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p. S. Since writing the above I have received a letter from 

 Archibald Mclntyre, Esq., of Albany, at whose request I made the 

 cast steel from the Adirondac iron. It so fully expresses his entire 

 satisfaction with my result, that I send it to you as an appendix to 

 this communication. 



J. D. 



Albany, February 18, 1848. 



Dear Sir — I have been exceedingly gratified by your success in 

 melting cast steel with anthracite coal as a fuel, and by your repeatedly 

 producing cast steel, of the very best quality, from our Adirondac 

 iron. I have heard of various tests made of the steel produced by 

 you at New- York and Jersey City, and of that sent to me here by 

 Mr. Henderson, which fully satisfies me that were we to erect works 

 to supply the market, we could readily sell all that we could possibly 

 make. The demand for cast steel in the United States is immense, 

 and is constantly increasing. If, then, we could supply half the 

 quantity annually required in the country, (and I think we might 

 without difficulty, by the application of sufficient capital) it would be 

 of great importance to the country as well as to us personally, and 

 to such gentlemen as might unite with us in the enterprise. 



I am confident that we have at Adirondac, iron ores, which I may 

 say are in exhaustible deposites, for thousands of years, requiring 

 only to be quarried (not mined) at a small expense. All these 

 Adirondac ores produce the same quality of iron as that used by you. 

 Several tons of cast steel were made in England from this iron prior 

 to your having made any, and the reports were that the iron was 

 fully equal to No. 1 of the celebrated Dannemora iron, for producing 

 superior cast steel. 



I think I informed you that about a year ago we contracted with 

 Mr. William M, Picksley, of Sheffield, England, to remove to this 

 country (he was the person who had made cast steel successfully 

 in Sheffield from our Adirondac iron) to superintend the cast steel 

 making business for us at Adirondac, when we encountered a heavy 

 expense last season in making preparations for extensive steel works. 



When Mr. P. contracted with us, he was under the impression that 

 melting could be effected with charcoal as a fuel. On his return to 

 Sheffield, however, he made the attempt, but utterly failed, and so he 

 wrote and expressed a desire that we might at once erect the steej 

 works at Cumberland, where there was abundance of good bituminoug 



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