COAL & IRON..
TWO
L ECTURE S
DELIVERED:IBEFORE THE
I) BOARD OF TR. DEI
I$4;- OF 
V[~.LAFAYETTE, INDIAN"A,
April 3rd and 5th, 1872,            I
BY PROF. C. D. WILBEER,
INSPECTOR OF MtLX'S AND MINING LANis.
ROSSR SPRING L;effe.,   a;3nb. -
ROSSER  SPRING & CO., PRING., PNT.RS, BOOrBINDERS A^D STATIO.EZRS.  V 
7]E  -








TWO
LECTURE 
DELIVERED BEFORE TIHE
BOARD OF TRADE
-- OFLAFAYETTE, INDIANA,
April 3rd and 5th, 1872,
BY PROF. C. D. WILBER,
INSPECTOR OF MINES AXD MINING LANDS.
ZocsaC Setff,`Tnb.
ROSSER, SPRING & Co., PRINTERS, BOOKBINDEPS AND STATIONERS.
/572.r




Entered accordiig to Act of Congress,
in the year 1872.




INTROIDUCTORY REMARKS.
The following lectures on Coal and Iron, were prepared with
much care and labor and delivered by Prof. C. D. Wilber,-at
the the special request of the Board of Trade of LaFayette,'before that body and a large number of the substantial business
men of the city. Such was the interest taken in the subject,
now so generally commanding the attention of the entire State,
that copies of the lectures were asked for publication by a
unanimous vote of the Board of Trade.
The author has long been recognized as the highest authority
on valuable minerals and mining lands, of which he is a professional inspector employed of late years by eastern capitalists'
in making large investments.
The founder and builder of the great State Museum  of Geology and Natural History at Normal, Illinois, he has the emphatic
endorsement of every respectable authority in that state.t
The facts set forth in the following pages, are of instant practicable significance to every citizen of LaFayette and of the State
of Indiana.   Let capatalists and property holders of this city
give them a careful consideration.
Prof. Wilber can be addressed at the Lahr tHouse, LaFayette,
Indiana. or at Hannibal, Mo., care of C. O. Godfrey.
*"From leading R, R. Proprietors and Cap;talists of Boston, Mass,
Prof. Wilber, has made us familiar with the mineral wealth of Missouri and other
Western States, since 1859, by carefully written maps and reports, and a large amount
of capital from this city has been invested in those states, upon the basis of his faithful representations.
Signed. Nathaniel Thaycr, R. S. Watson, J. W; Brooks, J. M, Forbes, J. N,
Dennison, J. A. Burham.
t From How. NEWMAN BATEMAN, Superintendent Pulblic Instrtuction, Illinois,
In my opinion Prof. Wilber is more familiar with the natural resources, mineral
wealth, and all the material elements of the West and Northwest, than any other man;
His lectures are full of interest and instruction, attractive in style and manner, and
adapted to the comprehension of all. lie has long occupied a prominent position in
this State, and has greatly contributed to awaken an interest in scientific pursuits and
studies in all our institutions of learning.
Fromn DR. J. A. SEWALL, Professor of Chemnistry and Natctral IHistory, State Normat
University, Ill.
Prof. C. D. Wilber has done more to develop the resources of this State (Illinois)
than any other man. He is scientific both in thought and work. In the State Museum
of Geology and Natural History (worth $1.00,000) he has built for himself a monument
more lasting than bronze.








FIRST LECTURE
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
BoAR]D OF TRADE OF LAFAYETTE,
APRIL 3RD, 1872,
BY PROF. C. D. WILBER.
AMr. Chacirman asnd Gentlemen,
In accepting your invitation to present the
subject of Manufacturing Industry, as based upon Coal and Iron,
and as related to your favored locality, the City of LaFayette;
I consider that I am merely an interpreter for the ideas and views
already entertained by your honorable board; only a gleaner in
a common field from which many golden sheaves have already been
gathered. From various sources these facts and statistics have
been obtained and my effort on this occasion is to render them in a
logical order. If the logic of these statements shall avail for the
interests of your city, then my errand will be done.
The entire community are already enthusiastic in feeling, if not
in expression, on the subject of Coal and Iron or Coal, Iron and
Steam, as they are constantly associated. At the mention of these
names every person has impressions which he cannot express,
ideas of power, force, progress; prophecies of a good time coming
in which he shall have a part because the onward march is so
rapid. There is-no doubt about the fulfillment of these hopes.
The history of the past, the story of the present, are security for
the future.
At the display of new powers and gifts, on a certain occasion,
we read that the Lycaonians declared that the "gods have come
down to us in the likeness of men." But in our times, in the
presence of the largest coal burning, wonder working, world moving steam engines, we feel compelled to say "I-Iere is Jupiter
himself." If more carefully we analyze our notions upon these'subjects, we shall recognize steam as the central figure of the
group, the Jupiter of the gods-the subtle, evanescent, invisible and




6
irresistible power which we have made to sonime extent subservient,
but to which no limits can be assigned.
I We may regard iron as the fitting and chosen body through and
in which steam works; or we may say that iron is the best because
the strongest harness for this fiery and untamed steed.
Pursuing the comparison but under another figure, coal would
appear as the sustaining food for the great material agent of civilization whose life is steam and whose body is iron.
"If any material thing" says Raymond, "may stand as the type
of force it-is coal, the deposits of which may well be called vast
storehouses of power, the product of solar activity through uncounted years laid up for the use of man. Iron, on the other hand, may
symbolize the dead, inert matter awaiting the touch of power to
wake it into efficient life. These are the principal elements in
our Universe of Industry; take them away and our present civilization is annihilated; put them together in the hands of an
intelligent and mighty nation and it will recall the world from the
chaos of barbarism. But they are counterparts, and it is in the
wonderful combination of both as well as the exhaustless abundance
of each that America finds sure promise of enduring power."
We should not, however, persuade ourselves that we are enjoying
the best or matured results of this wonderful agent; what is done
is well done, but it is the child's effort merely. The manhood
strength of this civilizing servant will be manifest when we have
learned to use and control superheated steam, a power terrible in
comparison; but which will be utilized when we have acquired a
better knowledge of the strength of materials.
Our locomotives and stationary engines are now provided with
safety valves, allowing all steam above 120 lbs. to escape, a confession that the iron boiler or body is weak; but suppose that instead
the boiler is made of thick steel plate, and we have far higher
degrees of steam with equal safety. We thus increase manifold
the service of machinery and in the same ratio cheapen our products.
We venture to say that the power of extra, or superheated steam,
which now knows no master, will yet do the world's work with such
ponderous engines that our pi'esent machinery will appear as
steam toys in comparison.
Nor should we claim that our times are enjoying the highest




7
attainments in art, science and invention. No arts were ever lost
that the world needed to use; Wendell Phillips says otherwise,
but his proofs refer to lost tricks, rather than lost arts.
The present is rather the era of experiment with constant
success and we stumble and blunder as our fathers did upon our
best discoveries, as often as we find them by research. Thus we
waited nearly 40 years for the fish joint, to make a safe and
permanent railway.
One of our wisest railway kings says that there is more progress
in improving railways for the next 30 years, than there was 30
years ago when the strap rail was considered the masterpiece.
Our statisticians take special pride in piling up columns and
pyramids of statistics and figures, showing the mile stones we have
passed on our grand march.  They tell us that the aggregate
power of steam engines now in use, sustained by coal in all countries is equal to the combined muscular energies of 1,000,000,000
of men, or that the activity of steam is now equal to the muscular
strength of the entire human race; that Europe has over 70,000
miles of railway and that her locomotives and cars exceed a million
in number and would reach in a straight line from Paris to
St. Petersburg; that England alone has 14,247 miles of railway
which have cost $2,500,000,000 and are good investments, paying
a net profit of $110,000,000 annually. That in Europe 7,500,000
tons of iron rails are-used and that in the United States there are
60,000 miles of railroad, which have used 6,000,000 tons of iron, and
which have been built at an average cost of $45,000 per mile,
making a total cost of $2,700,000,000.  They tell us that in
Great Britain the production of iron in 1800, was 180,000 tons
and in 1870, was 6,000,000 tons; and that in 1871, the United
States produced 2,000,000 tons of iron, equal to - of the entire
British Product; they also tell us that the coal trade of the United
States in 1871 was 35,000,000 tons, while the coal trade of England exceeds 100,000,000 tons annually.
In this manner they carry us through the statistics of coal and
iron until we are weary of arithmetic, for such numbers have
merely a stunning effect, no person being able torcomprehend them.
Still we insist that these are the early figures to be used in
le trning to count or estimate the numerical values of our future
coal and iron industry.




