The age-herald., 1898-07-31
as well as wash out any ochre or otheF impurities in the ore as 1t is mined.

The railroad Is about seventy-fve feet below the out-crop on the slope of the ridge This will admit of the working of two levels simultaneously. One from the upper level, like all out-crops, will need washing, and this will be done in an iron Hume the ore passes from the mine to the railroad car. The ore from the lower level will not need washing, and it will be taken by tram cars to a tipple on the railroad. All distances are short, and every thing Is arranged, even the grade of the railroad spur, with an eye to the highest possible economy in mining. As the oreN is readily "shot," it is believed these mines will present the lowest possible cost of mining in the district. Not in many years will the ore above the railroad be exhaust ed along the Sloss company's holdings on the ridge. There will therefore be no pumping, no hoisting, no tlmbering to pay for. These ores will be mined as cheaply as the Lake Superior ores said to be-
 The value of brown ore Is generally un- derstood among furnace men, but the read CT who is not engaged in furnace or min- ing work may not know that it contains as much metallic iron per ton as the best soft ore-fully fifty per cent And the water of composition in it averages twelve per cent. This water is carried off in the stack without any material expenditure of coke; so that for all practical purposes it be- comes an ore containing 5S to 59 per cent of metallic iron. Lake Superior ores do not offer a higher average. Some of them do contain 65 per cent but others do not afford than 50 per cent, and the average is just about the showing made by the brown ores of this district leaving the advantages of contfguity of raw ma- terials wholly in our favor. This is what brown ore does, but it is not all it does.
 
 As the water passes out of the top of the stack in the form of steam it leaves the ore in a spongy condition, permitting the heat of the coke to enter freely. h. stead of pealing off the outer parts, as it does in the case of hard red ore the heat operates at once upon every portion of the brown ore, thus, not only leading to a saving in coke consumption, but to fast CT output of the stack. It is believed by some furnacemen that a stack which yields from hard red ore 175 to 1W tons in twenty-four hours can be made to yield from brown ore, exclusively used, we'll nigh 300 tons. This possible gain will soon be fully tested at the Sloss furnaces, and if it becomes established fact that a stacks output can be thus increased, brown ore will be sought as 1t has never been sought before, although all furnaces now use it to limited extent. The disappear ance of soft red ore is fast making brown ore necessity; for no furnace can make to good advantage iron from hard red alone.
 The quality of the iron from brown ore alone is higher. It brings higher price in market. The iron made from it has more tena acity-stands, in other words, a heavier strain It makes better steel better boil CT plate, better castings Why 1t makes better iron is one of those mysteries of chemistry and nature that cannot be readi- ly explained; but the fact that iron from brown ores is worth from fifteen cents and upwards more per ton is sufficient of it's superior value. Men, who buy iron for actual consumption are apt to know what they want, and why they are willing to pay more for one grade than for another.
 It Is not easy to accurately present the difference in cost of production. It is of course widely known that competition is keen-that almost unlimited capital is at the disposal of the opposition interests that are centered in Pittsburg, Cleveland and Chica go. It is important-almost vital that every possible economy in cost of production should be utilized in this dis trict. The good of all in the district is in this, and all must therefore be in the effort to procure at lower cost better ores at Leeds. The economy of hydraulic mining cannot be estimated; but the saving in coke can be. It is pretty well established that one ton of coke in stack fed with brown ore will do the work of one ton and half in stack fed chiefly with hard ore. Here is a saving per ton of iron of 75 cents at least for one ton of iron from hard ore requires ton and half of coke in round figures. Add to the 75 cents saved in coke consumption 15 cents more to represent the superior price of brown ore iron, and we have a gain Of 90 cents. The total saving may safely be put at one dollar ton, when modern fur mace is supplied with rich brown ore, econ- omically mined within the sound of it's whistles.
 Soft red ore is the out-crop of hard red, and the out-crop has in the course of time been nearly consumed. Brown ore must take it's place, and the quicker it takes it's place the better for all. The wide-awake Sloss company, under the management of President Haas, has appreciated this change, and it will very soon be in posi- tion to supply all it's stacks with brown ore, and have perhaps ore to sell besides; for the supply at Pine Ridge is plainly in- exhaustible in lifetime at least-probably beyond the needs of the country and the rest of mankind for a century to come. Actual tests show that the vein Is many miles in length, and, like the hard ore, it's depth in the bowels of the earth is un- known. It is known that like all other ores, it becomes richer and freer of for eign matter the deeper it goes.