294 THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



ing that the water supply was insufficient to run with ; and finally, one month 

 later, to save themselves from loss, they surrendered their contract. 



Soon after this, in the early part of 1885, the Board secured the services 

 of an expert, Mr. John Birkinbine, of Philadelphia, to examine thoroughly 

 the furnace plant and stack for an opinion as to whether the stack was of 

 faulty construction or whether the fault was in the operation of it. After 

 making a thorough examination, he approved the lines of the furnace con- 

 struction, and recommended that the flat bosh be removed and replaced by 

 such an one as had been originally constructed. 



TVlr. R. A. Barrett, who had superintended the original construction, was 

 employed to make the change and to operate the furnace. He had charge of 

 it from 1885 to January 1, 1891, running it very successfully, making from 

 twenty-five to thirty-nine tons per day when in full blast. 



Since the establishment of the plant the State Board have acquired, at 

 various times and of sundry persons, by purchase 8773 T 4 g- acres timber lands 

 in Cherokee County and 2951-j^ acres timber lands in Angelina County for 

 coaling purposes; also 2860-^ acres ore and other lands near the prison, and 

 the mining privilege on 800^ acres ore lands; the right of way on the prison 

 spur railway, one and one-fourth miles; the right of way for ore bed road, one 

 and one-half miles; tramway from furnace to ore bed, one mile; the right of 

 way for water pipe line, about half a mile; and other facilities for manufac- 

 turing purposes. 



The facts pertaining to the addition of the water pipe foundry and archi- 

 tectural castings have been enumerated in this volume, and need not be re- 

 peated here. 



The writer is indebted to Mr. R. A. Barrett, late superintendent of prison 

 industries at Rusk, for courtesies received. 



The following particulars of furnace operations were partly in answer to 

 interrogatories and partly from personal observation. 



"The Old Alcalde" hot blast furnace and pipe foundry, under control of 

 the State Board of Penitentiaries, was designed and built (1884) for twenty- 

 five tons daily capacity. 



The lines of the furnace are as follows: Height of stack, sixty-seven feet; 

 internal diameter at top, six feet six inches; bosh, nine feet six inches; cruci- 

 ble, four feet ten inches; height of mantel, thirteen feet six inches; height of 

 tuyeres, five feet six inches. 



The average charge or burden of the furnace is thirty bushels of charcoal, 

 thirteen hundred pounds of raw ore, two hundred and fifty pounds of lime- 

 stone. 



The average blast is thirty-eight hundred to four thousand cubic feet of 

 hot air per minute. 



