The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-16

Office would Indicate that the state had
good cause for action. / wish it to be
distinctly understood that / have no
desire to say the first thing diispara g
ing to either Capt. w. w. Braden, then
state auditor, aer to s;of his subordi-
mates through whose hands this land
passed out of the states possession. II
1t has SO passed. THE best and only
way that l can seer for the settlement
of the matter for good and all and to
the satisfaction Of,4the people of the
state is qinz the courts. e., The. attorney
general Is a pretty1 busy man, and l
would suggest q committee OF some of
the leading men in the house, to whom
shall be given G. liberal appropriation.
so that the matter may be taken to the
United States supreme, court. IL neces-
sary, and by the very best legal talent
obtaiia BILE, The committee should also
| in my opinion. be given authority to
investigate the Duluth & Iron Range
railroad grant case, the Little Falls &.
: Dakota grant case. oand 1t can only be
done If the committeests properly sup
piled with, the sinews pf war.
-Four years ago both branches of
/ the legislature gave the sum of $50, 600
to fight the coal combine and that
money was spent to secure legal tai
emit These coal cases were not nearly
as important as Is this Mountain iron
mine matter -
Mountain iron mine was discovered,
so far as the public Is aware. at least,
by Capt. j. A. Nichols. OF Duluth,
working for the Merritts and others,
in 1883, though there are not lacking
indications that the discovery was
kept secret for a brief time. Indeed,
very few outside OF those directly in
terested knew until 1890, when a the
Mountain Iron company had fully per-
fected it's titles that there was any
considerable value In the land. The
ore deposit Of this, one of the two or
three greatest mines in the world. Is in
somewhat Irregular form. LOO feet
wide and about 800 feet long. part of
the area being practically valueiess.
It is known to be Of an average thick
ness of more than so feet, running In
many places to 100 feet or more. III
this area there are computed to be at
least 10000. 600 tons Of ore. a quantity
so great as to battle the understanding.
1t is more than three times as much
as all the scores Of Lake Superior
mines in three states have shipped the
past year, and enough to melt into not
far from is, 000,0 900 tons, of, steel, The
quality of this ore is so high that near
ly all of it ranks either as beSSemer or
can be used in a bessemer mixture, a
fact that led the Oliver Mining COM
Dany, the carnegie 0teSl
company, to seek and obtain control a
few weeks ago. Is sLT i4ul.,.- - ..t..
Some twenty-eighf acres Of the orc
deposit in this mine lies open to steam
shovel manipulation more than 1,000.-
600 yards Of earth having been stripped
from it. The cost of this stripping to
the former operators of the mine was
about 100000, and this money has been
refunded them by the Oliver Mining
company, as condition Of the recent
lease to the latter. Were the mine
the property Of the Estate. it could,
under the law, be leased at a royalty
of Is cents a ton, which Is the amount
now charged by the Rockefeller syn
dictate, its present owner. This Is
cents, on the amount Of ore conceded
to be in the mine, would be $7,500,O00,
which may be said tonbe the value of
the mine to the state, asow ner. 1t
might be worth double or three times
that sum to a private owner, mining
himself, according to whatever price
the ore might sell. The Carnegie syn
dictate naturally, expects to make q
large sum by mining it, above the 25
cents royalty.