A HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND VOL III, by Peter Ross, LL. D., The Lewis Publishing Company, New York, NY. 1902. Page 136, JAMES E. YORK.

James E York is acknowledge to be one of the best informed men in all branches of iron and steel manufacturing, with its many ramifications, having taken an active part in its development in this country from its infancy. He is thoroughly conversant with its various phases and potentialities .

Born in England, February 3, 1846, at Wednesbury, South Staffordshire, Mr. York served his apprenticeship at this business in the only way in wich a complete and accurate mastery of details can be acquired-by actual manipulation and hard work in a steel works. After twelve years spent at the works of the Patent Shaft and Axletree Company, Mr. York sought, like so many have done, a wider scope for his talents, and came to this country at a time when as yet its immense manufacturing developments were only in their very inception. He obtained a position at Troy in connection with one of the earliest Bessemer steel plants erected in the United States, and carried out projects and improvements there that surprised much older heads than his own. His next position was at Akron, Ohio where he had charge of the finishing department of the Akron Iron Company, and then of the finishing department of Swift's Iron & Steel Works at Newport, Kentucky. During this period he introduced patented improvements in the iron and steel business of great value and wich are now in general use. The Burgess Iron & Steel Works at Portsmouth, Ohio, next claimed his attention, and as it's manager he succeeded in putting it into a flourishing condition, although at the time he took matters in hand it was almost looked upon as a "forlorn hope." These works were for twenty years in the hands of the York family, until they were finally merged into the Crucible Steel Company of America. The next work that engaged his energies was the rebuilding of the New York & Ohio Works at Ironton, Ohio and he subsequently became the manager of the Birmingham Rolling Mill at Burmingham, Alabama Mr. York afterward organized the works of the York Iron Company At Black River Falls, Wisconsin, and when this plant had been put into successful operation he proceeded, at the request of the citizens of Ashland, that state, to form the Ashland Iron & Steel Company, and built the phenomenal furnace there wich up to the present time is the largest and most successful charcoal blast furnace in the world.

During these years Mr. York frequently spoke in public on important phases of the iron and steel industry and on the suitability of locations at the head of Lake Sperior, and he may be regarded as the pioneer of the movemet to establish steel works and blast furnaces at that point. He was known as the " The Iron Giant " on account of the largeness of the plans he promoted to further the iron and steel business and the gigantic possibilities he thereby opened up for that part of the country. The citizens of Duluth enlisted his aid in the development of buisiness in their town. Living there and fully recognizing the importance of the immense iron ore deposits in that neighborhood, he organized the Ironton Structural Steel Company and built works under the York patents for the manufacture of structural steel. These patents have since been adopted in Germany and a large manufactory erected there. At the present time Mr. York is interested chiefly in utilizing his scientific and practical knowledge to introduce patented methods by wich steel can be brought into more general and at the same time more economic use.

Kindness, amiability and courtesy not only characterize his social relations, but are a marked feature of his in his business life, and the humble employee never sees a trace of the overbearing taskmaster in him. That the relations have always been of the pleasantest character is indicated by the fact that there has never been a strike in any of his mills. He believes in paying good wages and his employes know that faithful service will mean for them a good financial return, and will bring promotion as opportunity occours.

Mr. York was married January 22 1874 in Portsmouth, Ohio, to Miss Mary Elizabeth McConnell, a daughter of Samuel Mcconnell, of that place, and they have one child, Howard P. Mr. York attends St Paul's Episcopal church, Flatbush, and makes his home at No. 1811 Albemarle Road, Flatbush. He belongs to the Midwood Club, the Engineers Club, the Iron and Steel Institute of London. England, and also the American Institute of Mining Engineers, New York.

To the subject of this review there has come the attainment of a distinguished position in connection with the great material industries and financial institutions of our nation, and his efforts have been so discerningly directed along well defined lines that he seems to have realized at any one point of progress the full measure of of his possibilites for accomplishmentat that point. A man of distinctive and forceful individuality, of broad mentality and most mature judgment, he has left and is leaving his impress upon the industrial world, while his study of economic questions and matters of public policy has been so close, practical and comprehensive that his judgement is relied upon and his utterancees have weight in those circles where the material progress of the nation is centered.