Boom in Birmingham

Last month the U.S. steel industry turned out more steel than ever before in its history --some 6,460,000 tons, up 10% from preceding month, far above the 5,920,000 tons produced in 1929's best month. It was not enough. With defense orders piling up faster than the steel could be made, the need for expansion in basic steel capacity was obvious. Biggest expansion news last week came not from steel headquarters in Pittsburgh, but from Birmingham, Ala. There, Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad will spend $20-25,000,000 for new capacity.

Birmingham is almost a T. C. I. creation. When General Sherman marched to the sea, Birmingham was part cornfield, part foul-smelling swamp. In the '70s some damyankee speculators swooped down, began exploiting the rich, freak coal, iron and limestone deposits. Called "The Magic City," Birmingham spent its youth in filth, poverty, lawlessness. At one time it was called The Murder Capital of the World. When control of T. C. I. switched to U. S. Steel in 1907, Birmingham began to grow up. Slowly, painfully, the town spread out, cleaned up. Bursting with faith in the city, T. C. I. spent $29,000,000 on expansion in 1936, has spent more millions since. Today, Birmingham has a score of skyscrapers, a church for every 700 citizens, a 53-foot cast-iron statue of Vulcan (atop a WPA-built, 120-foot pedestal) in Red Mountain Park.

But Birmingham is still changing fast. Two years ago the basing point system's freight-rate differentials against Birmingham were abolished, and Birmingham, whose pig iron is $4.83 a ton cheaper than Pittsburgh's, got a green light to expand. Defense has hastened the process. Purely defense backlogs for the area total at least $90,000,000, include $8,000,000 shell contracts let last week, $32,400,000 for four destroyers in its shipyards, $23,500,000 for Reynolds Metals' aluminum plant. Though four Birmingham companies have had educational shell orders for a year and a half, so far not a single shell has left town. Reason: they can't get machine tools. Meanwhile steelmen are racing against the time when they may be called a bottleneck too.

First to make ready is Birmingham's godfather, T. C. I. Last week, as Alabama steel mills roared at 100% of capacity (Iron Age said 109%), tall, redheaded, reticent T. C. I. Chief Robert Gregg announced the 18-month expansion which will boost his pig-iron capacity more than 20% to over 2,000,000 tons. Steelman Gregg will add one blast furnace (boosting Alabama's active total to 191, renovate 18 standing open-hearth furnaces, build 70 coke ovens, install a 140-inch plate mill, modernize all mining operations.

No. 2 Alabama steelmaker is Republic, which took over volatile Gulf States Steel three years ago. At Gadsden and Thomas, its eleven furnaces, 94 coke ovens are straining to turn out 650,000 tons of steel annually. Republic's district boss, Charles L. Bransford, must worry over his low-grade ore reserves. Instead of envying T. C. I.'s higher-grade ore, he built a pilot mill, is experimenting to find better ways to smelt his resources.

Old Sloss-Sheffield Steel is producing pig iron at the rate of 526,200 tons a year. Behind the scenes, it too is expanding; Sloss-Sheffield will soon build two blast furnaces, hike annual output by some 700,000 tons to make it No. 2 Birmingham steelmaker, ahead of Republic. The three blast furnaces, 220-odd coke ovens of Woodward Iron, No. 3 U. S. independent merchant iron producer, are booming at capacity.

For all its progress, Birmingham has not lived up to earlier promises. In 1906 John Warne("Bet-a-Million")Gatespredicted 1,000,000 population in 20 years; today only 268,000 people live within city limits, 350,000 in the metropolitan area. Overexcited by incredibly handy mineral deposits, Steelmaster Henry Clay Frick forecast 21 years ago that Birmingham would outrank Pittsburgh. Last year all of Alabama produced less than 5% of U. S. steel, against the Pittsburgh area's 28%. But last week, even the most pessimistic Birminghamian was being convinced"The Magic City" was more than a promoter's gag.

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