8
It will appear upon reflection that of the elements composing the modern industrial trinity, viz.: Coal, Iron and Steam, that
Coal is first in importance.
Steam is heated vapor, born of water and heat.  A drop of water
contains enough to move a pyramid.
Iron, like water, is generally, if not so abundantly distributed;
it puts in an appearande in every part of the globe; it is found
in all mountainous regions, in nearly all the coal fields, and in
some form accompanies all the geological formations. The supply
is inexhaustible and always within reach at a trifling cost. But
on the other hand coals are not universally distributed; besides
the area of the coal fields or basins, is comparatively limited. The
common estimates on this subject contain great errors; we are
accustomed to state that while Great Britain contains 12,000
square miles of coal, the United States and territories contain
300,000 square miles of coal lands, and the inference is that we have
nearly 300 times as much coal as Great Britain. The area of a
coal field is very different from the area of workable coal contained
in it. The public surveys do not give us accurate information
where we most need it. In general, little has been done by the
geological surveys to point out the true value or extent of the
resources of any of the Western States. It has become a proverb
that a "state survey is a public folly."
If we except Indiana and Ohio, now in skillful hands, the money
expended has been worse than wasted. The result is that as a
rule, capitalists utterly ignore the reports of geologists, and depend
upon the skill of some practical man, whose success has proved his
reliability.
It is lamentable, for instance, that the state of Illinois should
spend nearly half a million of dollars for a geological survey that
has dragged its slow length along since 1849. This costly lumber
does not contain ten pages of positive or practical knowledge. It
is indeed a farce to have this and similar frauds perpetrated in the
name of science.
But after making all allowance, we have in the heart of the
Mississippi Valley, coal in quantity to supply all demands; and in
quality adapted to all uses.
Coal is valuable because it is the cheapest source of heat or
caloric, that principle which gives us dominion over all matter, and
makes man the earth's master.




Coal contains the greatest range of heat in smaller space than
any other material, Its preparation for use is without cost. It
ignites at a touch, is constantly under control and is ready for instant use.
It is said that coal is "bottled sunshine"; referring to the theory
that all coals are the submerged and condensed peat swamps
which gathered their carbon in the sunlight of the early geological
period. If coal and bottled sunlight are identical, we can only say
that in coal we find the Creator's mode of diluting and tempering
the heat of the sun to all uses.
The present enormous demand for coal has grown up almost
entirely within the present century.  Its first use was a necessity
caused by the disappearance of wood fuel, and coal, after-many
royal protests and edicts, was permitted to be used as fuel.
2nd. It use was greatly increased in making steam to work
the pumps used for draininug the English mines.
3d.  The introduction of the locomotive as a self acting wagon
to carry away the debris and refuse of mines, was another occasion
for the increased use of coals.
4th. The discovery that gas could be made from coal, about
the year 1803, laid the foundation for a larger use and demand.
5th. In 1830, began another drain upon coal. in the application of the hot blast to iron; introduced by Neilson in Scotland.
At the Clyde Iron Works in 1829, it required 8 tons, 125 lbs.
of coal to make one ton of pig iron  with the hot blast in 1833,
one ton of pig iron was made by using 2 tons, 13 cwt.  Iron making was greatly stimulated by this discovery.
6th. The general and gradual substitution of coal as fuel,
instead of wood, marks an era in the coal trade: within two years
the change from wood to coal by all classes, has been more rapid.
The demand for domestic use in 1870, was nearly twice the demand
for 1869 in the Western and North-western States.  The inability
to meet this demand by mines and railroads, led to a fuel panic
throughout'the North-west.
Many statements have been made concerning the economy of
coal over wood as fuel both for locomotives and domestic use.
The average of these statements is expressed In the general
formula: 1 ton of coal is equal to 2 cords of wood. The earlier
experiments with coal, owing to incomplete combustion, arising'*~~~~~~~~~ 2




10
from imperfect fire-boxes, made one ton of coal equal to one and
three-fourths cords of wood. This result was obtained by the
Pennsylvania Central Rail Road, experimenting with Pittsburgh
coals, which in 1851, were considered to be the best for steam
purposes. But after twenty years' trial in which the constitution
of coals and the principles of combustion have become thoroughly
understood-not only has a ton of coal succeeded in doing more
work, but also all bituminous coals have, in their results, come
nearer the same standard of value or excellence.
The term "cord of wood," taken by itself, does not give so definite an idea of its power for heat or steam as the term "ton of
coal." The value of wood varies as 35 to 26, according as the
wood is "best selected", "mixed", or "light", having reference
not only to the amount of water contained in wood, which varies,
whether wet or dry, from 50 to 20 per cent., but also to the density
or compactness of its fiber,, exhibited in its charcoal.
Again, cord-wood in the Eastern States, being an average of
maple, beach, birch, hickory and elm, ranks higher in capacity
to produce heat than average cord-wood in the Western States,
where wood, being scarce, recource is had to all growths; so that
in the Western States an average ton of coal is equal to 2-1 cords
of wood. This estimate may be taken as the rule of practice
whether applied to locomotive or domestic use.
The cost of a ton of coal also varies as the distance between the
mines and the market.  The average cost of wood in the Western
States is nearly $5.00 per cord, while it often is $8.00 and $10.00
per cord in the unwooded districts.  Coals, on account of long
transit, also reach the same figures, viz: $8.00 to$ 10.00 per ton,
so that we are able to estimate the average cost of a ton of coal as
equal to the cost of a cord of wood.
It is well known that at the mines, generally, a ton of coal costs
$2.50, but a haul of 400 or 500 miles, at the rate of 1T- to 21 cents
per ton per mile, places an extraordiuary price upon coals mined
at these distances from the place of consumption.
Estimating the average cost of either at $5.00, the advanta~ges
of coal over wood are easily seen.
Compared with western wood of good quality, 5 dollars will
purchase one ton of coal,-the equivalent of two cords of wood,which costs $10.00. With mixed or average wood theproportion
of cost is as 1 to 92, or as $5.00 to $12.50.




11
With the best hickory or oak wood the proportion is as 1 to 1i
or the saving in price is as $5.00 to $8.75. The actual average
saving or economy in the use of coal is therefore $3.75, $5.00, or
$7.50 per ton in favor of coal over wood.
The average amount of coal consumed per year for a family of
five persons between the parallels of 42~ and 38~ North latitude,
is placed at five tons, when only coal is used; this being one ton
for each person. The population of a town or county will be the
measure of the amount of coal required for a year, expressed in
tons. Thus, the amount of coal used in the city of St. Joseph,
Mo., by the inhabitants is ascertained to be nearly 25,000 tons per
annum, although over 60,000 tons are yearly shipped to that point
the greater part of which is used by locomotives. The city of
LaFayette, in like manner, consumes nearly 15,000 tons of coal
per year.
It should be understood that the amount of coal used in stationary engines also is not to be reckoned in this estimate. The
average cost of fuel for a family of 5 persons is 25.00 per annum,
— when coal is exclusively used. If wood be used instead, the
annual fuel expense is $43.75, $50.00, or 60.00, according to the
quality of the wood. Or in other words, the expense for coal will
be $25.00, and that of wood will be $50.00.
The heat power of wood (green) is 2,200~ Fahrenheit.,, wood (seasoned) 2,867 
"   "   (  turf,     2,782~0    "
" 4 "~   i bituminous coal, 4,082~
"' ",,   r anthracite coal, 4,170~    "
))"   ",,,, dry coke,     4,352~    "
The excess of power of coal over dry wood is 1,215~ Fahrenheit,
and over green wood 1,882~, an item of greatest importance not
only in the generation but in the maintenance of steam.
This excessive heat-power of coal over wood is manifest in the
greater era over which coal-heat will diffuse itself, and in its permanence or ability to maintain its status or the degree of heat
required. When wood is used, most persons have noticed that it
is difficult in winter to heat a large room, and in steam-making
that constant care is required to keep the boilers stored with sufficient steam for constant work. It is for the same reason, that
persons having used coal, experience much discomfort in the sud



12
den changes of temperature incident to rooms warmed with woodfuel.
This explains also the rapid increase of coal-consumers, even in
districts where wood is obtained without difficulty. It is believed
that the sanitary reports of the country will prove the equable
temperature of coal-fires to be more conducive to health than the
unsteady and evanescent heat of wood-fuel.
The elements of combustion, contained both in wood and coal,
are the same, viz: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, named in the
order of their importance.  The relative quantity of carbon, the
basis, or source of heat, contained in the various classes of fuel, is
as follows:
CAlRB.         HID.            OXYOG
Oak wood.........  49.10......  6.30............ 44.60
Peat............... 60.......... 6.10............ 33.80
Bituminous coal... 82.60............ 5.60............ 11.80
Anthracite......... 94.04.............75............  4.21
The oxygen and hydrogen represent chiefly moisture. The
carbon of oak is only six-tenths, compared with bituminous coal,
and five-tenths, compared with anthracite coal.
An analysis of coal will exhibit the basis of its value and show
that its elements are constant; while the analysis of wood shows
that every element is inconstant, except its charcoal; and this is
fixed only for each class or species of wood. An analysis of coal,
which will serve as a model, is as follows. The number of parts
taken is 100.
Moisture............... 7  Total Voltile........ 4
Vo~lati~le Matter    37]Total Volatile......4...2
Volatile Matter......  35
Fixed Carbon......... 54   Total Burned..... 89
1 Total Coke.......    85
Ashes..................  4j
100
In this analysis the ashes or useless portion comprises 11 per
cent., leaving 89 per cent. to be consumed as the source of heat,
every atom of which will be utilized. Of the volatile portion,
gases and oils are made, while the fixed carbon is the substantial
basis of heat. In this lies the chief power for smelting iron and
overcoming the most refractory metals.  The volatile portion, in
different bituminous coals varies greatly.  It seldom exceeds 54,
nor falls below 30, and the fixed carbon or coke has a range between




