Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-12-01

Carleton" writes to the Boston Journa
the following interesting facts relative tt
the iron-miners of the Northwest:
az THE MINERS.
4 The miners are hardy set of men
rough, uncouth, but enterprislng. They
live IN small cottages, make excellent
! wages, drink whisky, and rear large fami
lies. How happens it that in all new com
munities there is such an abundance OF
children? Nearly every woman has child
in her arms. We cannot expect to see the
reinements and luxuries of old communl-
ties in a country where the stumps have
not yet been cleared from the streets, and
where 5he spruces and hemlocks are still
waving about the little cottages of the set
! tiers.
! But here are the elements of society.
! These hard-handed men are developing this
region, ca hing livelihood for themselves
and enric ing those who employ them.
Towns are springing into existence. We
| find Ishpeming a thriving town rising out
! Of a swamp. Imagine if you can spruce
| forest stan ding in bog where the trees are
so thick that there is hardly room enough
for the lumbermen to swing their axes, the
swamp being stagnant pool of dark-color-
ed water covered with green slime.
| An enterprising town-builder purchased
| this swamp for song, and has laid out a
| city. Here it is-dwelling houses and
stores standing on posts driven into the mud,
or resting on stumps. He has filed .rp
streets with debris from the mines. FROG
croak beneath the dwellings, or sun them
selves on the sills. The town is not thus
growing from the swamp because there is
no solld land, but because solid upland has
exhaustless beds of iron ore beneath. too
Vol hin no tod 4r L.
poses.
CHARACTER OF THE ORES ..r
The ore is generally found in hills rang
ing from one hundred to five hundred feet
above the level OF the surrounding coun-
try. The elevations can hardly be called
mountains; they are knolls rather. and
each one Is composed of ore. They are
iron warts on Dame Natures face. They are
partially covered with earth, the slow form
ing deposits of the alluvial period. You
would not think, to look at the surface, that
the dense forests crowning these hills rested
on an iron foundation, but Prof. Pierce
will walk with you over the ground and in
form you where the veins commence and
where they leave of, by observing the dip
pings of his magnetized needle. Land sTir-
veyors are put to their wits end in making
surveys in this section, the iron being
strongly magnetic.
There are five varieties of ore. The most
valuable is what is called the esspeeular
hematite, which chemically is known as a
pure dfehydrOus sesqui-oGide. IF your read
ers know what that means, [ shall rejoice
that they are well-informed, but it is Greek
to me. This ore yields about 65 per cent.
OF pure iron. 1t is sometimes found in con-
junction with red quartz, and is then known
as mixed ore.
The next in Importance is a soft hematite.
resembling the ores of Pennsylvania and
Connecticut. It is quite porous, is more
easily reduced than any other variety, and
yields about so per cent. of pure iron.
The magnetic ores are found further west
than those already described The Michi-
gan, Washington, Champion and Edwards
mines are all magnetic. Sometimes the
magnetic and specular lie side by side, and
it is puzzle to geologists and chemists
alike to account for the difference between
the ores. AS yet we are not able to under
stand by what subtle alchymy the change
has been produced.
Another variety is called the silicious he
mantle, which is more diffiult of reduction
than the others. 1t varies in richness. and
there is an unlimited supply.
The fifth variety is silicious hemanite
mixed with manganese, which, when mixed
with other ores, produces an excellent
quality of iron Very little of this ore bas
been mined as yet, and its relative value is
not ascertained.
MIXING ORES.
The best iron cannot be manufactured
from one variety of ore, but by mixing ores
strength and ductility is obtained. Eng
land sends to Russia and Sweden for mag
NoEio +, IL, ~.
Lancashire, for the manufacture of steel.
The fires of Sheffield would soon go out if
the manufacturers of steel in that town
were dependent on English ore alone The
lronmasters there could not make steel good
enough for blacksmith's use, to say moth
ing OF that needed for cutlery, if they were
cut off from foreign magnetic ores.
Here, at Lake Superior, the ores neces-
sary for the production of the best of steel
lie side by side. A mixture of the hema-
t1te and magnetic ores gives metal supe-
r1or IN every respect, to any that England
can produce.
This one fact settles the question of the
future of this region. It is to become one
OF the great iron marts of the world It is
to give, by and by, the supremacy to
America in the production of steel.
1t is already settled, by trial, that every
grade OF IRON now IN use, IN arts and man
utactures, can be produced here at Lake
Superior by mixing the various ores.
THE FUTURE.
ssIt is possible that this meager deserip-
ton of this region may not interest your
readers, but as for myself l can say that I
have seen few localities SO full of promise
for the future-not this one little spot in
the vicinity of Marquette, but the metallic
region between Lake Superior and Lake
Michigan.
Look at the locality-midway the Allan
tic and the Pacifc-Lake Michigan having
the southern, Superior the northern shore
with water carriage to the Atlantic One
hundred and fifty miles of rail from Bay
field will give connection with the naviga-
bic waters of the Mississippi. Through
this peninsula will yet lie the shortest
route between the Atlantic and the Pacific
| Westward are the wheat fields of the con-
tinert, to be peopled by anindustrious and
thriving community. There is no point on
the continent more central than this for
easy transportation.