153-482: The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was a large steel conglomerate founded by the merger of previous business interests in 1892. By 1903 it was mainly owned and controlled by John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould 's financial heirs. While it came to control many plants throughout the country, its main plant was a steel mill on the south side of Pueblo, Colorado , and was the city's main industry for most of its history. From 1901 to 1912, Colorado Fuel and Iron
306-473: A 3 ft ( 914 mm ) narrow-gauge line running south from Denver , Colorado , in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver and Salt Lake City , Utah . The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic. The Rio Grande was a strong example of mountain railroading, with a motto of Through the Rockies, not around them and later Main line through
459-412: A BOS process is manufactured in one-twelfth the time. Today, electric arc furnaces (EAF) are a common method of reprocessing scrap metal to create new steel. They can also be used for converting pig iron to steel, but they use a lot of electrical energy (about 440 kWh per metric ton), and are thus generally only economical when there is a plentiful supply of cheap electricity. The steel industry
612-426: A YMCA Center, elementary school, and some small businesses, as well as a company store . However air pollution was a constant health threat and the houses lacked indoor plumbing. As demand for metallurgical coke declined, the mine laid off workers and Segundo's population declined. After a major fire in 1929, CF&I left and Segundo became practically a ghost town. The CF&I held pervasive spying on workers in
765-713: A carbon-intermediate steel by the 1st century AD. There is evidence that carbon steel was made in Western Tanzania by the ancestors of the Haya people as early as 2,000 years ago by a complex process of "pre-heating" allowing temperatures inside a furnace to reach 1300 to 1400 °C. Evidence of the earliest production of high carbon steel in South Asia is found in Kodumanal in Tamil Nadu ,
918-444: A change of volume. In this case, expansion occurs. Internal stresses from this expansion generally take the form of compression on the crystals of martensite and tension on the remaining ferrite, with a fair amount of shear on both constituents. If quenching is done improperly, the internal stresses can cause a part to shatter as it cools. At the very least, they cause internal work hardening and other microscopic imperfections. It
1071-532: A complete list of all the railroad's named trains. The Union Pacific acquired all D&RG owned assets at the time of the merger. The UP operates the former D&RGW main line as part of its Central Corridor . However, several branch lines and other assets have been sold, abandoned or re-purposed. These include several presently operating heritage railways that trace their origins to the Denver & Rio Grande Western. Active rail assets tracing their heritage to
1224-607: A defensive move, this may have been enough to discourage the A&;C from proceeding to construction. Originally hauling mainly agricultural products, the Farmington line was converted to narrow gauge in 1923, and later delivered pipe and other construction materials to the local oil and natural gas industry into the 1960s. Portions of the Alamosa–Durango line survive to this day. The Walsenburg–Alamosa–Antonito line survives as
1377-563: A direct transcontinental link to the west. The D&RGW slipped into bankruptcy again in 1935. Emerging in 1947, it merged with the D&;SL on March 3, 1947, gaining control of the "Moffat Road" through the Moffat Tunnel and a branch line from Bond to Craig, Colorado . Finally free from financial problems, the D&RGW now possessed a direct route from Denver to Salt Lake City (the detour south through Pueblo and Tennessee Pass
1530-428: A ferrite BCC crystal form, but at higher carbon content it takes a body-centred tetragonal (BCT) structure. There is no thermal activation energy for the transformation from austenite to martensite. There is no compositional change so the atoms generally retain their same neighbours. Martensite has a lower density (it expands during the cooling) than does austenite, so that the transformation between them results in
1683-844: A few miles south of Pueblo, and iron ore from the San Luis Valley with rail transportation provided by the D&RG. Manufacturing using blast furnaces and the Bessemer process began April 12, 1881. Products included rails, pig iron, iron and steel bars and plates, and cut nails and spikes. The original steel works were one of the projects of the Central Colorado Improvement Company , founded by General William J. Palmer in 1872, with plans "to purchase lands, minerals springs, coal and iron and other mines and quarries in Colorado Territory, and
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#17327931588811836-445: A hard but brittle martensitic structure. The steel is then tempered, which is just a specialized type of annealing, to reduce brittleness. In this application the annealing (tempering) process transforms some of the martensite into cementite, or spheroidite and hence it reduces the internal stresses and defects. The result is a more ductile and fracture-resistant steel. When iron is smelted from its ore, it contains more carbon than
1989-777: A line was laid north through Delta , reaching Grand Junction in March, 1883. The line continued building west until reaching the D&RGW close to present day Green River which completed a narrow-gauge transcontinental link with the Rio Grande Western Railway to Salt Lake City, Utah . The line from Pueblo to Leadville was upgraded in 1887 to three rails to accommodate both narrow-gauge and standard-gauge operation. Narrow-gauge branch lines were constructed to Chama, New Mexico , Durango , Silverton , Crested Butte , Lake City , Ouray and Somerset , Colorado. The route over Tennessee Pass had steep grades, and it
2142-412: A narrow range of concentrations of mixtures of carbon and iron that make steel, several different metallurgical structures, with very different properties can form. Understanding such properties is essential to making quality steel. At room temperature , the most stable form of pure iron is the body-centred cubic (BCC) structure called alpha iron or α-iron. It is a fairly soft metal that can dissolve only
2295-540: A narrow-gauge line from Ogden, Utah via Soldier Summit, Utah to Grand Junction, Colorado . The railroad was reorganized as the Rio Grande Western Railway in 1889, as part of a finance plan to upgrade the line from narrow gauge to standard gauge, and built several branch lines in Utah to reach lucrative coal fields. It was the railway which Gustaf Nordenskiöld employed to haul boxcars of relics from
2448-463: A patch applied over the locomotive's number and the number boards replaced. This method allows the locomotives to be numbered into the Union Pacific's roster but is cheaper than fully repainting the engine into UP Armour Yellow. In 2006, Union Pacific unveiled UP 1989 , an EMD SD70ACe painted in a stylized version of the D&RGW color scheme. This unit is one of several SD70ACe locomotives
2601-485: A principal stockholder of the Denver and Rio Grande for a loan. Gould, via Frederick Taylor Gates , Rockefeller's financial adviser, brought John D. Rockefeller , creator of the Standard Oil monopoly, in to help finance the loan. Analysis of the company's operations by John D. Rockefeller Jr. showed a need for substantially more funds which were provided in exchange for acquisition of CF&I's subsidiaries such as
2754-777: A shortage of coal. Following the strike substantial investments were made to the mill including purchase of water rights in the Arkansas River and a reservoir at the site of Sugar Loaf Dam west of Leadville . Previously the mill had relied on the scant and variable flow of the St. Charles River, storing water in Lake Minnequa. Gates, Rockefeller's financial advisor, had little confidence in Jesse Floyd Welborn who had been elected by Gould and his allies to succeed Hearne as manager in 1907. Welborn had risen within
2907-534: A small concentration of carbon, no more than 0.005% at 0 °C (32 °F) and 0.021 wt% at 723 °C (1,333 °F). The inclusion of carbon in alpha iron is called ferrite . At 910 °C, pure iron transforms into a face-centred cubic (FCC) structure, called gamma iron or γ-iron. The inclusion of carbon in gamma iron is called austenite. The more open FCC structure of austenite can dissolve considerably more carbon, as much as 2.1%, (38 times that of ferrite) carbon at 1,148 °C (2,098 °F), which reflects
