The age-herald., 1901-07-28
THE REPUBLIC IRON
 AND. STEEL COMP ANY
Aa Important Factor in the Development of the Birmingham
 District in Recent Years

hai niieS northeast To these mines l HIS road Is thoroughly equipped with Baid- win locomotives and 4O-ton patent. self dumping cars. The sayerton mines now open are yielding a large output. Here the coal is hoisted from the mines di- rectly with large crushing rolls, carried thence by elevator buckets to a Stewart coal washer, which eliminates all the slate from the coal, delivering clean product of pure coa to the railroad cars for transfer to the furnaces This washer was invented by MT. E. A. Stew art, a citizen of Birmingham, and was built under a guarantee that 1t should not waste over per cent. of the coal nor deliver in such coal per cent. of the slate. This, it has more than accom- plished.
 Sayerton.
 The Sayerton mines were, opened by the Pioneer Division, October, 1s99 and now quite a large town has there grown up, with schools, churches, etc.
 Warner Mines.
 The Birmingham rolling mills and the Gate City rolling mills obtain their coal supply from the Warner mines, on the Southern railway, between Coalburg and Brookside. The company has here six drift openings and one slope opening on the Pratt coal seam. The present out put is 5000 tons per day. A large amount of this coal is sold on the markets by the company. several railroads being the principal customers. At slope No 1, 1600-ton Stewart washer is now in course of construction
 Its Ore Beds.
 The red ore used by the companys furnaces comes from Raimond, Spauld- ing, Wahnetah and Dago, the several mines owned by the company. Raimond and spaulding operating on the Red Mountain vein. These mines are fully equipped with composers, Ingersoll- Seargeant and Rand drills, also using No. 71s Gates crushers. Wahnetah and Dago ore mines are thoroughly equipped for mining and handling soft red ore. At all of these mining points are the ne- cessary fixtures, hoists. elevators, tracks, etc, arranged for most rapid and eco- 
 Limestone in Abundance.
 The company owns immense deposits of limestone for fluxing purposes. At their Dale quarries they have a 120-foot workable face. This calcious mountain limestone is very pure, running as it does below per cent. silica. The com pany is also preparing now to oppen an IN.lo ffc ft1r naces at Thomas.
 Juxtaposition.
 All the coal mines of the company are within six miles of it's blast furnaces, it's red ore mines about the same distance, and it's dolomite within one-fourth of a mile from the furnace stacks.
 Superiority of the Iron.
 The pig iron manufactured at Thomas commands a price on the maEkets from 25 to 50 cents per ton higher Than other pig produced in this district This is probably due to the. fact that these furnaces use a larger amount of brown hemitite than others. The brown ore mines of the company are located in Tus- cumhia, Bibb and Shelby counties. The Goethil ore mines consists of 2,5OO acres and is said to be the best brown ore property in the district. It is located on the Pioneer branch of the Birmingham Mineral railroad, in Tuscaloosa county, twenty-one miles from Birmingham. There the company operates four Thomas-Lord washers, and is now build ing two more of the same kind.
 A General Developer.
 Columns might be written of the Re- public Iron and Steel company as a gen eral developer of this district. Each year since it entered this field it has steadily and rapidly added to the wealth of the section, not only In the specific work of developing the mineral resources, but in building up communities, villages and towns, and afrording employment and comfortable homes to thousands of thrifty working citizens.
 The Town of Thomas.
 The town of Thomas lying just four miles west of Birmingham. is a model little city; the houses substantial in con- struction, the streets running at right | angles, nicely graded and in some parts gravelled, tho homes cozy, comfortable and inviting. Electric lights, thorough system of water works, drawing the sup ply from a cool, sparkling, mountain spring; fire-plugs, It's own stand-pipe, | and a volunteer fire company. Three | handsome brick churches--Presbyterian Methodist and Baptist and as many for the colored people. Also good schools for white and colored. Then,