The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-31
THE WORLDS IRON TRADE.
England Hopes to Reconquer Its Pri-
 mary With Ores From the Arctics--

England Hopes to Reconquer Its Pri-
 mary With Ores From the Arctics-
 How It Lost Its Lead.
 We were quite justified until recently in claiming that with Spanish ores we were in position to produce and actu- ally did produce, the cheapest p1g-lron in the world of equal quality.
 We can still make this boast so far as Europe is concerned, but meanwhile, alike in Europe and in the United
 States, matters have greatly changed.
 The discovery and development of the
 Gogebic range of iron ore mines in Lake
 Superior, in 1885, and of the Mesabi
 range, in 1893, placed at the disposal of
 the American iron trade ore supplies
 of much greater extent, richness ana
 cheapness than any previously avalla-
 ble in that country, and as conse-
 uence the prices of ores fell very rapid
 ly after these events. Between l8s2 ana
 1894 Lake Superior ores fell from $5.5o to $2.50 a ton, which means that the American iron trade was put in pos-
 session of ores relatively cheaper than anything we had available in Europe. Since 1894 prices have fallen still fur- ther, until in 1898 Lake Superior ores of the highest quality and of richness su- perior to anything we have in Europe I on a large scale were selling at $2 to l S2S. .O5 per ton. Coincidently with this decline in the price of American oars, the price of hemat1te pig iron, produced | therefrom, fell to lower point than l anything we have ever known in Eu- rope for iron of the same description, l and this was the true basis and expla- | nation of the American competition in l iron and steel products, of which dur l ing the last two years we have heard so 1 much, and of which, also, British iron l masters have been so seriously appre- | hensiye. With regard to the future, ii | the Americans can prove their ability ! to secure ores relatively cheaper chan those available to the British iron trade, then their supremacy as an iron-p | drcing nation is assured, and that of
 our own country must be looked upon | as thing of the past. But if, on the
 contrary, Great Britain can still, as
 hitherto, secure as cheap ores as any
 other European nation, and as cheap
 ores, having regard to the geographical
 conditions to be met, as the United
 States, we may continue to hold our
 own until these conditions have been reversed. This, then, is the crucial pro-
 blem of the moment in the British iron E industry, and the problem which the , forthcoming meeting of the Iron and
 Steel Institute in Sweden may partly aid in solving.
 It is well known that Sweden pos sesses vast resources in iron ores of the
 highest quality and upon the purity and | of c1,n1a1iaS the Swpd6e F have built up reputation for iron and
 steel products of unapproached excel fence. The largest deposits, however
 are far from tide water, and within the
 Arctic circle where unrelieved dark ness reigns for something like one-hal1 : of the whole year. Gellivare is the principal center of these deposits, whicf
 are almost equi-distant between th' port of Lulea, on the Gulf of Bothnia- closed for seven months out of twelve
 and Ofoten, on the Atlantic seaboard | Within the last twelve years a railwa! has been built from Gellivare to Lulea :. whereby considerable quantities of or
 l have been transported and shipped t = England, Germany, Belgium and ever e Austria. A railway is now being bull e to connect the mines with Ofoten, ol - the other coast, where there is opel
 ! navigation all the year round. It is an n ticipated that when this line has beel n completed and other facilities provided
 a very large traffic will be created il el the shipment of these arctic ores fo l, British consumption, and much inter It est is now being taken in the questio
 of the lowest prices at which they ca a be delivered at British ports. If the VI can be landed at Cardiff, Middles Id brough, Barrow or Glasgow, at a pric
 sufficiently low, there can be but littl IdI doubt that Sweden is likely to be ou mi chief future source of supply. The as
 certained quantity of ores available i