AMERICAN EAST INDIA AND PACIFIC TRADE. A correspondent of the American (Boston) Traveller, furnishes the following schedule of arrivals and clearances at different ports in the United States, which have been and are now engaged in the East India and Pacific trade, not including the whalemen which are engaged in the Pacific, but of merchant vessels, trading to ports at and beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and to ports beyond Cape Horn. The whole number of arrivals, engaged in the above trade, has been, for the year ending December 31, 1846, 140; of which, there were Of the 41 arrivals at New York from Canton, 18 belonged to ports East of New York, viz: 15 to Boston, and 3 to Salem; and of the whole number of arrivals at the port, during the year, from India, 29 belonged to ports East of there. The vessel from New Zealand was ordered to Salem, where she discharged her cargo. During the year ending December 31, 1846, the whole number of vessels which cleared for ports in the Pacific, and to ports in the East Indies, from different ports in the United States, was 139, viz: The clearance at Newburyport, was for Oregon; the two at Bangor, for Valparaiso; and the one at New Orleans, for the Sandwich Islands. In 1845, the whole number of arrivals of vessels, engaged in the above trade, was 128, making an increase the last year of 11. The same year, clearances were 150, making a decrease of 11 the past year. There has been an increase of arrivals at Boston, over that of the year 1845, of 16, and a decrease of 10 in the clearances. At New York, the decrease of arrivals has been 3, and the decrease of clearances, 6. EXPORTS OF SUGAR AND MOLASSES FROM HAVANA. The following table shows the exports of sugar and molasses from Havana, from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, in the year 1845 and 1846:- The exports of molasses from Cardenas, during the same time, were 1 JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES. MANUFACTURE OF RAILROAD IRON IN THE UNITED STATES. WE cheerfully give place to the following communication from an intelligent correspondent residing at Lynchburg, Va., and a large stockholder in the “Tredegor Iron Company,” of that State. Our correspondent, it will be seen, refers to an extract from the "Miners' Journal," published in the MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE for January, 1846, in which it is stated that the first railroad iron was made in 1844; and to a correspondent in a subsequent number of our Journal, who states that the "Great Western Iron Company," on the Alleghany river, produced in 1842, two hundred tons of railroad iron: TO THE EDITOR OF THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW:— SIR-In the January number of your truly valuable work, I find an article on the manufacture of railroad iron, taken from the Miners' Journal, in which it is stated that only two years have elapsed since the first ton of railroad iron was made in this country; and again in your February number, this subject is noticed, and the belief expressed that the credit is due to the "Great Western Iron Company" of Pennsylvania, for introducing this important branch of the iron business into our country. Both of these statements are erroneous, doubtless unintentionally so. I have no doubt that the first railroad iron made in the United States was manufactured by the Tredegor Iron Works, at Richmond, Va. The evidence I will offer to sustain the claims of Richmond, is, I think, pretty conclusive. I give it in an extract from a letter of John F. Tanner, Esq., secretary of the Tredegor Iron Company, dated Richmond, 1st February, 1846, to whom I made application for accurate information, after reading your January number, lest my memory should mislead me. Mr. Tanner says, "the first railroad iron made at these works was manufactured in (1837) eighteen hundred and thirty-seven. In 1838, we made a considerable quantity for the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad Company, and other roads in this State." Ever since that period, occasional orders for railroad iron have been executed at these works. The Tredegor works were erected in 1836-7; commenced operations, I think, the 8th May, 1837. They were built by Edward Cunningham, John A. Cunningham, and Francis B. Deane, Jr., who conducted them on private account, till 1st January, 1838; when a joint stock company was formed, under a charter obtained from the legislature, at the session of 1837-8; to which company Messrs. Deane & Cunningham sold their works. So it would seem that the individuals who projected and completed the Tredegor