Frick's entrance into the combination gave the concern an unlimited supply of the highest grade of coking coal.

In a few years, the Carnegie interests had acquired great holdings in the Minnesota ore regions.
At first glance, the Pittsburgh region seems hardly the ideal place for the making of steel.

Fortune first placed the industry there because all the raw materials, especially iron ore and coal, seemed to exist in abundance.

But the discovery of the Minnesota ore field, which alone could supply this essential product in the amounts which the furnaces demanded, immediately deprived the Pittsburgh region of its chief advantage.

As a result of this sudden development, the manufacturers of Pittsburgh awoke one morning and discovered that their ore was located a thousand miles away.