35 and and 62: so that the value of coals can be readily determined according as they are desired for steam, gas, smelting or
domestic purposes.  W7ood-fuel, on the contrary, has no practical
determinate analysis.  Besides, it is subject to continual deterioration, losing an average of 20 per cent. annually in value with
ordinary care.  In addition to this, the extra cost of handling and
storing, and the exposure to fire have caused this class of fuel to
be rejected by American railways, generally.  With few exceptions, now, coal-burning locomotives have supplanted wood-burners.
Tne advantage of coal over wood, for railway use, was formerly
(15 years ago) reckoned as 26 to 17, by trials instituted on railways in Illinois.  The great improvements in burning bituminous
coal since, have placed coal far in advance of that ratio over wood.
The service of a ton of coal on the Hannibal and St. Joseph
railroad, on an average freight-train, is 43 and 4-tenths miles.
On the same road, passenger-trains run 69 and 6-tenths miles, per
ton of coal.  The Illinois Central railroad gives 37 miles as the
average service of a ton of coal.  This road, in its estimates for
1869, however, gives 65 miles per ton of coal as the highest performance.  It also estimates wood at 2 and 2-fifths the cost of coal;
this result is based upon the cost of wood at $5.81 per cord, and
and coal at $2,i0 per ton in Illinois, while on the Iowa division
wood is reckoned at $9.62 per cord, and coal at $3.28 per ton.
Statements from the Kansas Pacific railroad give an average of
60 miles for passenger trains per ton of coal. Passenger trains
on the Missouri River, Fort Scott and Gulf railroads, have made
85 miles per ton of coal.
On the Burlington and Missouri River railroad, an engine,
hauling 16 freight cars, ran 44 and 7-tenths miles, and a passenger train of three cars ran 59 and 7-tenths miles per ton of coal,
while the average service is 37,74 miles. The Chicago, Burlington
and Quincy railroad averages 48 and 4-tenths miles per ton of coal.
The best service was 100 miles per ton of coal, The Pennsylvania company gives 49.11 miles,-its best service being 98 miles
per ton of coal.
It does not come properly within the province of this article to
discriminate against or in favor of any particular class of coals.
The Latin proverb, "s1twum  cuique' applies to them  all, that is,
each is best for a special use: the block-coals of Indiana, like the




14
Briar 1ill coal of Ohio, are best for smelting, but in comparison
with the Illinois coals (near St. Louis), for steam purposes, they
are inferior and rate as 73 to 100, that is, 73 bushels of Illinois
coal will secure the same locomotive service as 100 bushels of
block or Brazil coal.
The expression of power in numbers for the service of coal on
railways must always be variable. The kind of fire-box used,
whether close or perforated, the intelligence of the stokers or firemen, and the quality and condition of the coal are elements which
will prevent a general uniformity of results. But when the fact
is understood and appreciated, that a loss of 400 to 600 pounds
per ton accompanies imperfect combustion, railway managers as
well as common consumers will be eager to save such an item by a
studious application of the best methods.
It will surprise many to know that the largest element employed
in the combustion of coal is common air. The measures of every
element in the process are fixed and definite, and their simple presentation will explain the advances already made and the progress
that must inevitably follow, and will demonstrate the maxim that
"it takes a philosopher to make a fire."
Suppose now we have to burn one ton of coal, or 2,000 pounds.
Of this amount we have as burning material:
Carbon.........................,600 lbs., or 80 per cent.
Hydrogen.....  100'   "  5 " "
Sand, ashes, lime, sulphur, 300  "   " 15' 
In the process of burning, 100 pounds of hydrogen will unite
with 300 pounds of carbon, making 400 pounds of carburetted hydrogen or coal-gas, occupying 10,000 cubic feet of space, which
must be burned in that form, so that one ton of coal will assume
these proportions, viz:
1,300 pounds of solid carbon.
400 pounds of gas (carb. hyd.).
300 pounds of waste,
In order to burn one pound of carbon,- there must be added 12
pounds of air, having the bulk 159k- cubic feet. In order to burn
one pound of hydrogen, there must be added 36 pounds or 4T82
cubic feet of air. In order to burn one pound of carburetted hydrogen-the gas of coal,-made of i hydrogen and - carbon,
there must be added 18 pounds or 2391 cubic feet of air; so that




the burning of a ton of coal requires, first, an amount of air expressed by 400 (lbs. carb. byd.) x 239k or 95,100 cubic feet of air;
second, another amount or volume of air expressed by 1,300 (lbs.
coke in one ton of coal) x 1591, or 207,350 cubic feet of air. Or,
in even numbers, it requires 100,000 cubic feet of air, to be mixed
with the 400 pounds of coal-gas, and 200,000 cubic feet of air, to
unite with the 1,300 pounds of coke or fixed carbon, contained in
the ton of coal under trial. The total amount of air consumed in
the perfect combustion of one ton of coal is 300,000 cubic feet, or
as much as is contained in a room 100 feet long, 70 feet wide and
43 feet high!
Thus, the ton of coal, which measures one cubic yard, must be
commingled, in definite proportions, with 11,000 cubic yards, or
11,000 times its own bulk of air, before it can be perfectly or
throughly consumed.
The foregoing statements, however incredible they may appear,
are deduced from the most careful experiments and chemical analyses, and are recorded in the treatises on railway practice, both in
America and Europe. (See " IIolley's Railway Practice.")
Let any one who doubts these statements, or considers these
relations between coal and the atmosphere disproportionate, attempt to verify these facts by a single experiment: Throw a piece
of coal, as large as a hen's egg, into a stove or open grate with
live coals, or coals already white with heat.  The great volume
and continuity of flame from that diminutive fragment, and derivable from no other source, is the measure of air needed to consume
only the volatile or gaseous portions. The fragment, now a live
coal, will continue to burn until reduced to ashes, but in so doing
will consume large bulks of air, no less certain because the process is invisible. The constitution of bituminous coal was so ordained by the Creator, that whenever man should require one
measure or portion of it for use, eleven thousand equal measures
of air-fuel should be instantly added, gratis, to the portion mined
and taken from the earth, each portion ready for the igniting
spark, and neither of them of any use without the presence and
contact of the other.  The eleven thousand measures of air-fuel
being a donation conditioned only upon receiving it in due form, it
would seem that we should not only be grateful, but prompt to
avail ourselves of every appliance or device of construction that




Awill insure the best treatment, with the least waste, of this most
important article of public and private economy and use.
Coal, however, can be greatly improved as fuel by care in
mining.  The common impurities of coal may tb  enumerated'as
follows: sulphur, iron, clay and sand.  These are,considering the
origin and preservation of our coal treasures for long ages, necessary accompaniments, and while inseparable from all coal formations throughout the world, followinrg the theory of their deposition they can be readily separated at the mines, by painstaking on
the part of miners.  The common faults, formerly ascribed.to
Western coals, are thus mainly disappearing, so that they now, ir
many cases, rank as equal with the best Eastern soft coals, which
have at the mines precisely the same impurities as the Western
coals, but which are inspected with a vigor which our extensive
mining establishments can well afford to imitate.
The causes of complaint, therefore, are not in our coals, but
rather in ouIselves, and we could, with equal fairness, complain
of Providence for giving us bread, accompanied with tough husks
and bearded chaff, involving the necessary labor of their separation.  If the products of our coal-mines, generally, were prepared
-for market with as much care as farm products, there could be no
complaints, or unfair comparisons made between'Western an(l
Eastern coals.
Coal is therefore king  King over all the metals, compelling
tlhem to assume any form at our bidding. Though rejected by the
early builders, it is now the head of the corner; once indicted and
excluded by monarchs as a nuisance, it now compels their service
and homage.
It warms the peasant and lord alike, and in the abode of either,
"December is pleasant as May."  It turns night into day in all
our cities, so that there is no night except of our choice.  All
streets and stores are golden with it, and every dwelling has an
effulgent beauty within, which disappears with the rising of the
sun. It gives us power to remove mountains and fill up valleys;
to span rivers and spurn all barriers.  It drives the machinery
that does the world's drudgery, giving us time to seek after wisdom.
The best talent and energy of our time is employed in distributing and applying this power, and the millenium when it comes,
will take its rise from a drop of iwaters touched into activity, by




17
the calorific scepltre of lKing  cr'al! The origin of coal is a
subject upon which all competent judges are agreed.
The decision is as follows: That all our coal strata are
the submerged and condensed  peat swamps of ancient eras,submerged beneath oceans, and compressed by the super incumbent weight of great depths of water.  VWe are referred to the
Middle ages of geologic history as the carboniferous, or coal-forming period, and it may be declared in general terms, that all the
coalls occupy the middllle of the geological series of the rock
formations of the globe,-in the same manner that M, N and O
occupy the middle of the alphabet.  With the exception of a few
patches or outliers, no coal has ever been found below this middle
position; and east of the Rocky Mountain slopes no coal has been
found above it. The scientific coal explorer has thus, by an established law, or order, most of his work done for him, and he has
only to follow the finger-pointings of nature.  Those who explore
at random, not knowing the geological alphabet, will not find the
charmed middle letters, (Ml, N  and 0), bu+t will bring loss to
capital and discredit upon a useful art, or science.
In the United States, we must understand that during the coal
period, the surface was a low, swampy level-not unlike the marsh
and lagoon districts of Southern Louisiana.  We may also conceive
that there were scores of such swamps like the notable Dismal
Swamp of Virginia, which has an area of 600 square miles and a
depth of 10 to 30 feet of black mould or peat-in a soft, pasty
condition.  These swamps differed not only in size but in the
kinds of trees, reeds and ferns growing  in them.  Some marshes
had flowing water, —others water stagnant, or nearly so.  Peat
was accumulated slowly by means of a microscopic plant (,splhag/num
palustre) and centuries were required to form a deposit of 30 feet.
The swamps with flowing water would be mingled with foreign
material, while the stagnant marsh would increase only in pure
carbon.
Suppose, now, that this vast area was slowly submerged, and
that the ocean was 100 fathoms above it, certain changes would
take place as follows:
1st.  The black, pulpy vegetable mass of the swamp would be
reduced from 209 feet in thicklnes to a solid' s(tratumn of four or five
feet of coal.




