CENTER OF THE WORLD OF STEEL. 



BY WALDON FAWCETT. 



[Waldon Fawcett, author; born Salem, Ohio, February 23, 1875; is one of the most 

 popular contributors to newspapers and periodicals on technical matters, writing for 

 the most part as the result of personal investigations; in this connection he has trav- 

 eled through the United States and Europe collecting information; also syndicates 

 weekly articles on industrial topics to a large syndicate of newspapers. Author of 

 several works on economic and industrial subjects. The article here published is 

 used by arrangement with the Century Magazine,] 



The destination of nearly three tons of iron ore in every 

 five that come out of the wonderful Lake Superior country is 

 that awe inspu'ing beehive of smoke and grime and industry 

 known as the Pittsburg district, the busiest manufacturing 

 center in the world and the very hub of the iron and steel in- 

 dustry. The junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela 

 rivers and the valleys which turn away in every direction con- 

 stitutes the natural meeting place of the coal and coke, the 

 limestone and ore, which, here manipulated, constitute the 

 thermometer of business. 



If the rearing of this greatest of Vulcan's workshops were 

 to be gone through with again in the twentieth century, with 

 the light of experience beating upon the operation, with the 

 present craze for economy of time influencing the iron masters, 

 and with the marvels of modern raikoading daily shortening 

 the list of impossibilities, it is possible that the Smoky City 

 would be built nearer Lake Erie; the steel barons might elect 

 to apportion the journeyings of the various commodities more 

 equally by carrying the coal and coke a few hundred miles 

 farther and cutting a few hours from the time requbed for 

 the trip of the ore from mine to furnace. Now, however, it is 

 highly questionable whether any general migration will ever 

 occur. 



The limitations of the Pittsburg district are not clearly 

 defined, but if the reader will follow the schoolboy's old fash- 

 ioned method of describmg a circle on the map with the aid of 



165 



