Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-05-27
Pjttsburgh's Garden
Chosen as Site For
Big Ordnance Plan.

Pittsburgh, May 27.-Pittsburgh has
lost it's garden, and the long cherished
dream of John w. Gates, who never
was afraid to bet a million" is about
to come true. These facts loom larger
when considered in connection with the
official announcement of the war de-
partment that the United States Steel
Corporation is about to build on Neville
Island gigantic ordnance plant.
For more than a hundred years Pitts
burgh has looked to Neville Island for
it's vegetation. Lying in the Ohio river
at the western edge of the city it is
high enough thru it's entire length of
almost seven miles, to escape the disas-
trous floods which twice every year
drive the people from their homes in
the lower part of the old town of Ale
gheny. While less than mile wide, it
is SO level that gardeners early saw in
it wonderful possibilities. and many
hundreds of thousands of dollars 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 its 944 acres the steel corporation
already owns $50 thru it's principal sub
sidiary, the Carnegie Steel Company.
and before the ordnance mills are COM
.pleted it must own much, if not all, of
the remainder
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 furnace 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 failed because the steel corpora
ton was formed, and it was necessary
for it's scheme of things that it take
over the American Steel & Wire Com
pany, and Gates ceased to be a factor
in the independent field.
Neville island was neglected. Little
was done at the furnace and nothing
was done to carry out the plans for big
mills. In 1908 the Carnegie Steel Com
pany, needing more blast furnace
capacity, added the Neville plant to it's
battery and since that time it has been
operated spasmodically 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 supply 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 Pittsburgh
Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad. the
northwest system Of the Pennsylvania
lines west of Pittsburgh, and on the
south side are the tracks of the Pitts
burgh & Lake Erie, the Little Giant
of the New York Central Systems The
corporation also has railroad on the
island which connects with the Central
line on the south side Of the river
while a trolley 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 workers who are
to be employed, but it is conceded tina,
not great many Of them can be erect.
ed on the island. An entire town, per.
haps two or three must be built else.
where to care for the newcomers and
this, so the story goes in Pittsburgh
the corporation is preparing to do.