3060-564: A standard-gauge line, perhaps in anticipation of possible standard gauging of the entire line, south from Durango to Farmington, New Mexico . Part of the reason for this isolated change of gauge was that the Southern Pacific contemplated extending to access coal fields in the northern San Juan basin , had surveyors working there, and had incorporated a subsidiary, the Arizona & Colorado Railroad Company , for this purpose. As
3213-453: A steel's final rolling, it is heat treated for strength; however, this is relatively rare. Steel was known in antiquity and was produced in bloomeries and crucibles . The earliest known production of steel is seen in pieces of ironware excavated from an archaeological site in Anatolia ( Kaman-Kalehöyük ) which are nearly 4,000 years old, dating from 1800 BC. Wootz steel
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#17327931588813366-446: A substantial portion of the troops were withdrawn, but a sizable contingent remained at Ludlow. On April 20, 1914 a general fire-fight occurred between strikers and troops. The camp burned, and 15 women and children in the camp were burned to death. In the aftermath of the battle, bands of miners attacked coal company facilities in the area. Lieutenant Governor of Colorado Stephen R. Fitzgarrald again ordered National Guard troops into
3519-870: A wire mill, and supporting facilities. The mill was renamed the Minnequa Works in 1901. Early sources of iron ore were hematite from the Calumet Mine north of Salida, Colorado , limonite from the Orient Mine on the west slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range east of Villa Grove and iron and magnesium rich ore which was a byproduct of silver mining at Leadville . Additional iron ore was obtained from New Mexico and Wyoming and reserves purchased in Utah. Company towns were built at isolated facilities such as Orient and Calumet. Deeper ores from Calumet contained greater quantities of silicon, which interfered with
3672-672: Is continuously cast into long slabs, cut and shaped into bars and extrusions and heat treated to produce a final product. Today, approximately 96% of steel is continuously cast, while only 4% is produced as ingots. The ingots are then heated in a soaking pit and hot rolled into slabs, billets , or blooms . Slabs are hot or cold rolled into sheet metal or plates. Billets are hot or cold rolled into bars, rods, and wire. Blooms are hot or cold rolled into structural steel , such as I-beams and rails . In modern steel mills these processes often occur in one assembly line , with ore coming in and finished steel products coming out. Sometimes after
3825-403: Is common for quench cracks to form when steel is water quenched, although they may not always be visible. There are many types of heat treating processes available to steel. The most common are annealing , quenching , and tempering . Annealing is the process of heating the steel to a sufficiently high temperature to relieve local internal stresses. It does not create a general softening of
3978-403: Is desirable. To become steel, it must be reprocessed to reduce the carbon to the correct amount, at which point other elements can be added. In the past, steel facilities would cast the raw steel product into ingots which would be stored until use in further refinement processes that resulted in the finished product. In modern facilities, the initial product is close to the final composition and
4131-453: Is distinguishable from wrought iron (now largely obsolete), which may contain a small amount of carbon but large amounts of slag . Iron is commonly found in the Earth's crust in the form of an ore , usually an iron oxide, such as magnetite or hematite . Iron is extracted from iron ore by removing the oxygen through its combination with a preferred chemical partner such as carbon which
4284-408: Is heat treated to contain both a ferritic and martensitic microstructure to produce a formable, high strength steel. Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steel involves special alloying and heat treatments to stabilize amounts of austenite at room temperature in normally austenite-free low-alloy ferritic steels. By applying strain, the austenite undergoes a phase transition to martensite without
4437-535: Is known as stainless steel . Tungsten slows the formation of cementite , keeping carbon in the iron matrix and allowing martensite to preferentially form at slower quench rates, resulting in high-speed steel . The addition of lead and sulphur decrease grain size, thereby making the steel easier to turn , but also more brittle and prone to corrosion. Such alloys are nevertheless frequently used for components such as nuts, bolts, and washers in applications where toughness and corrosion resistance are not paramount. For
4590-691: Is often considered an indicator of economic progress, because of the critical role played by steel in infrastructural and overall economic development . In 1980, there were more than 500,000 U.S. steelworkers. By 2000, the number of steelworkers had fallen to 224,000. The economic boom in China and India caused a massive increase in the demand for steel. Between 2000 and 2005, world steel demand increased by 6%. Since 2000, several Indian and Chinese steel firms have expanded to meet demand, such as Tata Steel (which bought Corus Group in 2007), Baosteel Group and Shagang Group . As of 2017 , though, ArcelorMittal
4743-514: Is one of the largest manufacturing industries in the world, but also one of the most energy and greenhouse gas emission intense industries, contributing 8% of global emissions. However, steel is also very reusable: it is one of the world's most-recycled materials, with a recycling rate of over 60% globally . The noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective * * stahliją or * * stakhlijan 'made of steel', which
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4896-463: Is one of the most commonly manufactured materials in the world. Steel is used in buildings, as concrete reinforcing rods, in bridges, infrastructure, tools, ships, trains, cars, bicycles, machines, electrical appliances, furniture, and weapons. Iron is always the main element in steel, but many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels , which are resistant to corrosion and oxidation , typically need an additional 11% chromium . Iron
5049-551: Is one of the world's most-recycled materials, with a recycling rate of over 60% globally; in the United States alone, over 82,000,000 metric tons (81,000,000 long tons; 90,000,000 short tons) were recycled in the year 2008, for an overall recycling rate of 83%. As more steel is produced than is scrapped, the amount of recycled raw materials is about 40% of the total of steel produced - in 2016, 1,628,000,000 tonnes (1.602 × 10 long tons; 1.795 × 10 short tons) of crude steel
5202-520: Is possible only by reducing iron's ductility. Steel was produced in bloomery furnaces for thousands of years, but its large-scale, industrial use began only after more efficient production methods were devised in the 17th century, with the introduction of the blast furnace and production of crucible steel . This was followed by the Bessemer process in England in the mid-19th century, and then by
5355-434: Is possible to make very high-carbon (and other alloy material) steels, but such are not common. Cast iron is not malleable even when hot, but it can be formed by casting as it has a lower melting point than steel and good castability properties. Certain compositions of cast iron, while retaining the economies of melting and casting, can be heat treated after casting to make malleable iron or ductile iron objects. Steel
5508-400: Is quite ductile , or soft and easily formed. In steel, small amounts of carbon, other elements, and inclusions within the iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations . The carbon in typical steel alloys may contribute up to 2.14% of its weight. Varying the amount of carbon and many other alloying elements, as well as controlling their chemical and physical makeup in
5661-457: Is related to * * stahlaz or * * stahliją 'standing firm'. The carbon content of steel is between 0.02% and 2.14% by weight for plain carbon steel ( iron - carbon alloys ). Too little carbon content leaves (pure) iron quite soft, ductile, and weak. Carbon contents higher than those of steel make a brittle alloy commonly called pig iron . Alloy steel is steel to which other alloying elements have been intentionally added to modify
