The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1895-06-29
HUNTING FOR BEssEMERs,

All the high-grade Bessemcr ores oil the
old ranges have been sold and there Is
now selecting OF those Mesabi range
ores that give best results in furnace
and ia combination with ores from the
older districts.
With consumption OF Bessemers at its
present stage IL will not be many years
before there will be scarcity unless
other fields arc found. The cream Is be-
ing SKINNED of at rapid rate. The
amount OF Bessemer ore in sight can he
easily computed. II is not difficult
matter to predict the output OF the next
five ycars. There may be changes IN
some OF the mines, but the product OF
each may bc very closely estimated. The
editor OF Iron Ore, rs he goes about tho
state OF Michigan inspecting iron mines,
Is well convinced that the drain upon the
more valuable stores Of ore is making
serious inroads into the available
supply. These millions made sad havoc
underground, and soon there will be a
story to tell that will be anything but
pleasing to both producers and consum-
crs OF this superior article.
Not only are the Bessemers being rap
idly exhausted. but they are being mined
and sold at figures that seldom give any
thing like decent profit to oeiihercapital
or labor. While the fight for n pnce in
the market has been keen, 1t has been
conducted on very short-sighted plan.
The business OF supplying the Besscmer
orc market is in comparatively few
hands. BY n combination OF the few n
fair price could be realized. There has
been u slight Improvement this season
due to meetings called to help prices, but
il could have gone much further.
Today there is little or no call for nom
Bessemer ores. Mines that formerly
could dispose Of this class in connection
with their better grades are not now
always able to make such disposition OF
IL. The call IL for "steep' ores and
nothing but that. Ores that give but
forty per cent In iron and are below the
Bessemcr limit in phosphorus are Ending
a place, while non-Bcssemers holding
sixty-iour per cent metallic f.on are idle
for want of market. There is steel
craze in this country, and 10 keep it in
force Bessemer ores are demanded. The
latter are going out in long train loads,
and in but lew instances can the miners
make a dividend from it's sales.
Iron Ore has frequently called atten-
tion to the foolishness OF this fact. Soon
the Bcssemers will have been gone, or
what remains will be expensive tosecure,
and all these years OF hard labor, and
all these thousands OF dollars put into
mining enterprises will have been lost.
Bessemer ore, as demanded today, is
worth fully 81 90 per ton more than the
price being received. The mines produc-
ing ores OF this class are fast being robbed
OF their best deposits. The non-Bessc-
mcrs have to be sacrificed TO the demand
OF the consumer FOR ores OF gilt edge
grade. They arc left in the ground, often
where 1t will not be easy 10 secure them,
mines are being badly wrought because
OF the desire to secure only the best. rob
bing and wasting arc INDUCED in so that
ore raised may come below n certain
figure in cost, and all this is working evil.
The gentlemen who hnve mines posses
sing fine grades OF Bcsscmer orc could do
considerable to help themselves II they
had the courage to say mo" and stick
to it, Iron Orc.
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