The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-04-21
Steel. Works.
BY DOUGLAS STORY.


WRITTEN FOR H SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
Fortunes spring from strange soils. from
pork butcheries and oil puddles. from Wall
street subtleties and Tammany administra-
lions.
Eastern romancers racked their brains to
devise at forcing ground for the riches of
their dreams. yet Aladdin plucked his gems
from cherry trees-an inslpid proceeding,
born Of the limitations Of the Magi.
No Arabian visionary ever fancied 30 re-
rnarkabls a birthplace for millions as the
Carnegie works at Homestead.
Nesting into the Monongahela. on the
nat Eround by tho river, by day they are
market by q cloud of smoke. at night by
q dozen pillars Of fire. No man approaching
the hamlet OF sheds can see there only the
crude outlines OF a steel factory. It Is the
laboratory Of an alchemist where great hills
Of broken earth and huge heaps Of scrap
iron are transmitted into gold and old-age
pensions. into free libraries Ind art gal
leries.
Everywhere there il the sense Of a great.
mysterious power laboring to equip the
most generous of modern millionaires. HUI
man agency seems inadequate to effect the
marvels Of the mills. to manipulate the
bubblins materials. to interfere with the
fierce furnaces and iery forces of the fac
tories. To touch an electric button that re-
leases . force of 1900 tons 10 easier and
more miraculous in its results than the
rubbing Of any Arabian lamp. Yet every
thing here is controlled by tiny levers and
buttons . woman or a child might manage.
Opposite to a roaring furnace a little train
Of iron trucks is standing. To 1t comes
nnfaAIAQQIv "vcfnvfntc1u a Droot onu1nA
that reaches forth a brawny iron arm, grips
up one OF the trucks and thrusts 1t into the
furnace. Backward and forward over the
glowing Goals the big arm carries the truck
until It finds the hottest corner Then, turn
ing the truck, empties its load Of pig iron,
shavings. limestone or coke. shakes it and
carries Il gently to the waiting string Of
wagons.
There II no fuss of men. no anxious coup
linEs and u%ncouplings. The engine has done
all its work unaided, save for a single man.
who sits within, lingering a little sheaf OF
levers.
Some time later one returns to the furnace
and, gazing with blue spectacles through
the peephole. sees the popping, suffering
devils porridge within. In time the door will
be opened and the boiling metal run off
into great caldrons hungrily waiting In the
pit beneath.
In = single one Of these open hearth
sheds are twelve furnaces, each with its
hundred tons of metal.
Occasionally there comes putting from
across the river a train freighted with watts
Of molten metal. 1t is run into the sheds
alongside the furnaces. a single man up
pears and places a gutter, the vat tits for
ward. and pours its boiling contents into
the center. In this way is fuel saved and the
process of pig iron manufacture dispensed
with.
In the filling Of molds and the making
of ingots the process is the same as after
the use of the Bessemer converter. From
the ceiling. like great hams in a farmers
kitchen. glowing ingots swing to their ap-
pointed places-tons: of red hot metal held
easily by iron fingefs..
Under ones feet. on moving platforms.
pass slabs Of fixing. scorching atse. When
the m~elodramatist amp the author of the
dime novel have penetrated the mysteries
of Homestead they will adnd rare opDor-
tunities for sensational villainy such as
never yet has appeared between two yell
low covers.
One stands on q bridge naked of fencing.
and underneath rattles a block Of red-hot
metal that would grill a man In a twink
ling. 1t is on Its way to the rollers. and
there Is q pressure which would grind him
to powder. Everywhere are furnaces and
caldrons of incinerating metal. awful by
draulic presses and silent. remorseless en-
gines. For the man of melodramattc imag-
nation Homestead is a place OF horrible
possibilities.
I stood in one of, the long sheds while a
charge was being drawn. The hot steel
gushed out, a violet white at first. emhow-
cred in golden sparks. immensely beautiful.
As the air got at it the outer edge grew
orange, and on the surface the frothy
cream gathered and dubbed. q ruby RED.