WOOLEN-MILLS.

The following statement, condensed from the census returns, shows the magnitude of the woolen industry in the United States in 1870.

The principal products of woolen-mills in 1870 were as follows:

Beavers, 261,208 yards; cloth, cassimeres, and doeskins, 63,340,612 yards; cloth, felted, 1,941,865 yards; cloth, negro, 1,932,382 yards; cottonade, 75,000 yards; flaunels, 58,965,286 yards; jeans, 24,489,985 yards; kerseys, 5,506,902 yards; linseys, 14,130,274 yards; repellents, 2,663,767 yards; satinets, 14,072,559 yards; tweeds and twills, 2,853,458 yards; number of shawls, 2,312,761; blankets, 2,029,715 pairs; yarn, 16,070,237 pounds.

Youth.

IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

The following interesting article, prepared by James M. Swank, Esq., secretary of the American Iron and Steel Association, exhibits the origin and development of the iron and steel industries in the United States:

FORGES AND BLOOMARIES.

The first iron made in America was forged at a bloomary of the Virginia Company, in 1621, on the James River, twelve miles below the present site of Richmond. The Indians destroyed the forge in 1622. In 1631 the people of Massachusetts Bay built an iron-mill at Lynn; in 1644, a blast-furnace at Hammersmith; in 1652, a furnace and forge at Raynham, (Taunton ;) and other iron-works followed in succeeding years, until in 1715 there were many furnaces and fofges in Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts. At some of these forges the ore was converted into bar-iron by hammering, and all sorts of merchantable shapes were made, while at others the bar was hammered from the pig. Maryland hammered bar-iron was exported to England from 1732 to the Revolution, although in 1750 England endeavored to prohibit the production of bar-iron, as a common nuisance, in America. The Revolution stimulated the produc tion of hammered iron, and forges sprung into existence in many parts of the colonies, but principally in Pennsylvania. Slitting-mills, for slitting hammered plate into nailrods, became quite numerous. After the Revolution great changes took place. The puddling-furnace was invented by Cort, a native of England, in 1783 and 1784, and he also introduced the use of rolls. From 1790 to 1810 rolling-mills were gradually erected in this country to take the place of the forges, and at the present time only a very few forges in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee make hammered bar-iron in small quantities, while the few forges and bloomaries making blooms from ore are found in New York and North Carolina, using the Catalan forge. Many forges, making blooms for boiler-plate from charcoal pig-iron, still exist in Pennsylvania. The following table shows the production of blooms from ore during late years:

The first furnace in the United States, of which we have any knowledge, is that built by a London company, represented by John Winthrop, jr., at Hammersmith, Mass., in 1644.* In Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Lambert Despard built a furnace in 1702 at the outlet of Mattakeeset Pond. In 1715 there were many furnaces in the colonies, all of which used charcoal for fuel. In 1717 pig-iron was exported to England. Most of these furnaces made castings, such as iron pots, direct from the furnace, as they still do in some parts of North Carolina and Tennessee. Coke was first used in the blastfurnace by F. H. Oliphant, of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in 1836, and anthracite coal at Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, by Baughman, Giteau & Co., in July, 1839, though Mr. Lyman, at Pottsville, first succeeded in keeping a furnace in blast for three months on anthracite, running from October, 1839, to January, 1840. The Mauch Chunk furnace was small, being 214 feet high and 54 feet across the bosh, while the Pottsville furnace was 35 feet by 8 feet. In August, 1846, the raw bituminous coal was first used in smelting iron at Lowellville, Mahoning County, Ohio, in a furnace specially built for raw coal, though, in 1845, a charcoal-furnace in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, (Clay Furnace,) had, during a scarcity of fuel, run a short time on raw coal alone. In 1810 there were 153 furnaces, all charcoal, which made in that year 54,000 net tons of pig-iron. In 1874 there were 701 furnaces, including charcoal, coke, raw coal, and anthracite, and 46 more were in course of construction. These figures do not include the large number of charcoal and other furnaces that have been abandoned. The following are statistics of production of pig-iron in net tons:

*For a more detailed account of the "Colonial industry in metals" see Bishop's History of American Manufactures, vol. 1, pages 465-631.

