respective pumping plants. At the west end of the North Slip is a pumping station comprising four 6' x 20' boilers in the boiler house, delivering steam to the engine house, in which are three engines. These are compound, condensing, high speed PorterAllen engines, coupled directly each to a Southwark Foundry & Machine Company's centrifugal pump. Water is lifted 10 feet from the lake and forced 8 feet, being delivered to a 40-foot tank through a 48" pipe. From here it is distributed by compound Worthington pumps to the blast furnaces 5 to 8, Plate Mill, Open Hearth and C. L. S. & E. Ry. Shops. The centrifugal pumps are rated at 1,000,000 gallons of water per hour each. There is room for a fourth pump in the station when needed.

LABORATORIES.

Much care is exercised in securing the use in the various departments of the best materials. Chemical analyses are constantly being made of all raw materials used, of ore, coal, coke, oils, pig iron, ingots, rails, billets, plates, limestones, etc. Precision of work is aimed at and secured, as shown by favorable results obtained when brought into competition with trained chemists of other establishments. An idea of the dependence of the plant on its corps of chemists is shown by the fact that over 140,000 chemical analyses were made in 1896.

A branch of investigation but slightly followed in this country, and but by few in Europe, is the study of the microstructure and crystallography of steel and kindred forms of iron in all of the stages of manufacture. An investigation of this kind has been. carried on at the South Works and developed to a high degree by original investigation in this nearly unexplored field of science by the aid of the best obtainable instruments and methods. It is possible by such investigation to determine the chemical composition of iron and steel independently of the chemist, and to discover the heat treatment and comparative rolling temperature of the piece studied, and in that way regulate the reheating treatment. This work was begun by A. Sauveur, whose memoirs on the subject in the transactions of the A. I. M. E. are based on the work done here.

A well-equipped physical laboratory adjoins the plate mill, where all steel is tested before shipment. In this way, the strictest requirements of the buyer as to physical and chemical characteristics of material can be faithfully fulfilled.

THE HOSPITAL.

A notable feature of this plant is the hospital service given by the company, free to the injured employes. The Hospital building was completed in 1896, being built with all the requirements of modern surgery. The building is 116 feet x 28 feet, of pressed brick and brown stone trimmings. It is two stories and basement high. In the basement are an ample housekeeping department, hot water heating plant, and a room with a large and complete equipment for taking Roentgen ray photographs of large size. This permits close watching and inspection

of the manner and rate of healing of fractured bones, without disturbing them and inconveniencing the patient by removing bandages or splints.

On the receipt of a patient at the hospital, he is, while on a stretcher, taken by means of an electric elevator to the dispensary for treatment, or, if necessary, to a dressing room and the etherizing room and from there to the operating room. This latter is so arranged as to permit rapid and complete flushing of the floor. Daylight is admitted from two sides and the ceiling.. There are four private wards and two larger wards of ten beds each. In addition are all the necessary rooms for wound dressing, orderlies, waiting rooms, laboratory and resident physician's apartments. A large solarium is comfortably furnished in which patients can rest in the sunshine. Great care is taken to prevent septic conditions from existing, which would retard recovery of patients.

LOCATION OF RAW MATERIALS.

The situation of the plant gives unexceptional opportunities for receiving and shipping materials, which are unsurpassed by its competitors. The Vermillion ore range is but 690 miles distant by rail, so that if desired, ore may be shipped in the winter, as the practicability of so doing has been demonstrated. The works are 870 miles from the Mesaba mines. Ore is shipped from this region from the port of Two Harbors. Escanaba, the port of the Gogebic region, is 490 miles distant, while by rail, this group of mines is but 400 miles away. The distance from the Marquette mines is no greater. This ore comes by water from Escanaba, as well as do those of the Menominee range, which, by rail, is only 300 miles north of the plant.

Coke, coming all by rail, is had from the Connellsville region of Pennsylvania and Pocahontas region of West Virginia, distant 525 to 625 miles. Limestone of a very fine quality comes from Bloomington and Bedford, Ind.-famous for its excellent stone. These quarries are 175 miles to the south.

In the matter of fuel for steam and gas making, owing to the proximity of the rich Indiana oil fields and the coal mines of Indiana and Illinois, the works are completely independent, for with but a trifling change, either fuel can be used.

The various boiler houses are equipped for burning either oil or coal. The Bessemer converting works, open hearth steel mill, the rail and plate mills each have a gas producer house equipped for gas making for fuel. When these are not in use, oil is used quite as satisfactorily for steel heating, etc.

