The Industrial HeartlandThere are basically seven factors that must be met before an industrycan start to take place in a particular area. Those seven factors are: rawmaterials, transportation, energy, markets, labour, capital, and government.
The Industrial Heartland is almost like one big industry, connected in a vastmegalopolis. I’ll be taking a closer look at these factors and the way thisarea meets the locational factors.
The Industrial Heartland is an area that includes: Quebec, Ontario,Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, NewYork, Maryland, Washington DC, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Delaware, NewJersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Raw Materials(ex. iron ore, coal, limestone etc.) is an unprocessedmaterial used as the base for primary industry. The Industrial Heartland hasmany different mining sites throughout it. (ex-the nickel mine in Ontario,mines in Pittsburgh, Gary, Baltimore, Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie….etc.)Transportation is extremely important in this area. Most mines andmills are located by waterways to make transportation readily available for it’stransport’s. Coal, limestone, and many other kinds of mines use the GreatLakes to transport, which happens to be in the middle of the IndustrialHeartland. They usually have tons of material to move so water transportationcan carry lots of material, it’s cheap, but it’s also slow. Another importantroute in this region is the St. Lawrence Seaway, which was an significantfactor in the decision of industries to locate in this region. Other mainwaterways in this region are: Ohio River, Mississippi River, New York StateBarge Canal System, New York Harbour, Philadelphia Harbour, and BaltimoreHarbour.
There is also Railway to consider for transportation. They can almostgo anywhere in this region, but they are more expensive than Waterway transport,and not as adaptable as trucks.
Truck hauling is considered the best for most of the transport. Thoughthe cost of fuel has increased over the years, trucks are still the maincarrier of cargo.
Energy, is one of the most, if not the most important factor forindustries. Every industry needs power, energy. Some sources of energy are:Hydroelectricity, Thermal electric, natural gas, and coal.
Hydroelectricity is a good choice for energy for home requirements, butfor industry, they need tremendous amounts of energy.To meet therequirements of an industries power, the industry would have to locate near thehydroelectric plant, and there is just simply not enough hydroelectric sites.
Thermal electricity is a commonly used power source for industry. It’sconvenient for the industry.
Markets refer to trade, selling of goods to consumers. The IndustrialHeartland offers many places for markets, as it has a large population,therefore, demand. So, an industry close to the demand wouldn’t have totransport that much. Usually if their is high request for an item, themanufacturer would set prices higher to grasp extra transportation costs.
Labour-The Industrial Heartland would be an ideal place to locate, asit has a very high population, thus havingmany people, and workerslooking for jobs. Many people live, locate to the Industrial Heartland to findjobs. There is a widespread of jobs in the industrial heartland-many differentoccupations are found there.
Capital is the cash flow, equipment, and buildings of/needed by acertain industry. Obviously, to set up an industry you need a capital. It’slike the starting money of the business/industry. Stocks are usually bought byconsumers, so an industry can raise it’s capital (stock-share in a company).
Bond issues and bank loans are just some of the other ways industries start up.
Government-Municipal, provincial, and federal government are concernedwith the industry. Government encourages industry, for the growth of the region.
The job of each part of the government is as follows: municipal-choose land forthe industry(make sure it’s suitable), provide sewers, roads, electrical lines,schools, health care, and police protection. Provincial-sets rules/regulations,so on, for the industry to obide by. Provide energy, employee-training, enforcelabour laws, safety standards, & working conditions. Federal-provides carriageand facilities-finances the construction of highways, harbours and airports, andenforces tariff.
The Industrial Heartland meets all it’s locational factors, andprovides many jobs for people in the region. I think transportation, markets,and population of this region has greatly contributed to the amount of industrywithin it.
