The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-05


 more susceptible to violent fluctuations
 than any other great commodity we have Notwithstanding the fact the ma terial with which 1t is produced are not affected by floods, drought pestlence or fire, as all our other great staples of in dustral supremacy are, whether the field or the forest.
 But little development in the manu- facture of coke iron was made in the south for the next ten years, when the town boom craze struck the southern iron
 districts. Every prospective iron center where there was trace of ore or show of coal, wanted to build town and the first requisite was a blast furnace. This movement brought Middlesborough, Ky, Fort Payne, Ala, and dozens of other smaller ventures to the front, each claim l ing that it could make pig Iron cheaper | than any other place in the United | States, and each proclaiming to its un- suspecting victims that it would rival i Pittsburg or Birmingham in a few years. 1 The histories of these places have all
 been written and almost without excep- ] ton have failed to realize the golden I promises made by their ardent and en- thusastic promoters.
 l The result of this boom was great | detriment to the legitimate development | of the iron industry of the south, for the
 reason that much of the money invested | at that time was in part or wholly lost | on account of bad location, faulty con- | struction and want of experience. It re-
 ouired nearly ten years for the south to
 recover from this period of reckless and | extrayagant town building. With the l exception of the furnaces located in and | around Birmingham, Ala, but few Of the | boom stacks are blowing, having either | been dismantled or removed
 l The line of legitimate future develop l ment seems to be as distinctly marked 1 in the south as 1t has been in the north l for many years, and the Birmingham | district is conceded to be the future as l well as the present center of the great l development of iron and steel making l In the south This is true for several | reasons There is no other district in | this country and perhaps none In the | world where the raw materials, coal, ore 1 and limestone are so close together The | ore from which the south chiefly relies | for its supply Is the Clinton ore, first dis | covered in Clinton county, New York, | from which it takes its name This ore. varying in thickness and quality extends
 almost continuously through New York,
 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ken | tucky. Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama | and affords largely the supply for forge | and foundry irons made In these states. 1 The coal supply Is also found beneath | tho extended foot hills of the Alleghenies | in these states. varying in position from l almost vertical to horizontal and also | with great variations as to quality and | quantity.
 The limestones and dolomites are ev- | anywhere.
 With these three great essentials for
 the manufacture of iron and steel the | soiith ia wonderfully blessed.
 | The manufacture of steel in the south | from native materials was commenced at Chattanooga. Tenn, in June, 1875, by l the open hearth process. While the
 south had great quantities of coal. ores
 and limestones it has practically no ores
 that are suitable for the manufacture of
 about half of the total make of the
 Bessemer steel, which today represents United States. This Is true for the
 the reason that the ores of the south. | almost without exception. carry too
 much phosphorus for the manufacture
 of acid Bessemer steel. This single fact
 has done more to retard the progress of the iron and steel industry in the south than all others combined.
 When the country was recovering from
 the effects of the civil war and the de
 mand for iron products was very great
 if looked like the south would at once
 become an impon ant factor in supplying this demand, and 1t would have done sc
 if the discovery and development of the
 Ressemer process had not wrested the
 much coveted opportunity from it. The
 south had ores and coals that would
 melt we'll and puddle we'll but they
 would not make an iron suitable for
 Ressemer steel. Before 1t was known
 that Bessemer steel could be made
 cheaper than puddled iron and that steel
 rails could be manufactured cheaper than
 iron rails. notwithstanding the superior
 quality of the steel. it appeared that the
 south would have a monopoly of the iron
 business 1t is not unsafe to make the
 assertion that If Bessemer steel had not
 been introduced and the process so de-
 veloped and cheapened as to make 1t
 cheaper and better than puddled iron, the
 south would be the leading iron produc- ing center of the United states today. After the south had partially recovered l from the realization that 1t could not 1 make and compete with the north with 1 Ressemer steel, 1t again settled down to l inc manufacture of forge and foundry 1 iron. The development of the basic open l hearth process was suggested By this | nrocess A much wider range of raw ma l terials is possible so far as phosphorus 1 enters into the question. In 1SS2 basic l open hearth steel was successfully made 1 at Chattanooga and in July 1899 small l open hearth plant was started in Bir.
 mingham consisting of two small station