The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-16
vuIcan's Greatest Workshop.

Writing in the June Century of "The
Center of the World of Steel" Walden
Fawcett describes Pittsburg and its envl-
rons as Vulvan's greatest workshop.
To the superficial tourist, 1t is perhaps,
only the dirtiest city in America To the
Pittsburger, who is gripped by the fasci-
nation OF iron-making, and to all who
look through his spectacles, It is still the
dfrtiest but also the most magnificent of
cities. To this typical resident its cloud
ed atmosphere is symbolic only Of rush
and dash and power and the accumulation
of wealth with splendid rapidity Pitts
burg, moreover, is secure in her position
as the capital of the domain OF iron and
steel. Coal crops out of the hills at her
back; great engineer projects are making
of the river that passes her gates an i'm
proved highway of commerce; her rail-
roads are multiplying; and, finally, her
metal manufacturers, reaching out for
foreign markets, have discovered that
they can Utilize the very cars which bring
iron ore to carry back to the lakes the
finished product and there ship it through
the ST. Lawrence river direct to ports on
the other side OF the Atlantic.
The great product OF the Pittsburg dis
trict in this present age is, strictly speak,
ing, not iron, but steel. AS a commercial
commodity, the ore has largely displaced
the other. There are, to be sure, in al
most every city boundaries which handle
only the metal which was once pre-emi-
nent in the manufacturing world, but
rails for steam and electric lines, beams
for ships and sky-scrapers, armor-plate
for war vessels, and heavy supports for
bridges-in fact, all the commodities
which may be produced proftably in
large quantities--are formed OF steel, and
thus the product of nearly all the great
plants in this crowded district reaches the
consuming world In the form Of the
tougher and more elastic metal. Pitts
burg sends from her freight yards and
docks each year millions of tons OF this
valuable material; enough, indeed, to fll
a line OF freight cars extending almost
across the Atlantic, II such thing were
possible, and forming stock in trade
representing more money than the United
States government receives In revenue
from all sources within year
Although many of the immense iron
and steel-making plants which surround
Pitsburg and constitute her modern de-
lenses are under one general manage
ment, each institution is complete in IT.
self On the mao the names Braddock,
Bessemer Rankin, Duquesne, Homestead
and Munhall stand only for suburbs OF
the Iron City. Each, however forms an
important link i'm the chain Of monster
plants which stretches UP the valley Of
the Monongahela, zigzagging back and
forth across the river. These great estab-
Hshments are not duplicates OF one an
other, by any means, and yet, TO a certain
extent the difference Is only in detail.
The rapid and thrillingly picturesque evo-
luton OF steel from iron ore may be
watched in almost any one OF them. The
strands OF burning metal, after having
been pounded and pressed and rolled. may
be measured OF for the market as rails,
sheets, boiler-plates or any other OF
score OF forms, but the genesis Of all Is
the same.