New-York daily tribune., 1865-09-30
IEON IN THE SOUTHWEST.
To n. Editor of The Y y frijune.

To n. Editor of The n y. Gijune
SIR: American civilization in its grand march
westward has reached ouG partly Inded two *
tersys mineral districts WHICH, long the human
race retains its present habits and requirements must
remain centsrs of interest TO the American iron and
steel manufacturer ore borders the southern shore Of
Lake Superior aud along railroads pours It's store
Of Ich spccuar ore into vessels that penetrate bar
bors from Chicago to Buffalo there to be smeied,
thence to be distributed by rail into the coal and char
coal regions Of Illinois Michigan Indiana Ohio Penn.
.yvana and NewYork. Although bu, ten years
opened IL already as shown in a recent communication
produces for ghth Of all the pig iron made In
the United States. This is the great deposit of Il o
North West and its products promise for ages to form
the chief supply Tor toe .ast furnaces within the basin
of the great lakes. and the region readily accessible
thereto as the valley Of the Mahoning. the Slenango
the Beaver and the Upper Ohio.
The vast interior river system. whose outlet IL the
Mississippi. and which reaches with naygabe streams
thousands II coal seams. aud millions Of OF char
coal land has its central pont-in Iron and ST,
Francois Counties Missouri. and the district west
warda mineral region producing. Ike the Lake Supc.
rior mines rich hard and pure ore. suited for ex.
tended carriage easy TO eIcayate and practically mex
hausIibe in quantity.
This is the great iron deposi. Of the Southwest and
its existence fix In the early future cen,ers OF industry
ut localities where. going out from IT, pure stone COZ,
shall be most readily accessible Possessing chemical
qualities very similar the lake ore and not there.
FORE especially demanded for mining and costing about
the price at the mines. tho question Of cost OF
portation will fix the district n which each variety
Of orc will ultimately prcdomiaatc The two ores al.
ready at Pittsburgh but here Lake Superior will In
time be almost # not quite exclusively. used At Gin.
cnnnti they again meet and will probably continue to
compete with the advantage growing the side Of
the southern ore. which win supply the region westward
Of this point In the Ohio valley aud throughout the val
ley Of the Mississippi River and many of It's tributaries
But means Of egress is now In existence for the
products Of the iron region Of Missouri the Iron Noun.
tain Railroad. which is surveyed from ST. Louls TO
Memphis 279 miles. skirts the shores Of tho Mississippi
River for 20 miles at 70 miles reaches Iron Mountain
and at So Pilot Knob to which point II was built In
1885, The remaining l93 miles to Memphis exist only
paper The highest grades Of the finished portion
u the road 50 feet per mile In favor OF and feet
per mile against the trade It will be seen that the
river navigation Is reached in co miles from the mines
and at point called Illinois Station viii be the proba
bic future shipping and smelling locality since here
coal and meet at the lowest aggregate cost ard
cheap water carriage may commence. The approach.
ing visitor recognizes the Iron district by tho groups OF
hills resembling tho mountains OF Marquette County
and OF the Sterling District OF Southern New York In
remarkable degree These hills are tbs eastern end