18
2nd. The drifting ocean water would deposit clays upon this
buried area of peat, which by heat and pressure, or heat created
by pressure, would slowly change to slate and soapstone, while the
clay already below the swamp would probably by absorbing carbon
become fire-clay-as we now find it. TWe have thus underlying
the fire-clay the stratum of coal, and the roof of slate,-in the precise order in which we find 99-100ths of all coal.
The entire submerged district, or a portion of it, slowly through
centuries, is raised up to a higher level than at first and becomes a
part of the permanent continent.   The peat swamps of the past,
are now coal basins of various thickness and quality.  The peat
layer of great depth would give a coal stratum of possibly ten feet
in thickness.  The swamps in which there were bayous or flows of
water would give slaty and impure coal, or would so mingle the
two that cannel coal would be the result.:Mineral waters, such
as sulphur and iron, would mingle with certain portions and give
us sulphurous bands, and nodules of iron, clay and sulphur as seen
in many coal deposits.  While the quiet lagoons would yield the
purest coal, there would probably be the outlying swamps, a little
way from the larger peat swamps, whose extensive accumulations
would give greater area and thickness, and at the same time, mixed
or impure coal.
The best coals'we know are thus situated on the outside of the
larger or central basin, out of the reach of deteriorating causes.
Thus in Ohio the Briar Hill coal is the extreme north and northeast of its coal-field. The Big Muddy coal of Illinois occurs along
the south-western portion of the great Illinois coal-field, while the
block coal of Indiana occupies the eastern and south-eastern portion of the same coal-field. All these coals are known as being
the purest and best American coals. It would then follow, that
in order to find the best coals of any country, search should be
made on the borders of the great deposits; a statement which has
been generally verified.  Success has been signal in the eastern
or Indiana portion of the Great Western coal-field.
The laminae seen in all bitumious coals,-one of bitumen,
bright, glossy and black; the other of charcoal, appear to have
been the result of each year's accummulations.  The pulpy, carbona.ceous leaves would add brightness to the bitumen of the bog,
and the falling reeds and ferns having fiber in their stalks, would
exhibit the charcoal fiber seen in all coals of this class.




Thus a mass of coal, could we count the layers of charcoal,
fiber and bitumen, would afford an index to the time in years
involved in its formation, as the grains of a tree indicate the years
of its growth. The same sun that we now behold, was the agent
of the transfer of carbon from the air to the vegetable forms that
gave us in time our coal-beds.  Hence the meaning of the remark
that coal is "bottled sunshine."  We may also insist that the
amount of heat and light received from the sun ages ago in every
leaf of the coal flora, is precisely the amount yielded in the combustion of coal.
We can only refer to the various kinds of coal, classed according
to their economy or use.  These are, steam coal, gas coal, iron or
smelting coals.  Such as are referred to as steam  coals are those
that give the greatest amount of steam per pound or bushel used.
Gas coals are rich in volatile matter and free from sulphur —
which causes extra cost in producing clean, white flame. Gas coal
would be excellent as steam coal, but the reverse will not follow.
The iron coals must not only be free from impurities, but must possess a rare quality, that of maintaining their form in the furnace;
that is to say, they must swell but slightly in coking. The average
class of bituminous coals will enlarge their bulk one volume in a
furnace or oven; that is, one bushel of coal will make two of
coke. In a smelting furnace such coal would either burst the sides
of the furnace or choke the passage of the escaping flame and gas,
and the furnace would chill.  To prevent this the early English
iron-makers made coal into coke —: a firm hard silvery semicrystalline mass, which, being free from sulphur, was the same as
charcoal, which could no longer be obtained. This material is
now generally used in the smelting furnaces of Europe and
America.
The iron coals, which are exceedingly rare, can be used direct
with the ore, saving the extra cost of coking.  Their excellence
consists, therefore, in lessening the cost of making iron, —so that
the district having these coals in abundance, has special advantages
and attractions for iron manufacture.  This class of coal is also
called block coal-from its structure when mined. "It has", says
Prof. Cox, "a laminated structure, and is composed of alternate
thin layers of vitreous dull, black coal, and fibrous mineral charcoal.  In one direction it splits readily into thin sheets, but breaks




o20
with difficulty in the opposite direction.  In burning it does not
swell, shoot out jets of gas, nor form a cake by running together,
neither does' it leave an ash mixed with clinkers, but retains its
shape like hickory wood, until entirely consumed to a small
quantity of white ash. Its superior heating powers will be found
in part owing to its containing less oxygen and more hydrogen
than is commonly found in bituminous coals."
Mr. Sims, an experienced iron master from Pittsburg, states,
"that it not only requires a less quantity of block coal than of any
of the coals around Pittsburg, to make a ton of wrought iron, but
also less timle, and gives a superior quality of iron."
Prof. Cox estimates the block coal of Indiana at 288,000 acres,
from which 5,269,017,600 tons can be mined, and which, at Brazil
prices, ($2.20 per ton), is worth $11,855,289,600.  The entire
area  of the Indiana  coal-field is estimated at 6,500 square
miles.  Of this amount, the eastern portion is block or iron coal.
It extends from  Warren county on the north to the Ohio river,
and includes the counties of Fountain, Parke, Clay, Green,
Davies, Martin, Dubois and Spencer.  The last county contains'
the celebrated block coal from Staab's bank, which as we shall
prove is the same as the extensive deposits now being opened in
Fountain and Parke counties. The fact is now demonstrated by
six years' experience, that the Indiana coals will make iron direct
without coking. That they will make the best iron in the market
with less cost, has rendered this coal region the most conspicuous,
as well as the most valuable, on this continent.  The shipments
from Clay county are now 3,000 tons per day, 500 tons per day
additional being used in the smelting furnaces at and near Brazil.
A railroad is being constructed to connect the southern portion of
the block coal-field with Cincinnati and the railroad connecting
the northern portion of the same field in Fountain county with
Chicago is nearly finished.
The amount of block coal that will be daily mined and used
either in local furnaces or shipped abroad, will, within five
years, exceed 10,000 tons per day. The concentration of capital
based upon this coal alone, can hardly be estimated.  On this
subject I can not do better than to quote from a late paper read
before the Chicago Academy of Science by Colonel Foster, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science;




"The cardinal fact is now demonstrated in the daily product oi'
blast-furnaces and convertcrs) that the specular ores of Lake Superior and Missouri, by reason of their superior richness and purity,
and the block coals of Indiana, in their near approach to charcoal
as a reducing agent, and the facilities which exist for bringing
them together, are destined to answer the world's imperative
demand for cheap steel.  It requires no prophetic vision to foresee
that before the lapse of half a century, the block coal regions of
Indiana will be the principal seat of Bessemer steel manufacture,
not only of this country, but of the world."
New railroads have been directed to this coal-field from  the
large cities of St. Louis, Cincinnati and Chicago, and many capitalists are seeking it as a new Eldorado.  In advertising the bonds
of these new railroads, there is special emphasis placed upon the
block coal. TWhen the capacity of railroads is enlarged, and those
under construction actually in operation, this region will present
an activity unparalleled in the annals of the coal trade.  It is not
argued that the price of these coals will be greatly increased beyond the average price, but the demand being so extraordinary,
from causes now in their infancy, compels us to regard the Indiana coal-field as the most attractive and remunerative in the world.
The discovery of these coals farther north, especially in Park
and Fountain counties, has diverted the attention of capitalists
from the supposed center of this iron or block coal deposit, and it
is this recent movement which has caused the citizens of LaFayvette
to exhibit an unusual interest in this direction.
The fact that the best quality of block and semi-block coal —
both good iron making coals-can be afforded in this city for $3.25
per ton, now costing $5.70 per ton, is calculated to produce what
may be termed "a new departure."  It is a fact suggestive of a
new order of business; of enlarged limits; of new railroads; of
manufactories; cf mills, foundries, furnaces, in short, of a new
center for making and distributing the products of iron manufacture.




