CENTER OF STEEL WORLD 171 



fiimaoe, where, viior the carbon has been ]:mrned out in the 

 melting, the mass became wrought or pure iron, and was 

 rolled into bars or plates; or they might go to the foundry, 

 to emerge in some one of the various forms of cast iron; or, 

 finally, their destination might be a steel making plant. 



In any case, the pigs had to be remelted, and inasmuch 

 as the frugal iron manufacturer saw in this a waste of time 

 and fuel, he planned to eliminate the making of pigs. The 

 solution was a perfectly simple and natural one. In the 

 present age of industrial operations on a large scale, blast 

 furnaces and converting plants are almost invariably under 

 one management, are located in close proximity, and one is 

 served by the other. There was nothing easier, therefore, 

 than to do away with the old system of consuming hours 

 in allowing iron to cool, and in carrying it perhaps only a few 

 rods, and devoting another interval to bringing it to the 

 molten state again. Substituted for it was the up-to-date 

 method of taking the bubbling porridge of iron from one 

 great kettle and transferring it to another, as a housewife 

 might do in preparing preserves. 



A predominant proportion of all the molten harv^est 

 from the blast furnaces in the vicinity of Pittsburg goes direct 

 to the immense steel plants that have made this part of the 

 country famous, and for this reason, as well as from the 

 fact that, of all possible transformations the primal metal 

 may undergo, that of steel conversion yields the most useful 

 and most valuable product, it will be found most interesting 

 to follow the metal which takes this route to market. The 

 first stage of this journey — the trip from furnace to steel mill 

 on a train of ladle cars filled almost to overflowing with 

 glowing fluid freight — is perhaps the most wonderful excur- 

 sion open to an adventure lover in all the world. 



Four or five of these bulky, brick lined iron tubs, each 

 capable of holding twenty tons, make up a train, which is 

 drawn by a stm'dy little locomotive. In several localities 

 in the vicinity of Pittsburg the molten iron is hauled a dis- 

 tance of more than a mile, and in one case a trip of upward of 

 five miles is necessary. Yet this long jaunt in the open air 

 appears to have not the slightest effect upon the temperature 



