The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1861-02-06
OUR IRON RESOURCES.

per Peninsula Of our State was not known
previous TO 1916, the year during which
the Deputy United States Surveyors
were engaged in running tho Township
lines in that portion of the Upper PENN.
sula, known rs The Lake MichigammC
country, region lying nearly midway
between Lake Michigan ON the south, and
the head of Ken-enaw bayou on the north
On approaching this region, the survey.
ors suddenly discovered that the needles
Of their compasses would not work, but
were constantly attracted hither and
thither, and so serious did this difficulty
become that the survey was temporarily
abandoned; but was finally accomplished
by the "solar compass" soon after invent
cd by Mr.. William A. Burt, one of the
Deputy Surveyors. Upon examination
into the causes which had interfered with
the compass, il was found that nearly the
whole region was underlaid with specular
and magnetic iron ore. In some instan-
ces the ore was discoverable above the
surface in hillocks, but the whole country,
for miles in extent, was found underlaid
with this mineral.
Specimens Of the ore from various por-
tions of this vast mineral region were
submitted to the most skillful chemists
for analysis, and it was found that the
specimens so submitted were as pure as
any yet discovered on the face of the globe,
being entirely free from the deleterious
minerals usually found in iron ores, to
wit; Sulphur, phosphorus, arsenic, and
nearly free from manganese, and thus
rendered capable of producing the best
iron in the world, if properly wrought
supposition now amply verified by the
manufacture and use of iron wrought
from the ore of that region, proving its
quality equal if not superior to the best
English or Scottish iron, much to the cha
grin of the old iron masters OF Pennsvl
vania, who at the time Of the first dis
covery Of the ore, ridiculed the idea that
Michigan could ever become an iron-pro-
ducing State, or, that under any circum-
stances, her iron ore, or manufactured
iron would, in any way, compete with the
great iron manufacture or trade of the
Keystone State. But on the other hand.
Michiganders knowing that it was next
to impossible to make the best quality of
iron from tho ores of Pennsylvania, from
the fact that they contained more or less
impurities, felt confident that the day was
not far distant when Michigan, though |
abused and ridiculcd in the infancy of her
mineral developments, must of necessity
control the iron market of the American
Continent. An event, we are confident,
that will yet be realized, inasmuch as one
hundred pounds of her ore will yield six
ty-five pounds of pure, refined, metallic
iron, and the resource is iuexhaustible.-
And, besides, iron of this pure quality
can be manufactured and put in market
at as low price as the inferior qualities
OF other States, with proper available IA
cilities for manufacture, and the ease of
transportation market-wise, afforded by
the st. Mary's Canal.
Small amounts of metallic iron were
first manufactured in this region in 1851,
and again during the years 1852 and
1853, but nothing worthy of note was
accomplished till the completion of the
docks and railroads in 1857 1.-THE Canal ]
having been completed in 1859. ,
In that year Qs57), $4,000 tons of
iron were shipped to market. On the
irst day of January, 1858, the first blast s
furnace for making pig metal was COM a
pleted. There are now five of those fur Q
naces in full operation. il
In the year 1853, there were shipped p
from Marquette-the shipping point Of [
The whole rcgion-so,S27 tons of ore b
md 1000 tons of pig metal In 1859 if
10000 tons of ore and 5000 tons of pio il
metal were shipped. In 1860, 100000 d
ons of ore and 5000 tons of pig metal o,
we're shipped. Besides the amount ship p
'ed, $500 tons of pig iron were used Ii
t Marquette, in 1860, for machinery and W
astings, two small foundries having been IL
rected there in 1859. IL
AS early as 1853, when iron from the til
re in this region first began to be used pa
extensively in various narts of