The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-15
RON,STEEL ANDCOAL
WEEKS REVIEW OF THE MINERAL
 DISTRICT.
Some Time Has Been Lost at FurAace's There is nc Let Up In DemanA
 For Product.

Three furnaces were practically out of blast for three days while a like number had to run on short rations. as 1t were. The ore supplies with one or two of the companies have been a little short for some time and during the past week. or rather since the Fourth of July. has been decidedly off in some sections The demand for iron shows no let up. inquiries being received as to what can be done dur ing the fourth quarter of the year. Spot iron is out of the question, but few of the companies in this district being right up on all their deliveries.
 Prices havo not changed any and the future prospects continue very bright
 No. 2 foundry iron, for delivery dur ing the fourth quarter of the year Is quoted at $2I and &21.50 per ton while some iron is being sold for delivery during the first half of the coming year. though in small lots. at $18.50 per ton. No. boundary.
 Alabama furnace companies appear to be confident that there will be demand for pig iron through the com ing year. The inquiries that are being received here would indicate that the consumers anticipate as big a melt in 1908 as the year previous and never before were the plants operated more steadily than tnlS year.
 The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail road Company will need just twice as much iron for steel making purposes next year as was used this year and towards the latter part of 1908 there will be needed almost three times as much iron as is now consumed, the new steel plant being erected to be twice the size of the present plant. This will mean that the home consumption ~rvsII kat Swo fA4 l. nd Alabama foundry iron manufacturers will not have such strong competition as at present.
 Preparations are being made right along to increase the production of ore, the Tennessee Company recently Ieas- ing the old Champion ore mines in Blount county which have been idle for year. the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company owning half of the Tennessee Company will have made preparations to start up the work at these mines and get the ore out on an extensive scale. The ore is the brown. rich kind. A dispute among the owners caused incorporation of the mines for dozen years almost. The Tennessee Company has started work enlarging their ore mines in the southern part of the county and on
 
 Steel & Iron Company has not been troubled so much with the ore supply as having furnaces out of blast for re- pairs. The Company has seven fur naces in all. Five of them are in operation and two under repairs.
 Cast iron pipe makers are melting a large amount of iron right now and are making shipments of their product just as quickly as the pipe inspectors ha nipa l it. There seems to be an effort on the, part of number of places to get their pipe delivered and half a dozen and more inspectors are in this district passing on pipes. 1nasmuch as the most of the order for cast iron pipe are taken subject to inspection as well as to capacity under pressure. the inspec- tors are asked for by the manufac- turers often long before the time that delivery was promised.
 The pipe yards in this district are stocked with pipe. but not any too much.
 Other melters- of pig iron report their business steady. the machine shops and foundries in particular ks- porting much activity. The rollf.g mills which have been idle now for two weeks, promise to be out of action Tor sixty days. If not longer. Consid- erable repairing will be necessary be- hurry seems to be on to put the mills in operation again. The employees of the rolling mills are leaving for points ?" fasd in the North. a few remaining
 Four furnaces manufacturing pig iron will go into operation within the next sixty days. The Tennessee Company is making repairs and lining tory to blowing out No. 3. which is to be rebuilt. There are six furnaces in all of Ensley, five being kept in blast constantly This number is required in order to keep up with the needs of iron for the steel plant and other in- dustries supplied by the Tennessee Company. No. 6 is the new furnace largest in the South, having a daily capacity of between three and four hundred tons of iron. Nos and 5 have been rebuilt and are almost equal to No. in stability and capacity. No 3 is to be brought up from its an tiquity to a modern iron maker
 After No. has been rebuilt Nos and will be taken in hand. The production of the big furnace plant at Ensley will equal any in the world. With all the six furnaces brought up to date the production will be suffi- cient, it is expected. to supply the old and new steel plants the coming year.
 Coal and Coke.
 Never before in the history of the State was there as much development in Alabama coal fields as at present. New mines are being opened and every week there is new company formed to take up mining of coal. Every ton of coal being mined is in demand. too. The future prospects are very bright. Recent announcements by H. T. De- Bardelaber and others that some of the new corporations developing coal fields in this State had much foreign capital in them does not cause much excitement. During the past twelve months much St. Louis and Chicago capital has been invested in this dis trict in coal lands. Chicago parties are increasing their holdings and a re- port is current that mines in the western part of Jefferson county and in Walker county owned by these Western folks will supply much of the fuel that will be needed by the Illinois Central railroad when it reaches this district. Mines at Brilliant. Ala, are now furnishing some coal to the Illinois Central, but when the road reaches this section of the coal fields 1t is asserted that great quantities will be needed. The Atlanta, Birmingham X Atlanta railroad, which concern is back of the Birmingham Iron Company, into Alabama coal properties. the de- velopment being carried or by thls company being very heavy.
 Estimates made on the coal produc- tion for the year again during the past l asi f iLIa ln A