5814-441: Is the base metal of steel. Depending on the temperature, it can take two crystalline forms (allotropic forms): body-centred cubic and face-centred cubic . The interaction of the allotropes of iron with the alloying elements, primarily carbon, gives steel and cast iron their range of unique properties. In pure iron, the crystal structure has relatively little resistance to the iron atoms slipping past one another, and so pure iron
5967-547: Is the world's largest steel producer . In 2005, the British Geological Survey stated China was the top steel producer with about one-third of the world share; Japan , Russia , and the United States were second, third, and fourth, respectively, according to the survey. The large production capacity of steel results also in a significant amount of carbon dioxide emissions inherent related to
6120-498: Is then lost to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. This process, known as smelting , was first applied to metals with lower melting points, such as tin , which melts at about 250 °C (482 °F), and copper , which melts at about 1,100 °C (2,010 °F), and the combination, bronze, which has a melting point lower than 1,083 °C (1,981 °F). In comparison, cast iron melts at about 1,375 °C (2,507 °F). Small quantities of iron were smelted in ancient times, in
6273-874: The Colorado Fuel Company , which was closely associated with and provided coal to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q). John C. Osgood , who with other investors from Iowa and Colorado, the Iowa Group, had founded Colorado Fuel Company in 1883, which acquired substantial coal reserves in Las Animas and Garfield Counties by purchasing existing facilities. Other properties were acquired in Garfield, Huerfano, Las Animas, and Pitkin counties. On Osgood's initiative these two companies merged in 1892 to form Colorado Fuel and Iron with members of
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6426-655: The Golconda area in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka , regions of India , as well as in Samanalawewa and Dehigaha Alakanda, regions of Sri Lanka . This came to be known as wootz steel , produced in South India by about the sixth century BC and exported globally. The steel technology existed prior to 326 BC in the region as they are mentioned in literature of Sangam Tamil , Arabic, and Latin as
6579-690: The Mesa Verde , Colorado, cliff dwellings, in 1891, en route to the National Museum of Finland . In 1901, the Denver & Rio Grande merged with the Rio Grande Western, consolidating in 1908. However, the railroad was weakened by speculators, who had used the Rio Grande's equity to finance Western Pacific Railroad construction. The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) took over the D&RG during World War I . In 1918,
6732-554: The Rio Grande . Closely assisted by his friend and new business partner Dr. William Bell , Palmer's new "Baby Road" laid the first rails out of Denver on July 28, 1871, and reached the location of the new town of Colorado Springs (then the Fountain Colony) by October 21. Narrow gauge was chosen in part because construction and equipment costs would be relatively more affordable when weighed against that of
6885-574: The Rockefeller Foundation and head of its Department of Industrial Research, introduced the Colorado Industrial Plan, an internal system of worker representation which included guarantees of basic decency in working conditions and in company towns. Segundo, Colorado , was an example of a company town where CF&I offered adequate housing for its workers and promoted upward mobility through its sponsorship of
7038-500: The Southern Pacific Transportation Company (SP). The D&RGW used Southern Pacific's name with SP due to its name recognition among shippers. In time, the D&RGW's fast freight philosophy gave way to SP's long-established practice of running long, slow trains. A contributing factor was the rising cost of diesel fuel , a trend that set in after the 1973 oil crisis , which gradually undermined
7191-405: The basic oxygen furnace (BOF) process for a number of years. This process was later replaced by electric arc furnaces (EAF). Currently, one EAF is used at the facility to convert over a million tons of scrap per year into steel billets of various sizes. The billets are then distributed to the three steel finishing facilities (rail mill, rod & bar mill, seamless tube mill) for processing into
7344-599: The cementation process was described in a treatise published in Prague in 1574 and was in use in Nuremberg from 1601. A similar process for case hardening armour and files was described in a book published in Naples in 1589. The process was introduced to England in about 1614 and used to produce such steel by Sir Basil Brooke at Coalbrookdale during the 1610s. The raw material for this process were bars of iron. During
7497-607: The open-hearth furnace . With the invention of the Bessemer process, a new era of mass-produced steel began. Mild steel replaced wrought iron . The German states were the major steel producers in Europe in the 19th century. American steel production was centred in Pittsburgh , Bethlehem, Pennsylvania , and Cleveland until the late 20th century. Currently, world steel production is centered in China, which produced 54% of
7650-740: The standard-gauge Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad , with passenger excursion trains service provided by the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad . Two narrow-gauge segments survive as steam railroads , the Antonito–Chama line as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and Durango–Silverton as the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad . Rio Grande Southern Railroad connected to San Juan Extension in Durango and went through
7803-445: The 17th century, it was realized that the best steel came from oregrounds iron of a region north of Stockholm , Sweden. This was still the usual raw material source in the 19th century, almost as long as the process was used. Crucible steel is steel that has been melted in a crucible rather than having been forged , with the result that it is more homogeneous. Most previous furnaces could not reach high enough temperatures to melt
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#17327931588817956-475: The 17th century, the first step in European steel production has been the smelting of iron ore into pig iron in a blast furnace . Originally employing charcoal, modern methods use coke , which has proven more economical. In these processes, pig iron made from raw iron ore was refined (fined) in a finery forge to produce bar iron , which was then used in steel-making. The production of steel by
8109-403: The 1950s and 1960s. At the end of 1970, it operated 1,903 miles (3,063 km) of road on 3,227 miles (5,193 km) of track; that year it carried 7,733 ton-miles of revenue freight and 21 million passenger-miles. Two of the most scenic routes survived in operation by the D&RGW until they were sold to tourist railroad operators. The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad assumed operation of
8262-533: The 86, Jim Fair, and Union mines near Fierro and Hanover in Grant County, New Mexico . Substantial reserves were purchased near Cedar City in Iron County, Utah but remained unmined. Limestone was initially obtained from a quarry a few miles south of Pueblo at Lime near the St. Charles River and later from a high-grade low-phosphorus deposit of limestone and dolomite near Howard . In 1903 CF&I
8415-608: The Arabs from Persia, who took it from India. It was originally created from several different materials including various trace elements , apparently ultimately from the writings of Zosimos of Panopolis . In 327 BC, Alexander the Great was rewarded by the defeated King Porus , not with gold or silver but with 30 pounds of steel. A recent study has speculated that carbon nanotubes were included in its structure, which might explain some of its legendary qualities, though, given
8568-476: The Colorado Midland to build a line from Glenwood Springs connecting with D&RG at Grand Junction. Originally considered a secondary branch route to Grand Junction, the entire route from Leadville to Grand Junction was upgraded to standard gauge in 1890, and the original narrow-gauge route via Marshall Pass became a secondary route. The first (1881-1889) Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway built
8721-708: The Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company, the Crystal River Railroad Company, and possibly the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Control was passed from the Iowa Group to Gould and Rockefeller interests in 1903 with Gould in control and Rockefeller and Gates representing a minority interests. Osgood left the company in 1904 and devoted his efforts to operating competing coal and coke operations. An experienced manager, Frank J. Hearne, retired president of National Tube Company, one of
