The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-19

minimize the labor Of handling all OF the
raw. finished and waste material.
The product viii be blooms and billets
rolled down to one and one-eighth Inches
square; slabs up to seven by thirty-six
Inches; rails up to 100-pound sections
The capacity of the plant will be one
thousand tons daily.
Capacity of Plant
This output will be of various sizes OF bill
lets and rails to supply the local consump-
tion in Birmingham and the wants Of ex-
isting lines that reach the steel works over
their own tracks, and for export or domes-
tic consumption above referred to. me
quality will be made to suit the require
ments of customers. Low phosphorus and
low supher will admit OF wider range IN
carbon and enable 1t to furnish either a
very high carbon hard steel or very low
carbon soft steel.
The materials used will be the local Goals,
irons, ores, scrap and dolomites of this dis
trict, manganese and magnesite being the
only materials that 1t will be necessary TO
import. The Goals will be drawn from the
Pratt eeam of the Warrior field, the outcrop
OF which Is within one hundred feet OF the
gas producers OF the steel plant. Inc ores
will be drawn from Red mountain for the
manufacture OF the pig iron for the plant,
an average distance of six miles, and de-
ifyered In the stock houses OF the blast tur-
naces at a cost of &c cents per ton. Inc
dolomites are between the coal and ore ana
will cost delivered at the steel works %
cents per ten. A very largo percentage OF
the coke for making the pig iron Will De
manufactured In the Semet-Solvay bi-pro-
duct coke ovens that are situated WITHIN
one hundred feet of the Ensley furnace
stock houses and will be delivered olrec.
from the ovens by a tramway INTO the
stock houses.
All the raw materials used IN this plant
and the furnaces from which 1t will draw
its supply of iron will be delivered over the
lines of the Tennessee Coal. Iron ana Hall-
road company without being subjected 70
any freight charge, with the exception OF
the ore and limestone and small PERCENT
age of the scrap required
The furnaces from which the supply oil
pig iron is drawn are situated within hiteen
hundred feet of the plant, and nqulo me.ai
will be delivered direct from the blast fur-
naces to the steel furnaces.
While the question of markets at one time
was an unsettled problem. today 1t Is an
assured fact.
Output of the Plant
The entire output is practically sold before
the foundations have been completed. ana
other industries that work this character
of metal are seeking locations here. Inc
wonderful growth of the export trade LOT
Dig iron products indicates that the product
of two such mills could easily be marketed.
The geographical position Is SUCH ina. re
products can be marketed in the south,
west and southwest and the Atlantic coast
cities in competition with other mills III
this country. Its export business Will De
handled at less rate of freight from point
of production to point of consumption than
from any plant in the United States, except
the one at Sparrow's Point. The distance
to tide water, measured by the cost, Is sl.eo
per ton less than from the Pittsburg dis-
4trict During the cotton season the water
rates are much less from gulf and south
/ Atlantic ports than from any Others for
4 the reason that while cotton gives bulk, IT
docs not give weight, and iron and steel
furnish the best obtainable freight for bal
last.