ESSEX COUNTY. 261 



dressed in their primeval robes ; the axeman lias not shorn them of tlieir pride and beauty ; 

 they still wear tlic livery with which nature first decked them, and in ail that profusion loo which 

 lier bountiful hand ever bestows. These circumstances, taken in connexion with a full supply 

 of water power, render this location one preeminent for an establishment of the largest kind. 

 But at this distance from market, can the manufact\ire of iron be successfully prosecuted 

 in the face of competition from abroad, and especially with that of Pennsylvania and other 

 coal-bearing States, where iron and fuel in great abundance are associated, and where its 

 manufacture is comparatively cheap ? The answer to this question turns wholly upon that 

 of quality : If the iron produced by means of anthracite would compare in quality with that 

 prepared with wood-coal, the question would be settled against this northern establishment ; 

 but inasmuch as charcoal, and that too of a better quality than is furnished by the coal forma- 

 tion, is required for the production of good iron, the discussion of the question turns in favor 

 of the northern mines. The final result will be, that no competition will exist ; for while the 

 coal-bearing States will produce one quality of iron, the cheapest and at the least expense, 

 the ores of the north will be employed for the production of another quality, and each will be 

 demanded in all parts of the union. The manufacture of the former will by no means dispense 

 with that of the latter, neitlier will the latter supply the place of the former. The wants of 

 a civilized community originate an extensive demand for an iron which is hard, and possessed 

 of only a moderate degree of tenacity, and this kind can be made at a much lighter expense 

 than that -which is softer and more tenacious ; but there are other wants and demands which 

 the former can by no means supply, and for which the purer and finer ores of the north 

 become indispensable. The demand, too, for the latter quality of iron is rapidly increasing : 

 the machinery of locomotives, the axles and other parts where great strength and tenacity are 

 required ; and innumerable other calls, growing out of the condition and changes in society, 

 can scarcely be suppHed by a vigorous prosecution of this business. Now the Adirondack 

 ores, it is believed, if any exist in this country, are the great source from which our most 

 valuable iron is to be drawn. It is here, if any where, it can be made in this country ; and 

 the whole Union, if true to herself, will encourage its manufacture. Mr. Johnson's experi- 

 ments prove the existence of the qualities herein contended for ; but it is to be taken into 

 account, that the process followed in preparing the iron used in his experiments does not impart 

 to it that degree of strength which may be given by a more scientific mode of manufacture. 

 The bloomery process by no means gives an iron of a fibre equal to that famished by puddling. 

 At least the former method is imperfect : The ore is merely raised to a sufficient heat in 

 charcoal to give up a part of its oxygen, and from imperfect exposure will thus be imperfectly 

 changed or reduced, and give necessarily an imperfectly welded mass of metal, which, when 

 drawn into bars, it is reasonable to suppose, will offer at numerous places an imperfect junc- 

 tion of particles ; and the result will be, that in testing, these imperfectly welded places will 

 cohere with less force than others, and furnish an example of a brittle metal. The true state 

 and condition of all iron thus roughly and coarsely made, is, that the bars are not homoge- 

 neous ; some portions are harder than others, and probably minute particles of unreduced ore 

 are disseminated through the entire metal. When, however, the ores are perfectly reduced 