8874-506: The D&RG fell into receivership after the bankruptcy of Western Pacific. The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW or DRGW) was incorporated in 1920, and formally emerged as the new re-organization of the old Denver & Rio Grande Railroad on July 31, 1921. In 1931, the D&RGW acquired the Denver and Salt Lake Western Railroad, a paper railroad subsidiary of the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad (D&SL) which had acquired
9027-511: The D&RG in August, 1883, while retaining that position with the Western. Frederick Lovejoy would soon fill Palmer's vacated seat on the D&RG, the first in a succession of post Palmer presidents that would attempt to direct the railroad through future struggles and successes. Following bitter conflict with the Rio Grande Western during lease disagreements and continued financial struggles,
9180-469: The D&RG went into receivership in July, 1884, with court-appointed receiver William S. Jackson in control. Eventual foreclosure and sale of the original Denver & Rio Grande Railway resulted within two years, and the new Denver & Rio Grande Railroad took formal control of the property and holdings on July 14, 1886, with Jackson appointed as president. General Palmer would continue as president of
9333-730: The D&RGW refused to join the national Amtrak system, and continued to operate its share of the Zephyr equipment as the Rio Grande Zephyr between Denver and Salt Lake City. By 1983, however, citing continued losses in revenue, the D&RGW decided to get out of the passenger business altogether and join Amtrak. With this move, Amtrak rerouted the San Francisco Zephyr to the Moffat Road line and rebranded it as
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#17327931588819486-406: The D&RGW's fuel-consuming "fast freight" philosophy. By the early 1990s, the combined Rio Grande/Southern Pacific system had lost much of the competitive advantage that made it attractive to transcontinental shippers, and became largely dependent on hauling the high-quality coal produced in the mine fields of Colorado and Utah. D&RGW locomotives retained their reporting marks and colors after
9639-414: The Iowa Group in control. Often idle during the decades of the 1880s and 1890s due to stiff competition and the effects of the panic of 1893 , the steel mill at Pueblo was small and obsolete. Due to economic conditions it was not possible to modernize it until 1899 when substantial improvements were made. including a rolling mill, additional blast furnaces, a modern Bessemer converter, open hearth furnaces,
9792-470: The Linz-Donawitz process of basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), developed in 1952, and other oxygen steel making methods. Basic oxygen steelmaking is superior to previous steelmaking methods because the oxygen pumped into the furnace limited impurities, primarily nitrogen, that previously had entered from the air used, and because, with respect to the open hearth process, the same quantity of steel from
9945-502: The Rockefellers and the coal industry. The United States Commission on Industrial Relations conducted extensive hearings singling out John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Rockefellers' relationship with Bowers for special attention. Bower was relieved of duty and Welborn restored to control in 1915 and industrial relations improved. In October, 1915 John D. Rockefeller Jr. with the assistance of William Lyon Mackenzie King , director of
10098-620: The Rockies , both referring to the Rocky Mountains . The D&RGW operated the highest mainline rail line in the United States , over the 10,240 feet (3,120 m) Tennessee Pass in Colorado, and the famed routes through the Moffat Tunnel and the Royal Gorge . At its height, in 1889, the D&RGW had the largest narrow-gauge railroad network in North America with 1,861 miles (2,995 km) of track interconnecting
10251-490: The Sociological Department. Their main focus was to better the lives of the workers and their families and to shape their political and economic views. The Sociological Department began educating the miners through night school to teach them English. The Sociological Department began to set standards for education by regulating the curriculum and getting miners' children involved. Richard Corwin came up with
10404-450: The UP has painted in stylized colors to help preserve the image of the railroads it has merged; the others are Missouri Pacific Railroad , Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad , Chicago and North Western Railway , Southern Pacific Railroad , and Western Pacific Railroad . The following people served as presidents (or the equivalent) of the D&RGW and its predecessors. By the beginning of 1948
10557-558: The Union Pacific's faster, less mountainous route and 39 3/4-hour schedules, the California Zephyr offered a more leisurely journey – a "rail cruise" – with ample vistas of the Rockies. Although the California Zephyr ran at full capacity and turned a modest profit from its 1949 inception through the late 1950s, by the mid-1960s the train was profitable only during the late spring, summer, and fall. In 1970, Western Pacific, claiming multimillion-dollar losses, dropped out. However,
10710-714: The Union Pacific, was retired by UP in December, 2008. As previously promised by UP, the D&RGW 5371 was donated to the Utah State Railroad Museum at Ogden's Union Station on August 17, 2009, and will reside in the Eccles Rail Center at the south end of the building. The museum is located at 25th Street and Wall Ave in Ogden, Utah. Many other Rio Grande locomotives still run in service with Union Pacific but have been "patch-renumbered," with
10863-434: The United Mine Workers over the issue of union representation , was against coal mine operators in Huerfano and Las Animas counties in southern Colorado where the majority of CF&I's coal and coke production was located, and was fought by the coal mine operators association and its steering committee which included Welborn, president of CF&I, who was spokesman for the coal operators. Bowers, Rockefeller's man, remained in
11016-479: The Utah line until retirement (due to company re-organization) in 1901. Throughout the railroad's history its primary heavy repair shops were located south of Denver , Colorado in Burnham. They were built in 1871 and equipped to service both narrow gauge and standard gauge rolling stock. In 1922 the site received $ 3 million in upgrades, expanding the capacity to repair locomotives and cars. The last steam locomotive
11169-446: The addition of heat. Twinning Induced Plasticity (TWIP) steel uses a specific type of strain to increase the effectiveness of work hardening on the alloy. Denver and Rio Grande Railroad The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad ( reporting mark DRGW ), often shortened to Rio Grande , D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad , was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as
11322-600: The area of Walsenburg, Colorado , were just a few of the mines owned by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The Colorado Supply company store was also owned and operated by CF&I. They also came to control many furnaces throughout the country, including E. G. Brooke in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania . The first, and only until World War II, integrated iron and steel mill west of St. Louis was built in 1881 in Pueblo on
11475-436: The austenite grain boundaries until the percentage of carbon in the grains has decreased to the eutectoid composition (0.8% carbon), at which point the pearlite structure forms. For steels that have less than 0.8% carbon (hypoeutectoid), ferrite will first form within the grains until the remaining composition rises to 0.8% of carbon, at which point the pearlite structure will form. No large inclusions of cementite will form at
11628-471: The austenite is for it to precipitate out of solution as cementite , leaving behind a surrounding phase of BCC iron called ferrite with a small percentage of carbon in solution. The two, cementite and ferrite, precipitate simultaneously producing a layered structure called pearlite , named for its resemblance to mother of pearl . In a hypereutectoid composition (greater than 0.8% carbon), the carbon will first precipitate out as large inclusions of cementite at
