All the processes of metallurgy and mining employ statical, hydraulic,
mechanical, and electrical engineering. Coal, without railways and
canals, would be of little use, unless electrical engineering came to
its aid.
It was estimated by the late Lord Armstrong that of the 450,000,000 to
500,000,000 tons of coal annually produced in the world, one-third is
used for steam production, one-third in metallurgical processes, and
one-third for domestic consumption. This last item seems large. It is
the most important manufacturing industry in the world, as may be seen
by comparing the coalless condition of the eighteenth century with the
coal-using condition of the nineteenth century.
Next in importance comes the production of iron and steel. Steel, on
account of its great cost and brittleness, was only used for tools and
special purposes until past the middle of the last century. This has
been all changed by the invention of his steel by Bessemer in 1864,
and open-hearth steel in the furnace of Siemens, perfected some twenty
years since by Gilchrist & Thomas.
The United States have taken the lead in steel manufacture. In 1873
Great Britain made three times as much steel as the United States. Now
the United States makes twice as much as Great Britain, or forty per
cent. of all the steel made in the world.
Mr. Carnegie has explained the reason why, in epigrammatic phrase:
“Three pounds of steel billets can be sold for two cents.”
This stimulates rail and water traffic and other industries, as he
tells us one pound of steel requires two pounds of ore, one and
one-third pounds of coal, and one-third of a pound of limestone.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the States bordering on the lakes
have created a traffic of 25,000,000 tons yearly through the Sault
Ste. Marie Canal, while the Suez, which supplies the wants of half the
population of the world, has only 7,000,000, or less than the tonnage
of the little Harlem River at New York.