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ALABAMA CITY FURNACE Etowah County (near Gadsden) January 17, 1904 I N 1898 the Alabama Steel & Wire Company was formed and a small wire mill erected in Ensley, Alabama. This company obtained its supply of steel from the adjacent works of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company and l?rospered for several years, to such extent that it decided to expand and make its own steel. Accordingly, a tract of land was purchased. two miles west of Gadsden, Ala., and late in 1902 the building of a blast furnace and steel plant was started. This new furnace was 90 feet high and 20 feet diameter in the bosh and was considered a rather large stack at that time. The furnace was blown in on January 17, 1904. Coke was first shipped from the Birmingham District but sometime later 200 beehive ovens were built at the plant and 300 more ovens were constructed at the company's Virginia Coal Mine in Jefferson County. In 1918 the Sayre Coal Mine was purchased to supplement the Virginia mine. Ore was obtained first from the red hematite vein in Etowah County near Attalla, and from brown ore deposits in the same locality and in Cherokee County. In 1914 land was purchased on Red Mountain near Birmingham, and in 1921 the Shannon Mine was opened. For several years billets were produced and shipped to the wire mill in Ensley. In 1909-10 the wire mill was removed to Alabama City. In 1906, due to depression conditions, the Alabama Steel & Wire Co. was forced to reorganize. The Southern Steel Co. was formed which took over the Alabama Steel & Wire Co. and also the Trussville Furnace Co. property. The panic of 1907 caused the failure of the Southern Steel Company and it was reorganized into the Southern Iron and Steel Co. In 1911 the Alabama Consolidated Coal and Iron Co. proposed a merger with the Southern Iron & Steel Company but the English security holders of the latter company objected and it was placed under the receivership of Jas. Bowron. At that time the Trussville Furnace property reverted to a Northern bank through foreclosure. In 1913 a corporation, the Standard Steel Company, was formed to purchase the defunct Southern Iron and Steel Company at public auction. In December 1913 the newly formed Gulf States Steel Company assumed ownership. This latter company operated until 1937 when it was merged into and became a part of the Republic Steel Corporation and is now known as the Gulfsteel Division of that corporation. _.o~ 35 t~~o.- ALABAMA BLAST FURNACES The Alabama City furnace was blown out June 26, 1928 and a new stack was built and blown in on Sept. 17, 1928. This new stack, erected in less than three months, was 92' high, 16' hearth diameter and 21'-7" bosh diameter with an annual capacity of 175,000 gross tons. The furnace was idle for several years prior to 1937 but has been in blast since that time. Coke is supplied from 37 Koppers ovens of 16-18 tons capacity each, which were built in 1916. Output of this furnace is charged into the open hearth furnaces for steel making. ...

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