11781-487: The background. Few of the miners actually belonged to the union or participated in the strike call, but the majority honored it. Scabs were threatened and sometimes attacked. Both sides purchased substantial arms and ammunition. Most dangerous on the union side were Greek immigrants who were experienced veterans of the Balkan Wars . On October 26, 1913, Elias M. Ammons , the democratic governor of Colorado, responded to
11934-588: The beginning of the Great Depression due to falling demand. Production, which began in 1899 at the Sunrise Mine in Wyoming, was initially by open-pit mining at a cost of 15 cents a ton. By 1900, daily production was 2,000 tons. Purchase of the property was completed in 1904. Shortages of ore continued to plague operations at the refurbished Minnequa Works in Pueblo and some ore was obtained from
12087-494: The boundaries in hypoeutectoid steel. The above assumes that the cooling process is very slow, allowing enough time for the carbon to migrate. As the rate of cooling is increased the carbon will have less time to migrate to form carbide at the grain boundaries but will have increasingly large amounts of pearlite of a finer and finer structure within the grains; hence the carbide is more widely dispersed and acts to prevent slip of defects within those grains, resulting in hardening of
12240-521: The characteristics of steel. Common alloying elements include: manganese , nickel , chromium , molybdenum , boron , titanium , vanadium , tungsten , cobalt , and niobium . Additional elements, most frequently considered undesirable, are also important in steel: phosphorus , sulphur , silicon , and traces of oxygen , nitrogen , and copper . Plain carbon-iron alloys with a higher than 2.1% carbon content are known as cast iron . With modern steelmaking techniques such as powder metal forming, it
12393-527: The coal fields, but guerrilla warfare by the striking miners continued, and the government troops were beaten back. The governor requested assistance from Woodrow Wilson and units of the United States Army were deployed to the coalfields. There was a substantial increase in coal production in succeeding months. Attempts at negotiating a settlement in November, 1913 had been unsuccessful due to
12546-456: The coal operators refusal to talk to union representatives or to consider recognition of the union. After the violence in the Spring of 1914, United States Secretary of Labor William Bauchop Wilson attempted mediation . Further efforts by state and federal officials and experienced third parties who were brought in were also unsuccessful. Finally after George Alfred Carlson , a Republican, won
12699-479: The company and by the coal mining industry generally such as increased mine ventilation , sprinkler systems to keep coal dust wet, and liberal spreading of rockdust to dilute explosive coal dust. Concern over mine safety resulted in creation of the United States Bureau of Mines in 1907 and enactment of improved mine safety regulations in Colorado. CF&I's early labor relations were set in
12852-605: The company from a clerk, knew the operation well, and had the confidence of the company's staff. When Gould suffered severe financial losses due to the Panic of 1907 his need for funds resulted in transfer of his interests to Rockefeller. Gates preferred Lamont M. Bowers, his aunt's husband, with extensive management experience. Welborn was advised to take guidance from Bowers, who was hired as Welborn's subordinate. Welborn had little choice but to defer to Bowers which resulted in Welborn,
13005-762: The company infiltrated, propagandized against, and attempted to disrupt the Industrial Workers of the World . The labor force of CF&I was made up in large part of immigrants, many from eastern and southern Europe. Although experienced miners from Cornwall were encouraged to immigrate and were taken on particularly at the Sunrise Mine, much of the workforce was inexperienced and not fluent in English. This complicated communication of mine and industrial safety information. Due to their lack of sophistication it
13158-455: The company owned 318 steam locomotives, 62 diesel locomotives , 179 passenger cars and 14,662 freight cars . In 1962, there were 22 steam locomotives, 257 diesel locomotives, 96 passenger cars and 12,386 freight cars. This is a partial list of D&RGW passenger trains. Westbound trains had odd numbers, while eastbound trains had even numbers. Many of the trains were named and renamed as well as being re-numbered. There are over 180 names on
13311-492: The consolidation with the Southern Pacific and would do so until the Union Pacific merger. The one noticeable change was to Southern Pacific's "Bloody Nose" paint scheme. The serif font on the sides of the locomotives was replaced by the Rio Grande's "speed lettering", which was utilized on all SP locomotives built or repainted after the merger. On September 11, 1996, Anschutz sold the combined D&RGW/SP system with
13464-589: The context of the volatile and violent Colorado Labor Wars . Over the course of its history, the company has had numerous major labor disputes. CF&I was accused of brutality against the UMWA in a strike called by that organization in 1903-04. The best known strike culminated in the infamous Ludlow Massacre at the Ludlow Depot, a stop on the Colorado and Southern Railroad which was near several coal mines, in 1914. Evidence from CF&I's archives reveals that
13617-469: The current incarnation of the California Zephyr . Even as the D&RGW exploited the best new standard-gauge technology to compete with other transcontinental carriers, the railroad continued to operate the surviving steam-powered narrow-gauge lines, including the famed narrow-gauge line between Durango and Silverton, Colorado . Most of the remaining narrow-gauge trackage was abandoned in
13770-522: The defenders to leave. In March, 1880, a Boston Court granted the AT&;SF the rights to Raton Pass, while the D&RG paid an exorbitant $ 1.4 million for the trackage extending through the Arkansas River 's Royal Gorge . The D&RG's possession of this route allowed quick access to the booming mining district of Leadville, Colorado . While this "Treaty of Boston" did not exactly favor
13923-422: The desired properties. Nickel and manganese in steel add to its tensile strength and make the austenite form of the iron-carbon solution more stable, chromium increases hardness and melting temperature, and vanadium also increases hardness while making it less prone to metal fatigue . To inhibit corrosion, at least 11% chromium can be added to steel so that a hard oxide forms on the metal surface; this
14076-498: The direction of Dr. Richard W. Corwin chief surgeon of CF&I. The facility operated a number of blast furnaces until 1982. The main blast furnace structures were torn down in 1989, but due to asbestos content many of the adjacent stoves and support buildings still remain. The stoves and foundations for some of the furnaces can be easily seen from Interstate 25 , which runs parallel to the plant's west boundary. In 1902, facing cash flow problems, Osgood turned to George Jay Gould
14229-495: The establishment and building up of colonies, towns, coal mining, iron making and manufacturing works, and to build canals and wagon roads." The work on the mill began—under the original name for the steel producer: Colorado Coal and Steel Works —with excavation of the foundation for the first blast furnace in February 1880, on a prairie south of what would later become South Pueblo . A neighborhood of makeshift homes arose near
14382-544: The extensive and coal rich lands of the Colorado portion of the Maxwell Land Grant near Trinidad in Las Animas County were purchased through its subsidiary, the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Following this purchase mines and coking plants and railway connections were constructed by the Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company in 1901 and 1902 west of Trinidad, and facilities built for workers under
14535-413: The final steel (either as solute elements, or as precipitated phases), impedes the movement of the dislocations that make pure iron ductile, and thus controls and enhances its qualities. These qualities include the hardness , quenching behaviour , need for annealing , tempering behaviour , yield strength , and tensile strength of the resulting steel. The increase in steel's strength compared to pure iron
14688-648: The finest steel in the world exported to the Roman, Egyptian, Chinese and Arab worlds at that time – what they called Seric Iron . A 200 BC Tamil trade guild in Tissamaharama , in the South East of Sri Lanka, brought with them some of the oldest iron and steel artifacts and production processes to the island from the classical period . The Chinese and locals in Anuradhapura , Sri Lanka had also adopted
