Page:Atlantis Arisen.djvu/113



THE WALLAMET AND ITS CHIEF TOWN. 99

Oregon Iron Company was formed, with a capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars, two-thirds of which was owned in Portland, and the compan} 7- erected the pioneer iron-smelting furnace of the Pacific Coast, with a capacity of ten tons per day.

The production of iron has been less than hoped for from an analysis of the ore, which gave sesquioxide of iron 77.16 per cent., or 54.37 per cent, of metallic iron, the other parts being water, 11.16; silica, 11.08; sulphur and phosphorus together, one-tenth of one per cent. The ore proved not to maintain throughout the richness of the sample analyzed, and the cost of production was great, on account of having to import lime and to manufacture charcoal. In 1874-75 a ton of iron cost to produce thirty-three dollars and twentjvfive cents, and sold in San Francisco in limited lots for forty-six dollars per ton, being used where special strength was required. It was found to answer well for the manufacture of car-wheels, but its cost was prohibitory, Scotch and English iron being much cheaper.

The amount produced from the date of its first manufacture to 1869 was two thousand three hundred and ninety-five tons, when work was suspended until 1874, when the company was reorganized, and in little more than two years manufactured five thousand and seventy-five tons. The property was then sold for the benefit of its creditors! In 1878 the purchasers started up the furnace, making eleven hundred and seventy tons, when it was stopped to rebuild and enlarge its capacity. Again the manufacture of iron went on for more than two years, when in the autumn of 1881 other changes were introduced, and the furnace remained idle for several years. In 1888 the company entered into a contract to furnish iron pipe for the Portland water-works, and resumed operations, which continue to the present time.

The present name of the corporation is the Oregon Iron and Steel Works Company. It supplies much of the raw material for the foundry work of Portland, the value of its product being about fifty thousand dollars annually.

There are other iron-deposits in several of the counties. The most available one is in Columbia County, near the River Columbia, convenient to deep water and timber. The iron and steel trade of Portland is nearly two million dollars yearly. The cost