14 THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



financial embarrassments, it was sold to the Marshall Car Wheel and Foundry 

 Company, which company changed the name of the establishment to " Loo 

 Ellen" furnace, and continued to run it until 1886, when, owing to the fact 

 that the Car Wheel and Foundry Company could not use all the iron made, 

 and the dilapidated condition of the furnace, it was blown out. 



The stack was originally square, but was changed to a round in 1874. 

 Bosh, nine feet; height originally, thirty-four feet, but afterwards raised to 

 forty- five feet, and its capacity was ten tons per day. 



Fuel used was charcoal, while for flux limestone was gotten from Dallas. 



The iron produced was hot blast charcoal soft foundry iron when made by 

 Mr. Kelley. That made by the Car Wheel Company was a hard iron, espe- 

 cially suitable for chilled castings, such as car wheels, etc., that being the 

 character of iron wanted by the company. 



Mr. Kelley reports that the amount of flux needed was ten per cent of 

 weight of ore. Fuel, one hundred and thirty-three bushels of charcoal to 

 produce one ton of metal. Cost of metal, $13 per ton. Ore averaged fifty- 

 five per cent. 



Mr. Kelley used a low pressure blast, the Car Wheel Company high pres- 

 sure. 



THE STATE FURNACE. • 



The aid afforded in the development of the iron industry of Eastern Texas 

 by the building and operation of the "Old Alcalde" furnace by the State at 

 the Rusk penitentiary can hardly be overestimated. By its careful manage- 

 ment and successful operation it has fully demonstrated the workability and 

 superior excellence of the ores which surround it. 



From the biennial reports of the Superintendent of the Texas State Peni- 

 tentiaries* we get the following account of its construction and operation: 



The penitentiary was located at Rusk on account of the deposits of rich 

 iron ores in the vicinity, and for the purpose of employment for convict labor 

 for making iron, and at other industries growing out of it. The prison had 

 no railroad connections, and could not be successfully organized and utilized 

 as a prison until such connections were made. As soon as the Board was 

 fully satisfied in regard to railroad connections, it had an examination made as 

 to the character, quantity, and quality of the iron ore, with the view of hav- 

 ing erected a blast furnace for making pig iron. Mr. G. A. Kelley, employed 

 to make such investigation, reported very favorably, and the Board secured 

 the services of Mr. E. C. Darley, of St. Louis, a furnace engineer, to furnish 

 plans and estimates for a small furnace, and to superintend the construction 

 of the same. The plans submitted and adopted are for about a twenty-five 

 ton furnace, which is estimated to cost about $25,000. The castings, boiler, 

 and part of the other machinery and material are on the ground. 



The blast furnace was started in the latter part of February last, but the results 

 from it were unsatisfactory, as it failed to turn out the quantity or quality of 



* Biennial Report, November, 1880, to October, 1S82, pp. 4, 5. Austin, 1882. 