14841-513: The form of charcoal) in a crucible, was produced in Merv by the 9th to 10th century AD. In the 11th century, there is evidence of the production of steel in Song China using two techniques: a "berganesque" method that produced inferior, inhomogeneous steel, and a precursor to the modern Bessemer process that used partial decarburization via repeated forging under a cold blast . Since
14994-407: The gubernatorial election of 1914, on December 10, 1914 the union called off the strike due to a depletion of strike funds. Costs to both mine operators and the union were high. Due to reduced demand for coal resulting from an economic downturn many of CF&I's coal mines never reopened and many men were thrown out of work. The union was forced to discontinue strike benefits in February, 1915. There
15147-599: The hardenability of thick sections. High strength low alloy steel has small additions (usually < 2% by weight) of other elements, typically 1.5% manganese, to provide additional strength for a modest price increase. Recent corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) regulations have given rise to a new variety of steel known as Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS). This material is both strong and ductile so that vehicle structures can maintain their current safety levels while using less material. There are several commercially available grades of AHSS, such as dual-phase steel , which
15300-636: The idea that Kindergarten would be the best way to help the immigrant children become better citizens. Through the Kindergarten program, children were taught English and the importance of industrial labor in hopes of making them good future employees. Also part of the multi-pronged efforts to promote support for the Company in the latter-half of 1914, several schools were constructed, including one in Primero . In 1900, anticipating high demand for coal,
15453-454: The iron making process. Calumet was closed in 1899 and production shifted to the Sunrise Mine near Hartville, Wyoming about 100 miles north of Cheyenne which the company had leased in 1898. The Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company was organized as subsidiary to transport the ore. Orient was abandoned in 1905 but some ore continued to be mined and sold to the company by contractors until 1922 when it reopened, only to be permanently closed at
15606-400: The line between Antonito, Colorado , and Chama, New Mexico , in 1970. The last D&RGW narrow-gauge line, from Durango to Silverton, was sold in 1981 to the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad , exactly one hundred years after the line went into operation. In 1988, Rio Grande Industries , the company that controlled the D&RGW under the direction of Philip Anschutz , purchased
15759-479: The longest narrow-gauge tangent tracks in U.S. railroading (52.82 miles or 85 kilometers) also linked Alamosa with Salida to the north. From Antonito a line was built over 10,015 feet (3,053 m) Cumbres Pass , along the Colorado - New Mexico border, reaching Durango, Colorado , in August, 1881 and continuing north to the rich mining areas around Silverton in July, 1882. A line was also constructed in 1902 as
15912-439: The main production route. At the end of 2008, the steel industry faced a sharp downturn that led to many cut-backs. In 2021, it was estimated that around 7% of the global greenhouse gas emissions resulted from the steel industry. Reduction of these emissions are expected to come from a shift in the main production route using cokes, more recycling of steel and the application of carbon capture and storage technology. Steel
16065-563: The mining towns and support enactment of prohibition in Colorado, was strongly anti-union and refused to recognize or negotiate with the United Mine Workers during the period leading up to the major strike of 1913-14. The effects of that prolonged and violent strike ended his career with the firm. Company Government National Guard Events Locations Commemorations The strike, called in September, 1913, by
16218-450: The most part, however, p-block elements such as sulphur, nitrogen , phosphorus , and lead are considered contaminants that make steel more brittle and are therefore removed from steel during the melting processing. The density of steel varies based on the alloying constituents but usually ranges between 7,750 and 8,050 kg/m (484 and 503 lb/cu ft), or 7.75 and 8.05 g/cm (4.48 and 4.65 oz/cu in). Even in
16371-413: The nation's most productive coal mining regions, retired coal-fueled steam locomotives as quickly as new, replacement diesels could be purchased. By 1956, the D&RGW's standard-gauge steam locomotives had been retired and scrapped. The reason for this was that unlike steam locomotives, diesel locomotives could easily be combined, using the diesels' multiple unit capabilities, to equip each train with
16524-433: The new employer and the union. However, in September 2004, local unions 2102 and 3267 won both the strike and the unfair labor practice charges. All of the striking steel workers were returned to their jobs, and the company was forced to repay a record amount of back pay to all of the striking steel workers for the seven years of the strike. In addition to the blast furnace/open hearth steelmaking process, CF&I also used
16677-612: The optimum horsepower which was needed to meet the D&RGW's aggressive schedule. The D&RGW's sense of its unique geographical challenge found expression in the form of the California Zephyr , a passenger train which was jointly operated with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) from Chicago to Denver, the D&RGW from Denver to Salt Lake City, and the Western Pacific Railroad from Salt Lake City to Oakland , California (with ferry and bus connections to San Francisco ). Unable to compete with
16830-436: The oxidation rate of iron increases rapidly beyond 800 °C (1,470 °F), it is important that smelting take place in a low-oxygen environment. Smelting, using carbon to reduce iron oxides, results in an alloy ( pig iron ) that retains too much carbon to be called steel. The excess carbon and other impurities are removed in a subsequent step. Other materials are often added to the iron/carbon mixture to produce steel with
16983-598: The parent company Southern Pacific Rail Corporation to the Union Pacific Corporation , partly in response to the earlier merger of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe which formed the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway . As the Union Pacific absorbed the D&RGW into its system, signs of the fabled mountain railroad's existence are slowly fading away. D&RGW 5371, the only original D&RGW locomotive in full Rio Grande paint on
17136-643: The precious metals smelting industry fell off as first silver production was impacted by the panic of 1893 and then gold production fell off in the first decade of the 20th century and used refining techniques which did not require large quantities of coke. The large copper smelting companies operating in the area, Phelps Dodge and The American Smelting and Refining Company , invested in their own coal mines and coking plants in Colfax County, New Mexico and Cokedale, Colorado . In 1901, in an effort to deal with its mostly immigrant workforce, CF&I formed
17289-480: The predecessors of U.S. Steel was brought in September, 1903 to manage the enterprise. In 1904 the assets of the firm and its subsidiaries were consolidated as Colorado Industrial Company whose stock was wholly owned by the shareholders of CF&I, mainly Gould and Rockefeller. This put all properties of the firm under a single management. Gross sales were substantially increased but increasing profit proved elusive due to competition from eastern produces. Income in 1907
17442-522: The president of the company, being only a figurehead and sometimes resulted in him having to make decisions he would not have made on his own motion. Effectively in charge from 1908 to early 1915, Bowers applied his managerial skills to making the company profitable, reducing employment rolls, closing marginal operations, and reducing improvements and the companies sociological and medical programs. His efforts were successful; profits increased and dividends were paid. The steel mill operated at full capacity and
