12 THE IRON ORES OF NICTAUX, AND 



inexorable, and iron fulfilling the conditions of purity became 

 known as Bessemer pig. This always commands a higher price 

 than ordinary pig iron, and at the present moment ranks next 

 in price to pig iron made with charcoal, a very pure fuel, and 

 the most expensive form of pig iron. 



This necessitjr for a very pure variety of iron ore at first 

 limited the production of Bessemer steel and kept up its price. 

 Gradually, however, prospectors searched all parts of the earth 

 within easy reach by water of England and Germany the early 

 homes of this new process. It was soon found that Spain, Elba, 

 and Algiers could be drawn upon for enormous supplies of ore of 

 the requisite purity and cheapness. Rich ores were found on 

 the north-west coast of England, and large steel works were 

 started in Cumberland. Now iron ore is carried to England 

 from Norway within the Arctic circle. Similar necessities led 

 to the discovery of rich ores in Pennsylvania and on Lake 

 Superior, and to the establishment of steel works at Chicago 

 and other points in the United States. 



The result of the ready supply of these cheap and pure 

 ores, and the reduction of the Bessemer process to an exact 

 science, was a steady course of declension in the malleable iron 

 production, and in the production of pig iron, so far as its 

 derivatives came into competition with steel. So noted is this 

 in England that the output of iron ore in the Cleveland district 

 has fallen from 8,000,000 tons to 4,000,000 tons a year. 

 The ore of this district being of inferior quality, and capable of 

 yielding only a pig iron, the conversion of which produced an 

 iron incapable of competing with steel. 



The effect of this cheapening of steel is most clearly shown 

 in the case of steel rails which have replaced iron rails, and 

 have themselves fallen in price per ton from $50 to $22. 



The great advantage given by cheap water carriage and pure 

 ores to the steel makers situated on tide water, produced a feel- 

 ing almost of despair in the continental blast furnace districts, 

 which were some distance from water carriage. They saw that 

 their iron was being replaced by steel, and that the expense of 



