Steelmaking/U.S.A.

The history of steelmaking in the United States is a fascinating story of determination, sudden tragedy, exploitation, and inventive genius rolled into one gigantic plot. Mr. Reinartz' flowing interpretation of the progress made in the last one hundred years is being presented in a series of four articles. THIS is the Age of Steel. We live in a mechanized era. Our everyday lives--everything we see or do-are organized and influenced by this versatile metal. Our industries, our farms, our homes, and our transportation-yes, our vocations and avocations, or luxuries and necessities-all are dependent upon smelting iron and making steel. Take away iron and steel and soon our vaunted civilization would revert to a primitive existence. These metals, often in crude forms, have been known for thousands of years. Down through the ages, until about one hundred years ago, steel was made laboriously, and at high est, in small batches. During those years, methods of manufacture did not change very much. Over long periods of time only warriors, royalty, and wealthy people could afford to use articles made of iron or steel. History has recorded that the nations which were expert in iron and steel manufacture, and had access to rich iron-ore deposits, were the leaders in war or in peaceful pursuits. At the end of the 18th century, thirteen struggling American colonies had broken not only the political shackles that bound them to Great Britain, but also many of the economic bonds. They had showed their skill, Yankee ingenuity, and energy by making iron and steel articles for their own use. After the Revolutionary War, more and more hardy American pioneers pushed westward through the Allegheny Mountain passes and down the rivers into the fertile Ohio River and Kentucky country. Demands for articles made of iron increased. The iron industry on the east coast grew and prospered. As this trend continued, iron industrialists moved their plants westward to be near the large deposits of high-grade coal in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and nothern West Virginia. They also desired to use the local iron ores and water resources of those areas. Blast furnaces and ironworks were built in the Pittsburgh, Youngstown, southern Ohio, and northern West Virginia districts. In 1810, the United States produced 53,908 gross tons of cast iron and 917 tons of steel. Iron ore discovery A white man first discovered large deposits of iron ore in the northern Michigan and Lake Superior country in 1844. One year later, the Sault