The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1918-05-30
TO LOSE
FAMOUS GARDEN.
A Big Ordnance Plant VIII he
Built On Garden
Site.

Pittsburg has lost it's garden, and
the long cherished dream Of the late
John w. Gates. who never was afraid
true. These facts loom larger when
considered in connection with the
official announcement of the War
Department that the United States
Steel Corporation is about to build
on Neville Island a gigantic ord
nance plant.
For more than a hundred years
Pittsburg has looked to Neville Is
land for it's vegetables Lying in
the Ohio river at the western edge of
the city 1T is high enough through
its entire length of almost seven
miles, to escape the disastrous
floods which twice every year drive
the people from their homes in the
lower part of the old town of Allie
ghaney. While less than a mile wide,
1T is SO level that the gardeners early
saw in it wonderful possibilities, and
many hundreds of thousands of dol
lars have been taken from it's rich
brown soil. Oil too has added to the
riches of the island, and even now it
is dotted with steel derricks topping
wells that are still producing the
light Pennsylvania crude.
OF it's 994 acres the Steel Corpora
ton already owns $50 through it's
principal subsidiary, the Carnegie
Steel company, and before the ord
nance mills are completed it must
of ~
der.
This property was bought by the
late Mr.. Gates in the late nineties
when he formed the American Steel
Wire company, and he planned to
cover the island with the mightiest
steel wire mills ever erected. He
went so far as to build a blast fur
mace at the head of the island, and
to dig deep for the foundations that
were to support the heavy machinery
his engineers were to install in great
steel buildings. But his plans fail
ed because the Steel Corporation was
formed and it was necessary for it's
scheme of things that it take over
the American Steel & Wire Company,
and Gates ceased to be a factor in
the independent field.
Neville island was neglected. Lit
tie was done at the furnace and no.
thing was done to carry out the
plans for big mills In 1908 the
Carnegie Steel Company, needing
more blast furnace capacity. added
the Neville plant to it's battery and
since that time it has been operated
lspasmodically when the stress of
steel demand compelled intensive
production. The rest Of the tract
was leased to gardeners, and every
year has been adding to the food sup
ply of the district.
The Ohio river Is navigable on one
side of the island, wicket dams above
and below giving enough water for
the free movement of boats and
barges at all seasons of the year. On
the north side are the tracks of the
Pittsburg & Lake Erie, the Little
Giant" of the New York Central Sys-
tenn. The corporation also has a
railroad on the island which con-
meets with the Central line on the
south side of the river, while a troll
| ley line runs from one end to the
other.
In connection with the ordnance
plant the corporation is to build
houses for the 10000 or more work
ers who are to be employed, but it is
conceded that not great many OF
them can be erected on the island
An entire town, perhaps two OF
three must be built elsewhere tC
care for the newcomers, and this, sc
the story goes in Pittsburg the cor
poration is preparing to do.