The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-26
IRON THE FOUNDATION OF
 BIRMINGHAM'S GREATNESS It is the Fixed Star Around Which All Other Commercial Luminarits ReyoIvc---Age
 of Steel Yet to Come.

| Superiority lies in it's great use put of
 finished products, especially in steel | Still 1t is not to be overlooked that | Pennsylvania has to haul its raw mate | rial thousand miles from the lake re- | gions nor 1t 6 to be overlooked that the | iron and steel industry in Alabama Is l growing more rapidly than they were years ago..
 Materials Close at Hand. visit to the great iron furnaces Of | the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company | at Ensley, now run in connection with their steel plant emphasized the Keen
 advantage which Alabama enjoys in | the respect of convenient material for | iron making. There is to the south of | the line of furnaces of the Tennessee Company an immense hill of alag. This hlag pile Is larger than any hill in the vicinity of Montgomery nearer than wetumpka. It is formed by tho daily output of waste. from the nearby fur- naces, put on day after day, as the lit- tie Pacific Ocean insects dies and lays
 his rock like atom of body upon the
 remains of his fellows.
 From this slag mountain, for 1t is hardly less than a mountain, one can see every hill from which the raw ma terial comes to be made into iron. Within hts view are the hills which
  | limestone for upnumbered centuries. And close by there are the big steel mills in which the raw materials are turned into steel rails. wire fencing, nails and tasps. Not one element that goes into the making of iron is brought
 farther than eight miles. Moreover. 1t is possible to take the raw ore from
 the hills few miles away and within the short space of twenty-four hours transform it into finished steel arti- cle of commerce..
 Every single thing that is needed for iron making is found within eight
 miles of tho plant. The great train of dingy cars stained a brownish red by
 repeated loads of iron ore can make
 which steam past the visitor. make several trips a day. One of the coal mines of the company which furnishes coke for the company is well within
 the city limits of Ensley only few
 yards away Other coal mines are
 within rifle shot. To make iron, Aux
 ing" stone in considerable quantity is
 demanded. It is needed to carry off
 the impurities and the waste material
 of the ore. Limestone quarries of the Tennessee people are only a few miles away in North Birmingham. A quarry for doiomite. the other fuxing stone, is equally near over against Red Mountain.
 There are other furnaces in the Bir- mingham district which are even more favorably situated for the assembling of the raw material in iron making. But what Is here set down sufficiently shows the marvellous conveniences of those elements which go into the mak- ing of pig iron, a convenience which is responsible for the extraordinary de- velopment of that industry and which is also responsible for the sovereignty of Birmingham in the iron markets or the world.
 Three Kinds of ores.
 These then. are ingredients pre- scribed for the making of pig iron, coke and limestone or dolomite. These two latter are used to "fux'' off the
 Impurities in the ore after 1t has been reduced to a molten state. Three sorts of ores are used at the Ensley furnace of the Tennessee people. hard red ore. soft red ore and brown ore. It so hap pens that some of the ore brought to the furnace has in it so much of doo-
 mite or limestone that no additional mixture of it is needed.
 The ore comes to the furnace yards in a lump form. It is backed up on a
 tipple and turned into the dump by
 gravity. From this ore dump scale cars are automatically filled and the
 weight of the car is taken. Making
 iron Is no haphazard thing. The man
 who does it must know his business. He must know the weight of the ore,
 as well as It's quality and he must
 know, too, the proper proportion of
 coke and limestone that Is to go into the furnace.
 The loaded cars are lifted to the top of the furnace and their contents tip ped in. The big furnace Is almost en-
 tirely filled with this burden" which consists of layer of coke beneath the
 ore and the limestone and another lay CT of coke above.
 The coke below is set afire. As it
 burns furiously with its intense heat the heavy burden on the furnace settles towards the bottom. The layer of coke at the top for a long time does not burn. But as the burden" settles to the bottom the layer of coke at the top catches fire and In time Is burnt away leaving within the furnace tons and | tons of glowing molten metal. Now as to the fierce heat which has
 reduced 1t and made 1t ready for the | puddlers When the coke Is lighted a strong fierce blast of hot air is blown
 over It, as though 1t were from some
 gigantic bellows. Under this blast or | air the coke burns fercely and gives | forth its maximum heat. It has be- | fore been pointed out that the number | s furnace Is the largest and finest fur mace in the South and in the perfection | of It's air arrangement 1t shows more than anywhere else US superlority. The | air is sent Into the burning coke by a huge pump, forced into action by a
 monster engine. (everything about the l furnace is on Q gigantic scale) The air is sent through big pipe which l twists and turns like the worm ot some l colossal still. It passes through three great ''stoves." where 1t Is heated before | its admission to the furnace. for It must 70 into the furnace while at not state.
 Naturally this air forced through the coke makes great quantities of gas. | This gas is neither wasted nor lost' It | is caught up in big pipes and carried back to the boiler rooms. the engine rooms and the big stoves. This gas furnishes every bit of fuel needed out side the furnace. All the boilers are run by 1t
 | The hot air makes the gas, the gas makes the fire which runs the boilers | that operate the air pump and the gas heats the air on its way to the furnaces SO an endless chain Is formed and maintained
 In a molten state the iron Is at the
 bottom of the furnace until the furnace
 is tapped.
 A skimming arrangement is at the
 place where the tapping is done, and | through It's offices the slag and the true iron both of glowing golden color
 run through channels made in the sand room. The two golden streams here
 run into the same sort of iron pot cars, but the slaR cars are run to the top of
 the mountain waste: while the iron cars are hurried across the way to the steel plant.