HOCKING VALLEY. 715 



sumption. In addition to the four furnaces already in blast, which have 

 been previously described, arrangements are already made for two more 

 at Shawnee. One, the Vilas Furnace, between Shawnee and Iron Point, 

 and one two miles north of Gore Station ; the Ogden Furnace, at Orbis- 

 ton, on Snow Fork ; the Akron Iron Company's Furnace, at Bessemer ; 

 another by a Cleveland company, at Bessemer; Moss and Marshall's Fur^ 

 nace, at Straitsville, and the Moxahala Iron Company's Furnace, at Mox- 

 ahala, while negotiations are pending for the purchase of several other 

 sites. This active work in furnace building by experienced iron men, 

 while a majority of the furnaces in all old iron districts are out of blast, 

 is a happj' augury of the future. Under the stimulus of the large profits 

 of iron-making a few years ago, many furnaces were built at business 

 centers, where capital had accumulated, and which were compelled to 

 suspend operations as soon as the price of iron materially declined. It 

 is evident that many of these will never be again put in blast, and iron 

 will hereafter be manufactured on so small a margin that the cost of the 

 transportation of the raw material must be made as small as possible. 

 But competition can not close a furnace intelligently and economically 

 managed, situated on property containing all the raw material necessary 

 for the production of the iron, and of easy access to the points of con- 

 sumption. If a mixture of Lake Superior ore shall be required, the 

 amount needed will be small, and the competition for this freight on the 

 coal flats returning from the Lake ports will make the expense small. 

 But with the great variety of ores in this field it is probable that all 

 grades of iron can be produced by a proper mixture. The Iron Point 

 ore, which is the " Great Seam " of the whole region, produces, when 

 used alone, an iron very similar to the Scotch pig. This is at the present 

 writing quoted in the New York market at from $24.25 to $27.25 per 

 ton, and is often the only foreign iron now quoted. It may be confidently 

 anticipated that a brand of iron made from this ore at a cost of from $10 

 to $12 per top, will soon be placed on the market in such abundance and 

 of such a character as to entirely prevent the importation of this Scotch 



pig- 