17595-603: The prevailing standard gauge . Palmer's first hand impressions of the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales buoyed his interest in the narrow-gauge concept which would prove to be advantageous while conquering the mountainous regions of the Southwest. Eventually the route of the D&RG would be amended (including a plan to continue south from Pueblo over Raton Pass) and added to as new opportunities and competition challenged
17748-566: The process of vertical integration , the company came to own more than just the main steel plant. Over the course of a century, CF&I operated coal mines throughout southern Colorado, as well as iron mines in Wyoming and Utah , limestone quarries, smaller mines for other materials going into the steel making process, and the Colorado and Wyoming Railway . In Redstone, Colorado , hundreds of coking ovens converted coal into coke . The Mcnally, Cameron, Robinson and Walsen Mines located in
17901-449: The product but only locally relieves strains and stresses locked up within the material. Annealing goes through three phases: recovery , recrystallization , and grain growth . The temperature required to anneal a particular steel depends on the type of annealing to be achieved and the alloying constituents. Quenching involves heating the steel to create the austenite phase then quenching it in water or oil . This rapid cooling results in
18054-759: The production methods of creating wootz steel from the Chera Dynasty Tamils of South India by the 5th century AD. In Sri Lanka, this early steel-making method employed a unique wind furnace, driven by the monsoon winds, capable of producing high-carbon steel. Since the technology was acquired from the Tamilians from South India, the origin of steel technology in India can be conservatively estimated at 400–500 BC. The manufacture of wootz steel and Damascus steel , famous for its durability and ability to hold an edge, may have been taken by
18207-457: The purist of original D&RG intentions, the conquering of new mining settlements to the west and the future opportunity to expand into Utah was realized from this settlement. By late 1880, William Bell had begun to organize railway construction in Utah that would become the Palmer controlled Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway in mid-1881. The intention of the D&RGW (aka the "Western")
18360-664: The railroad's expanding goals. Feverish, competitive construction plans provoked the 1877–1880 war over right of way with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway . Both rivals hired gunslingers and bought politicians while courts intervened to bring settlement to the disagreements. One anecdote of the conflict recounts June, 1879, when the Santa Fe defended its roundhouse in Pueblo with Dodge City toughs led by Bat Masterson ; on that occasion, D&RG treasurer R. F. Weitbrec paid
18513-594: The railroad's overhead signal pole lines. The D&RG also pushed west from Walsenburg, Colorado , over La Veta Pass (now "Old La Veta Pass") by 1877. At the time the 'Uptop' depot on Veta Pass, rising over 9,500 feet (2,900 m) in elevation, boasted the highest elevation for a narrow-gauge railroad. The railroad reached Alamosa by 1878. From Alamosa, a line was pushed south through Antonito eventually reaching Santa Fe, New Mexico (the Chili Line ), and west as far as Creede, Colorado . A line containing one of
18666-482: The result of a merger, the larger Southern Pacific Railroad name was chosen for identity. The Rio Grande operated as a separate division of the Southern Pacific until 1992. Today, most former D&RGW main lines are owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad while several branch lines are now operated as heritage railways by various companies. The Denver & Rio Grande Railway (D&RG)
18819-557: The rights to build a 40-mile (64 km) connection between the two railroads. After years of negotiation, the D&RGW gained trackage rights on the D&SL from Denver to the new cutoff. In 1932, the D&RGW began construction of the Dotsero Cutoff east of Glenwood Springs to near Bond on the Colorado River , at a location called Orestod (Dotsero spelled backward). Construction was completed in 1934, giving Denver
18972-477: The solid-state, by heating the ore in a charcoal fire and then welding the clumps together with a hammer and in the process squeezing out the impurities. With care, the carbon content could be controlled by moving it around in the fire. Unlike copper and tin, liquid or solid iron dissolves carbon quite readily. All of these temperatures could be reached with ancient methods used since the Bronze Age . Since
19125-473: The south side of the Arkansas River by the Colorado Coal and Iron Company (CC&L), an affiliate of the narrow-gauge Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company (D&RG), controlled by General William Jackson Palmer and Dr. William Abraham Bell . Its purpose in part was to manufacture rails for the railway. Local resources included water from the Arkansas River, coal from Trinidad , limestone from
19278-477: The states of Colorado, New Mexico , and Utah. Known for its independence, the D&RGW operated the Rio Grande Zephyr until its discontinuation in 1983. This was the last private intercity passenger train in the United States until Brightline began service in Florida in 2018. In 1988, the Rio Grande's parent corporation, Rio Grande Industries , purchased Southern Pacific Transportation Company , and as
19431-401: The steel. At the very high cooling rates produced by quenching, the carbon has no time to migrate but is locked within the face-centred austenite and forms martensite . Martensite is a highly strained and stressed, supersaturated form of carbon and iron and is exceedingly hard but brittle. Depending on the carbon content, the martensitic phase takes different forms. Below 0.2% carbon, it takes on
19584-561: The steel. The early modern crucible steel industry resulted from the invention of Benjamin Huntsman in the 1740s. Blister steel (made as above) was melted in a crucible or in a furnace, and cast (usually) into ingots. The modern era in steelmaking began with the introduction of Henry Bessemer 's process in 1855, the raw material for which was pig iron. His method let him produce steel in large quantities cheaply, thus mild steel came to be used for most purposes for which wrought iron
19737-561: The technology of that time, such qualities were produced by chance rather than by design. Natural wind was used where the soil containing iron was heated by the use of wood. The ancient Sinhalese managed to extract a ton of steel for every 2 tons of soil, a remarkable feat at the time. One such furnace was found in Samanalawewa and archaeologists were able to produce steel as the ancients did. Crucible steel , formed by slowly heating and cooling pure iron and carbon (typically in
19890-525: The upper carbon content of steel, beyond which is cast iron. When carbon moves out of solution with iron, it forms a very hard, but brittle material called cementite (Fe 3 C). When steels with exactly 0.8% carbon (known as a eutectoid steel), are cooled, the austenitic phase (FCC) of the mixture attempts to revert to the ferrite phase (BCC). The carbon no longer fits within the FCC austenite structure, resulting in an excess of carbon. One way for carbon to leave
20043-660: The various finished products. Several of the administration buildings, including the main office building, dispensary, and tunnel gatehouse have been purchased by the Steelworks Center of the West to house their Steelworks Museum and the Steelworks Archives. Steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon with improved strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Because of its high tensile strength and low cost, steel
20196-603: The western edge of San Juan Mountains to Ridgway, Colorado on Montrose–Ouray branch. The D&RG built west from Leadville over 10,240 feet (3,120 m) Tennessee Pass in an attempt to reach the mining areas around Aspen, Colorado , before its rival railroad in the area, the Colorado Midland , could build a line reaching there. The D&RG built a line through Glenwood Canyon to Glenwood Springs , reaching Aspen in October, 1887. The D&RG then joined with
20349-603: The widespread violence by ordering out the Colorado National Guard . Striking miners were forced to abandon their homes in company towns and lived in tent cities erected by the union such as the tent city at Ludlow, a railway stop north of Trinidad. Under the protection of the National Guard, some miners returned to work and some strikebreakers imported from the eastern coalfields joined them as Guard troops protected their movements. In February, 1914
