The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-03-23
I. [. l. EXPANSIONS IN 1920 GREATEST
 OF COMPANIES LIFE
More Than a Million Spent on Homes for EmpIoyes-Prac- tically Every Plant Unit
 Has Been Enlarged

Among the larger new works, better ments and additions to plants made during 1920 by the Tennessee Coal. Iron and Railroad company Chickasaw Shipbuilding and Car company. Fair field Steel company and American Steel and Wire company. Alabama subsid : iaries of the United States Steel Cor poration, are the following
 Addition of 154 coke oveps to the by product plant at Fairfield, and increas- ing the total to ASA ovens.
 Enlarging the benzol plant at Fair field.
 Opening and equipping No. 8 mine, known as Hamilton slope, at Pratt City.
 Fabricating plant for ship and car materials at Fairfield. better known as pressed steel car plant of the Chick asaw company.
 Bolt. nut and rivet shop at Fairfield
 Equipping open hearth furnaces at Ensley for burning tar as fuel
 Equipping berths ' and at Chick asaw shipbuilding yards in Mobile for barge building.
 Building six ocean freighters at Chickasaw.
 
 and water. gas and electric lighting systems at Fairfield and Chickasaw for dwellings and townsite improve ments. $1,193,413.
 These items are specified in the nine- teenth annual report of the United States Steel Corporation for the year 1920.
 FOREIGN PURCHASE ,'
 An item closely related to the wei fare of the Birmingham district is the purchase of the manganese ore proper ties in Brazil made by the Steel Cor poration at cost of $4,f13,000. These ores are brought direct to the Birming ham mills by barges coming up the Warrior river and transferred to Besse- mer. where a blast furnace especially equipped for that purpose is engag ed in converting the ore into ferro-man- ganese for the use of the steel works Other betterments. additions and the like, in Alabama in 1920 were as fol lows:
 Additions to Blast Furnaces No. 8 al Ensley.2 increasing boiler capacity al Blast Furnace No. 1 steam plant, ex- tension to water circulating system al tlast furnaces.
 Equipment of Bessemer No. 1 blast furnace to make ferro manganese, ad. ditions to Blast Furnace No. g. Waste water recovery system and pumping station at central water works.
 There were purchased during thu year three switching locomotives and 30 steel coke cars.
 Work in progress at Ensley works consists of dry gas cleaner for Blast Furnace No. 3, scrap shearing and hand ling devices, etc.
 4 AYTT A TTnN Sewage disposal plant at Ishkoods mines, additions to pumping plant al No. 4. Vivian mine. and ? electric driven mine cars for Edgcwater minea were installed in 1920. Work in prog ress embraces electric transmission line for Muscoda mine and 10 mechan' ical ore loaders, additional mine ana welfare buildings at and 125 tenement houses at Bay View mine. pumping station at Docena mine, etc. Work completed for the Fairfiel< Steel company is listed as gantry crane and runway: bolt nut and rivet shop extension of unloading crane runwa, and additional crane facilities besidel the by-product additions mentioned above. Work in progress embraces ia bricating plant for ship and car ma terial. additions to finishing end of bar structural and plate mills. pipe ant blacksmith shop,S run-out table iron l scales in plate and ship building. The wire mill of the American Stee and Wire company at Fairfield wa 1 equipped with cleaning house baker t l burn doAl as fuel and block stripper l for the wire mill were instaiied.
 Altogether 1920sswas not excelied, i equalled. by any preceding year in tn way of permanent betterments, neS plants and the additions made to, ol ones by the various auxiliaries of tn Steel Corporation in Alabama.