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Show I Iron and Steel Industry In Southern California BH Thoro has been much speculation BH ng to tho future possibilities of tho BJJ Iron- nml Bteoi Industry In Southern BJJ Cnllfurnlii. It is now generally con- BBl coiled that it Is only n matter of tlmo BBl 'when I.ob Angeles will become tho BBl center of an Impoitnnt Iron ami steel BBl 'Producing district, BBl This belief luia a solid basis lit tho BBl existing conditions. First as to the BBl market. It Is estimated that tho BBl annual consumption of Iron and steel BBl on tho Pacific Coast Ir In tho neigh- BflJ borhood of 000,000 tons, according BBl to figures published in the Mining 1 nml Oil Bulletin for May, 1915. As BBl tho lowest price nt which pig iron BBg can bo laid down on this CociHt is BBa between $20 nml $30, nml tho lowest BBl prico for steel runs between $30 and H $40, nml as tho bulk of the shipments BBl nre manufactured products In tho BBl form of steel bars, sheets, ntrurtural BBl Iron, etc., tho prices of which rnngo BBl from 5 cents to $G and up per pound, BBl Eomo Idea of the value of tho bust BBl noHH and the market for tho pro- BBl ducts can be gained. BB Iron Ore Abounds BBJ It h.is been long known that largo BB deposits or iron abound in tho South BBl '-vest, and that very valuable Iron BBJ beds had been located In Southern BBl California. Soma of tho more impor- BB tnnt of these, have been enmlucd by BB tho exports of tho United States Go- BB ologlcal Survoy and tho results of BJJ their researches published and tho BBl rcsu'tn of their researches published H in government, bulletins, ns Ilulletln H '130, 1910, Iron Ago Deposit near BH Dalo, San Ilcrnardlno County, and H Ilulletln G03, 1012, Iran Deposits of BH tho Kaglo Mountains, California. Do- BH posits nro also described, located nt BH CVuo Canyon, Providence Mountain, BH Newberry, all In Snn Ilornardlno; HH large deposits are known to exist in BH, San Diego and Inyo counties. HH Of tho deposits of tho Kaglo Moun- HH tnln district, located forty miles to HH tho northwest of Mecca, on I ho Sou- HH thcrn Pacific In Riversido county tho HH roport shows a body of oro eight HH miles long and from ono fourth to JJ two miles wldo. Nenrly 40,000,000 HH tons aro roughly estimated for a sin- HH Rio deposit of mixed ores, nml 75,- HBl 000.000 tons is plnccd as a moderato HBl estlmato for tho oro In sight. Con- BHJ 8idcrnblo of this oro Is very pure JJ from G2 to G7 per cent Metnlltc oro. BHJ The location Is less than "00 miles BHJ from Los Angeles and much of tho H UIU in (III IIIU DIlllllUU IIIIU V..U MU BHJ loaded dlroctly to tho car. BHJ C. Colcoclc Jones, in a study of , BHJ Los Angeles as an Iron and Steel BHJ Center, publishes In tho Mining and JJ Oil Ilulletln, states ns his conclu- BHJ Rlons; After carefully considering nil BHJ tbo data, based on personal observa- M tlon and upon tho figures supplied BHJ mo relating to tbo oro tonnages of BHJ tho two lnrgor interests, and by oth- BHJ crs, my conclusion Is that, consort- JJ ntlvoly cstlmntcd, there aro 200,000,- 1 000 tons of available high grado iron BHJ oro nml douhlo that amount of proli- Hj nblo oro in Southern California. In H nddltlon to this an equal amount can M be counted on from Lower California H and Mexico, which will naturally seek H an outlet to tho northward. BHJ Ore Goes t0 Fuel BHJ Put ore is only ono factor In tho PJ trlnnglo noccssary for tho establish- H ment of iron Industries oro, fuel 11 nnd market. Moro Important, Indeed R than tho oro Itself, Is tho fuol which WM supplies tho heat necessary to trans- EH form crudo oreg Into finished pro- yfl ducts. As a rule, oro goes to fuel. M This Is notably tho caso in tho great R eastern center of tho Industry. Pitts Hjj burgh. Nearly all tho oro bandied H in tho furnaces of Pennsylvania is H , brought by rati nnd water from Mich. B Igan nnd Minnesota, at a cost laid H down at tho furnaces varying from $4 M to $5 a ton. Tho greatest changes H In tho history of iron manufacture H havo been based upon changes in H tho fuel supply or in tho application H of heat, Tho change irom cliarcoal H to anthractto coal and from this to H coito, revolutionized tho industry. 1 m, Mow now, methods of making coko Ku Ifl, trom low grado coals, hithorto coa- BAh bldered unOt for tho purpose, and the marvelous development of the by product ovens nro again working n transformation. Tho porfectlon of tho blnst furnnco, tho discovery of the open hearth methods now developments de-velopments In tho uso of nlloys, and the utilization of electricity havo nil mado rapid changes in conditions. Tho ores of Southern California havo not yet been touched, chlcliy because of tho lack of fuel for smelting smelt-ing purposes. Such coal beds ns havo been opened were not considered consider-ed coking coal. Tho cost of transportation trans-portation of tho ores to operating smelters thns been prohibitive. The supply of scrap has so far been sufficient suffi-cient for tho needs of such furnaces ns were operating on the const, nnd tho high cost of coko mndo It practically prac-tically lniposslblo to compete with eastern prices for pig iron. Hut conditions con-ditions