SECOND LECTURE
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
BOA RD OF TRADE OF LAFAYETTE,
APRIL 5TH, 1872,
BY PROF. C. D. WILBER.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen:
Our subject this evening is "Iron and Coal," or more especially,
iron manufacture, its recent progress, and the advantages of the
City of LaFayette for the establishment of iron and steel works.
Such a proposition must, of course, be predicated upon an abundant supply of block, or iron coal at cheap rates; and, also, upon
the concentration of iron ores of the required quality, at small
cost. If this city has not and can not obtain these, an argument
is useless.
WAe have stated that the block and semi-block coals of Fountain
county are adapted to the manipulation of iron in all its forms, and
that they could be brought here over a short line of railroad for
$3.25 per ton, probably for $3.00 per ton. This inducement actually secured, is the the basis of all attempts to make the manufacture of iron and steel remunerative at this place. It is the keystone of the arch of triumph which will surely be erected if the
citizens are alive and alert, and use the means now in their hands
to secure the prize. If, gentlemen, you neglect this opportunity,
which is now yours, men of enterprise, experience and capital will
lay the foundations of their iron and steel establishments elsewhere.
A railroad running to the heart of this coal district, in a southwesterly direction from LaFayette, would be nearly forty miles in
length, and would pass through a very wealthy agricultural region.
The union of coals with railroads is one and inseparable. They
are bound together by a stronger force than even a military neces



23sity.  The locomotive must daily consume three or four tons
when on duty. It is not easy to ascertain the exact number of
locomotives now in use in the United States, but their daily consumption of coal may be safely estimated at 50,000 tons per day.
The railroad must distribute coal over the wide area lying between
the coal-fields, and over States and Territories not supplied with
it. It is only by railroads that coal can find its market. A
railroad is, therefore, an extended coal-shaft.  It is only those
portions of coal-fields that are intersected by railroads that can be
used.  Ninety-nine hundredths of all coal lands must, therefore
wait for the railroad.  They do not belong to us, but are the inheritance of future generations.  If coal mongers and speculators
anticipate the bread of the next century, they will certainly suffer
loss, for it will mould on their hands.  Nevertheless, scores of
speculators and bogus geologists are busy seizing upon mininglands
that can not be utilized for 1,000 years.'Drop a railroad anywhere in the United  States," says James
McHIenry, "and it will pay."  The English railways, having a total
of 14,247 miles, cost nearly $2,500,000,000 and declare an annual
dividend of $10,000,000. The American railroads are still better
investments than the English. As a general rule they are overcrowded with business and can not multiply facilities to keep pace
with the increasing demand for transportation.  A Bcston railroad
manager said to me recently:
"I can not understand your country, the Mississippi Valley. Its
progress in the extension of railroads is beyond my comprehension.
Even if I have mastered the gigantic story, to-morrow brings new
routes, giving new connections and requiring new combinations."
Even the Erie railway-a steel railway in a double sense-with a
capital stock of nearly $90,000,000, has survived the Fisk-Gould
robberies amounting to more than $30,000,000, and is steadily
rising in the value of its stock, a fact which can be accounted for
only in the permanance of its enormous revenue. But this is only
one of the six great thoroughfares or trunks from the Atlantic
coast which, as they reach the Valley of the Mississippi, divide each
into branches, main and lateral, which again subdivide into short
lines-the stems and twigs reaching out into distant forests and
prairies, until our vast domain is as crossed and interlaced with
them that every town can boast of its railroad advantages.  It is




24
in this manner that the 40,000 square miles of Ohio; the 33,000
square miles of Indiana; the 57,000 square miles of Illinois;
the 67,000 square miles of Missouri; the area of Kansas and
Nebraska have been peopled, and their lands enhanced in value an
average of $20 per acre-conferring a solid value upon the commonwealth of at least $2,500, 00,0000  whieh is the cost of all
the American railways 
It is necessary to particularize in regard to the extent, quality
and nearness to this city of the block and semi-block coal region
upon which our argument mainly depends.'Will the proposedl
railroad reach such coal as will advance tile property of this city,
within a distance of forty or fifty miles, and is the coal of the desired quality?  We will first refer to authority which has not been
disputed:
Prof. Cox says: [1st R1eeport, pp 118.]  "From  BParke county
on the south, with here and there breaks in the continuity of the
strata, the block coal is traced  through the central portion of
Fountain county as far north as Big Shawnee Creek.  In Van
Buren township, Fountain county, the depth of the block coal-bed
varies from  two and a half to four feet, and the quality is eq(ual
to that of Clay county for the manufacture of iron."
The thickest and purest beds, both of block and semi-blck
coal, are found, however, in the western and south-western portions
of Fountain county, along Coal Creek and its tributaries. Again,
let us compare the analyses of the known block coals of Clay,
Spencer and Fountain counties, and carefally notice the characteristics of each:
I ST'.-W-R-AZIL IULOCKI COAL.
Water............................... 8 per cent.
Volatile Mlatter....................... 4.1 "' 
Fixed Carbon..................... 
Ashles........ 3 <........................''  4'
Coal but little changed in coking; no sulphur.
2ND.-FOUNTAIN COUNTY..Moisture............................... G per cent.
Volatile Matter...................... 9 9    1'
Carbon..........................
Ashes, light grayv...................2.'
N, 00u
No sulphur.




25
3D. —-SPENCER COUNTY-STAAB'S BAN2K.
Water...........  1.86         3.91
Volatile Matter.......... 37.11     30.84
Fixed Carbon..............58.23     62.81
Ashes, gray................. 2.80    2.44
No sulphur. The coke is swollen and vitreous.
In comparing these analyses, the two items, moisture and ashes,
may be rejected as indifferent quantities. The volatile portions are
respectively, 41 (Brazil); 39 (Fountain county), and 37 (Spencer
county.) The proportions of carbon are 37, 53 and 58. The notes
accompanying, declare them free from sulphur, and state that
they swell slightly in coking.  No one can read these analyses
without seeing that the coals belong to the same class.
In Spencer county, Prof. Cox says that the coal ranges from
3. to 4' feet in thickness, and "is a remarkably fine quality of
semi-block coal, eminently suited for the blast furnace." This
seam, Staab's bank, is three feet thick, and is the celebrated coal
about which, and upon which, the letters of Dr. Foster were written
during the winter and published in the New:York Tribune. These
letters were universally read, and everywhere copied. Upon the
merits of this coal the railroad from Terre HIaute to Cincinnati is
being built, and, upon the statements of Dr. Foster, the bonds of
this road are being sold in New York.
A careful study of the coals of Spencer, Clay and Fountain
counties, will show that the semi-block and block coals, of these
counties, are identical, and that they will all reduce the ores
of iron.
In addition to these proofs, we will state that the most practical iron men of Chicago and Cleveland, have been making large
investments in the coal lands of Fountain county, based upon personal examinations, and their statements are unanimous, that this
coal will make iron.
As an additional proof that the semi-block coal, (by which we
mean common block, having another portion of bitumen,)
will make iron, we will quote from the recent pamphlet of
Col. Charles Whittlesey, of Cleveland, Ohio, on the " Uses of
the Hocking Valley Coal:"
" A person inspecting this coal in the mines or on the cars, will
not come to correct conclusions as to its quality or uses. The
4




Briar Hill or " block coal," on the waters of Beaver River, the
Ashland of Kentucky, and the Brazil coal of Clay county, Indiana, were hitherto supposed to be the only large fields of reliable furnace coals in the valley of the Ohio.
"Some years since, Mr. S. Baird, then manager of a charcoal
furnace at Logan, observed that the Straitsville coal, although not
in the solid form of block coal, had the same dry, open burning
quality in the grate. It.ft no clinkers, and that the ashes were fine
and white. In 1869-70, a coke furnace was erected at Columbus,
of which he was manager; and he determined to experiment upon
Straitsville coal in its raw state, it having not proved to be a
coking coal. After a blast of several months with this coal, using
both native and Lake Superior ores, he pronounces the grade of
metal, whether foundry or mill iron, equal to that produced by
Briar Hill or Brazil coal."
We therefore say, without hesitation, that the coals of Fountain
county are as good iron making coals as can be found in the State
of Indiana-that they exist in great abundance, and present the
same attractions to iron makers and capitalists as any portion of
this celebrated coal field.
The ores of iron are few in number, and are mostly oxides,
which means, practically, that they are kept in oxygen, safe,
until wanted. They are called Hematites, if their color is red,
and Specular, if their minute crystals reflect the light.
The block-band and kidney ores are carbonates, and are found
generally associated with coal beds.
A common form of iron ore, generally distributed, is known as
bog ore, because found in marshes. This is used in mixing with
rich ores, and is often of great value in making neutral pig-iron;
that is, such as can be converted into any class of iron. Microscopic analysis has proved that these ores have been deposited
through the agency of minute animalculae, which separate or secrete the iron in solution, and thus build the rude iron masses
seen in wet places, in a manner similar to the coral insects, working after a different pattern, with lime for his material. In
Northern Indiana, in the Kankakee marshes, are thousands of
acres of this bog-iron, thus elaborated. The quality is said to be
superior and of great value, and, lying between the ores and coals,
will, doubtless, be largely utilized.
We can hardly permit those microscopic iron-mongers to pass
without notice. They have been busy in all countries, especially