1810

In 1874 there were produced 572,817 net tons of charcoal pig-iron; 884,872 tons of raw coal and coke; 1,202,144 anthracite, and 29,580 mixed fuel; total 2,689,413 net tons. RAILS. The first mills in this country which made railroad-iron were the Mount Savage Works, Maryland; Montour Iron-Works, Danville, Pa.; and the Great Western Works, Brady's Bend, Pa.; all of which were put in operation from 1840 to 1843. The Mount Savage Mill made rails of the shape of the letter U inverted, while the others made inverted Trails, of the present pattern. In 1850 there were 6 mills which made in that year 44,083 net tons of rails. In 1874 there were 58 mills, and 3 building. The following are statistics of rail-production, including steel rails, in net tons :

1860. 1870. 1871...

205, 038
620,000

1872...
1873.

775, 7331874, (about)

1,000,000 890, 077 750,000

BAR-IRON, SHEET, PLATE, AND NAILS.-Bar, sheet, and plate iron were first made in forges by the slow process of hammering. Plates were slit into rods, which were afterward cut up into nail-lengths, to be pointed and headed by hand. The first slittingmill was built at Milton, Mass., in 1710.

From 1790 to 1810, rolling-mills gradually made their appearance, and in 1810 there were 330 forges and 34 rolling and slitting mills, which made 24, 541 net tons of bar and plate iron, and 7,864 tons of nails. The first rolling-mill in Pittsburgh was built in 1812. In 1874 there were 335 rolling-mills making rails, bar, sheet, and plate iron, and nails. They made about 1,600,000 net tons of rolled iron, including Bessemer rails, and 215,000 tons of nails. The statistics of production are as follows, in net tons:

1830

1840

1845

1850

1856

1860

1865

1870

1871

1872

1873

1874, (about)

*These figures are for rails alone; it is uncertain how much other iron was rolled in 1860. BESSEMER STEEL.-The first Bessemer-steel works in America were built at Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1865. The ingot from which the first rail was made was taken to Chicago from Wyandotte and rolled into a rail at the North Chicago Rolling-Mill in 1865. In a short time afterward the "plant" was taken to Chicago from Wyandotte. The first rails made upon order were rolled at Johnstown, Pa., from ingots made at Harrisburgh, Pa., in 1867. There are now 8 Bessemer works in operation, 2 soon to be completed, and 1 about to be built: The following are statistics of production in net

STEEL, OTHER THAN BESSEMER.-From the best information we have, we believe cast-steel was first made in this country during the decade 1830-40. Blister-steel was made very much earlier, dating far back into colonial times. In 1850 there were five cast-steel establishments; in 1860, thirteen; in 1870, twenty-seven; and in 1874 about forty. The following are statistics of production, including cast-steel, open-hearth, and blister-steel, in net tons :

IMPORTATIONS.-Until very recently, the United States has been a large purchaser of foreign iron and steel. So many new iron and steel making establishments were built in the period embraced in the years 1860 to 1874, that we are now, for the first time in the history of the country, in possession of complete facilities and full capacity to manufacture all the country needs of these articles, although it is probable that some special brands of iron and steel may continue to be imported for some time. The following table shows the quantity of leading iron and steel manufactures imported during a series of fiscal years in net tons, except steel ingots, &c., for which values only are given:

EXPORTS.-The exports of raw iron and steel have always been insignificant. In colonial times pig-iron and bar-iron were for many years, from 1717 to the Revolution, exported to England. In 1728-29, 1,127 gross tons of pig were thus exported; in 1732-33, 2,204 tons of pig and 11 of bar were exported; in 1745, 2,274 tons of pig and 196 of bar; in 1771, 5,303 tons of pig and 2,222 of bar, and 1776, 316 tons of pig and 28 of bar. Since the Revolution no iron has been exported until very recently; but iron and steel in various manufactured forms, such as agricultural and mechanical implements and edge-tools have for a long time been largely exported. The currencyvalues of exports of iron and steel, and manufactures thereof, in 1872 and 1873, were $14,360,617 and $16,687,754, respectively. The quantity of pig-iron exported was, in 1872, 1,319 net tons; in 1873, 9,022 net tons; in 1874, 14,321 net tons. Bar, plate, rails, and sheet-iron, in 1872, 1,554 net tons; in 1873, 820 net tons; tn 1874, 5,521 net tons. Nails and spikes, in 1872, 2,682 net tons; in 1873, 3,400 net tons; in 1871, 5,138 net tons. Steel ingots, bars, sheets, and wire, in 1872, 84 net tons; in 1873, 26 net tons; in 1874, 343 net tons. The years given are all calendar years.