El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-11-17

! and. raising IL, drops il right into the
3 cars in which IL goes TO the furnaces
] The hand works on the principle OF
Z the clamshell dredEe- II is. in fact
I a mighty grab bucket which. with
/ its jaws open. drops down and takes
/ in the ore The operator stands in
l side the arm Just above the hand
I and by touching the levers makes the
! steel hand do what he wills. I am
l told the machinery works so accu-
{ rately that the man could crack the
l shell OF an egg with this hand With-
I out spillinE the yolk. / doubt this
l ] had no egg with me and could not
] make the test. ] only know that the
mighty hand does the work and that
{ 10 takes Is tons Of ore out OF the
I hold OF the vessel and drops 10 into
/ the cars within two minutes by the
I second hand Of my watch
Handles Ores at Two Cents a Ton.
The machines move 50 fast and so
! efficiently that they can take the ore
I out At a cost o. something like two
I cents ton. although. II is said. the
Z charge TO the steel company is about
. rs cents a ton They tell me the in
I ventor gets one fourth OF cent a
I ton royalty This seems small, DuL
when one remembers that the ore
I brought down the lakes last year
was more than 100000 tons he can
see that the invention Is a good mine
to its owner.
Z that there are not cars enough TO
carry the ore away The surplus has
TO be thrown out on the docks As
7 am writing these notes there are
from 100000 to 5000 tons lying in
heaps beyond the ore trains
There is enough ore in those piles
10 make $4,000 tons Of steel Today IL
looks Just like the dirt YOU pillow Up
in your fields II IS powdered and
there is no piece OF IL that would not
Q 2 through
I look I can see the statue inside the
block Of marble. as the old sculptor OF
Z Greece is said 10 have done. in that
mass I can see thousands OF steel rails
I over which viii be carried our food
supplies on their way 10 our allies IN
Europe. can see shrapnel which viii
be sprayed over the Germans as they
Z hide in their trenches can see air
plane engines which will scout for our
soldiers. and perhaps drop bombs upon
the enemy. can see the mighty tanks
which will roll over the Huns. and
even the submarines, which will soon
be fighting the submarine fleets On
the other side Of the ocean.
The story OF that pile OF ore is the
story Of the modern steel industry. an
industry which has 10 do with almost
every act Of peace or war in some way
or other.
It was At Conneaut. Ohio. where 7
watched these Hulerr unloaders at
work, that I saw smother example OF
the efficiency OF handling freight
upon the Great Lakes A huge steam
er was loading coal for Duluth. The
steel cars, which had come direct from
. the mines. were showed up an inclined
track by an iron hand moved by cleo
tricity- They we're then lifted TO the
height OF five story house and
dumped into a funnel which carried
the coal into the hold Each car. with
its load OF coal. was SO heavy that il
would take 100 horses 70 haul il upon
a country road but these machines
picked IL I'D as though IL were a box
Of dominoes and turned II into the
wide hopper. from which IL rolled
down through a steel pipe about twice
as large around as a flour barrel
Niagara OF Black Diamonds.
7 stood on the deck and watched the
mighty river Of coal pouring into the
hold Il was Niagara OF black dia-
monds, ana I was reminded OF the
coalinE OF ships have seen in other
parts or the world Ny mind went 20
Singapore. where Chinese coolies carry
bags and baskets OF coal on their
backs up planksd roadways. which are
built from the docks TO the steamers,
and 10 Nsgasaki, Japan. where hun
dreds OF half nude japanese girls,
sprinkled with coal dust, load the
ships IN baskets OF a half huShel each.
I could see them passing the baskets
from one 70 another Up the ladders
and emptyinE them spoonful by spoon
fuL as II were. into the hold Of the
ship. The work they did in hours is
here done in seconds. and that at the
eXerticn Of no more human muscle
than that Of pressing lever or push
ing a button
Here AZ Duluth 7 have watched
them unloading the coal thus taken on
al the ports OF Lake Erie Some o.
the ore vessels bring back a cargo
Of coal. and one. the Col James M Z
SHOEMAKER. has brought 1870 tons
in one trip The coal is carried about
as lar s from New York 10 Chicago {
and the freight rate is less than 80 I
cents a ton Not long ago 1t was only !
90 cents a ton Then the war de-
mands raised IL 70 A. cents. 7 do not
know what 20 is now But think OF
900 miles for g. cents At Washington
7 pay % cents a ton for having my
coal taken a distance OF 100 feet from
the street into my cellar. and that
is merely for the unloading.
Takes Twelve Tons At n Bite.
Here the unloading is done by 81 ?
rantic machines. made altogether OF .
iron and steel The machines are
connected with traVellnE bridges, .
which run across the coal docks for a {
length Of 500 feet or more Connected .
with them are enormous buckets OF f
steel made IN the shape OF "a clam 4
she'll They are not unlike those or I
the Hulett IN leaders. except thar their 3
tents much greater. They are oper-
ated in about the same way The jaws
20 down into the hold and swallow
10 tons Of coal at a bite. They bring
&c I'D with them and travel over the
bridges and spit il out upon the piles
as the operator directs All this is
done with less effort on the part Of
the man than that eXerted by you
when YOU put a shoverful OF coal into
your furnace before going TO be 4
cargo of 10000 tons OF coal had BEEN
unloaded in this way within l. hours
The coal docks OF Duluth cover
acres. and the piles Of coal upon them
each contains thousands OF tons The
port axes over twelve million tons OF
coal every year. and sometimes the
docks are so full that the steamers
are delayed for lack Of space in which
10 unload, The coal is both anthracite
and hitumiuous- il supplies the iron
mines. and il is shipped from here
over the railroads 10 all parts OF the
great northwest The amount taken
million tons a year. the greater part
of which comes 20 the ports OF Lake E
Superior.
Is Chief Port On the Lake.
Duluth is the chief port on the lake.
70 is the head of lake navigation and q
he Industrial center Of this mining re-
zion. IL is rapidly growing and 10
promises 10 steadily increase in the
future. One OF the possible sources Of
growth is IN the transfer OF certain
kinds Of steel making from The lower
far the demands Of the north a Is
are concerned As f. Is nov. the steel
used here is made a thousand miles
, u-zr- from the mines and The market J.