The Lehi banner. [volume] (Lehi, Utah) 1891-1917, 1896-08-13
IRON In MINNESOTA.
Additional Riches Being Devel-
oped Every Day.
Immense Quantities of ore Contained In
the Various Mines - More Than
Enough to supply the
whole World.

MHott NoftUs
The development Of Minnesota's iron
ranges are not by any means COM
pleted; they are continuing daily, and
wealth that was not dreamed of year
or less ago is now laid bare for the ham
mer OF the assayer and the ton meas
urement OF the buyer and the miner
As an instance of this is the develop
mcnt made during the past few months
in the northern part OF township 57-17,
and the southeast quarter OF town
js-17. Discoveriesare made and still con-
tinuing in the northern tier of sections
of town 57-i7. especially in section 8.
where nine acre tracts have been
shown to be well-nigh covered with orc.
and where there has been proved mil
lions Of tons. This ore body, with that
of the Adams, Vega and Fayal mines,
with which It is believed to be connect
ed, is one OF the largest on the range.
and six months ago its existence. ex-
cept so far as the mines named were
concerned, was scarcely conjectured.
Among the holders Of Mesaba ore the
Lake Superior Consolidated Iron mines
is far ahead in quantity of ore held.
much of II, being, however, under min
eral lease 20 other operators. aud more
of IL being held by the Consolidated
under lease from the original holders.
Owing TO some circumstances connect
cd with the formation of the company
by Mr.. Rockefeller's associates its hold
ings were obtained at small expense
and owing TO the same circumstances
IT, is difficult 90 separate the cost of
the mines from that OF the road, which
fell into MIR. Rockefeller's hands at the
same time. 1t is safe TO assume that
$1,500,000 paid for all the so-callcd Mcr-
rift properties that went into the Con-
solidated company, together with all
costs connected with their admission
into the company, including some
subsequent settlements. These prop
critics. some OF which are lease and
some fee, are believed by the most con.
sentative to contain 70,O00.000 tons OF
ore OF various grades. In addition %
/ these the company has. the Adams
mine, the Lake Superior, the Lone
Jack and the Mckinley and the Roucbe-
leau-Ray 50 under optics. These will
have cost. when the option is taken up,
! about So, 500, 900, and contain not less
| than $4,000. 900 tons of ore. The Lake
| Superior leases are figured as covering
at least 50,000,000 tons, and the Adams
| lease is put at very conservative fig
ure, far below what the owners are
| willing to concede. There Is here at
| iron holding of not far from i60,000,000
tons, all obtained at a round cost OF
! 100000.
The Minnesota Iron company has
about 100000 tons in sight at the
Mesaba mines, and for them II has paid
almost 81 100000. Some of the largest
are leases. In addition TO their own
mines. the company has tonnage con-
tract with the Vega, which is regarded
rs one OF the most important mines
of the range, with, perhaps, 100000
tons in sight.
The Roucbeleau-Ray company still
holds not far from 100000 tons. Of
which about two-thirds is fee. The
Sauntry exploration Is estimated at
not far from 100000 tons The
Fowler explorations, the Security Land
holdings, mostly under option 10
the Minnesota Iron company; the
Franklin group. the Ohio and some
smaller properties, contain at least 30
100000 tons. There remain the vast
holdings of the Wright and Davis syn
dictate on the western part OF the range
on which are several mines and an
enormous amount OF partially explored
lands A report made on these hold
ings for the Minnesota Iron company
year ago, and on which the latter
company based an offer for the entire
tract. showed them 10 contain ore esti
mated at about 10000 000 tons.
The Minnesota Iron company paid
about $4,000. 900 for the Charlemagne
Tower interests on the Vermilion
range. including the Duluth and Iron
Range. Nobody outside the of
fcers Of the company, and probably
not they themselves, know the ore hold
ings in the undeveloped lands they
own, though the mines al present
worked have been pretty well pune
tured by the diamond drill. aud foI
900 feet down are az well understood
as IL they were sliced bare. Vast al
these holdings are, they sink into In
Significance, so far as the totals 20
compared so the incomprehensibl'
quantities ON the sister range. TIVE
other companies are mining the Yer
million, but such is the present inac
= tiyity ON this range that IT would no
be surprising If there were half dozer
new concerns at work there shortly
md twice that number of mines scat
terd from Tower toward the interna
tional boundary. 80 Minneapolis Jour