The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-05-27
! WEST VIRGINIA CAPITALISTS TO ERECT
9,50O,0OO INDUSTRY N FFtl1|RRiHt9tNF FFtl1|RRiHt9tNFF
Present Plans Contemplate Beginning Construction
Within 80 Days and Operation of.Part of
Plant Within Five Months
GREAT ECONOMIES BROUGHT ENTERPRISE HERE
lies BROUGHT Enterprise HERE
Engineers Figure that Fairmont Has $367OO Per Year
Advantage Over Similar Mills Located in New
Engand-some Big Men in Enterprise.

When the, Rivesville power plant
project was first broached men wise
in such matters put the tips OF their
fingers on the papers and said, that
will bring industries to Fairmont, and
make this q great manufacturing CEN
ter"
The Industries have been long
time coming, but the war was largely
responsible for the delay. Now that
It is out of the way Fairmont is get
ting ready to strike its stride again,
and sure enough the first new indus
try, which is whopper as new indus
tries go, is coming largely because of
Fairmont's abundant supply Of COM
paratively cheap current.
This new industry is the plant of the
West Virginia Metal Products Cor.
poration, which will have capital of
S2,500, 900, will start construction OF a
81 SOC, 900 plant within thirty days, II
everything goes well, and will begin
turning out sheet brass within five
months. When 1t is running full,
which means three shifts day and
seven days a week, it viii give EN-!
ployment to 1900 men and will have
a daily pay roll of about $4,000.
The new industry is to go up on
fine piece of land running from the
southern end of the Owens Bottle
plant down to the tunnel. This tract
contains about rs acres and both rail-
roads have easy access to it. In, the
buildings which will be constructed
upon 1t, copper, spelter and the other
alloys will be fused into brass in fur
naces heated by gas as long as the gas
lasts and then by electricity. This
will be the only brass rolling mill in
this section Of the country, and men
who are acquainted with the industry
say that in the more than one hun
dred years that brass has been made
in America there has never been one
single business failure.
The plant will be located here but
the enterprise is essentially q West
Virginia enterprise. This state was
picked out as the natural location for
the next brass mill and three years
ago the first investigations along that
line were begun. The matter had got
pretty we'll along by the time this
country was drawn into the war. Then
of course the project was dropped. not
because there was any falling off in
the demand for brass-the exact oppo-
site was true-but because 1t was i'm
possible to get men and materials for
construction purposes. However, II
became apparent even before we en-.
tered the war that Fairmont was the
natural location.
The elements that led to that decl.
sion were:
Fairmont has chean fne1
Plenty Of cheap electric current,
Eighteen per cent. OF the spelter
which is one of the most important of
the raw materials going into brass Is
produced within rs miles OF this city,
Fairmont is close to the principal
markets for brass.
The center OF the brass industry of
the United States is Connecticut.
When the engineers got through figur-
ing with Fairmont conditions as one
OF the factors they said that a plant
the size of the one it is proposed to