St. Paul daily globe., 1892-02-21

owner profit of 80 cents per ton be-
sides paying royalties. AS is well un-
derstood, large amount of the coal
brought here comes as ballast. By
| turning out their own coke DuluthianS
can manufacture pig iron at this roint
for about $3.50 per ton, and can say
with the Count of Monte Cristo, THE
| world is minel''
The advantages to be derived by the
city from the immense body of ore lying
at her doOryard, almost, are lnealcul-
hle. As already stated, the lines OF road
are headed that way. More than that,
they are reaching out and fairly jump
| ing ahead. The Duluth. Mesaba IL
Northern has got its right of way
cleared and is building its bridges,
and the company claims to be able to
get its iron laid by July l. When that
is done mammoth ore docks will have
| to be constructed. and that will mean
the addition of at least 10000 people to
| Duluth'S population. From ore docks
| to iron manufactures Is but step, and
hence must necessarily follow the loca-
ton of iron works OF every character,
such as blast furnaces, rolling mills,
steel plants and the thousand and one
! industries, both great and small, that
| follow on the heels OF the opening up of
| such monstrous beds of ore as are now
adjacent to this city. The terminals of
| these roads ii. e., the Duluth. Mesaba "
Northern and the Duluth & Iron Range)
at this point would also mean the loca-
tion of immense saw mills to manufact-
ure the vast bodies Of pine timber with
which the Mesaba range abounds. 1t is
| claimed-and the claim seems amply
borne out by the facts-that the range
| above-Damed has the largest body of
White Pine Timber Untouched
| in the world, all of which is tributary to
the Mesaba 4 Northern and Duluth
Il Iron Range. Owing to the fact that
the range is the dividing line Of the
| streams, all of which are too small to
| float the logs, there are no faculties for
! getting it out except by rail, and OF
course when once loaded on the cars
distance Is annihilated. and the lum-
ber could be laid down here, manu-
factured aud shipped by the great lakes
to all parts of the earth. Speaking of
the Duluth, MeSaba & Northern re-
calls the fact that the directors OF the
road held meeting on Friday and let
| the contracts for the construction OF a
road to the Biwabik mine.
| While all this talk of advantage to
this city is little beside the question
| of the value of the iron properties, yet
! it must be taken into consideration.
Without the establishment of blast fur
naces to utilize the ore in the manufact-
ure of pig iron, the location of rolling
mills to roll out the pigs" into mer-
| chant iron. and the building OF manu-
| factories to use up that commodity. the
| iron range might dS well be bowling
| wilderness, covered the year round with
may be stated that Mr.. Porter, of the
| great Joliet iron and steel works, is in
terested in the development of the
| Mesaba range, and it is more than
| probable that a branch of that man.
| moth concern may be located at the head
| of the lakes. Several Pennsylvania
| iron men have talked pretty freely of
| establishing big concerns here, and 1t is
not improbable that within the next
| five years Duluth may become what
some have already predicted she will
eventually be, the Birmingham of the
| American continent. Already there is
III existence the nucleus of great man
| ufacturing center. At West Duluth
| there are the shops and blast furnace of
| the big car company, while across the
bay, as heretofore stated, there are the
| plants of the steel barge company and
| the Superior Iron ana Steel company.
| With view of seeing the easy method
| of handling ore in vogue here your cor
| respondent VlSlIeu
| The Blast Furnace
| in West Duluth a day or so ago, and
was much impressed with the ease and
| rapidity with which the stuff was dis
posed of. During last summer a large
| amount of dredging was done, thus en-
abling boats to run right up to the
| docks. There it is loaded into dump"
| cars and run up unto enormous sheds
and dumped" Large iron wheelbar-
rows carry it to the edge of an inclined
| plane, upon which large car IS
| operated by means of an endless cable.
and from there it is rapidly transported
to the top of the furnace and poured
| into it, the whole operation lasting but
very brief period. While this is
doubtless the method employed every
| where else, have merely spoken of it
| here in order that the speculatively in
| clined public who are not otherwise
| familiar with the situation may under
| stand that there is market right here
| for it now, and that it is being handled
with so much ease and cheapness.
Illustrative OF the great size of the de-
| pOsitS. it may be stated that the extent
| OF the Mesaba range is at least 120 miles,
| but from town 5S-16 distance of thirty
| miles west will cover the principal ex-
| plorationS of the western range. West
| of this the range hattenS out and is COW
| cred with deep surface. and although
a great deal Of work has been done,
| nowhere have the proSpectorS found
| over six feet, and this at depth of sixty
| or more feet. East from 56-16 is where
the big mines are, and then the forma-
| tion changes, graduating from hematite
into mixture of hematite and limo
mite. which upon further exploration may
show clean bodies of either. AS pre-
viously stated, the ore contains from 60
| to 81 per cent of metallie iron, and most
| of the analyses so far made indicate that
| it is low in phosphorus, which is the re-
! fractory element in iron, and conse-
| Quently will make good Bessemer steel.
Some of the analyses show small per-
| centage of manganese, which is said by
| experts to be adesirable ingredient. One
! resultsof the cheapneSs of the production
| of Minnesota ore will be the driving of
| the Alabama iron out of the market, or
| else it will serve to meet the increased
demand for the metal. In either case
| the future of the product is assured. As
| to the amount, it is
Practically Inexhaustibfe.
| One prominent dealer in iron. lands,
| whose head is always level. claims that
the output of the present mines on the
MesaDa range will be about $4,000 600
tons, at cost OF about 30 cents per ton.
| OF that amount the Biwabik owners
claim abont 20,oOO,OOO tons, while the
Cincinnati. closelto this property. have
ore beds fully as rich. The stock of
| this company is going like wildfire,
every day and every mail bringing in
| buying orders.
At the risk of doing what William
Shakespeare never did. repeating him.
self, your correspondent desires to en-
phasize the warning given a day or two
ago concerning wildcat companies"
| AS is always the case following on the
heels of any mining excitement, these
| concerns fall in thicker than leaves in
Vallambrosa. The result is always the
same. The speculative public, in its
eagerness to acquire wealth, or have
wealth thrust upon it, buys up the stock
as eagerly as the proverbial gudgeon