27
in northern latitudes, and in all ages, and were never more busy
than now. In the lakes and ponds of Sweden, their accumulations are so rich that thousands of Swedes are constantly employed in dredging the shallow pools with iron rakes for this
class of insect-made ore. The famous Swede iron is largely
made from their smelted and hammered shields. In Pennsylvania and Alabama, we have mountains of fossil ore-that is, the
ferruginous or iron shells of minute animals-which have lived
and died in such multitudes as to form mountains of compacted
iron shells. In Alabama one deposit of this kind can be traced
from the State of New York, where it is two feet thick; through
Pennsylvania, where it is four feet; into Tennessee and Alabama,
which have eight feet; and in one locality, one hundred and fifty
feet in thickness.
It is the province of the moralist to point out the highest lesson
taught by such facts-but it is eminently proper for the iron
master to acknowledge his debt to these tiny creatures which
labored for him millions of years ago.
It matters little what were the early modes of iron making.
The Bible tells us that one Tubal Cain was o "the instructor of
every artificer in brass and iron "-a sort of blacksmith-general
in his neighborhood. Classic history points out Vulcan as the
half-divine and half-human prodigy, who made shields, chains,
spears, swords-in short, nothing beyond the needs of a barbarous people.
The earliest reduction works were ores melted on a side hill by
a wood fire, kept up by the fanning winds. The first anvil was
doubtless a fiat rock, and the first hammer a smaller rock of the
same sort; and the first implement, an arrow or a spear.
In Africa and Burmah the same rude processes can still be
seen. Homer makes mention of both iron and steel. Discs of
iron were given as prizes, and one of the ancient kings used iron
for coin.
The use of a bellows was no doubt the first improvement of
note. On some Egyptian tablets, B. C. 1505, smiths are figured
working at a forge, whose fires are kept up by two leather bellows.
Self-acting bellows, or bellows with valves, were introduced
into Gaul by the Romans, A. D. 400. This was a great advance
on the preceding forms, which were managed by strings.




The double bellows was introduced into Germany in the year
1620, and this was the avant courier of the cylinder-blowing engines now in use. In the middle ages the only progress noticeable, relates to the forms of furnaces.
An experiment to use mineral fuel or coal was made first in
1619 by Dud Dudley. After the discouragements of thirty years,
from the opposition of charcoal iron masters, he abandoned the
plan.
In 1735 Abraham  Darby, of Colebrookdale, England, succeeded in using coke in the furnaces of that district. His plans
were rapidly adopted in every part of the coal measures.
Within a century after Darby's success, two great inventions
Were introduced which revolutionized the entire system of iron
making, and gave it its present grandeur and importance. The
first was in 1784, and was the substitution of the reverberatory
furnace for the open forge, by Cort. The second, in 1828, was
the introduction of the hot blast, by Neilson, already referted to,
The era of inventions since that date has been marked by the
new methods of making steel, In this department the processes
are many, that of Henry Bessemer being the most important.
The peculiar merit of this patent, consists in the excellence and
cheapness of the product. Iron making has thus attained the
highest degree of perfection, and Bessemer is the world's benefactor.
Iron is the most valuable of the metals, because it is the most
useful. While it is one of the lightest, it is by far the strongest,
and has the widest range of application. it is also the most
widely distributed, no part of the earth being without it. In the
mechanic arts it is the right hand, and indeed has furnished to
every man a hundred hands; so that in modern days a person
can be Vulcan and Briareus at the same time. It combines a
thousand uses, and has a vast residue latent, which will be easily
evoked by the dexterous cunning of men. It does anything, everything. It serves everywhere, anywhere.  Let any one name, if
he can, any implement or article of food or clothing that has not
been fashioned with iron fingers. With iron ploughshares we turn
a soil, rich in iron, for food that must contain iron or we die. We
walk upon iron pavements and sit upon iron chairs. We live in




iron houses and sleep upon iron beds, made soft with springs of
steel. We travel on iron roads, in cars made of iron, drawn by
iron steeds. We attend an iron church and occupy iron pews,
listen to a sermon written upon iron paper with a pen of iron, and
return to our iron hearths and firesides. From  all domes and
roofs an iron rod points heavenward, and renders harmless the
fierce lightning of the passing storms. On the trackless ocean
an iron needle points out the way like an unerring finger. With
iron wands we have annihilated both time and space, and made
of all nations one neighborhood. And with iron ships we have
changed the art of warfare, and fought and won the greatest battles of history.
It would be instructive to show that labor is the chief element
of value conferred upon iron.  There is no material that can receive so high a degree of labor value and return its equivalent in
usefulness. A bar of iron worth $5, is worth $10.50 made into
horse-shoes; $55 when made into needles; $3,285 in pen-knife
blades; $29,480 in shirt buttons, and $250,000 in hair springs.
The iron ore used in a locomotive costs perhaps $100, but
by the laying on of many hands it is worth $20,000.
A comparison, not only of the increasing iron trade of the
United States with the iron trade of Great Britain, but also of
the sources and supply of the crude material, ores and coal, will
justify the most extravagant hopes of the future prosperity of our
country.
The rates of consumption of foreign coals have led political
economists to enquire how long Britain may use her own coals.
" It is evident," says an English writer, " that although our
favored country has so long taken the lead, all civilized countries
have entered into the race of competition, and it becomes a matter of anxious enquiry to learn under what circumstances the
treasure is in each country developed, and where it is likely to be
best expended or longest economized."
This question is more fully stated in the same treatise on Eng.
lish coils, as follows:
"Knowing, therefore, most of the edges, and pretty nearly the
depth, of all our recognized stores of coal, let us remember at
what rate we are digging them out. The amount of coal raised
in this country in 1864, shows that, supposing 1,300 tons be ob



30
tained per foot thick per acre, (out of 1,600 which it actually contains), there are now clearing out, in every hour, day and night,
for every day in the year, four acres of coal of two feet thickone acre in every quarter of an hour! There'can here be no reproduction-nothing to grow again.' We are drawing,' as an
able writer has well put it,'more and more upon a capital which
yields no annual interest, but once turned to Light, and Heat,
and Force, is gone forever into space.' How fares it with some
of our best known districts?
"It seems that in twenty years, ending 1860, the quantity of
coal raised in Great Britain was more than doubled; but are we
thence justified in believing that in the following twenty years it
will be again doubled, and so in geometrical progression?"
We answer, yes, if England keeps her position at the head of
the iron industry of the world. The estimated amount of coal
in England is 80,000,000,000 tons, from a careful survey made by
Mr. Edward Hull in 1859. This includes all coal from the surface to a depth of 4,000 feet. The amount of coal annually
mined in England is nearly 120,000,000 tons, to which we must.dd one-third or 40,000,000 tons waste, or what is left in the
mines. Say 160,000,000 tons as the annual exhaustion. This
amount must be doubled every twenty years. At this rate, less
than one hundred years will see the English coal fields at their
limit of supply.
"On this view of the subject," says Mr. Smyth, author of a
Treatise on Coal and Coal Mining, " a little more than a cen-:' tury would see this country deprived of the mainspring of its
"mercantile  greatness. Manufactories without their motive
"power, iron furnaces blown out, railway trains brought to a
"stand still, steamers replaced by sailing ships, our streets left to
"the gloom of oil lamps, and our fire-grates empty. Such would
"be the dismal prospect of a nearly approaching time, if we could
"give credit to such an inference."
The English statisticians labor hard to escape from the certain
conclusion that England is soon to be dependent upon other countries for a supply of coal. But the logic is irresistible. We
were formerly assured that Britain had enough coal for 2,000
years. Ten years ago it was put at 250 years' supply. Now it
is about 100 years, according to the best estimates. The picture




;




32
A fact of equal significance, appears in the recent purchase, by
English iron masters, of a large iron and coal district in Alabama,
including the franchises of a railway. The truth is, gentlemen,
the world is already looking to America for iron, for the future
seats of its manufacture.
Mr. Hewitt, U. S. Commissioner to the Paris Exposition, on
iron and steel industry, thus describes the relations of our coals
and iron ores:
" The position of the Coal-Measures of the United States suggests the idea of a gigantic bowl filled with treasure, the outer
rim of which skirts along the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico, and
thence, returning by the plains which lie at the eastern base of
the Rocky Mountains, passes by the great lakes to the place of
beginning, on the borders of Pennsylvania and New York. The
rim of the basin is filled with exhaustless stores of iron ore of
every variety, and of the best quality. In seeking the natural
channels of water communication, whether on the north, east,
south or west, the coal must cut this metalliferous rim; and, in
its turn, the iron ore may be carried back to the coal, to be used
in conjunction with the carboniferous ores, which are quite as
abundant in the United States as they are in England, but hitherto have been left unwrought, in consequence of the cheaper rate
of procuring the richer ores from the rim of the basin. Along
the Atlantic slope, in the highland range, from the borders of the
Hudson River to the State of Georgia, a distance of one thousand
miles, is found the great magnetic range, traversing seven entire
States in its length and course. Parallel with this, in the great
limestone valley which lies along the margin of the coal-field, are
the brown hematites, in such quantities at some points, especially
in Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama, as to fairly stagger the
imagination. And, finally, in the coal basin is a stratum of red
fossiliferous ore, beginning in a comparatively thin seam in the
State of New York, and terminating in the State of Alabama in
a bed fifteen feet in thickness, over which the horseman may ride
for more than one hundred miles. Beneath this bed, but still
above water-level, are to be found the coal-seams, exposed upon
mountain sides, whose flanks are covered with magnificent timber,
available either for mining purposes or the manufacture of charcoal iron. Passing westward, in Arkansas and Missouri, is
reached that wonderful range of red oxide of iron, which, in mountains rising hundreds of feet above the surface, or in beds beneath
the soil, culminates at Lake Superior in deposits of ore which excite the wonder of all beholders; and returning thence to the Atlantic slope, in the Adirondacks of New York, is a vast, undeveloped region, watered by rivers whose beds are of iron, and




