Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1901-09-07
iron ORE IN TRANSIT.
MARVELLOUS ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE
FLEET OF LAKE STEAMERS.

The Trip From the Miners Shovel TO the
Furnace in Pennsylvan, Is a Gigantic
Opera,ion-late Contrivanees For Deep
Water Carriers.
In the CcHtUy Tie Transportation
ar Iron is described by Walden taw-
cett with drawings by Ernest l.. Blu
menschein. To carry the freshly mined
ore twelve hundred miles by land and
sea, lie says, and deposit it, within little
more than week after it has lett the
miners shovel. at the furnaces i'll Penn
sylyania and Ohio, where it is TO receive
its baptism of fire, is the task which has
been successfully accomplished OF late
years by the men who have charge of
the transportation chain which connects
the mineral storeliouses in the Northwest
with the manufacturing plants OF the
Middle States. They have. indeed, done
more; by undertaking operations on a
gigantic scale. they have shaved costs so
closely that the embryo iron is now
carried more cheaply than freight is
moved anywhere else in the world.
/; is a marvellous transit, this trip a
third Of the way across the continent.
and The Journey itself is not more Won
deriul than the vehicles in which it is
made. The flying trip is made by rail.
then by boat. and finally by rail again;
and it might be made even more quickly
were it not necessary TO lose day and
a half changing cars" so to speak. al
though in reality of course, the transfer
is from cars to the monster freight-car-
rying vessels of the Great Lakes. and
thence back again from the leviathans OF
the inland seas to the metal wagons OF
the steam-road.
On the first stage OF its journey, from
the mine to the loading wharf at some
por, on the upper lakes, the iron ore
travels on what is probably the most
crowded steel-tracked highway in the
world. Each OF the powerful locomo-
,ives can draw load of ore nearly
equal to the weight of the entire Amer
lean standing army prior to the Spanish
war. Almost all the cars now employed
are made of pressed steel. and each of
them will hold fifty tons. II would seem
as though the designers of these modern
coaches Of commerce had thought Of
every contingency, for there are even
provided holes in the side; OF the car
through which streams Of steam may be
played upon the irozsn ore in order TO
'haw !; quickly.
The development Of the commercial
navy OF the Great Lakes. the chief work
Of which is found in the transportation
Of iron ore, constitutes one of the most
remarkable evoiutions of the century
which has just closed. The first cargoes
Of the mineral were transported in ves-
sells that carried only a few hundred
tons and required more than two weeks
for the journey. The new craft carry
ten or twenty times as much. and little
more than half as many days are given
Up to the delivery al each consignment
at It's port of destination. All the best
of the lake vessels are employed largely
or exclusively in the ore traffic-a natural
sequence, since this is the one plum Of
internal commerce at which the railroads
&c: scarcely nibble. Indeed, the "all-
rail- shipments. as they are termed,
hardly exceed half million tons yearly,
out OF total Of twenty million tons.
Tha, the s,eam-lincs get even this NOR
sci of comfort is largely due to the ext
gencies OF sudden demand after the ice
has sealed up the waterway.
The ships OF the ore-heet range from
three hundred and fifty 10 five hundred
feet in leng,h-the latter equal in size
10 the transatlantic liner: Of few years
ago. Few OF them draw. when fully
laden, more than eighteen feet OF water,
and they are capable OF carrying any
where from six thousand to nine thou
sand tons OF ore, or sufficient quantity
TO fill more than dozen ordinary rail-
road-,rains. The modern vessels are
built entirely OF steel, even to the deck
houses, where the men eat and sleep, and
the slender, bare masts Essentially they
are ireight-carriers, and yet for the ac-
commodation OF occasional guests they
are fitted up on many Of them rooms
quite as handsomely furnished as those
on the average ocean-going passenger
steamer. The vessels are lighted by
electricity stee-cd and heated by steam
and in their equipment are included
power-windlasse and all the latest con-
trivances OF the up-to-date water carrier.