One of the largest aggregations of capital in the world is the Calumet &
Hecla Smelting Company. It controls the rich copper mines of Lake
Superior with all their inexhaustible stores of wealth. Two years ago
the company bought a very large tract of land on the banks of the
Niagara within the city limits of Buffalo, and began the construction of
an extensive smelting works. The ore is brought here direct from the
mines, and here it is reduced and the whole output of the mines
distributed from this point. Why did the Calumet & Hecla Company locate
in Buffalo? Because of its peerless location as a distributing centre
for one thing, and cheap electric power for another.
Not long ago, in Buffalo, a live electric wire fell athwart a lamp post,
and in the twinkling of an eye the iron was fused by the current. That
was smelting by electricity. The brainy men of the Calumet & Hecla
Company knew what they were doing when they located beside Buffalo’s
electric power house.
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