Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-03-01
The Iron Trade Boom.

The dispatches spoke recently of the
rapid and marked rise in the prices OF
iron and steel products. due to un-
precedented demands made upon the
trade; and every branch of the iron in
dustry. from the mine to the machine
shop. was being rushed as never before.
One notable occasion for this is the
pressing and by no means diminishing
calls being made upon car and motive
power plants by the increased general
traffic throughout the nation, which
even the recent unparalleled cold spell
does not seem to have checked. For
instance. the Brooks Works at Dunkirk,
N. Y, recently received orders for 25
locomotives for the st. Louis & North
ern Short line; the Baldwin Locomotive
Works are laboring night and day to fill
orders for 81 locomotives for Chinese
railroads. also to fill an order for 20
Vauclain compound engines from the
Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul road,
and two large consolidation locomotives
for the Pittsburg. Bessemer & Lake Erie
road. The Cooke Locomotive Works are
turning out five large mogul locomotives
for the Mexican International road. The
Rhode Island Locomotive Works are fill
ing an order from the Wabash road for
Is heavy mogul locomotives, and the
Altoona shops of the Pennsylvania road
will build this year 1873 locomotives. SO
here in one breath are included orders for
271 locomotives, to which must be added
an order for ITO engines from English
companies who have been unable to
secure the same from English builders.
From the record of orders chronicled by
the Railway Age, it is safe to say that
orders averaging at least $50 locomotives
are placed each week with the great
manufacturing firms of the United
States, each machine representing an
average cost of $6, 800, or a total aggre-
gate of $s7O,OOO. This item alone ac-
counts for an immense consumption of
material.
Moreover, there is another important
source of material consumption to be
considered, viz, in car manufacture,
many of the box and fiat cars now called
for being wholly of iron and steel.
Here is the American Steel & Wire
Company ordering 300 cars; the Penn
sylvania road has ordered 1000 large
steel cars from the Pressed Steel Com
pany: the Michigan Central road has
called for $50 box coal and fiat cars for
April delivery; the Oregon Short line
has ordered $50 box cars, the Baltimore g.
Ohio has ordered 5000 steel coal cars,
and other roads are in the market for
smaller numbers. but which in the az
gregate will amount to a fairly large
figure. All the rolling mills in the coun-
try are crushed to death" for heavier
steel rails than have ever before been
made; and the demands for builders
hardware, and iron work for bridges
and large commercial structures have
reached an unprecedented point. Then
as though this were not enough, foreign
firms and corporations have learned that
orders sent to this country will be filled
with the traditional neatness and dis
patch. and are sending in the same in a
number increasing each year. The de-
mands on the iron mines and shelters
for raw material by the railroads alone
would seem to be enough to keep them
running to their fullest capacity. But
when all the other interest are added. |
the production of iron ore is given a
tremendous impetus. And then it must
be borne in mind that the unparalleled
growth of shipbuilding interests, now
running so largely to iron and steel, is
cutting a most notable figure in con-
sumption of raw material; and besides.
an immense amount of metal is used in
manufacture Of cutlery, tools and in the
arts and sciences. The iron trade Is
destined to boom for a long time to come,
and the demand will be restricted only
when the prices range too high for
profitable manufacture.