Mexico weekly ledger., 1920-07-08
New Ford Project Begins Production
Blast Furnace and Seel Mills Will Employ Thousands
Henry Ford II, Fires First Furnace

Henry Ford II, three yearnd son of EdsA B Ford, President Of the Fold Motor
Company, became an active participant in the great Ford industries recently when he
scratched a match and lighted the oHsoaked excelsior that set off the two big blast
furnaces at the Ford River Rouge Plant near Detroit Henry Ford held Henry II in
Ford and a number II friends were present at The ceremony which marked the opening
of another Ink of the Ford industries
The blast furnace and rolling mills site occupies close to 200 acres of ground;
already $4,000 ne. are at work in the plant, but thousands more will be needed when
the construction of the huge undertaking is completed. Four more furnaces are under
way; the skeleton Of a new foundry, which will b. me Of the worlds largest stretches
This new field of activity bids fair to grow to as gm an institution as the Ford
Automobile and Tractor factories; and will augment the production of those plants in
10 small way
The unique plan behind this new Ford industry provides for eliminating consider
able waste time and labor in manufacturing steel 1t is expected that the iron ore
poured into. the furnaces will emerge as Ford parts, without ever having been cooled or
made into pig iron as is usually the practice
This first blast furnace will produce 800 tons of iron very q hours To make
it 1000 tors of rn ore, $50 tons Of limestone and 500 tons OF coke are used. Fifty
million cubic feeto of gas will be developed daily as a byproduct, and this will be used
to heat 1,NO degrees the 10000 cubic feet of air which will be forced through the mol
ten mass very hour under a 20pond pressure. Ten million, five hundred thousand
gallons of water will be used daily to cool the base of the furnace.
Work IN the second furnace is being rushed and it wasm announced that it too, will
be magng iron within 30 days. Foundation work is well under way for three adi
tonal furnaces making a total of five, contemplated to complete the group at the
Ford Rouge plant. These furnaces will all be of the most modern design and will
be numbered amongst the worlds largest. The consumption of iron and steel for
Ford cars is estimated to be approximately 5000 tos every % hour1.
The ceremony which marked the firing up of the huge smeter carried Henry Ford
one step nearer to a reaGzatono a dream he hash had for ears-to see his w ships
ca1ygin the materials from The source supply and to see these raw materials
proceed through the various stages to the finished product, his automobiles and tractorS
Ore for the furnaces will come down the lakes from Minnesota and the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan and be dumped into giant concrete bins built on the bank of
elevator called the Skip hoist" Limestone also is to mn in by boat. Vast quantities
of limestone and ore already have been stored up for the furnace.
The charge which was touched off had been in the furnace for a month, gradually
being heated to the point where the Glowing" could take place.
The above is a letter received by US from the Ford Motor Co. 1t is just another
indication Of the enormous size and capacity of the ord plant and alo ne progress
they are making to take caeo Of the ever increasing demand for Ford cars
We arcs still behind IN orders. If you want a Ford better get your order in now
and not be disappointed later