rollingmill were the pioneers in the manufacture of railroad iron in the United States. The capital stock of the Tredegor Iron Company is about $280,000; the annual product turned out, about $350,000; coal consumed, from 175,000 to 200,000 bushels; pig iron, about 4,000 tons; annual payments for labor, from 50,000 to 60,000 dollars. This establishment manufactures as great a variety of sizes of bar iron, rods, hoops, bands, extra sizes, rounds and squares, locomotive engines, screw moulds, boat plates, and rods for iron vessels, as any other in the Union. The quality of its production is equal to the best iron found in our markets, of English or American manufacture. Besides the extensive works for making malleable iron, of almost every description, which the wants of commerce require, there is attached to them a very large foundry, with machine-shops, fitted up in the best manner, with lathes, &c., for building steam-engines, sugar-mills, and, indeed, machinery of every description. Also, a large boring-mill, and all necessary apparatus for finishing ordnance of the largest size ordinarily used, either in our army or navy. From the Tredegor iron foundry, castings of excellent quality and great variety are annually turned out. The ordnance made there is regarded equal to the best which the government procures elsewhere, of which fact the records of the war and navy departments will afford ample testimony. I feel much confidence in claiming for the Tredegor works the credit of introducing several other important branches of iron manufacture, as well as railroad iron. I believe locomotive rolled axles were first made there; and if my information be correct, they have to a great extent superseded the English and American hammered axles. The same may be said of boat-rib irons; these were also first made at the Tredegor works, and I am told that even now, there are descriptions of this important article used by government in building iron vessels, which can only be procured at these works. *Merchants' Magazine for February, 1846, Vol. XVI., No. 2, page 212. Without intending any disparagement to other works, or the enterprise of my fellowcitizens in the Northern States, I am induced to make this communication,-first, that correct information may be placed before the public; and secondly, that it may be known that the unrivalled advantages possessed by Virginia, for the manufacture of iron, are not so entirely neglected as many believe them to be. A STOCKHOLDER OF THE TREDEGOR COMPANY. IRON MINES AND MANUFACTURE OF BELGIUM. "The following account of the iron ore, and manufacture of iron, is from the unpublished work of RICHARD C. TAYLOR, Esq., of Philadelphia, who has kindly abstracted it from that work, for publication in the Merchants' Magazine:— METALLIFEROUS MINES, IRON ORE, AND MANUFACTURE OF IRON.-There are a few mines of lead, pyrites, and manganese, in the Belgian provinces, but iron ore is, above all, distributed in the greatest profusion. It is contained in great deposits, in the form of basins, and also in the state of immense pipes, or funnels, in limestone. Other accumulations fill cavities and depressions in the oolite limestone, and elsewhere occur in great veins. These minerals furnish all the varieties of the best, or strong iron. In general, they are treated with charcoal; but in some localities, mineral coke is employed, especially all the recently erected high furnaces. The oxydes and hydrates of iron, have, for some years, been worked in several communes on the north of the province of Namur and Luxemburg. In Hainault, the workings of iron ore are not very important, and there are no other minerals mined. In Liege, there are mines of iron ore, and some of zinc, or calamine. Iron ore does not accompany the coal measures here, but forms separate bands and extensive deposits, towards the Meuse, and extending to the Prussian frontier. Tons of iron ore High St. eng. in extracted. furn. ir'n w'ks. Horse 1836. '38.'38.'42. '38. '42. '36. '38. '36. 38. 38. No. power. 121 13 2 2,559 ..... 524 206 39,981 31,826 34 11,977 ..... ... Total,.... 