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Northwestern Steel and Wire

The Northwestern Steel and Wire Company started out in Rock Falls, Illinois as the Northwestern Barbed Wire Company in 1879. In 1912, after the purchase of the Griswold Company, the Northwestern Barbed Wire Company moved its operations to Sterling, Illinois. In 1936 two electric furnaces and rolling machines were added to the barbed wire factory. This equipment allowed the company to begin to manufacture low carbon steel. Two years later, the company was renamed Northwestern Steel and Wire (NWSW).

The company continued to grow over the years. Their production really took off during the Second World War as they began to manufacture materiel to support the war effort. Two fifty ton electric furnaces were added during that time to keep up with the growing demand. Both of those furnaces were enlarged in 1950 to be able to handle up to 150 tons. Then, in 1968, a 250 ton furnace was added to further enlarge its production capabilities. During the 1970s NWSW's production capabilities grew even more. A total of three 400 ton Electro-melt furnaces were added during that decade. When the second one was added in 1976, these 400 ton furnaces were the largest in the world. In 1979, when the third large furnace was added, the Northwestern Steel and Wire Company employed 4,678 people. This year marked their highest production capacity and employment rate.

Things soured for steel companies in the 1980s, though. Steel companies suffered a depression worldwide and the competition between steel companies intensified. The company showed large losses in the first few years of the decade and they were never quite able to recover. The company continued to decline through the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s. In 1998 Northwestern Steel and Wire discontinued most of their product lines and, in 2001, the company folded.

One other interesting piece of information about NWSW was its use of steam engines. They continued to use steam locomotives until the end of 1980, well after most of the rest of the country had moved to diesel fueled engines. Northwestern Steel and Wire Company's steam engines were among the last to be used anywhere in the United States.

As with most steel manufacturers, NWSW used asbestos extensively. Asbestos is a mineral found all over the world in naturally occurring deposits. It was cheap and easy to get and had the ability to resist heat and flames. Asbestos comes in the form of long, thin fibers that are very easy to work with. Not only was asbestos used in the machines and tools used to make steel, it was often added to the steel products, themselves. Ladles, boilers, steam pipes and ovens regularly had asbestos in them or added to them for insulation purposes. The steam engines that the company used in the scrap yard also had asbestos in them. One of the saddest used of asbestos was in the manufacture of protective suits for the workers who spent their day working directly with the hot materials. The very clothing that they wore to protect them may have been contributing to their death.

Asbestos breaks apart and crumbles very easily, especially as the products they were used in aged. The dust that forms contains millions of microscopic fibers that were inhaled and swallowed by the any workers in the area. The contact didn't even have to be direct. Often the ventilation systems in the factory would spread the dust to all areas of the company, including the offices attached to the main manufacturing area. The dust was also often carried home in the workers clothing, where it would contaminate their house and begin to infect their families.

Once asbestos enters the body, there is no natural elimination process and the fibers do not degrade. In other words, the fibers stay in the body for the rest of the victim's life. For instance, once the fibers reach the lungs of an individual, they sit there. As the person breathes and the lungs move, the fibers begin to scratch up the delicate tissues in the lungs. As the lungs heal, a scar tissue is formed that can't pull the oxygen from the air anymore. Once the scarring reaches a certain level, it begins to seriously affect the person's ability to breathe. Many deaths have occurred as a result of this disease, known as asbestosis.

It's also possible that the fibers make their way to the outside of the lungs, where they affect the mesothelium. This is a protective lining in the body that covers most of the vital organs. Over the years, and it can take anywhere from fifteen to fifty years for the damage to show up, the fibers irritate and inflame the mesothelium. Eventually, tumors form and the person is diagnosed with a cancer called mesothelioma. The average lifespan of a patient diagnosed with mesothelioma is anywhere from six to eighteen months. There is no cure for either asbestos or mesothelioma and the effectiveness of any treatments entirely depends on early detection. If you worked for the Northwestern Steel and Wire Company, you need to make sure and let your doctor know.

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Select... Mesothelioma Lung Cancer Asbestosis Severe Asbestosis Unknown

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