The age-herald., 1901-07-28
THE BIRMINGHAM OF TODAY AND
 ITS REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT

growth of the other. Up to 1880. only four
 blast furnaces had been built in Jefferson
 County From 1880 to 1890, twenty-one more were erected, and during the year | 1900 two more were added to the list, l making a total of twenty-seven in the | county All these use coke for fuel, which | is made in ovens alongside the furnaces,
 the ceal for same coming from mines in
 the immediate vicinity, while the lime stone and dolomite for fluxing are often
 gotten from quarries close at hand. Out
 side of Jefferson County and in North l Alabama there are thirteen furnaces using
 coke and ten burn charcoal, making to-
 tai of fifty in the State. Most of these
 outside plants belong to companies which
 have their headquarters in Birmingham.
 The financial depression which spread
 over the county from 1893 to 1S97 although
 1t put many furnaces out of blast, proved
 to be the greatest blessing that ever came | to the district. The manufacturers of pig
 iron in Jefferson County, by reason of their greater natural advantages, kept
 their plants going, although iron was sold | as low as s6 per ton at the furnaces; but
 1t was determined that instead of forcing l their iron on the market In competition | with the Pittsburg district, that foreign
 market should be found for part of 1t l and another part should be made into | steel.
 Export of Pig Iron.
 The export of pig iron began in 1897. and
 an average of over 100000 tons per annum
 has been exported each year since.
 In 1890, the United States exported 2S6. 1 7S3 tons, of which Alabama furnished 23S,615 tons. Pig iron from the Birming- ham district has been shipped to all inn .R1z t.. | United States, to England, Germany, France, Italy Holland, Denmark, sweed- en, Norway, Austria, India, China, Japan, | Australia, Argentine, Cuba, Mexico and | the Hawaiian Islands; and every pound of | 1t Is an advertisement to Birminghams s commercial and industrial development.
 Great difficulties were encountered in | beginning the manufacture of steel. Bir- | mingham iron contained too much sili- con sulphur of phosphorus for conver- l sion by the process originally used. and
 the cost of 8 steel plant of sufficient ca 1 pacity to make steel on a commercial ba- l sis was too great for experiment and | could not be undertaken in times of ex-
 treme depression.
 In 1896 the Commercial Club, itself an
 offspring of the panic of 1893, undertook
 to help make this important experiment. | The result was the building by Birming-
 ham Rolling Mill Company of two basic
 open hearth furnaces of forty tons each
 per heat or 160 tons per day. The exper-
 in.ent was successful and this plant was 1 the first in the district to make steel
 on a commercial basis.
 Following this, the Tennessee Coal,
 Iron and Railroad Co.,, the next year be- gan the construction of @ steel plant, | which consists of ten open hearth fur l naces and a 44-inch blooming mill. It | has capacity of 1000 tons per day and is | said to be, with one exception, the larg-
 est basic open hearth plant In the world. | There are connected with this plant l steel casting plant and steel rail mill. | These, when In full operation, together | with the wire, rod and nail mill of the | Alabama Steel and Wire Co.,, will con-
 sume the entire output of the steel mill | one thousand tons per day. This means l that something like 300,O00 tons of pig 1 iron per annum will be converted into | steel and finished products, worth from | e30 to S75 per ton. Add to this 250,000 tons | of pig iron exported per annum and it Is | found that the home market will be re- | neved of about one half of the pig iron
 made in the state of Alabama. It would 1 be tedious to follow the growth of Bir- | mingham step by step in its progress | from its foundation to the present time. | It has had seasons of prosperity and 1 diversity. It's future was predicated on | the development of coal and iron prop | critics, and when furnace building was at | its height during the eighties, 1t exper- | fenced a boom such as was never before l witnessed In the South.
 Fortunes were made in a day and lost | almost as quickly. Property was rated | without reference to it's earning capaci- | ty, and had to be classified by period | that called for dividends or interest on | investments
 | closer application to legitimate business l and divert ed attention to industrial devel- onment Every well directed effort was l successful prosperity, long waited and | hoped for, came only IS consequence | of increased payrolls and enlarged bal
 ances in trade in favor of the district. l The real growth of the city and dls-
 trtct was never stopped. New industries | brought new people; old plants were en- | larged and extended; idle plants were re-
 claimed and put in operation, and values
 of real estate advanced in many instances beyond anything known during the boom.
 Grouping of industries.
 It is interesting to note the grouping of industries about the city and see how
 solid its foundation is and how admirably
 it has been planned and how completely it is fulfilling all prophecy.
 East of the city, and reached by the East Lake car line, are the two city fur l naces and coke ovens of the Sloss- Sheffield | Steel and Iron Company; The Birmingham | Pipe and Casting Company; the shops of 1 the Alabama Great Southern and the
 Southern Railroad Company; the Avon
 dale mills (cototn factory); the railroad
 compress; the Birmingham Brick Com | pany; the Reynolds Lumber Company; | the Southern Bridge Company; the Avon | dale Ice Factory the Bates Metal Com pany (brass foundry; the Avondale steam | laundry; the Smith Gin Company; the | Avondale Stove and Foundry Company; the Perryman Cottonseed Huller factory, and the Blakeslee Manufacturing Com pany.
 Reached from the Gate City electric car | line, are the Birmingham Mills (corn): | H. D. Mans and Company (foundry); the
 Birmingham Compress Company; the | Hardie- Tynes Foundry and Machine Com | pany; the Enslen Milling Company (four);
 the Continental Gin Company; the Bir- | mingham Machine and Foundry Company;
 the Jefferson County Cottonseed oil Mills; | the East Birmingham Iron Roofing and | Corrugating Company; Leaks Brick yard; | the round house and car barn of the Gate | City line; the Birmingham Cotton oil Mill; | the Birmingham Fertilizer factory; the | furnace and coke ovens of the Tutwiler | Coal, Coke and Iron Company; the BirJ | mingham Power Co.,, Copeland Brick Company; Mozeley, Hardman's, Robent- | sons and Lanes Brick yards; and the | rolling mills of the Republic Iron and