traversed by mountains whose foundations are laid upon the same
material.  In and among the coal-beds themselves are found scattered deposits of hematite and fossiliferous ores, which, by their
proximity to the coal, have inaugurated the iron industry of our
day. Upon these vast treasures the world may draw for its supply for centuries to come; and with these the enquirer may rest
contented, without further question-for all the coal of the rest
of the world might be deposited within this iron rim, and its square
miles would not occupy one-quarter of the coal area of the
United States."
This is the most eloquent word-painting ever made of our national resources. The block-coal of Indiana occupies the very
center of the picture. It is no fault of the artist that the central
figure was omitted, because this coal region was not then known.
The centralization or the concentration of the iron and steel manufacturing interests in this highly favored region, admits of no
doubt. The logic which compels us to this conclusion, was laid
in the foundations of the earth itself, in the peculiar distribution
of ores and coals.
Prof. Cox says  "- The commerce of the New Far West, which
"is increasing with a rapidity unprecedented in the growth of
" Empires, will just as naturally look to Indiana for its supply of
"iron and steel, with which to keep up the system of railroads
"traversing the great plains to the Pacific Ocean, as the Old
" West formerly looked to Pennsylvania."
The iron masters have already perceived that unless they establish smelting works, foundries and rolling mills in the heart of
the Mississippi Valley, they will lose the prestige and position
already gained. The movement is far on its way. Five years
have indicated a remarkable progress. We quote from the New
York Tribune:
"Not a railroad bar was made in Illinois until 1858, when she
re-rolled 1,125 tuns. In 1864 she produced 26,880 tuns, also rerolled, there not being a puddling furnace within her borders. In
1871, she turned out of four magnificent works 91,178 tuns of
rails, of which 40,026 were new, and 51,152 tuns re-rolled. Of
the former, 2,800 were steel; and this year her product of the
latter promises to be very large, as the new Bessemer steel-works
at Joliet are about ready to be put into operation. By one great
effort that State has taken a place among rail producers second
only to Pennsylvania.
" Nor has she chosen to be dependent upon other sections for
5




84
her raw material. From 1854 to 1859, she made on an avera ge
about 1,000 tuns of pig-iron per annum. Her last old furnace
ceased to blow in the latter year, and from that time until three
or four years back, not a pound of pig-iron was made in the State.
She then went to work in earnest, and last year produced 65,000
tuns of pig metal from seven furnaces, two or three of which were
blowing but part of the year.
"A small quantity of charcoal pig-iron was formerly made in
Indiana, but the last furnace of this character blew out and was
dismantled in 1860'; and from that year until 1867, the State was
entirely dependent upon Pennsylvania and Ohio or upon Great
Britain for her supply of iron. Since 18614 she has built six
large furnaces in Clay county, for the purpose of utilizing her
pure block coal, which she is mining at the rate of 3,500 tuns
per day, part of which is sent to St. Louis for iron making purposes. These furnaces are now, with one exception, in full blast,
turning out about one hundred and thirty tuns per day.
" In Missouri, the development of this branch of industry has
been fully as rapid. In 1854, that State made 5,798 tuns of
pig-iron; in 1856, 1T,720 tuns; in 1858, 10,154 tuns; in 1860,
20,192 tuns; in 1862, 9,476 tuns, (the war for a time almost putting an end to manuf acturing and all other branches of business
in Missouri); in 1864, 16,514 tuns; in 1866, 15,980 tuns; in
1868, 33,600 tuns; in 1870, 77,852 tuns; and in 1871, 82,685
tuns, of which 39,934 tuns were smelted with charcoal and 42,751 tuns with mineral coal. Previously to 1867, all the pig-iron
made in Missouri was from charcoal. Since then, her fine stonecoal furnaces have been blown in, and several of them are models
of their kind.
" The make of 1871 does not fully indicate the capacity of
these furnaces to produce iron.  Several causes-low water,
strikes, &c.-curtailed production at least one-third. A large
rolling mill, splendidly appointed, was put in operation late in
the year, and made, up to January 1st of this year, 8,200 tuns.
The company operating the latter has a capital of $2,000,000
and employ 800 men. The capacity of the mill is 50,000 tuns of
rails per annum. Under the very eaves of this establishment,
thousands of tuns of inferior Welsh rails have been carried during
the past year, reaching St. Louis via New Orleans, having cheap
water transportation all the way from Cardiff.
" The iron ore mined in Missouri in 1871, amounted to 268,800 tuns; in 1868, it amounted to 117,600 tuns; in 1869, 218,400 tuns; in 1870, 353,920 tuns. The falling off in 1871 is attributable to the low water in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers for
more than six months of the year. The companies engaged in
mining at Pilot Knob, Iron Mountain, Shepherd's Mountain, and




other places, can readily put into the market in 1872, 500,000
tuns. This ore is exceedingly valuable for mixture with the ores
found along the head waters of the Ohio.
"In Wisconsin, no pig-iron was made until 1856, when 2,500
tuns of charcoal iron were produced. The make ran down to
337 tuns in 1858; and then gradually rose to about 5,000 tuns
in 1869; all of which was smelted with charcoal. In March,
1870, the Milwaukee Iron Company put a magnificent stone coal
furnace into blast, in the immediate vicinity of Milwaukee. This
furnace made 17,749 tuns of iron in 1871. Furnace No. 2, built
by the same company, blew in the first of last May, and made in
eight months 10,500 tuns of metal. Our Eastern iron men must
look to their laurels, or they may be found adorning the brows of
some of their Western fellow-craftsmen. Wisconsin also produced in 1871, 28,774 tuns of rails, all the make of one mill at
Bayview, owned by the company above named. As a rail-mill,
she stands fifth on the list."
Solomon asks, "where shall true wisdom be found?"  Gold
replies, "it is not in me," and "not in me," the diamond. In
our day, Solomon would have made coal and iron answer these
questions in the affirmative. The pursuit of the precious metals
has led to the worst results-the ruin of nations as well as of individuals. Every dollar of gold and silver has cost more than
twice its value.
The industry of coal and iron, is the the new Gospel of Peace
now being proclaimed with such eloquence in this country, that
one city answers another with its furnace signal by night or day,
whether it be a smoky cloud or a pillar of fire. There is no doubt
that these works  will increase until, in the center of the Mississippi Valley, the manufacture of iron and steel will equal or exceed the business now carried on in the busiest iron marts of England and Germany.
These facts and statements may seem tedious and dry to many
persons; nevertheless, they have a cheerful ring for all classes of
society. They are the utterances of a true prophet, heralding
the prosperous reign-of the Iron Age. Indeed there is rich music to accompany every part of this industrial exhibition. It
consists in the rumble of many wheels, the rolling of innumerable cars, the scream of whistles, the shaking and trembling of
ponderous driving engines, the buzz and hum of machinery, and
at intervals comes in the "anvil chorus," whether it forges an
atichor or trippingly renders the tempered steel into wires or hair




springs. But above all this clangor and din, is the song of peace
and plenty —the music of the happy children of artisans, whose
homes are made permanent by bands stronger even than iron and
steel.
Your city possesses many advantages for the successful planting
of iron works. It is eighty-four miles by rail to Lake Michigan.
The cost of the Lake Superior ores need not exceed $1 from
Michigan City to this place; while the ores of Missouri could be
brought here for $2.50 per ton, It is five hundred miles nearer to
the great market for iron products than Pittsburgh. Proximity to
market, is an element which will enter largely into the question
of profits in erecting iron establishments. In the west and northwest, we have already a vast population, increasing with a ratio
unparalleled.  Every considerable village has a foundry, and
every neighborhood a smith-forge, each consuming many tons both
of pig and merchant iron. The increase in miles of railroads per
year is far greater in these States than in all other States com.
bined. The new railroads must have new iron, and those of five
to ten years' service are having their iron re-rolled. This gives
profitable employment to rolling mills at all railroad centers. So
that, withal, the demand for pig, merchant-bar and railroad iron
is not only enormous but far in advance of the supply. The west
and northwest is, therefore, and will continue to be for many
years, the great market for iron. Those who manufacture at favored localities, where coal, ore and transportation are all cheap,
are sure to make their establishments permanent and profitable.
The Wabash and Erie Canal will always be a means of corteoting extra railroad rates for coal, lumber and stone, and will
cheapen the cost of ores, which can thus be brought by water via
Toledo,
The same facts will apply to the manufacture of agricultural
implements as well as to iron products. Their market is the west
-— Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska —
nearly all of them  intwooded districts-containing millions of
ready-made prairie farms, requiring implements —but none of
them have the means or material for manufacture. In this region, accessible by the railroad and canal, are vast supplies of
timber especially adapted to this use. It is impossible to manufacture reapers and mowers' so cheap at any point further west;




