The Lubbock avalanche. (Lubbock, Tex.) 1909-1922, 1912-10-24
By Will II. Mayes.

for the extra dollars it could OBJ
Tain therefrom.
When this practice was stopp-
ed by law the state began to
realize that mistake had been
made in practically abandoning
Rusk, and the best thought of
the Governor and the Prison
Commission are now being given
to the financial problem connect
ed with this penitentiary, and
the industries connected with it.
The penitentiary itself can in a
short time with proper manage
ment be put on a good business
basis, and within another year
it will doubtless present the
same kind of activities seen at
Huntsville. But more difficult
problems are involved in the OPP
GRAFTON of the blast furnace, the
pipe foundry and the state rail-
road.
The Rusk penitentiary was
located by commissioners ap-
pointed by Gov. Coke in 1875 un-
der the act to locate a branch
penitentiary to manufacture
iron. The first furnace the
"Alcalde," was erected in 1888.
This was replaced by'th present
blast furnace, the Sam Lanham"
| in 1904, which has a capacity of
eighty or ninety tons a dav. The
iron pipe plant was built during
Gov. Hogg's administration and
has capacity of sixty tons a
day. The furnace and appur-
tenances are invoiced at $3.50, 600
the pipe foundry at SSS,0O0, and
the power plant installed during
Gov. Campbell's administration,
at about S2S, When the
furnace is in operation, the
waste gas from the furnace is
used as fuel, making a saving of
from $4,000 to $4,000 a day.
The power plant is ample for the
furnace and for all industries in
the penitentiary and many more.
The state owns in the vicinity
of !, 200 acres of iron. ore lands,
and the ore right on $50 acres.
The are fields are reached by a
standard guage railroad, owned
by the state. independent of the
state road, some two and a half
or three miles in length. In
practical operution two tons of
the iron ore make practically a
ton of high grade and suitable
for all kinds of foundry work.
The iron ore varies in thickness
from one to four feet, the aver
age being about two feet, lies
close to the surface, is brittle and
easily mined, and is clean and
requires no washing. There is
said to be enough owned and
controlled by the state to keep
the furnace running a hundred
years or more.
The cost of getting this ore to
the furnace is estimated at 80
cents a ton. Limestone for fiux-
ing has to be shipped from other
parts of the state at a cost of
about 81. 80 a ton. and coke must
be shipped either Alabama, Vir-
ginia, Pennsylvania or Oklahoma
at a freight rate of some So. 10 to
SO. 10 a ton, the coking coal being
a large item of expense in the
operation of the furnace.
The state owns, as a part of
the Rusk penitentiary plant. a
railroad from Rusk to Palestine,
which is appraised at $500. 600.
Not only are the furnace and pipe
plants idle, and the power plant
practically so. but the railroad is
constant money losing PROPOSE
ton when these industries are
not in operation.
While the furnace and buildings
have deteriorated through idle
ness, and the furnace itself must
have a new lining, the brick for
which is already there, it is stat
ed that for $40, 900 or Sl2. 600 the
property can be put in shape to
begin operations. The state has
all the equipment, il has the ore.
il has the convict labor, and it is
stated without contradiction that
the ore. the fluxing lime and the
coke can be assembled more
cheaply at Rusk than any other
iron field in the country, enabling
the state to compete with any
other iron market. The opening
of the furnace would give profit
able tonnage to the state railroad