I Have been asked to chronicle for the Journal an experience of the power of Truth.
My business has to do with iron furnaces, commonly known as blast furnaces, in which iron ore is smelted and purified. These furnaces are cylindrical in shape, sixty to eighty feet in height and twelve to twenty feet in diameter. The melting point is near the bottom of the furnace where a blast of heated air is introduced at great pressure. As the melting process takes place the iron goes to the bottom and the dross, or slag, being lighter, rises to the top of the molten mass. After this separation the iron and slag are tapped off. The operation goes on unceasingly day and night the furnace being kept full of fuel and ore, clear to the top. The blast is stopped only when the machinery needs repairing, or for lack of materials.
Sometimes, when stopped for an unusual length of time, or under other so-called adverse conditions, the mass of molten iron and partly fused material begins to cool off, and this is considered a very serious state of affairs. In the furnaceman's language, "the furnace is chilled." At times the mass becomes so much cooled as to be set and hard, and explosive blasting is resorted to in order to remove the material.