and it is absurd to manufacture them five hundred miles further
east for the vast implement market of the Mississippi River and
Missouri River valleys.
The real estate of the city of LaFayette is valued at $7,116,000. The real estate of Fairfield township is valued at $2,175,640, making a total of nearly $10,000,000. It is not extravagant
to say that this estate would be enhanced in value 20 per cent. by
the erection of extensive iron and steel works in this city.  The
railroad itself, over which the iron and coal must pass, willbe
forty miles in length. Its completion will confer a similar value
on the real estate along its line. Suppose it raise the value of
land $10 per acre, average, for six miles on each side of the road.
This is a conferred value of $3,072,000 on the line of the road.
If, now, we add to this sum, 20 per cent., the amount of increased
valuation for the city and vicinity of LaFayette, or $2,000,000,
it gives in the aggregate;5,072,000, which is a benefit consequent
upon the building of the coal railroad; because, as before stated,
it is by this means only that the iron coals of the State can be
brought to this city. The property. of the city and vicinity will
rise according to the inevitable law which, in regard to this class
of improvements, compels an advance far beyond their total cost.
In general, reliable statistics demonstrate that, in the western
states, railroads increase the permanent wealth of the region
through which they pass, by an amount equal to three times their
total cost.
From an extensive correspondence upon this subject —viz: the
rise of real estate at manufacturing centers, caused by the erection of iron works, or iron and steel works —two letters, just received, are submitted:
JOLIET, ILL., April 1, 1872.
Prof. C. D. Wilber:
DEAR Sin-Your favor of March 27th is received. I will answer your enquiries as well as I can.
1st —The capital stock of the company has been, until within a
few weeks, one million dollars-now  one and a half million
dollars,
2d-There are now worked 700 men, and there will be worked
during 1873, 1,400, as is now expected.
3d-I am somewhat conservative in my views as to the rise in




v8
real estate here during the last three years, but I will give you
my judgment. Taking our whole city, and also the adjacent
lands in the vicinity of the rolling mills, I estimate the advance
at 25 per cent., and four-fifths of the advance is due the iron and
steel influence.        Yours truly,
GEo. H. WARD. late Clerk Circuit Court.
CLEVELAND, OnIo, April 1, 1872.
Prof. Wilber:
* * * As to the increase in population to our city, consequent upon the iron business, the best judges estimate it from
20,000 to 35,000. I think it would be safe to say that onethird of the growth of the city is due to the iron interests, including, of course, all establishments that make iron and manufacture it into various forms. The iron business has enhanced all
real estate greatly-say $40,000,000 —and it would be safe to say
that one-half of this has been due to iron.  Had the city taxed
itself, and paid over to the several manufacturing companies all
the money they have invested, (nearly $6,000,000), the tax-payers
would to-day have received it back again with interest.
Yours truly,            A. FREESE.
J. A. Farmer, Esq., a leading banker and iron merchant of
Cleveland, Ohio, in a letter to the editor of the Leader, says:
"Until ten years ago the growth of Cleveland was slow; and,
although she had men of enterprise, then as now, yet there had
not until that time been given to the coal and iron trade that particular direction which has since served to more than double her
wealth and population.
" The earnest endeavor to make this city a great manufacturing center, has been such that at the present time, both at home
and abroad, the influence of Cleveland is beginning to be felt;
and in just so far as we have taken proper advantage of the means
to the great end, have we been successful in stamping permanency
upon growth.
" We shall continue to be successful against rival competitors,
in just so far as we shall possess the means from advantageous
location and enterprise to manufacture at a cost not greater than
that of other cities; and if we can supply ourselves with the
means that will enable us to manufacture at a less cost than our
competitors, we have at once taken the advance step, and will




89
reap a reward greater than any man would almost dare to predict
to-day."
If we compare LaFayette with those cities, east and west, now
engaged, or about to engage in the manufacture of iron and steel,
we shall find, upon an impartial statement of facts, that this city
has, or can have, facilities second to none, and superior to most
of them. We know, for instance, that the total cost of iron ore
in Chicago is $8 per ton. By shipping the same ores to Michigan City, the total cost to LaFayette will not exceed $9 per ton,
which is the cost of the same ores, (Lake Superior,) per ton at
Cleveland. But Chicago pays $3 per ton freight, besides $2.50
cost, making $5.50 per ton for Brazil coal. Now, since nearly
three tons of coal are used to smelt or make one ton of pig-iron,
and five tons to make one ton of bar-iron, it follows that LaFayette can save at least $5 per ton on pig-iron and $10 per ton
on bar-iron.
The advantages which Pittsburgh enjoys over Cleveland, consist
solely in the cheapness of the coal used. These advantages are
briefly set forth by the writer referred to, Mr. Farmer:
" At present to make a ton of merchant iron here, it costs us
for the fuel alone $17.62; thus to melt the ore into pig, we have to
use 2% tons of Brier Hill coal at a cost of $4.25 per ton, equal to
$10.62; to convert this pig into merchant iron, we have to use
two tons more of the rich smelting coals at a cost of $3.50 per
ton, equal to $7 more, giving us as the entire cost of making a ton
of merchant iron from the ore, as I have stated above, for fuel
alone, $17.62.
" In Pittsburgh the cost of fuel to convert the ore into a ton of
merchant iron, added to the freight on the ore from here, is only
$15, as follows: They use 1- tons of coke at $4 per ton, equal
to $7, to reduce the ore to pig-iron; in order to get it into merchant iron, they use two tons of coal at $2.50 per ton, equal to $5
more, or the entire cost of the fuel in making a ton of merchant
iron from the ore is $12; now to this add the freight on the ore
from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, which on the ton and a half it
takes is $3, and we have cost in Pittsburgh, as compared with
Cleveland, of only $15.00 per ton; thus it is clear, as matters
now stand, labor being the same, that Pittsburgh has the advantage of us just $2.62 per ton on the cost of manufactured iron."
The cost of making a ton of pig or bar iron is a sum variable
for each locality; but in comparing costs at the eastern and
western furnaces, we find that Indiana can make iron from five to
seven dollars per ton cheaper than either Pennsylvania or Ohio,




40
Thus, the cost of pig-iron in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys
is $29 to $30 per ton, and $23 to $25 per ton at Brazil.
Furnaces, foundries and rolling mills are commonly regardel
as complements of each other; but latterly steal works are necest
sary  to complete the group, and while their cost involves a large
capital, it also secures permanence for all connected interests.
Steel works, with a capacity of 100 ingots per day, cost $300,000.
To double this amount, 200 ingots would cost $500,000.  A rolling mill capable of consuming this product in making steel rails,
would cost $300,000, making the total cost of the establishment
$800,000.  But such a center necessitates other manufactures,
until-the capital congregated becomes enormous. Thus from one
iron furnace at Cleveland, commenced a few  years ago, the following have been added as a community of interests:
Cleveland Iron Works,..             Capital $300,000
Union Iron Works,....      "    500,000
Cleveland City Forge,....         200,00i
Boiler Plate Co.,                                       100,000
Steam Gage Co.,.....          50,000
Phoenix Iron Co.,....              40,000
Cleveland Rolling Mill and Steel Works,..        1,600,030
Bowler & Co. Foundry,....       "      50,000
Merchants'   do......          75,000
Pettengil's   do.....              100,000
River Side Mill,.....         150,000
Otis Iron Co.,.....       "    500,000
Globe Works,....                100,000
Cleveland Forge,..                      D' 200,000
Variety Iron Works,....          60,000
Gas Pipe Works,....       "      50,000
Cuyahoga Foundry,.             ~   "     150,000
Myers, Rouse & Co.,...              150,000
Malleable Iron Works,.. "              150,000
Stove Foundry,...               75,000
Carriage and Bolt Works,...           "     150,000
Carriage Spring Factory,...              200,000
Tool Company,.....          100,000
Cleveland Stove Co.,...        150,000
Three Iron Bridge Companies..         500,000
Mechanics' Tool Factory,..               50,000
Axle Factory,...        "      75,000
Three Screw Factories...              100,000
Six Machine Shops,....          100,000
Sewing Machine Co.,...                 5,000
Total capital,..          $5,750,000




41
It is not proper for me to make any comparisons, in favor of
LaFayette, by stating the disadvantage of other localities where
iron and steel works are either in operation or anticipated. The
question of costs, however, is a matter of general statement, and
cannot give offence, no matter to what locality it refers. It only
remains for the citizens of LaFayette to secure the early completion of the coal railroad, after which a careful inventory of her
advantages, clearly set forth, would certainly attract capital now
seeking investment in the remunerative iron and coal trade of the
west.
Gentlemen of the Board of Trade, I am grateful for the welconie given me-a stranger in your midst-and for the hearty
interest which has attended my efforts; but were I a resident of
your beautiful city, I would agitate this subject until LaFayette
should have one at least of these iron crowns, a proper source of
its pride and prosperity. Nay, I would preach this gospel of
peace and plenty in your banks and stores, and on the street corners, and not rest until the busy dollar of the bankers and merchants, the timid dollar of the capitalists, and the labor dollar of
the workman, were in motion, and under marching orders to secure some of these inestimable prizes.