And this led to the erection of the Lucy Furnace in the year 1870--a venture which would have been postponed had we fully appreciated its magnitude.

We heard from time to time the ominous predictions made by our older brethren in the manufacturing business with regard to the rapid growth and extension of our young concern, but we were not deterred.

We thought we had sufficient capital and credit to justify the building of one blast furnace.
The estimates made of its cost, however, did not cover more than half the expenditure.

It was an experiment with us.

Mr.Kloman knew nothing about blast-furnace operations.