Thus it is possible at all times to work to the highest advantage, all efforts being made in the direction of large outputs of the best quality of products. This can be done by the use of mechanical processes as much as possible (though there are employed about 3,500 men), coupled with the use of the best raw material, and watched and tested in every step of the manufacture.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. C. E. Stafford: (Manager of the Open Hearth Plate Mill Deptartment.) I wish to say Mr. Windett has given a very full and clear description of these works. You will readily understand that to lead, or at least to keep up with the times and with conditions, a number of improvements are necessary. The most important of these at the present time is the so-called slab mill that has been authorized by the directors, and plans and specifications are being drawn. This slabbing mill possesses some novel features in that it will be used not only as a slabbing mill proper, but also as a blooming mill. The slabbing mill, as most of you may know, consists of two sets of rolls in combination. One set is horizontal, working upon the upper and lower surface of the ingot, and the other set are vertical, working on the side of the ingot. This is necessary with very large ingots, because of the fact that it would be difficult to make tables that would stand turning them over, and moreover the rolls would be very cumbersome. This slabbing mill primarily is to prepare slabs for the plate mill. It will increase the production of the mill fully 50 per cent, from the fact that the ingot will be reduced about one-half in size, and in that way of course the production of the two mills, that is the combination of the slabbing mill and the plate mill, will be increased tremendously.

Now, then, the novel feature about this mill is the fact that the vertical rolls can be drawn entirely out of the way of the horizontal, thus leaving those rolls to perform the function of a blooming mill. The central portion of this roll is what we ordinarily call a little bull-head, that is, it has a very wide cylindrical surface that will take a slab something like 40 inches wide. Outside of this bull-head are passes which will take an ordinary ingot-and the rolls, I should say, are controlled by screws and hydraulic pressure, so that they can be opened up to any extent within 36 inches. In this wide range we could fill not only all the requirements of the South Works, but also those of other consuming mills.

These rolls are to be driven by two different sets of reversing engines. The rolls, which I should say, are about 32 inches in diameter, are 84 inches long, and driven by a pair of reversing engines 46'' by 60,'' geared 5 to 7. The vertical rolls, about 20 inches in diameter, are to be driven by a pair of 26'' by 30'' engines. This will be done in a building something like 350 feet long by 70 feet wide, and the rolls will be served by what we call the soaking pit furnaces, six in number, and they are served in turn by electric cranes -electric plunger or screw cranes which have automatic tongs. These cranes will elevate the tongs, and the tongs can be revolved and can be opened and shut by power. This, as I have given you, is about the idea that we intend to carry The plans and specifications are in the course of preparation at the present time.

In addition to this we are now building a steel foundry. The foundry work at present is carried on in the South Works in the open hearth building. We are just completing a fifty-ton furnace, and this foundry has to be enlarged, and the room is also needed there, so we are putting up a building of some 30x150 feet long to increase the capacity. I should say, in connection with the steel foundry, we have made some very large ingots for shafts, the largest of which weighed about forty tons.

In the Bessemer department the company is about carrying out the ideas contemplated by Mr. Forsyth in his first plans, and that is, removing the vessels weekly if necessary, or whenever desired. These Bessemer converters are arranged with a trunnion-ring, through which the shell of the converter is pushed up and fastened in position. When the lining is thin, or out of shape, this vessel can be withdrawn in the same way and a new one supplied. This, of course, enables the mill to keep up a regular and a large production of Bessemer steel.

It is also in contemplation to establish a central condensing plant at the rolling mills, which will conduce to fuel economy-a very important matter in this region.

It is also proposed to do some compounding of the blast furnace engines. The blast furnaces now are self-contained, as far as the generation of steam from the waste gases is concerned. By compounding and condensing, the steam thereby saved will be available for other purposes.

I believe that these works, as they now are, are small compared to what they will ultimately be. We know that the discovery of the Mesaba ores has put this country on an exporting basis; in fact, it has had this effect on the iron industry throughout the world, as we have already exported our products very largely. Last year we sent pig iron to Germany, rods to England and rails and plate bar; we have also sent rails and bridges to Japan and Corea, and so on. Therefore, I say, on this account these works are, I think, small compared to what they will be ultimately. We are able to export, although in the center of the continent, because of the very cheap freight we get by the waterways through a large portion of the year.

Mr. Davison (chief chemist): I do not know that I can add anything to what has been said in regard to the plant, except that the chemical part of the establishment is quite complete and extensive, and a large amount of work is done there. I can say that during the year 1897 the number of determinations made was in the neighborhood of 151,000, including analysis of the raw materials going into the furnaces-ore, limestone and coke, the pig iron, spiegeleisen and steel produced, and miscellaneous analysis which are necessary to the proper running of the plant.

The laboratories are three in number, although the main laboratory is the principal one. In addition, there are two mill laboratories--one at the Bessemer plant and one at the openhearth plant-made necessary from the fact that certain work