Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-11-18


From each bin long steel chute allows tho ore to
pour into the vessel.
ferent mines are dropped into the ship so
that the iron contents and quality of the
cargo are just those required for steel. Much
OF this work is directed from the eastern
office of the steel company where the exact
contents and character Of every iron deposit
are known, and much by the scientific en-
gineers on the ground, who have small
army of chemists Analysing and assaying the
ore as it is dug from the earth. In another
letter | shall show you that this is but the
beginning of the scientific methods of steel
making. The metal is analysed as it flows
from the furnaces and it is tested again and
again as it passes through til" many pro-
cesses which turn it into steel rails machine
guns, armor plate, and the fine tough ma
terlal used in the planes which carry our
alrmen through the clouds at speed which
may exceed two miles per minute.
Indeed, everything connected with he
steel for the war is based upon scientific in
vestigation and cost efficiency methods. The
use OF machinery to take the place of human
muscle was never carried nearer perfection
The ore fleet does its work better and more
cheaply than any other line of vessels now
operating 1t transports more freight and
at lower cost Think OF taking a ton of
iron thirty-two miles on the energy of one
pound of coal OF carrying ton OF freight
a mile on one-half ounce, or as little as you
could pick up with your thumb and one fin
ger. That is what the Great lakes steamers
are doing. Until the war began they were
carrying wheat a thousand miles for less
than cents bushel, and iron ore almost as
far for so cents ton. The rates are now
trebled, but they are still low
The handling of the ore at the ports from
where it goes to the steel plants as an ex-
ample of efficiency is even more wonderful
than the loading at the mines The first ore
that came down the lakes, now more than
two generations ago, was unloaded by
wheebarrows pushed by men, and each bar
row took about one hundred pounds at a
time. The ore that has come down the lakes
this year would fill more than a billion such
wheel barrows, and all the men of our coun-
try could not have handled the traffic that
way The unloading of today is done by
electricity Man presses button and giants
in iron and steel automatically unload the
steamers and transfer their contents to the
cars, or to the mighty concrete bins from
which other machinery carries them into the
furnaces OF the steel plant Py such means
a vessel of $1,000 tons can be unlo;ded with
in three hours. Its cargo is large enough to
fill four or five miles of fifty-ton cars, and
within four hours after coming to anchor
such train can be on its way to the steel
plant.
These oreunloading machines are among
the wonders Of the world. | have seen them
working at the ports of Lake Erie and at
the great steel plants near Chicago. Each
unloader is mass of structural steel, which
rises upon the docks to the height OF a five
story house. It reaches out over the steam
err and from it extends down long arm
made of network of steel, four or more
feet in diameter. with mighty hand at the.
bottom which vii grasp in its fist at one
time as much iron ore as thirty horses could