The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-03-21
ON THE IRON RANGES.
MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE
Make A TRIP TO THE MINES.
What They saw ON the Iron Ranges
How Iron Orc Is Mined and Ship
ped-The State Receives 63,532.ZO
From One Mine, Alone

From the Pioneer Press March 49,
The legislative party has returned from
the trip to the wonderland of Minnesota.
After spending two days ON the VermilEon
ana Mesaba iron ranges they returned to
Duluth, where they We're banqueted OH
Saturday evening. and left at midnight for
home. arriving In st. Paul early yesterday
morning.
On the iron ranges they saw for them
selves something OF what had so often been
told Of the mineral wealth of the state.
They also saw large amount Of pine
timber. One thing they did not understand
and could not until they saw it, that Is the
character Of the country In which the
mines are located. 1t was great surprise
to many Of the visitors when they looked
out OF the windows Of the sleeper early on
Friday morning and saw the covering Of
snow which still mantled the earth. They
noted the scarcity of trees and that the
snow had been blown away, the cause Of
which was that the country was nearly all
rocks and boulders, with only here and
there patches of earth to sustain yegeta-
ton. 1t was several degrees colder than
zero when the party alighted at Ely and,
after most excellent breakfast at the
Exchange and Oliver hotels, visited the
celebrated Chandler niue This Is said to
be the most wonderful iron mine Of it's size
Ressemer ore, "Chandler," guaranteed at
Us per cent of iron and .O5 of phosphorus,
and Long Lake." at 60 per cent of iron
ana % of phosphorus. In 1883, when
the Duluth Il Iron Range road was ex-
tended to Ely, the Chandler mine shipped
90 ~ tons of ore. During the next three
years the shipments aggregated
Over Million Tons.
The banner year was 1892, when there
were shipped from this mine alone over
$4,000 tons Of Bessemer ore. The ship
ments for 1893 and 1894 increased the out
put by nearly million tons, making the
aggregate product of the mine since it be-
came producer 2. 525 tons. Capt. Pen
gilly. who has direction Of the Chandler and
is also mayor Of Ely, escorted such of the
party as wished to go underground, and ex-
planned to them the method pursued in this
mine.
There are four shafts to this mine, the
lowest level being 476 feet below the sur
face From the shafts galleries extend at
different Levels, and the visitors were af-
forded glimpses of shadowy forms carrying
candles as the different levels were passed
until the bottom was reached. Here the
candles, which had been extinguished in
the descent, were relighted. Miners lamps
are not used in these mines, and, although
candles are more expensive, the air Is purer
In consequence. Capt. Pengilly's lead was
then followed through a portion of the low
er level and into several of the headings,
where the miners We're at work with drill,
pick and shovel. Few of the visitors under
stood how the timbers are placed in the
mines, but In the headings they saw the
men at work placing the bents, in the
form of an inverted U, which are planked
above, forming the ceiling.
The headings are blasted out, and the
visitors witnessed the preparations for blast
ing and the removal Of the ore and rock
after the blasts had been made. The power
drills employed are operated by compressed
air forced through pipes from the COM
pressors above ground. At frequent inter-
walls in the galleries were chutes, through
which the ore Is loaded to the tram cars
from the next highest level Tracks run
through all the galleries, and all lead to the
shafts where the cars are hoisted on the
cages, which are simple Platform elevators
me loaded tram cars, when they reach the
surface. are run out on the trestles above
the stock piles and their contents auto
matically dumped to the stock pile, or, in
the shipping season, directly into the cars,
which convey the ore to the docks at the
lane.
The Chandler is a hard ore which bao
been crushed into small pieces by natural
forces, and consequently the expense of
production Is less than at the Minnesota
mine, where the ore Is taken out in large
humps which must be crushed before it
passes to the stock pile. At the present
and about the Chandler NINE and ore Is be-
ing holsted from two of the four shafts.
ana over quarter Of q million tons are
now on the stock pile awaiting shipment.
Inc party returned to the train, which
consisted Of four sleepers, a day coach and
the business cars of President Greats1nger
or the Duluth & Iron Range and the d.
rectors Of the Duluth. Mesaba & Northern
At the station the Ely band was blowing
music ana number of the ladies and
gentlemen of the party joined in a dance on
the depot platform, enjoying the exercise in
zero temperature.
Ely
Is situated at the end of the Dn1uth &,
Iron Range road, and the train was headed
towards Tower. The section Of country be-
tween these cities Is rocky and desolatt. the
ROAD running along the crest of the Veranil-
lion range. A magnificent view of the
country Is had on this part of the trim. md
the air Is so clear that one can see q long
distance. Soudan, two miles northeast Of
Tower, was reached at 1920 a. m, and the
train was backed up close to the "Aiinne-
sota' mine. Nearly all of the members Of
the party went below at the Minnesota.
and Kodak iend could have made a fortune
shooting the ladies and gentlemen as thew
appeared In costume. They were clothed in
overaHs, Jumpers, macintosh coats and
their heads covered with tarpaulins and
looked like q comic opera company or q
''Sam the Plrate''
Underground they found the mine well
supplied with arc electric Nights and the
mining Of a somewhat different nature. as
the ore Is not broken up, as in the Shandler,
and the rock is also less broken avoiding.
IN part, the necessity for heavy timbering.
In lie Minnesota there Is less trouble from
water than in the Chandler, where it Is
necessary to operate the pumps continu-
ously. There was much Of interest above
ground, and the visitors watched the i'm
mense Corlfss engines as they slowly coiled
the cables which hoisted the cages in the
shafts. They visited the crusher, where
the Jumps are broken up as easily as sand
stone under hammer. At the foot of the
hill, where the shafts are located, lay the
town of Soudan, where the 700 men now
employed in the Minnesota live Nearly all
of them own their own houses, but they are
on leased land, and the leases Of ore ex-
tend under the town.
The ore Is all hard, and minnesota No 1
Bessemer' Is standard grade with all fur
mace operators. While the percentage of
iron Is high, less than half of the ore from
the Minnesota mine comes within the Bes-
semer limit as to phosphorus. The power
house, where the air for operating the
drills, etc., is compressed, is located on the
shores Of Vermillion lake, some distance
north Of tho mine The Minnesota 1va1 tho