INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. 



409 



PRODUCTION OF ROLLED IRON IN J 876. 



The association statistics place the total production of all 

 kinds of rolled iron in the United States in 1876 at 1,921,730 

 net tons, as compared with 1,890,379 tons in 1875,1,839,500 

 tons in 1874, and 1,966,445 tons in 1873. The production in 

 this branch of our iron manufacture, it will be observed, 

 has maintained a remarkable uniformity for several years, 

 indicating that the rolling-mills of the country have been 

 actively employed. 



RAIL PRODUCTION IN J87G. 



There were rolled in 1876 879,629 net tons of iron and 

 steel rails of all sizes, against 792,512 tons rolled in 1875 

 showing an increase of 87,117 tons, or 11 per cent., upon the 

 make of 1875. Of this total production for 1876 there were 

 412,461 tons of Bessemer rails and 467,168 tons of iron rails, 

 against 290,863 tons Bessemer and 501,649 tons iron rails 

 in 1875. These figures show not only that the Bessemer 

 industry is rapidly expanding, but that the Bessemer rail 

 production has practically overtaken that of iron. Distrib- 

 uted throughou't twenty -five states and Wyoming Terri- 

 tory, there were, at the close of 1876, 33S rolling-mills, with 

 4488 puddling-furnaces. Of this number of mills 260 were 

 in operation during the whole or part of the year. The 

 capacity of the mills of the country is at least double the 

 production of 1876. 



THE BESSEMER-STEEL INDUSTRY. 



In 1876 there were 11 Bessemer steel establishments in 

 operation in the United States. These were located as fol- 

 lows : 5 in Pennsylvania, 3 in Illinois, and one each in New 

 York, Ohio, and Missouri. The number of converters in use 

 in 1876 was 22. The details of production appear from the 

 following table, viz. : 



Items. 



Pig-iron and spiegel converted 



Ingots produced 



Rails produced 



s 



1874. 



Net Tons. 



204,:r.2 

 191,933 

 144,944 



1875. 



Net Tons. 



395,956 



375, 5 17 

 290,8G3 



1876. 



Net Tons. 



539,474 

 525,996 



412,401 



