Book Notices. [Volume: 8, Issue: 6, 1890, pp. 354-358]

No. 6.]

CHARCOAL IRON WORKERS.

357

in eleven States; Clapp-Griffiths steel in three States; RobertBessemer steel in five States; open-hearth steel in eleven States;
crucible-steel in eleven States; there are iron-ore forges in five
States, and there are pig- and scrap-bloomaries in five States. The
number of rolling-mills enumerated in the " Directory," which use
natural gas wholly or in part as fuel, is 104, against 96 in November, 1887, 68 in August, 1886, and 6 in September, 1884.
Concerning forges and bloomaries, Mr. Swank says: " In November, 1887, there were 38 forges prepared to make pig-iron
direct from ore, which number had decreased to 23 in November,
1889, New York losing 6, Tennessee 5, and Maine, Pennsylvania,
North Carolina and Missouri, each losing 1. Tennessee, only a
few years ago, had 23 forges making iron direct from the ore, and
has but 3 forges left. In the mountainous districts of East Tennessee the forges were usually operated by farmers, who only made
bar-iron from ore whenever it was needed in their immediate
neighborhood. Each forge usually had two fires, with a daily production of about 250 pounds to the fire. In 1887, there were
37 bloomaries prepared to make blooms from scrap-iron and pigiron, and in 1889 there were only 27. This, too, is a declining
industry.
In 1887, the annual capacity of the iron-ore forges was 63,000
net tons, and in 1889 it was 45,000 tons. In 1887, the annual
capacity of the bloomaries was 54,000 net tons, and in 1889 it
was 44,000 tons. Many of the surviving forges and bloomaries
are now idle.
CONVERSATION ON MINES.
A LATE contribution to mining is an American reprint of an
English work, entitled Conversation on Mines, between father and
son, published by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
Although specially devoted to coal-mining, there are many features
of value to those engaged in mining iron or other ores.
The book has had a remarkable history. Its author-a hardworking coal-miner, of Lancashire, England, who had risen by
natural ability and force of character to a position of trust in a
mine-determined, in 1864, to issue the work, chiefly as a hand