Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-04-11
Considerable Attention
Attracted Over the Plans
OF Consolidation Of Southern
Iron and Coal Interests.
Figures Of Interest In Regard to An.
nual Output.

VIZ tiie coal ana IRON properties of the
ooutn INTO new corporation with
Slzo'0oo,o00 capital, made by Col. T. G.
hush. president of the Alabama Con-
solidated Coal and Iron Co. has at
tracted attention once more to the
great mineral resources of Alabama In
the new company will be the Alaba-
ma Consolidated Coal and Iron Co.
the Sloss- Sheffield Steel & Iron Co.
and the Republic Iron & Steel Co. The
plans for the consolidation have been
prepared by John II. Hoadley. presi-
dent of the international Power Co.
which controls the Alabama Consoli-
dated and Mr.. Hoadley and his asso-
GATES are also credited with the con-
troll OF Tennessee coal and iron.
The United States geological survey
has already issued Il number of works
relating to the mineral resources of
this field and is now engaged in COM
pletine Typographical resurvey and
geologic map of the entire district both
Of coal and iron in the Warrior Caha-
| ia and Coosa fields. This work has
been under way for a year and will re-
quire about two years longer as the
birmingham district comprises about
SIN thousand square miles.
a preliminary paper on the War
riCr group is now on the press, and al
| so Il preliminary report on the ex-
| IRENE extension of iron ore in Alaba-
ma. said Prof. c. w. Hayes, of the
geological survey, yesterday. 'After
the completion of the work We shall
issue series of geological folios and
detailed papers on the mineral re-
|
| sources of the district.
There is no section of the United
| States in which the outlook for the
coal and iron business is more salts
| factory than in what is known as the
| birmingham district Alabama con-
tinucd Prof. Hayes. Foundry iron can
be made in this district more chcaply.
| perhaps. than anywhere else in the
| world. This is due to the prodgality Of
nature which seems to have deposited
| III that region all the essentials for the
| conversion of The ore into pig IRON
| coal. limestone and iron Gre This dis
trict abounds in large quantities of
! first-class cooking coal. large and SEEM
! ingly inexhaustible deposits of very
| fine orc, and right between the two an
| abundance of limestone for fiuxing
| purposes. The ore, the fuel. and the
fluX are all found within rifle shot of
| each other so that the conditions are
| ideal and the result is that this dis
| trict becomes more and more devel-
| oped it will be the great center of the
| il ION and steel industry of the United
| states.
'"Thc question of cost of Transported
ton of and facility in securing raw ma
| tCrial IS the great question to be salts
| factorily answered in the establish
| ment of an industry, and at the very
| outset this is answered favOrably III
| the birmingham district. Here one of
| the greatest taxes upon manufactur
| ing is eliminated and the problem of
| how chcaply the raw material can be
| assembled is one that need not bother
tho manufacturer. The wonderful proX
| unity of the three essentials in the
| production of iron and steel exist
Throughout the birmingham territory.
| In some places in this region the coal
| is mined on the mountain side and
carried by gravity down to "A lower
| level where it is transformed into coke.
At the base of the mountain contain
| ing the coal stands the smelter sur
rounded Ly limestone giving all the
|
| side of the gully the ore is taken from
the ground Here W. find the ore. the
fuel and the tlux at the very doors of
the furnace. q condition that cannot be
| excelled anywhere else in the country.
! When one considers the long Journey
| taken by the ores of the Great Lakes to
reach the smelling works of the innu-
| merable furnaces around Pittsburg.
| one realizes the advantages that lay at
the doors of the operators in the Bir-
| mingham district.
| The ores found in Ala mama are dis
| similar to the BesSemer ores of the
| lake regions owing to the high rate of
phosphates in their composition and for
some time they were rot used in the
manufacture Of steel. But this has been
changed for by the employ ment Of the
open-hcalth process this iron is con-
verted into steel quit as good. if. in
decd. not better than Bessemer. The
| process is a trfie more expensive than
tie manufacture of Bessemer but the
l other advantages possessed by the Bir-
1ningham operators more than equaliZa
1 this slight increase in the cost of max
ing steel.
| There can be no question as to the
stability of the steel industry of Alaba =
ma. Where the conditions are so perfect
there could be no retro2ressiOn, but
when you combine American enterprise
and industrial methods with conditions
that nature has so bou1tifully provided.
! nothing but the greatest prosperity can
result. The history OF the industry
shows what may be expected in the flu
ture Six or seven years ago when there
was a period of depression throughout
the country and various industries Of
like character throughout the country
were either struggling along on part
time or shut down altogether, the fur
lnaces of Birmingham turned brightly
right along. The proximity Of the raw
material and the decreased cost of con-
(Continued on Page Three.)