from the
northwest had been on duty, evidently, for
several hours, as the green and blue rolling
waters, fringed with silver, kissed the bow
of the vessel as we rushed forward in their
cold embrace. For several miles the Cana
dian shore was plainly visible, the scattered
farm buildings looking like animate Great
ures from the deck of the steamer, as, with
rhythmic cadence, we rose and fell at the
bidding of the waves beneath us. Slowly
turning to port, we were soon opposite
Dunkirk, the last town of Importance in
New York on the lake shore west of Buff
falo. Here are located extensive iron
works. railroad repair shops and ship yards
The Erie railroad does large business in
the transfer of freight with vessels sailing
from this port, and the local trade of the
country towns helps to give Importance to
the city.
When the bounds were established be-
tween the original states Pennsylvania in
sisted on having a port on Lake Erie in
cluded in her domain and the prosperous
aud growing city of Erie, which is located
on the narrow strip of land desired, shows
the wisdom of the insistence. The furnaces
and foundries established at Erie for the
manufacture of iron hold prominent po-
sition in that industry-the receipts ex-
ceeding 13,000,0 900 for the different kinds
of wares sold and forwarded TO consignees
last year The population of Erie exceeds
80, 900. 1t was at this port that Commo-
dore Perry's feet was built and fitted out
in lSl2-l3. The first vessel of any descrip-
ton that ever sailed over the waters of this
inland sea was bark of go tons, built and
sailed by the Chevalier LaSalle, who had
for his companions Louis Heunepin and a
crew Of Canadian coureurs des bois. The
vessel left Niagara river in August, 1879,
went as far north as the Straits of Mackinac,
and was lost with cargo of furs on the
return voyage. The first steamboat ever
seen on the lake was built at Buffalo. She
was called the Walk -in-the. Water and
made her maiden voyage in 1919, going up
through the lakes to Mackinac, and after
her return did service on Lake Erie several
years.
Ashtabula, Ohio, is noted for receiving
more than one-fourth of all the iron ore
sent from the Lake Superior mines. 1t is
here transferred to cars and forwarded to
the furnaces in the Pittsburg, Pa, district
Nearly 4 200, 900 tons were thus delivered
in 1898 and the amount will be much larger
the present year. AS we proceed toward
Cleveland we pass the towns of Fairport
and Lorraine, both of which are included in
the customs port of Cuyahoga. Iron fur
naces and extensive plants for producing
all kinds of heavy machinery, steel rails,
armor for vessels, etc, are the staple in
dustries Of all these coast towns of north
ern Ohio
Cleveland, in 1880, was considered the
ideal residence town of the Middle West.
The city stands on nearly level plateau,
about 100 feet above the lake Near the
centre of the site, from east to west, the
sluggish Cuyahoga river runs through a
canyon about 400 feet in width, the water
of the river being on level with the lake
several miles before it reaches it. On the
narrow banks Of this stream, extending 12
miles from the lake, are located the i'm
mense buildings and yards where steel and
iron vessels are built, foundries and fur.
naces for the production of steel and iron
forgings, castings and plates, that enter in.
to the manufacture of great variety and
quantity of finished products.
The same conditions also obtain on the
lake trout for a distance of four miles,
making the 10 miles practically one street,
which encloses the eastern half of the city.
Here all the business is transacted, and
nine-tenths of the best houses are located
within a Gordon of chimneys, the tops OF
which are on a level with the streets of the
city. Three million tons of bituminous
coal are consumed per annum by the 20C
firms operating on this long street, and all
the smoke and SCOT generated by the com
bustion of 10, 600 tons of soft coal each day
is blown into the throat, mouth, eyes, nose
and ears of $4,000 people, strangers not
included. The whole upper town is blind.
ing wilderness in which Dante, had he
lived in the rear end of the 10Th century,
could have found an Inferno ''ready made
that would have satisfied the caprice of the
most fastidious. The conditions here de-
scribed show the metamorphosis the iron
ores of Lake Superior have indirectly
caused since 1880. Verify, Cleveland sis
given over to the hardness of iron "
The Cuyahoga customs district owns 2S7
vessels, with a tonnage of 1927, 527 tons,
being nearly one-fourth of all accredited to
the entire lake ystem. The district in
cludes all parts of the state of Ohio on Lake
Erie east of Sandusky. 1t is distinctly an
iron and steel group and is second only to
/ Pittsburg in the amount of these products.
The great steel steamships, 425 to 475 fee,
in length, capable of carrying 5000 to 5000
tons of freight, have caused a revolution
in lake commerce, particularly in the
Welland canal, which was built by Canada