El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-11-24

Aoaded with ore 70 the great steel
plants here At the foot Of Lake
Michigan Ny steamer had cargo o.
l-.eoO tons She unIozded this in less
tnan five hours and the ore is al
ready on its way TO the furnace. Nv
the time this letter is published If
will have been made into steel and
ViI have gone out with other sister
carEoes into steel rails. biF Guns sn6
shells and the thousand and one 9TH
loI ms IN which Uncle sam is using
steel in our fight with Germans.
LAST year when we were stiU out Of
me war, We sold 10 England and
France 1000. 600 or 5 900 000 steel
shells and 166.0Oo.0O0 pounds OF
harbeo wire for entanEiemeuts That
steel would have filled a train OF so
Ton cars as long as from New York
70 ChlcaEos and the harbed wire would
have been enough TO build a nine
strand noS-tiEht fence around the
world on the line Of the equator.
Those were the sales Of one vear and
OF only two items They we're made
Ash We had not yet begun to fight
nov. We are in the struggle with
every atom Of muscle and every bit
OF machinery we can command. The
government is taking the produce of
al the steel plants. and the output
viii be greater than ever before The
s4-oOO-OOO,00O OF capital Every work
er IN steel and iron has been drafted
into the industrial army md we have
TO-DAY more than 1,00o. 900 such men
IN the ranks
Two Big steel Camps.
Away down here at the foot Of Lake
Michigan are two of the biggest
camps OF this army Of iron and steel
Although differed by the United
states steel corporation, they are nov
under the government and they are
lighting the battle after the most
improved methods Of modern ef-
ficiency. II IL to show you some
thing OF what they are doing that I
have come here to South Chicago and
Gary. But first let me show you how
strategicsny the two camps are 10
Gated and how we'll they are fitted for
waging the war. They are situated on
the deep waters Of Lake Michigan.
where the ore from the mountains Of
Lake Superior can be shot from the
ships almost into the furnaces. where
coal and limestone can be cheaply
secured and where the steel products
can be rapidly transported to any
part OF the world.
The South Chicago plant is a part
o. the city Of Chicago This section
has about $4,000 Inhabitants, and the
most Of them are supported BY the
steel works The town Of Gary is inst
across the Indiana boundary, about
SO miles from Chicago It has 55,oe0
luha bitants, and there are about Il, 600
men at work in the mills and the ftIF-
naceA
Buildings Cover 900 AeEeL
The South Chicago plant j. that OF
the Illinois Steel company It's build
lnEs already cover about 400 acres,
and u has more than twice as much
more land adjoining II which Will
eventually be used for the works The
Gary plant belongs TO the Indiana
nHr-- -
United States Steel corporation. It is
already three miles long and q mile
and a quarter in width. and this
whole territory is covered with struc-
The towers and LurrsEs Of its fur
nsces stand out like mighty castles
against the sky and it's huge buildings
are filled with masses OF machinery
that seem 10 move on ball bearings
A Ork OF railroad tracks runs
in and out through the works. and
-reat pipes Of steel some Of them so
large that Pullman train could pass
through them without touching the
walls Of the pipe, wind in and out
Il. carrying millions Of feet Of gas
70 the various parts OF the works.
do not know the cost Of the South
Chicago plant but il has run far up
into the tens OF millions OF dollars.
The machinery OF the Gary plant alone
has cost more than &14e. 100000 and
the United States Steel corporation is
now spending millions more IN con-
nectiou With IL
Today. owing TO the demands OF the
times, new construction is going on
at both plants Gary is building four
new blast furnaces and q great ss-
adjustment for making wheels Of
forged steel she is putting in IL
boilers 10 utilize the waste heat Of
her open hearth furnaces and is IN
Sailing new engine shops, new boiler
shops and other works for increasing
the byproducts. At the Illinois steel
plant they are installing electric open
hearth furnaces extending their I
foundries, building great gas driven
blowing engines and adding 70 their l
establishments for turning out Bes- I
semer steel
Never Cease WorkInE.
7 despair OF making you see the i'm {
m nSity OF these mighty creations ana 4
the wonderful equipment they furnish 4
Tor fighting the war Take the Blast }
furnaces The Illinois and Indiana
steel companies have % which are
now blazing away night and day. They /
work holidays and Sundays, year in /
and year out, and since they have
been built many OF them have been /
smelling iron continuously for % per
cent OF their running time.
Each Of these furnaces is as big
around as a haystack and as tall a.
an eight story house It has four 1
great stoves almost as big and 20 I
feet higher. which heat the air blast
70 \ temperature Of from 1900 10 1900 /
degrees before it Is forced into the I
furnace. and IL holds a charge Of about
400 tons Of ore, limestone and coke,
which this heat turns 70 liquid. These
Furnaces have each cost In the neigh
horhood Of $1,000. 600 to build. and
they would cost two OF three times
that II constructed today. They are
the best OF their kind and those Of
the Illinois Steel company alone are
now turning out more than 1000 600
tons Of pig iron year
u Story OFTEN Told.
! shall not describe the process Of
often heen told. The object Of the
furnace is 10 rob the ore Of its oxygen
ana other impurities and leave only
the iron This is done by troppfns
alternate layers Of coke, limestone
and iron into the mighty towers and
admitting at the bottom a hot blast.
which melts the whole into one LIQUID
mass OF this mass the iron. on ac-
count Of Its weight. drops 20 the bot-
tom Of the furnace and the impurities
OF the ore and the limestone float like
soapsuds on top Then by making
. hole in the furnace just above the
surface Of the iron. the impurities can
be drawn off in the form Of Stag, and
later on, from = lower hole in the
pure pig iron can so ont the same
way
This process is old. but the ma
chiner- with which II is carried on at
Gary and South Chicago is new Al
most all the work IS done By ma
chinery- The ore limestone and coke
are carried up in skip buckets which
- Ike less than a minute 70 raise their