The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1892-11-18
FORTUNES ON THE n0cKs
HEAPS OF vALUELEss-LooK
eTURf WORTH MILLIONS.
Millions or Tons OF Iron Ore Find
Their Way Co Lake Eric Ports-A
fas~s - fo Int m se ~

o Cleveland (Oatc) letter 10 tno ,SrW
York Advertiser, that will surpass IN
unique and peculiar interest tho sight
that may be seen daily at the orc ports
OF Like Erie.
The discovery Of extremely rich and
almost inexhaustible deposits OF Bessemer
orc In tho Lake Superior districts a
quarter OF century ago, as we'll as more
recently, has been followed by the
growth OF commerce that Is unrivalcd
OF its kind In the world, aud no where
to-day will such mountains Of rich orc
bo found hespel ready for the trans
forming fire Of the furnaces rs at Cievc-
land, Ashtabula, Fairport aud Buffalo
and at South Chicago, on Lake Michi.
gan.
The ore, being less bulky than coal,
can be carried farther than the coal in
the journey toward each other, 80 that
but little ore is reduced in tho upper
peninsula of Michigan. Much OF 1t
meets the coal at Chicago aud Cleve.
land, but the greater part is carried to
the Mahoning Valley and Western Penn
sylvania furnaces. As the lakes arc
open for navigation but seven months in
the year, It Is necessary to find storage
place for the Gre required to supply tho
furnaces during the winter months. As
cordingly, at Cleveland, Ashtabula aud
Farport miles OF docks have been built,
lining the narrow rivers that put into the
lake at these points, and here, during
the summer, Is unloadcd hundreds of
thousands OF tons OF iron ore and gradu-
ally forwarded to tho furnaces by rail.
1t Is almost impossible to appreciate
the magnitude Of this great traffic with
out walk along the docks between
great ranges Of iron ore hills, thirty AMI
forty feet in height, only few railroad
tracks separating them like narrow val
leys, aud overhead great steel frame
work Of ore hosting machines. The
rattle OF the steel buckets rs they are
raised from the holds of the great black
hulI.d vessels by the docks and 60
creaking OH the cantilevers back to
whatever point the engineer has elected
to dump them startles one, and the
stranger dodges involuntasily as they
rush backward and forward over his
head.
Half hidden behind tho ranges Of red,
brown or sparkling gray ore, the colors
varying with tho qualities, is the pony
engine operating each set Of hoistinS
machines, putting aud Kissing away,
adding familiar element to the strange
scene. Now train Of flat cars comes
creeping along, drawn by snorting
switch engine. In each car aro dozen
fills Of those great ton buckets, looking
like such light load, rs compared with
the hcaping coal cars so usu.l In other
plnces, yet testing the strength of the
gondoaS quito as fully. A red dust ricc4
and falls, and the laborcrs are covered
with it. Their clothes are ocherous red,
boots the color OF the tanbark piles they
knew as leather, and sweat burrows arc
down their dusty faces snd through the
rust tinged boards.
The unloading OF vessel at one of
these docks Is rapid work. All the lako
orc carriers have six aud many Of them
eight hatchcs, and when they come to
the dock hosting machine is put to
work in each. Tho great buckets arc
filed below, while tho others are drawn
up and cmptied, sometimes being carried
back on the overhead railway Of tho
cantilevcrs three hundred feet or more.
Thus it is possible to take .wo thousand
tons-enough to load one hundred and
fifty ordinary fiat cars-from u vessel in
six or eight hours.
Few persons can appreciate wha.
500, 900 tons OF ore means without
having 1t put in somu mere familiar
shape. The docks at this port, where
that amount or more Is received every
year, have river frontage of over two
miles, aud are from $50 to 2S5 feet
deep. Here is heaped hills of fine red
and brown hematite, like so much ocher.
Gus gravel, or TIE coarscr Jumps OF
sparkling gray magnetic ore, varying
widely in quality and price.
The casual observer rs he walks along
can distinguish but four or five, or at
, most half a dozen, grades Of ore. But
experts know that these immense conical
piles are strictly classified, and that up
ward Of eighty different grades have
their place in the market lists. But how
much is l, 500, ,00G tons OF orc7 Loaded
on flat cars thirty-tivc feet long and
carrying fifteen tons each it would make
2 ss3iu VO iuiicS iolS, Ut IlDIc liiiu 'lNt
times the distance from Cleveland II
Pittsburg! Yet this is but abon: one
third the iron orc laid down at Lake
Eric ports every summer. The total
would more than Gil two trains OF such
nat cars extending from Chicago to New
York City!
Besides this great ore traffic, which
annually am cunts to so, 900, ,OoO or more
in value, there is shipped from the ports
of Lake Erie an immense amount OF coal,
both anthracite and bituninols, to Ca
cago, Milwaukee, Du.uth aal smaller
points, where it is storcl for shipment
farther west durin. the winter IN ,nths.
This requires very different set o:
docks, and in cxtent they exceed the orc
docks. Cleveland leals in tho amount
of btuminous coal shipped, handling
over 1000, 600 tons annually.
The coal docks are over two miles in
| length, but narrow, apd the coal is uSu'
ally loadcd directly from the cars by
means OF derricks that handle grca;
buckets holding half ton or more. Tho
work is slower than that OF loading ore
or unloading it, but new device hat
inst been ere ctcl hero that DromiSeS 10