VII-27
FORCES CHANGE THE WEST ORANGE LABORATORY
The great adventure the nineteenth century ended with
one last effort turn the Ogden mine into paying
proposition. slight rise the price midwestern ore
encouraged Edison return the mine 1897. Andrew Carnegie
once said that "pioneering don't pay" and the ore separation
venture proved him right, least the iron ore
business. This was Edison's
greatest failure both financially and technologically; had
been unable produce cheap ore his magnetic separation
process and had lost fortune ore milling. Edison was convinced that had "almost
turned the corner" the ore milling venture 1898 and told
his business associates that the work was finished. Edison's technical approach failed because was
unreliable and too costly. Carnegie had
. spent most
of that year Ogden, while William Gilmore ran the operation
36
at West Orange. the other hand, Carnegie followed
the old fashioned wisdom finding the cheapest source raw
materials and locating the plant next it. But the
cold winter 1898/99 forced him stop work and returned
to West Orange, admitting defeat private while maintaining a
brave front his business associates
