Year: 1859

The United States has iron in unlimited "a
bundance and iron is, of all metals the most


important. Better be without our gold mines
than our iron mines in fact, we may almost
estimate nations might by the quantity of
iron 1t consumes. 1t enters into the compost
tion Of almost everything, and without it moth
ing substantial can be effected. The farmers
plowshare, the woodman' S axe, the instruments
of agriculture. the wheels of carriages, the
shoes of horses, the multiform machinery of
manufactures, and the tools of every trade-to
say nothing of the railroad and the steam
gine-all these powerful auyiiaries of man
are chiefly composed of iron. We have not
an article of utility in the household which is
not dependent in great measure upon this
metal. While iron is the source of our pros
perity in peace, it forms also the very nerves
and slews of our strength in war the can
non balls the sabre and the bayonet-those
terrible instruments of destructon-are all
composed of this same metal. Upon the sea
it Is equally omnipresent there, in the shape
of a steamship, it forms the vessel of war, the
most formidable agent that has been yet en-
plOyed by man. Thus, no subject can abound
in deeper interest to all nations than that of
iron and the greater the facility with which
any land can produce and employ it, the more
does she possess within herself the true ele-
mentS of wealth No nation, however, should
be content with the mere Knowledge that ma
ture has enriched its territory with the 'cle-
mentS from which this metal can be produced.
Her people must also be instructed in the most
economical methods by which the buried trea-
may be drawn from the bowels of the
earth and transformed into articles subservient
to the use of man. All nations, accordingly.
which have made any considerable advance in
civilization, have devoted large amount of
time to the study of the art OF making and
working iron. This most valuable metal is
abundant in the earth, and is produced
cheaply, that to compete in the production,
not only the ore but the lime and fuel for
working it must be had and these are re-
quired in so large a quantity, the three must
be found in close proximity. Each tun of ore
requires one tun of coal and one-tbird of a tun
of lime. In many portions of the western
States iron is found In horizontal beds with
similar beds of coal and lime, all cropping out
in the ravineS which have been cut by the
tion of the water through the strata, so that all
three are quarried by drifting in horizontally
from the ravine. Along the shores Of Lake
Erie, and in many portions of New England,
furnaces are employed in smelling bog iron
ore. 1t has long been known that this kind of
ore increases in quantity, grows. After all
the ore once removed from a bog, in few
years it would be found to be filled with
fresh supply. 1t has been ascertained that
this iron is brought into the bog dissolved in
water and in some cases it is simply deposit
ted while in others it forms the coating or
shields of microscopic animals. Though the
little beings are small as to be individually


invisible to the naked eye, they exist in such
innumerable multitudes that great furnaces
are employed for years in melting down their
shields into cast-iron.