FA("rORS OF LOCATION 



u 



A Potential Power Site 



Factors That 

 Control 

 Location 



their development. As a rule, the products of this third siroup. it is said, bear 

 about the same transportation charijes as do the raw materials, so that the 

 location of the plants becomes immaterial. 



Factories using bulky, cheap, fragile or perishable materials are chiefly of 

 the first type and usually found in districts where the materials exist. Some ex- 

 amples are wood pulp mills, brick plants, starch factories, 

 creameries, sugar beet factories, canning factories, and coarser 

 grades of wooden products. Factories whose finished products 

 are bulky, cheap, fragile, perishable or in «iuick demand by users 

 or which ha^e more value in skilled iaVior than in raw material 

 are principally of the second group and follow the market. Examples are farm 

 implements, glassware, potteries, work-clothing, furniture, and machine manu- 

 facturing industries which are always near the machine-using industries. 



In many industries there are also special influences that are factors in loca- 

 tion. The element of fuel is of great importance to the Portland cement, the 

 pottery and the glassware industries. Cement is bulky and cheap, pottery and 

 glassware are fragile, so nearness to market as well as availability of fuel is of 

 prime importance. While nearness to market and availability of raw ma- 

 terils are big factors in the location of iron and steel plants, the determining 

 factor has largely been the right kind of fuel for smelting. The fragility of coke, 

 it is asserted, prevents its shipment for distances beyond six hundred miles, and, 

 because the highest known grades of coking coal are found near Pittsburgh 

 that city has retained its supremacy in the manufacture of iron and steel. 

 Climate, it is claimed, is the controlling factor in the location of woolen mills. 

 A humid atmosphere is necessary to keep the fibers soft and pliable and so 

 permit drawing into the finer grades of yarn or thread. This atmosphere can 

 be artificially created in Montana, which is one the chief producers of wool, but 

 as it is found naturally where the mills ;ire now located, and is also found on 



