Year: 1869

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ONE OF THE GREAT WORKSHOPS


OF PENNSYLVANIA.


On the western slope of the Alleghenies,
in the valley of the CoGemaugh, just where
that beautiful river strikes the Laurel
Hill range, one Of the greatest of the in
dustrial establishments of Pennsylvania is
situated This is the Cambria Iron Com
paDy's Works, for the manufacture of rail-
road bars It is an establishment that the
people Of Philadelphia should have knowl-
edge Of, for il is owned in this city it is one
that the people of the State should feel
deep interest in, for it is the foremost Of the
great rolling mills and iron works peculiar
to this commonwealth, and it is one that
should elicit the pride of Americans every
where, for it is the largest single establish
ment of the kind in the world 1t is turn
ing out rails, to-day, at the rate of five miles
in length, or sufficient to lay two and half
miles Of track every day Expressed in
pounds, the daily product of rails Is FIVE
thousand pounds-two hundred and ffty
tons-a quantity sufficient to freight good
sized sea going vessel, and it would take
feet of three hundred such vessels to carry
the produce for one year. But few persons
can form an adequate idea Of the number and
magnitude Of the agencies which so vast
product sets in motion. This, tits our pur-
pose to present as well as our brief space
viii permit


The picturesque hills which surround the
Works are filed with coal and iron, clay for
fire brick, cement, and nearly all the essen
fiials for the Manufacture Of pig iron. There
are three principal veins Of iron ore. There
is a seam Of coal high up on the Hill, and
then another seam Of coal, and so on down
to the lap Of the valley, Under the soil Of
these hills burrowing far into the earth,
twelve hundred workman are all the time
employed, mining coal and iron ore for this
one mill. The enormous amount of coal and
ore they have to get out every day viii be
understood, when it is stated that it requires
about FIVE tons Of coal and nearly four tons
of ore to make one ton Of rails When the
whole daily product Of the rolling mill-viz.,
$50 tons Of rails per days manufactured
directly from the ore and coal in these hills,
it requires the miners to get out about one
thousand tons of ore, and about twelve hun
dred tons Of coal every day Bat consid-
cradle proportion Of the rails made are from
old bars ofre-roled, and from pig iron pro
duccd at a furnace worked by the company
near Hollidaysburg. OF the FIVE tons of
coal used in the maufacture of ton Of rail
road bars about three tons are first applied
to the reduction Of three tons Of ore into pig
iron. The coal, however, Is not used in it's
native form, but is first turned into coke, in
which operations large nsmbers Of workmen
are all the time engaged. This is done BY
subjceting the coal to the action Of smolder-
ing fires, By which means the inhammable
and ether gases are consumed and the car
bon Of the coal is left nearly pure The
earburetted hydrogen gas thus consumed is
more than twice as much as it takes to light
.bn ,r-L,l, ..;.s- G Ol. :l~l-ls L.~ ls.a iriu
out. The iron ore is likewise subjected to a
preparatory process. Il is thrown out from
the mouths Of the mines into vast hills, at
the base of which cord wood is laid, and
through which coal is interspersed, 50 as to
make smouldering fires here also, to roast
the injurious gases out Of the ore. To com
plete this operation it takes about six
months before the ore can be handled so as
to feed it into the furnaces where the pig
iron is made. The making of the pigs
is effected in number of immense ''cupo-
las, into the top Of which the coke and the
roasted ore are dumped By a constant pro-
cession Of carts, day and night, year in and
year ont. The fire in one Of these has not
been out for more than three years.


Although the material thrown into the
tops Of these cupolas looks very much ike
the dirt and clay carted of wherever eel
lar is being dug in the city, it comes out at
the bottom In streams Of glowing molten
iron, which running into moulds Of sand
makes the pigs. Several hundred bands are
employed in ''coking" and in the furnaces
j described. The pig iron is then taken to
the Mill, which covers an immense area Of
ground. 1t first goes into what are called
''puddling furnaces where it is heated TO a
/ white heat and becomes of the consistency
Of dough. by the constant stirring Of class
/ Of workmen called 'puddlers They stand
in front Of the fiery furnace, and BY
means Of long iron rods thrust through small
openings, they stir the iron about until near
~ all Tho carbon is burned out of it, and il