1,326 740 36 27 50,221 36,857 4,804 2,975 636,955 3339 139 160 3,640 The reduction in the last year's produce, arose from the excessive supply of the two preceding years, and the consequent encumbering of the magazines. It was the natural consequence of an excessive supply. Metallurgic industry, in consequence of the previous excess of production beyond the wants of the consumers, suffered a reaction, the effects of which were considerable losses during the five succeeding years. We have already adverted to this epoch of over-production and speculation, and to its injurious influence and results, when treating on the subject of coal. Little more than one-half the workmen were employed this year. In 1838, out of the two hundred and seventy mineralurgic establishments in the kingdom, two hundred and twenty-one were for the treatment and the preparation of iron, of which number one hundred and thirty-nine were high furnaces. Through the pressure of the times, alluded to, several high furnaces were put out; and in 1841, eight high coke furnaces, alone, out of sixteen, were in operation in the province of Liege.* In 1830, the first high furnace was erected in Charleroi, for the smelting of iron. Seven years after, 1837, there were twenty-five coke furnaces in action, producing annually 75,000 tons of metal. On the termination of its union with France, Belgium possessed eighty-nine high furnaces, one hundred and twenty-four forges, and eighty other iron works. The coke furnaces in Hainault, produced of pig iron, in The condition of the iron establishments, in 1838, was as follows: * Rapport au Roi. 1843. LXVII. and p. 236. + Report of the Sambre and Meuse Railway Company, July 2, 1846. In 1842, there were only fifty-eight blast furnaces in Belgium. Of these, thirty-eight had been out of blast for three years; and of the remaining twenty, not one was paying a dividend to the shareholders. There was not a single furnace at work with the hot blast; and the lowest price at which a ton of forge pig could be produced, under the most favorable circumstances, was £3 148. sterling, $18. The make of iron, this year, was = 121,000 tons,† and advanced to 150,000 tons in 1845. The demand for iron has, however, of late years, been much on the increase-not only for the home consumption, in consequence of the progress of railways from one end of Belgium to the other, but for supplying numerous railways in France. Hundreds of furnaces are now (1847) in blast, where, twelve years ago, not one was seen, and the others were abandoned. The following table sufficiently indicates the periodical condition of the iron trade, in one department, during the eventful periods of which we have been speaking : STATEMENT OF BELGIAN IRON EXPORTED TO FRANCE. The price of iron has, in consequence of this favorable change and its enlarged demand, increased, within the last sixteen years, at least from 25 to 30 per cent, although there were, in 1846, more than five times the number of furnaces at work than formerly.‡ The exportation of unwrought cast iron, during the first six months of 1845, was 19,000 tons; and during the first six months of 1846, 33,000 tons. The greater part of this was sent to Germany and France.§ The home consumption of iron, in 1845, was 120,000 tons. In 1846, Messrs. Sopwith and Smith, civil engineers, reported on the mineralogical capabilities of the district, between the Sambre and the Meuse, and upon the apparently exhaustless deposits of iron ore, particularly with reference to the iron mines at Couvin, near the frontier of France. They state, that the limestone formation of that district contains vast deposits of iron ore, in pockets, or funnel-shaped cavities, which admit of being worked with great facility, owing to their proximity to the surface. These deposits of iron ore extend upwards of seventy miles, in an east and west direction. For some years, the iron works of this region have remained in a state of inactivity, arising from the commercial embarrassments of 1838-39, which caused so much loss and interruption throughout the whole of the industrial establishments of Belgium. From these great and ruinous causes of depression, many of these works never revived; others, in time, began slowly, and under great disadvantages, to resume operations. The most apparent of these difficulties was, the want of capital; but, it is stated, the iron works are now, almost without exception, doing well. We infer that English capital, to a large extent, is now brought to bear on the mineral resources of this quarter. RUSSIAN GOLD AND PLATINA. Gold was first collected in the Uralian Mountains, in 1815; and up to the year 1844, only 9,000 pounds pure gold was produced, valued at 150,000,000 rubles, or 600,000,000 francs. Platina was first obtained there, in 1809, and produced more than 2,000 pounds, and valued at 7,000,000 rubles, or 28,000,000 francs. The mines are situated along the Uralian Mountains from 52° to 62° North latitude, and 80° and 135° East longitude. *Correspondent of the Mining Journal. London, 1842. † Traite de fabrication de la Fonte et du Fer. § Report of the Belgian government, in 1846. |