Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-10
PRODUCTION OF ORE.
A Reported Iron Consolidation Re-
ceiyed With Suspicion.
THE MARKET UNAFFECTED BY 1T.
Some Big Producing Companies of the Lake
Superior Region
THAT EXTRACT GoOD-sIZED DIVIDENDS

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM To THE DIsPATCH,l
CHICAGO, Aug. Q.-yhe report of the re-
cent consolidation of the Minnesota Iron
Company with the Chicago and Minnesota
Ore Company, which was sent out from De-
troit flew days ago, is received with sew
eral grains of salt in Chicago. One of the
best informed iron ore men here talked
freely to THE DISPATCH correspondent in
reference to the reported combine and its
effect on the iron ore market, in the
course of which some other iron ore mat
ters were touched upon.
81 do not take much stock in the report, -
said the gentleman, whose name is sup
pressed at his request. ut seems to have
originated in Cleveland and was sent from
there to Minnesota and from there
over the country. The Minnesota
with all authorized capital of S26, 900, 900
and with an actual capital of S14, 900, 900.
With the exception of the Chandler Iron
Company, which has a capital of about
81 000, 900, it is the ouly extensive operator
in the Minnesota district, and produces
about nine-tenths of the ore mined in that
district.
ANOTHER BIG COMPANY.
The Chicago and Minnesota Ore Company
has cash capital of $4,000, 900 and owns a
large amount of ore-producing territory in
the Minnesota district, but it is not mining
ore at ALL There has been some talk about a
consolidation, but it has not been consum-
mated, and / think it is very doubtful that
it will be. If consolidation should be
made it will not have the slightest effect on
the general market. There are three other
great ere-produeing districts in the Lake
Superior region, the Gogebee, the Mar
quette, and the Menominee, any one of
which produces more ore than the MiRne-
sofa district. Besides, each produces all the
varieties of ore to be found in any of the
others.
There is not the slightest possibility of
combining those four great ore-producing
districts, with their product of between
seven and eight million tons per year, In
iron ore, buyers have the widest possible
competition. / would be perfectly willing
to make this broad statement, that there Is
no mere possibility of making a cembina-
tion of all the ore mines of the Lake Supe-
rior districts than there would be to make
combination to prevent mice from ca ing
cheese"
'Do you know anything about the profits
that are being made by the Ore-mining COM
panies?'
81 know that the Lake Superior mines,
that are fair producers, are money-makers;
the stockholders get very fair returns On
the capital invested and most of the COM
panies are dividend payers The rate
of profit varies greatly, but it Is i'm
good companies are paying from 6to II per
cent per year."
'Is there any tendency on the part of
manufacturers to own and operate their
own mines?'
NOT IN THE BUSINESS.
'No; as far as have observed the ten
deney is all in the contrary direction. the
Illinois State Company, which is the largest
consumer of ore here, does not have a dollar
invested in iron ore mining, nor does the
Calumet Iron and Steel Company, nor the
lroquois Furnace Company: l do not
know of any Cleveland manufacturing con-
Germs that are mining their own ore, but
think there are some in Pittsburg which
mine ore in the Menominee district and also
in the Minnesota district, but not on
large scale.
''The reason for that is very plain. A
manufacturer requires q variety of ores, and
to obtain it he would have to go into iron
mining extensively. The business has fallen
almost wholly into the hands OF mining
companies. During the past few years the
prices of iron ore have been steadily on the
decline; the rate of reduction from year to
year has been about equal to the fall in the
price of pig iron, There is no special rea-
son for this, other than competition and the
operation of the law of supply and de-
mand."
POSITION OF CHICAGO.
Speaking of Chicago as an iron ore center
the gentleman quoted said that while the
of this city and the surround
ing towns is largely on the increase, there
Is no immediate prospect of its becoming q
great center of distribution.
I'm that respect" said he, Eve cannot
hold a candle to the Lake Erie district, in
Guiding such ports as Cleveland, Ashtabula
and Erie, through which the fiirnacemen of
Ohio and Pennsylvania draw their supply,
but Chicago and the surrounding towns will
this year consume 1,25o, 200 tons of iron
pre-"
THERE WAS FIRE IN THE BUNKERs.