THE FULLER (FLATIRON) BUILDING, NEW YORK CITY] HISTORICAL 1619.--Iron works established on Falling Creek, Va. 1643.--First foundry in Massachusetts, at Lynn. 1658.--Blast furnace and forge at New Haven, Conn. 1679.--Father Hennepin discovers coal in Illinois. 1703.--Mordecai Lincoln, ancestor of Abraham Lincoln, establishes iron works at Scituate, Mass. 1717.--First bar iron exported from American Colonies to West Indies. 1728.--Steel made, Hebron, Ct. 1732.--Father of George Washington establishes furnace in Virginia. 1740.--First iron works in New York, near Hudson. 1750.--Bituminous coal mined in Virginia. 1766.--Anthracite coal discovered in Pennsylvania. 1770.--First rolling-mill in Colonies, Boonton, N.J. 1801-1803.--Lake Champlain iron district, New York, developed. 1812.--First rolling-mill at Pittsburg. 1828.--Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, first steam railway in the United States, begun. 1829.--"Stourbridge Lion," first locomotive in America, used in Delaware & Hudson Railway. 1830.--The T rail invented by Robert L. Stevens. 1830.--First American locomotive, "Tom Thumb," built by Peter Cooper at Baltimore. 1830.--Twenty-three miles of railway in the United States. 1844.--Lake Superior iron ores discovered by William Burt. 1850.--First shipment of Lake Superior ore, ten tons. 1857.--Iron industry founded in Chicago. 1862.--Phoenix wrought iron column, or girder, first made. 1864.--Bessemer steel first made in the United States. 1865.--First Bessemer steel rails in the United States rolled at Chicago. 1890.--First armor-plate made in the United States rolled at Bethlehem, Pa. 1890.--The United States surpasses Great Britain in production of pig-iron. 1900.--The United States leads in the production of open-hearth steel. =Gold.=--Gold is one of the metals earliest to be mined. It is mentioned by the ancient profane as well as by sacred writers. Pictorial representations of fusing and working the metal are sculptured on early Egyptian tombs, and beautiful gold ornaments have been found that were made by the prehistoric peoples who once occupied ancient Etruria, in Italy. Columbus found gold ornaments in the possession of the aboriginal Americans. The Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico possessed large quantities of gold. [Illustration: LEACHING (CYANIDE) TANKS DISSOLVING THE GOLD FROM THE ROASTED ORE] [Illustration: STOPING OUT A TUNNEL] [Illustration: INTERIOR OF MILL] [Illustration: GOLD MINING]