THE DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF STEEL, 43 



by means of which a large amount of low-grade ore will be marketed at an early- 

 date. The Niagara Consolidated Company is making preparations for vigorous 

 prosecution of development work upon its large bodies of rich ore, and there is 

 now an assurance that it will take its place among the large dividend-payers. 



Above Eureka, the new smelter near Burns's Gulch will have an opportunity 

 to prove its worth ere the completion of the ^railroad and the competition at Du- 

 rango give it the severest test of its ability to hold its own against such odds. It 

 certainly has the best wishes of all in the upper valley at least, and its managers 

 deserve well of the neighborhood for their energy and determination. 



The Tom Moore Mining Company is one of the kind that reserves all its noise 

 to the last ; but one of these days its stockholders will be shouting for it in a body, 

 because of the present economy of management and the dividends which this 

 policy and the worth of the mines will eventually produce. 



Animas Forks is flourishing, and the rich mines in the vicinity of Mineral 

 Point, notably the Red Cloud, are behaving nobly, fully justifying the hope that 

 has been placed in them. 



I am not an authority upon Rico and Ouray in detail ; but the true story that 

 reaches me through letters and statements of the most trustworthy character, as 

 well as from Lake City and other more familiar localities, may be briefly indi 

 cated by an article in my own creed, namely, "I believe in Eureka, and in San 

 Juan County;" but what I say of these, in general terms, appUes equally to all 

 parts of the great San Juan country, than which there is certainly no greater 

 mineral territory in the world. The proofs will be forthcoming as the years roll 

 by, and long after this generation shall have passed away. — Mining and Engineer- 

 ing Journal. 



DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF STEEL. 



The following correct definitions of the different varieties of steel by WilHam 

 Metcalf, of the Crescent Steel Works, Pittsburg, Pa., are published in a circular 

 by the Dexter Spring Company of Hulton, Pa. : 



"This definition still applies, but in addition the term cast steel applies to all 

 of 'the products of the crucible, the Bessemer converter and the open hearth fur- 

 nace, whether such products are too low in carbon to harden or not. The steels 

 that are not cast steel are known in the market as blister steel, German steel, 

 shear steel and double shear steel. 



"Blister steel is made by heating bars of wrought iron, bedded in charcoal, 

 in hermetically sealed chambers. The carbon of the charcoal penetrates the hot 

 iron, converting it into a crystalline mass of crude steel; large blisters rise on the 

 surfaces of the bars, giving the name blister steel to this product. 



" Originally the word steel was applied only to iron which contained such 

 quantities of carbon as would cause hardening when the red hot iron was cooled 

 suddenly. 



