Irkutsk

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a government of Eastern Siberia, separated from China on the S. by the Sayan Mountains, from Transbaikalia on the E. by Lake Baikal, and bounded W. by Yeniseisk, and N. and N. E. by Yakutsk, sk, occupies an area of 287,061 square miles. The country is generally mountainous, but produces rye, barley, oats, and vegetables. The most important river is the Angara or Upper Tunguzka (1,000 miles), which connects Lake Baikal with the river Yenisei. The Lena and its tributary the Vitim are the rivers that come next in foremost size. Gold, iron, and salt figure among the mineral products. Agriculture, cattle breeding, and the transport of goods to and from China are the chief occupations of the people. Pop. about 850,000, consisting of Buriats, Tungus, and Russians. The industries are brandy distilleries, with iron foundries and factories for salt, cloth, and pottery. Irkutsk, the capital, on the Angara, is posthe best-built town in Siberia. It sesses a cathedral, several churches, a public library, a museum of natural history, etc. Pop. about 70,000, mostly Russians and Buriats. Irkutsk was founded by a Cossack chief, Ivan Pochabof, in 1652, and obtained town rights in 1686. Owing to its position on the great Siberian highway between China and Russia, it is the commercial center of Siberia, especially for the tea trade; the annual value of its trade amounts to about $ 7,000,000. The Angara tutes the main highway for for Kiachta across Lake Baikal as for those coming from Eastern and China for Russia. The tions between Irkutsk and the N. parts of Siberia are the river Lena. A destructive curred in 1879. IRON AND STEEL. Iron, try, ferrum, is a metallic ment, symbol Fe. at. wt. 56, pure iron 7.8. Iron occurs or alloyed with nickel in is generally found in combination oxygen and as a carbonate. diffused in rocks, and often chief coloring matter of clays It also occurs combined with The chief ores used for the of iron are magnetite, hæmatite oxide, spathic ore and clay The ore is first calcined, to water and carbonic acid and the sulphur, and to convert to peroxide, which prevents iron in the form of slag. ore is then smelted, with the coke and limestone; the limestone with the silica present and ble slag, while the oxide of duced by the action of the oxide. The iron thus obtained cast or pig iron, and is very Pure iron is prepared by parts of fine iron wire, cut in State Alabama California Georgia Maryland Michigan Minnesota Missouri New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina Pennsylvania Tennessee Utah Virginia Wisconsin Other States b a Included under "Other States." b1918: Colorado, Connecticut, Wyoming; 1919: Same States as Utah in addition. one part of black oxide of iron sian crucible, and covering it ture of white sand, lime, and carbonate in the proportions glass - making; a cover is then plied and the crucible exposed constihigh temperature. Iron is a soft, tough, tenacious, malleable, ductile, white metal, goods bound not acted upon by dry air; but it rusts in , as well moist air containing carbonic acid, form- Siberia ing a hydrate of the sesquioxide. communica- Iron is mentioned in the Bible as early Yakutsk and as Gen. iv: 22. On the sepulchers of the carried on by fire oc- Egyptian Thebes, butchers are depicted as sharpening their knives on a round bar of metal which, from being blue, is in chemisassumed to be iron. Iron ore is said to tetrad elehave been discovered in Mount Ida sp. gr. of about 1406 b. c. The Romans early nearly pure knew it. Iron mines came into operation The exportation of meteorites, but in Britain 54 B. C. iron was prohibited by the British govwith It is widely ernment in 1354, and in 1483 the imporforms the tation of such manufactured iron goods and sands. as could be made at home was forbidden. sulphur. In 1783 Cort obtained a patent for rollmanufacture ing, and in 1784 for puddling iron. The , brown hot blast was discovered by Dalton in ironstone. 1827, and the Bessemer process for converting crude iron into manufactured expel the iron and steel in 1856. most of Native iron is found in masses or the oxides the waste of smaller portions in meteorites. It is The calcined nearly pure, still it contains 1 to 20 per addition of cent. of nickel with traces of cobalt, manunites ganese, tin, copper, chromium, phosphoforms a fusirus, etc. Specimens of ore so pure as to iron is readmit of direct forging into horseshoes carbon monhave been mined at Shepherd's Mountain, is called in the Iron Mountain district of Missouri. impure. The following table shows the iron ore shipped from the mines of the United placing four pieces, and States in 1918 and 1919, by States: 1918 1919 (estimate) Quantity Value (long tons) Quantity Value (long tons) $15,334,561 4,837,000 $13,203,000 6,121,087 (a) 14,683 (a) 3,121 389,000 85,000 878,612 262,003 (a) (a) 23.686 6,070 65,900,501 47,837,000 13,088,000 17,587,416 34,593,000 144,706,532 128,789,000 43,263,240 (a) 71,968 270,337 (a) 1,945,651 1,593,000 331,000 375,238 546,212 (a) (a) 275,266 648,000 3,694,000 5,802,870 899,970 604,592 67,000 240.000 108,332 543,000 515,845 892,000 982,173 1,184,546 932,000 271,000 408,954 (a) (a) 168,438 52,722 1,150,000 1,365,582 290,000 400,135 782,000 2,859,000 3,796,408 1,167,640 784,000 1,696,000 8-42,763 502,195 $244,368,147 $203,274,000 56,319,000 72,021,202 Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, Texas, Washington, and in 1918, with California, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, and in a Hes- The total stocks of iron ore for 1919 were estimated at 12,986,000 long tons. with a mix- The production of iron in most foreign potassium used for countries was seriously curtailed during closely apthe war, and in some countries it was ento a very tirely cut off. In 1918 the following countries produced the chief supply, outside of the United States: Cuba, 653,829 metric tons; Newfoundland, undland, 769,821 metric tons; France, 1,671,851 metric tons; United Kingdom, 15,285,083 metric tons; Algeria, 782,047 metric tons. The imports of iron ore into the United States in 1919 amounted to 476,- 461 long tons, valued at $2,385,689. The exports amounted to 996,569 long tons, valued at $4,308,746. The total production of pig iron in 1919 was about 30,- 646,000 long tons, valued at $809,246,000. There were exported 321,261 long tons of pig iron, valued at $12,313,183. There were in Dec. 31, 1919, 262 blast furnaces in operation. There were at the end of 1919 22 open hearth furnaces in the course of construction. The steel produced in the United States in 1918 amounted to 44,462,432 long tons. Of this 9,376,235 tons were Bessemer steel, 34,459,391 tons were open hearth steel, 115, 112 tons were crucible steel, and 511,693 tons were other steel. Steel production in other countries in 1918 was as follows: United Kingdom, 9,744,891 metric tons; Germany, 14,875,- 753 metric tons; France, 1,809,771 metric tons; and Canada, 1,717,318 metric tons.