THE CONQUEST OF NATURE 



This is of course of great advantage where it is found 

 necessary to store it in heaps some little time before 

 shipping. 



FROM MINE TO FURNACE 



In most industries, particularly where the percentage 

 of waste products is large, it is found advantageous 

 and economical to establish factories as near the source 

 of supply of raw material as possible. But the iron 

 ore mined in the Lake Superior region is transported 

 something like a thousand miles before being delivered 

 to the factories. The question naturally arises, Why 

 is not the ore turned into pig iron or steel ingots at 

 once as near the mouths of the mines as possible, and 

 sent in this condensed form to the factories, thus saving 

 more than half the cost of transportation ? The answer 

 is simple: the coal mines and steel factories lie in the 

 East, one established by nature, the other by man many 

 years before iron ore was found in the Lake region. 

 And it is found just as cheap and easy to transport the 

 iron to the coal regions as it would be to transport 

 the coal to the ore regions. Furthermore, the fac- 

 tories in the neighborhood of Pittsburg and along the 

 southern shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are 

 near the great centres of civilization, and are accessible 

 the year round; while the Lake Superior region is 

 " frozen in" for at least three months in the year. 



And so, in place of a great traffic of coal westward 

 to the Lake Superior regions, there is a great east- 

 ward traffic of ore, by rail and water, passing from the 



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