arc changing. Coking Coals Tho U. S. G. S. Report, Mineral Products of tho U. S., 1912, .In discussing dis-cussing tho possibilities of tho iron Industry on tho Pacific coast, says: It has boon shown that fairly good coking coals nro mined In soveral p'aces In Wnshingtos, and that good furnnco coko can bo obtained from tho Union Trinidad coal fields of Colorado and Now Moxlco and tbo Cnstlo Gate district of Utah. Thcso facts together with tho possibility that coking coal may bo mined In I Alaska give rise to tho hope that tho I lack of a locnl Mel supply will provo I only n temporary obstacle." I Tho uso of electricity reduces tho amount of coko necessary for smelt-I smelt-I ing by two thirds and Is rapidly ad-. ad-. vanclng in importnnco In all branch-' branch-' os of tho Iron industry. Tho Iron , Trndo Review, July, 191i, states: The uso of electricity In iron and steel llants for heating purposes has i shown a rapid growth in recent yenrs. Numerous Installments havo been mado covering n wldo field of operations. opera-tions. This typo of heating medium , has proved satisfactory, not only for j handling raw material, but especially for finishing of high grndo products. pro-ducts. Tho Iron Age of August 12, 1015, publishes nn elaborate articlo on Klectric Production of Pig Iron or Steel, dcnllng particularly with possibilities for tho West. It says: That tho electric furnaco has been succcsful in smelting iron In thoso districts which present favornhlo con-dlllons con-dlllons is Bhown by tho fact that olov. en furnaco, with n total power capacity capac-ity of about 40,000 horso power, aro In operation In Sweden. In this country thero Is one electric furnaco a pig Iron plant of a capacity of about 7000 horso power at llorpult, Cal. While the electrical smelting of oro has been technically successful success-ful nt Hcroult, It docs not nppcar to have been so profitable as In Sweden Swed-en by reason of tho cost of reduction with charcoal or coko. With regard to tho uso of electricity electric-ity In steel manufacture, another nu. thorlty snjJs: Tho electric furnaco is already used In -Junking steel . It is a new procoss, as yot oxpenslvo. Hut It differs from all othors In that tho product of tho first smelting is high grado steel. From tho blast furnaco this result is only attained by oxpenslvo oxpen-slvo processes of refining and tho electric furnaco, like tho forgo of Tubal Cain, rnako8 good steel direct from tho oro. Tho uuthors of tho articlo roforred to in Iron Ago estimate that tho cost per gross ton of producing pig iron In an electric furnaco plant, requiring requir-ing 18,000 horso power nnd producing 50,000 tons of pig iron annually, would bo $2G.31. This is on n basis of $5 per .gross ton for oro; $10 per gross ton for charcoal or coko nnd 18 conts per kilowatt hour for powor. Cost of Production In contrast to this is an estlmato mado by Mr. Jones In tho Mining nnd Oil Bulletin for May as to coat of producing pig iron in Los Angeles, using coko from Utah as fuel. Ho puts the flguro at $13.74 estimating ore, total transportation and mining I cost per ton pig iron, Bessemer grado $3.19; total cost of coke per ton Fig Iron, $8.02. In comparison 'wlthQtnli1 Jlguiro, ho quotes Mineral Resources, loll, page 321, showing tl.ot Iho av-1 ornge co'st per ton for pig Iron at tho Pennsylvania blast furnaces Is $iri. 3G and nt Alabama furnaces, $12,,08. According to" llguros brought out' beforo the Ways nnd MentiB com mUlco of tho Houso of Ueprescnta-tUfs, Ueprescnta-tUfs, tho actual cost of producing a tori of pig was $11. E9 nt tho furnaces of the United States Steel Corporation. Corpora-tion. With the present prices of coke nnd electric power In Southern California, Cali-fornia, the smelting of our iron can hardly become a largo industry in competition with Iron nnd steel laid down hero, under tho rovlsed tarllfs now in force Hut with coko or coal delivery by water from Alaska or with tbo development of somo of tbo ns yet untouched coal beds in tho Southwest, Los Angeles can outer the field. Tho rapidly Increasing vn'uo of tho byproducts of coko manufactured manufac-tured from impuro coal and the ro-cent ro-cent development of byproducts from slag, such ns cement, brlrk, fertilizers, fertiliz-ers, mineral wool, etc., aro becoming nn Important factor In tho manufacture manufac-ture of coko nnd of pig Iron, nnd will greatly ndd to the possibilities in this district. With regard to the production of steel "nd finished material, oil is nlready being successfully used. The Southern California Iron nnd Steel Company of Lo8 Angeles Installed the llrst open hearth furnaco In Southern Sou-thern California this year, operating it, ns well as their blast furnaces, with oil. So satisfactory has been tho results of tho first open hearth furnnco that tho company Is now Installing In-stalling a plant for smelting nnd manufacturing steel, with ell ai Use fuol. Tbo opportunity is largo before us. It remnlns for the right combination of brains capital nnd skill to utlllzo tho vast possibilities and se; the Bmoko of furnaces, tho uum of Industry In-dustry nnd tho tide of trndo into motion noso L. KUerbce, In Los Angeles Times. |
