I just spent a weekend riding 70 miles of gravel, 5000' up and down on my Peter Mooney as a celebration if it turning 40. Sweet ride! Didn't envy the guys riding their new gravel bikes costing far more; jut their legs that were sometimes ad much younger than my legs as their bikes were. Later this summer my bike will hit 50,000 miles.
In that 40 years, it has done fast club rides, long day rides (130 miles + a few times), up and down mountains. It has crashed. Minor crashes, hard crashes. It's fallen over and hit things. Seen less than gentle treatment from movers. And every time I get on it, I get reminded it is a sweet, sweet ride! (I have two custom ti bikes, so it isn't like the rest of the time I ride crap.)
Now, steel does not mean the "magic" is there. Steel can be done badly. Like any material, the details need to be tailored to a good fit for that rider and use. Still, there is a very long history of steel bikes that were that "magic". Many builders and a quite a few big companies regularly did and do turn out those bikes.
Ben