The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-31
THE SALT LAKE HERALD: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 81. 1897

With his magnetic needle. or. as he
calls it, his magnetic eye he tested
every large body of gneiss rock extend
ing along the eastern coast OF the
United States. from lower Canada to
the great Smoky Mountains of North
Carolina, He found immense deposits
Of iron. For instance, in the 1000 acres
Immediately surrounding the village or
Edison, there are over 200. 000. 900 tons
of low grade ore. In the entire district
there are 5000 acres in which the de-
post is proDortionately as large. The
worlds annual output of iron ore does
! not at the present time. reach 0000.0OO
tons: so that IL the paltry Two miles
surrounding the village of Edison there
I is enough iron ore in the rocks to keep
! the whole world supplied for one year.
or the United States for three years.
even with the natural increase in de-
mand. Sixteen thousand acres. or Is
square miles of land contain enough
iron ore to keep the whole world sup
piled for II years, allowing, of course.
for all natural increase of demand due
10 the needs of Il growing population.
These acres would more than supply
the United States with iron. including
necessary exports, for the next 20 years.
and they contain more than has been
mined in this country since it's discoY-
cry.
This vas a remarkable condition
smelling works shutting down for want
Of iron ore at low prices. when billions
OF tons of it lay idle in strip of land
which, in most cases, was within 20
| miles of the great iron mills of the At
| lantic coast. Here was an opportunity
OF which the inventor Immediately took
advantage He set to work to plan out
q great industry. II has taken him
eight years to do it, but the result has
justified all the trouble and money
! which he has expended upon it. En-
gineers used to large enterprises of
the kind. have smiled incredulously.
Some of them have spoken of it as Edi-
sons hobby. and others as his folly.
Some have shown him on paper that
no machine could be constructed pow
erful enough to crush five. six and
seVen-ton rocks, or, if such a machine
we're constructed, it would never stand
the jar and strain exerted upon it,
This particular difficulty, it may be
said in passing. Mr.. Edison surmounted
so completely that less than 100 horse
power is required to reduce rocks weig-
ins six and seven tons to dust in three
seconds from the time they are thrown
into the crushing machine Other diff
flculties we're overcome as completely,
none proving too much for Mr.. Edison's
indomitable will and rare concentra-
HOW EDISON LEVELS NOUN
TAINS.
Yet, after all, he has accomplished a
very simple thing. He is crushing rocks
and dropping the resulting powder past
powerful electromagnetic. The sand is
not attracted by the magnetism and
passes straight on, the iron ore is at
tracted to one side and falls in a heap
s-.les
yet in the actual working out, it be-
comes one of the most tremendous pro-
cesses in the world. 1t is, after ALL
no small matter to crush the very VitalS
out of a mountain and then extract all
of the ore from the millions of tons
of sand. Perhaps the best way to thor
oughly realize the enormity of the plant
is to visit it.
The village of Edison stands on the
summit of Mount Musconetsong, in
northern New Jersey. The spot is 1900
feet above the level of the sea, and is
the center Of dense wilderness. Ones
first view of the place is apt to be tenn
pered by the disagTeeable white dust
which flies through the air and over
lies everything. The activity round
about is in strong contrast to the placid
country district through which one
must travel in order to reach the place.
On all sides the roar and Whistle of
machinery. the whirr Of conveyors and
the general noise and hustle. proclaim
this to be some quite extraordinary en-
terprise. The workmen look like mil
lers, so coated do their clothes become
with the flying white particles. and
everyone wears q patent muzzle in or
der to cireumyent the badseffeets which
the dust would otherwise have upon the
lungs.
Some of the buildings are as tail and
narrow as city sky scrapers;" others
are fiat and squatty, covering consid-
cradle areas Big wheels reYolYe in the
engine house and big dynamos trans
nit heavy currents through overhead
wires 10 the various points of the plant.
Little narrow gauge locomotives move
about to the various parts of tn works.
a line of freight cars run slowly
through the place, and on a nearby hill
a troup of noisy children come romping
down from Summerville. a hamlet
where the miners live. over to the
right of the village lumbermen are cut
ting down trees and making the land
ready for the steam shovel. which is
tearing away at the rocks half a mile