Though the Bessemer process made possible the production of steel by tons instead of by pounds, it would never in itself have given the nation its present preeminence in the steel industry.Iron had been mined in the United States for two centuries on a small scale, the main deposits being located in the Lake Champlain region of New York and in western Pennsylvania.But these, and a hundred other places located along the Atlantic coast, could not have produced ore in quantities sufficient to satisfy the yawning jaws of the Bessemer converters.As this new method poured out the liquid in thousands of tons, and as the commercial demand extended in a dozen different directions, the cry went up from the furnace's for more ore.And again Nature, which has favored America in so many directions, came to her assistance.
Manufacturers in the steel regions began to recall strange stories which had been floating down for many years from the wilderness surrounding Lake Superior.The recollection of a famous voyage made in this region by Philo M.Everett, as far back as 1845, now laid siege to the imagination of the new generation of ironmasters.For years the Indians had told Everett of the "mountains of iron" that lay on the Minnesota shore of Lake Superior and had described their wonders in words that finally impelled this hardy adventurer to make a voyage of exploration.For six weeks, in company with two Indian guides, Everett had navigated a small boat along the shores of the Lake, covering a distance that now takes only a few hours.The Indians had long regarded this silent, red iron region with a superstitious reverence, and now, as the little party approached, they refused to complete the journey."Iron Mountain!" they said, pointing northward along the trail--"Indian not go near; white man go!" The sight which presently met Everett's eyes repaid him well for his solitary tramp in the forest.He found himself face to face with a "mountain a hundred and fifty feet high, of solid ore, which looked as bright as a bar of iron just broken." Other explorations subsequently laid open the whole of the Minnesota fields, including the Mesaba, which developed into the world's greatest iron range.America has other regions rich in ore, particularly in Alabama, located alongside the coal and limestone so necessary in steel production; yet it has drawn two-thirds of its whole supply from these Lake Superior fields.Not only the quantity, which is apparently limitless, but the quality explains America's leadership in steel making.
Mining in Minnesota has a character which is not duplicated elsewhere.When we think of an iron mine, we naturally picture subterranean caverns and galleries, and strange, gnome-like creatures prowling about with pick and shovel and drill.But mining in this section is a much simpler proceeding.The precious mineral does not lie concealed deep within the earth; it lies practically upon the surface.Removing it is not a question of blasting with dynamite; it is merely a matter of lifting it from the surface of the earth with a huge steam shovel."Miners" in Minnesota have none of the conventional aspects of their trade.
They operate precisely as did those who dug the Panama Canal.The railroad cars run closely to the gigantic red pit.A huge steam shovel opens its jaws, descends into an open amphitheater, licks up five tons at each mouthful, and, swinging sideways over the open cars, neatly deposits its booty.It is not surprising that ore can be produced at lower cost in the United States than even in those countries where the most wretched wages are paid.
Evidently this one iron field, to say nothing of others already worked, gives a permanence to our steel industry.
Not only did America have the material resources; what is even more important, she had also the men.American industrial history presents few groups more brilliant, more resourceful, and more picturesque than that which, in the early seventies, started to turn these Minnesota ore fields into steel--and into gold.These men had all the dash, all the venturesomeness, all the speculative and even the gambling instinct, needed for one of the greatest industrial adventures in our annals.All had sprung from the simplest and humblest origins.They had served their business apprenticeships as grocery clerks, errand boys, telegraph messengers, and newspaper gamins.For the most part they had spent their boyhood together, had played with each other as children, had attended the same Sunday schools, had sung in the same church choirs, and, as young men, had quarreled with each other over their sweethearts.The Pittsburgh group comprised about forty men, most of whom retired as millionaires, though their names for the most part signify little to the present-day American.Kloman, Coleman, McCandless, Shinn, Stewart, Jones, Vandervoort--are all important men in the history of American steel.Thomas A.Scott and J.Edgar Thompson, men associated chiefly with the creation of the Pennsylvania Railroad, also made their contributions.But three or four men towered so preeminently above their associates that today when we think of the human agencies that constructed this mighty edifice, the names that insistently come to mind are those of Carnegie, Phipps, Frick, and Schwab.