20502-496: The works, initially called Taylorville, then Steelworks, then, as more permanent dwellings were constructed, Bessemer in 1881. Initial capacity of the mill in 1881-82 was 80 short tons (73 t) per year from the first blast furnace, while a second furnace was being built, and the mill employed 300-400. The first steel rails were produced in April 1882 for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad 's Silverton Branch . The market for steel
20655-428: The world's steel in 2023. Further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the final product. Today more than 1.6 billion tons of steel is produced annually. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations . The modern steel industry
20808-603: The years following up to and during the General Colorado coal strike of 1927, which remains one of the few historically persevered record of company spying on labor organizing, given the secretive nature and risk of bad publicity it brings. On November 7, 1990 CF&I filed for protection under Chapter 11 . In 1997, the steelworkers union in Pueblo voted to strike over alleged unfair labor practices . The old CF&I facility, under new ownership, hired permanent replacement workers , leading to further tension between
20961-504: Was $ 1.07 million on sales of $ 23.8 million in 1907. In November, 1903 the United Mine Workers struck the coal mines near Walsenburg and Trinidad. The strike, which lasted 11 months, produced no gains and demoralized the miners, was fought vigorously with strikebreakers and reduced steel production. The company was able to maintain coal inventory for sale to the company's customers, thus preventing state interference due to
21114-485: Was destitution in the coal fields. With the help of funds from the Rockefeller Foundation relief programs were organized by the Colorado Committee on Unemployment and Relief, a state agency created by Governor Carlson, offering work to unemployed miners building roads and doing other useful projects. The casualties suffered at Ludlow were successfully labeled a massacre and mobilized public opinion against
21267-718: Was developed in Southern India and Sri Lanka in the 1st millennium BCE. Metal production sites in Sri Lanka employed wind furnaces driven by the monsoon winds, capable of producing high-carbon steel. Large-scale wootz steel production in India using crucibles occurred by the sixth century BC, the pioneering precursor to modern steel production and metallurgy. High-carbon steel was produced in Britain at Broxmouth Hillfort from 490–375 BC, and ultrahigh-carbon steel
21420-509: Was formerly used. The Gilchrist-Thomas process (or basic Bessemer process ) was an improvement to the Bessemer process, made by lining the converter with a basic material to remove phosphorus. Another 19th-century steelmaking process was the Siemens-Martin process , which complemented the Bessemer process. It consisted of co-melting bar iron (or steel scrap) with pig iron. These methods of steel production were rendered obsolete by
21573-423: Was incorporated on October 27, 1870, by General William Jackson Palmer (1836–1909), and a board of four directors. It was originally announced that the new 3 ft ( 914 mm ) railroad would proceed south from Denver and travel an estimated 875 miles (1,408 km) south to El Paso via Pueblo, westward along the Arkansas River, and continue southward through the San Luis Valley of Colorado toward
21726-493: Was no longer required for direct service), but a problem still remained: for transcontinental service, the Union Pacific 's more northerly line was far less mountainous (and, as a result, several hours faster). The D&RGW's solution was its "fast freight" philosophy, which employed multiple diesel locomotives pulling short, frequent trains. This philosophy helps to explain why the D&RGW, despite its proximity to one of
21879-423: Was not uncommon to see trains running with midtrain and rear-end helpers. In 1997, a year after the D&RGW/SP merger with Union Pacific, the UP closed the line. Although it has been out of service for more than two decades, the rails are still in usable condition, though many of the signals have been ravaged by time and vandals. In 2011, under a federal Beautification Grant, a private contractor removed and scrapped
22032-574: Was one of the Dow Jones Industrials. The steel-market crash of 1982 led to the decline of the company. After going through several bankruptcies , the company was acquired by Oregon Steel Mills in 1993, and changed its name to Rocky Mountain Steel Mills. In January 2007, Rocky Mountain Steel Mills, along with the rest of Oregon Steel's holdings, were acquired by EVRAZ Group , a Russian steel corporation, for $ 2.3 billion. Through
22185-458: Was possible to influence how the workers voted. Fraudulent voting of this nature was employed extensively by company operatives to accomplish various personal and company goals. Lamont M. Bowers, effectively the chief executive officer of CF&I, in addition to his paternalistic concern regarding vices such as drinking, gambling, and prostitution which might affect the health of CF&I workers, and also company profits, and his efforts to clean up
22338-438: Was produced globally, with 630,000,000 tonnes (620,000,000 long tons; 690,000,000 short tons) recycled. Modern steels are made with varying combinations of alloy metals to fulfil many purposes. Carbon steel , composed simply of iron and carbon, accounts for 90% of steel production. Low alloy steel is alloyed with other elements, usually molybdenum , manganese, chromium, or nickel, in amounts of up to 10% by weight to improve
22491-757: Was produced in the Netherlands from the 2nd-4th centuries AD. The Roman author Horace identifies steel weapons such as the falcata in the Iberian Peninsula , while Noric steel was used by the Roman military . The Chinese of the Warring States period (403–221 BC) had quench-hardened steel, while Chinese of the Han dynasty (202 BC—AD 220) created steel by melting together wrought iron with cast iron, thus producing
22644-778: Was pushed to Leadville later that same year. From Salida, the D&RG pushed west over the Continental Divide at the 10,845 feet (3,306 m) Marshall Pass and reached Gunnison on August 6, 1881. From Gunnison the line entered the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River passing the famous Curecanti Needle seen in their famous Scenic Line of the World Herald. The tracks left the increasingly-difficult canyon at Cimmaron and passed over Cerro Summit , reaching Montrose on September 8, 1882. From Montrose,
22797-518: Was serviced in 1956, at which time the locomotive department was converted to service diesel engines. The other major back shop site was in Salt Lake City , Utah, built in 1883. The shops in Alamosa , Colorado primarily serviced narrow gauge rolling stock. The D&RG built west from Pueblo reaching Cañon City in 1874. The line through the Royal Gorge reached Salida on May 20, 1880, and
22950-426: Was slightly expanded. Greater profits proved elusive, however, due to eastern competition and limited transportation facilities such as a perennial shortage of railway cars to ship coal. There was a series of disastrous explosions from 1904 to 1910 at the coal mines near Trinidad which resulted in substantial casualties. Attempts to prevent such disasters resulted in substantial improvements in mine safety techniques by
23103-402: Was slow due to intense competition from eastern mills, and the mill was often idle. The company turned to production of coke and coal opening additional mines near Trinidad and others near Canon City , Walsenburg , and Crested Butte . Coke ovens were built at El Moro north of Trinidad and at Crested Butte. In the early 1890s, demand for fuel fell, and the company faced stiff competition from
23256-677: Was the largest producer of coal in the Rocky Mountain west with 23 mines in Las Animas , Huerfano , Fremont , Gunnison , Garfield , and Pitkin County, Colorado producing 53% of the coal mined in Colorado and its 9 coking plants producing 89% of its coke . Steam coal for use in boilers and locomotives was produced in the Huerfano district, coal for home heating in the Canon district, and anthracite at Crested Butte. Demand for coke by
23409-514: Was to work eastward from Provo to an eventual link with westward bound D&RG in Colorado. This physical connection was realized near the Green River on March 30, 1883, and by May of that year the D&RG formally leased its Utah subsidiary as previously planned. By mid-1883, financial difficulties due to aggressive growth and expenditures led to a shake up among the D&RG board of directors, and General Palmer resigned as president of
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