Iron Ores of Canada. 27 



contrary. Wood is cheaper, our ores quite as abundant, and the 

 demand for iron as great. With the same advantages then, why 

 cannot we do as well as the Americans ? 



Two or three years since, the bed of iron ore in Hull was sold 

 to a Company, who quarry the material, und carry it all the way 

 to Pittsburg, in the Sta,te of Pennsylvania, where they convert it 

 into iron. If it pay to manufacture this ore, after a transporta- 

 tion of several hundred miles, surely it might be worked on the 

 spot. At the City of Ottawa, you may -see, at the same wharf, a 

 barge laden with our ore on its way to the United States, and 

 along side of it, another barge load of sheets and bars, imported 

 from Europe. This looks like carrying coals to Newcastle. 



In the United States, they have a method of making malleable 

 iron from the ores by one fusion. This is not a new process, be- 

 cause we saw it in operation thirteen year's ago, at a small forge 

 in the County of St. Lawrence. The operation is thus described 

 in the excellent report of Messrs. Foster & Whitney on the 

 Geology of the Lake Superior region. 



" The ore is introduced into the top of the forge, in alternating 

 charges with charcoal, in a state of great mechanical subdivision, 

 resembling coarse sand, having been previously calcined, stamped 

 and washed, if it contain much earthy matter. The supply of 

 fuel is maintained in the first stages of the process so as to keep 

 the space full, and prevent the ore from collecting together. 

 Water is occasionally sprinkled over the surface, which prevents 

 the fine siftings from being blown awaj'^, and gives increased fusi- 

 bility to the scoria3. The ore falls down, and the melted iron 

 collects in a mass at the bottom of the hearth, while the thin 

 slags run off by an upper overflow The mass is removed about 

 every hour, in a pasty condition, by means of a powerful pair of 

 tongs — working by an iron wheel on a railway suspended from 

 the beams above — which seizes it firmly, and conveys it to an an- 

 vil, where an iron lever, called a " squeezer," working up and 

 down, kneads the particles of iron together, forcing out the semi- 

 fluid cinders, and fashioning the loup for the rollers, to which it 

 is transferred. 



" The substitution of drawing cylinders in the place of trip- 

 hammers, has greatly facilitated the manufacture of iron. It ac- 

 complishes in a few minutes the condensation of the particles, 

 and the distribution of the fibres, which formerly was attained 

 only after repeated heats and hammerings. 



