ll not have been performed if we omit the history of the works.

Creusot, which to-day is a regularly-built city with a population of
28,000 souls, was in 1782 but a poor hamlet called Charbonniere. The
existence there of a coal bed had long been known, and iron ore had
been found not far off. But how establish works in a locality deprived
of a water course, and distant from the large ways of communication?

In 1782 the steam engine, which Watt had just finally improved,
removed the first difficulty, and the second was soon to disappear,
thanks to a projected canal. An iron foundry was then established
there under the patronage of Louis XIV., while the Queen had
glassworks erected.

As long as the war lasted the foundry supported itself through casting
cannons and balls, but after the year 1815 it became necessary either
to transform the works or sell them. It was decided to do the latter.
The Messrs. Chagot, who became purchasers in the sum of $180,000, were
in turn obliged to sell out in 1826. Creusot was then ceded to Messrs.
Manby & Wilson, who already had works at Charenton. At the end of
seven years of efforts this firm made a failure, and, finally, in
1836, after six million dollars had been swallowed up, Creusot was
bought for $536,000, by Messrs. Adolphe & Eugene Schneider & Co. The
period of reverses was at an end, and one of continued success was
begun.

The new managers had seen that carriage by steam was soon to follow,
and open up to metallurgy an entirely new horizon. The works were
quickly transformed and enlarged, and in 1838, the first French
locomotive was turned out of them. After locomotives came steamboats.
It was then that the necessity of forging large pieces gave the idea
of a steam hammer.

By a coincidence that can only be explained by the needs of the epoch,
the English came upon the same discovery almost at the same time, and
the Creusot patent antedated the English one by only two months.

Two years afterward, frigates such as the Labrador, Orenoque,
Albatros, etc., of 450 H.P., were rivaling English vessels on the
ocean.

After the death of Mr. Adolphe Schneider, on the 3d of August, 1845,
his brother Eugene, left sole manager, displayed an activity that
it would be difficult to exceed. He made himself familiar with the
resources and productions of foreign countries and of France, and then
made up his mind what to do. He desired to make his works the finest
in the world, and it ha