STEEL: From Failure to Failure

When Green River Steel was conceived at the start of the Korean war, it seemed to Kentuckians a bright idea. The Louisville area was loaded with surplus scrap that could be used to make steel. In the awakening Ohio Valley there were plenty of potential customers. With an $8,500,000 loan from the Government and the rest from private sources. Green River's $13 million plant rose near Owensboro, one of the few new U.S. steel companies in decades.

But Green River, hampered by inexperienced management and inadequate equipment, was hard hit by the post-Korea steel dip, ran up an overburdening debt...

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