The evening times., 1899-06-03
4HB FABLE OF Old
iron MOUNTAIN
Long Supposed to Be q Solid
Mass of Ore.
Collapse Of Prosperous Town
After the Supply Gave Out
A Southeast Miss0uPian Tells the
Story of an Enterprise Crushed
by Natures Deceptiveness.
Erom the New York SUM-

| from the New York SUM-
| "In the industrial history of these Unit
ed States are many chapters which read
like romances or fairy tales began the
| mine operator from Missouri, fetching a
sigh like the blowing OF Of a boiler. This
is the way l invariably preface the story
of the rise and decline of the Iron Noun
| tain Company, which some time ago Of
sfered for sale all it's lands in southeast
Missouri. more than $4,000 acres, togeth-
er with shops. houses. and buildings OF all
kinds. And for what purpose were they
offered. do you suppose? Why. for farm
ing and stock raising. Think OF that!
There was a time when iron mining
promised to be the greatest resource of
Missouri. Iron Mountain was discovered
early in the history Of the Mississippi VAL
ley by the French. whose faculty for
smelling out marketable mierals was phe-
nomenal. The discovery was speedily ad-
vertised to the civilized world. and Iron
Mountain in the Biographies and geologies
Of our grandfathers occupied unique po-
sition as q solid mountain of iron ore and
the largest deposit in the world. All sorts
Of beautiful scientific fairy tales about the
inexhaustible mountain of iron were set
af1oat, and, listening TO the scientific An
dersens who told them, number Of min
ing experts and capitalists organized
company in 1S45 to relieve Iron Mountain
of its deposits.
THE initial step taken by the company
was the purchase Of great tract Of land.
known as the Joseph Pratte grant. whose
geographical centre was occupied by Iron
Mountain. This was an ancient Spanish
grant OF something more than 1900 acres.
made to Joseph Pratte when Spain was
in possession Of all the territory west OF
the Mississippi River. The ore, as then
exposed, consisted of cliff or lofty PIN
nacle two or three acres in extent, which
rose perpendicularly TO a height Of about
eighty feet near the centre Of the noun
tain.
"Porphyry soil, rich in detached pieces OF
iron ore, covered the rest Of the mountain
to depth of several feet, and the first
work Of the company consisted in. getting
out this loose ore by the hydraulic pro-
cess. The engineers built a reservoir on
the top of an adjoining mountain, and a
stream of water in the valley was damned.
forming a lake more than 100 acres in ex-
tent. Reservoir and lake still exist as tes-
timonials OF the confidence the promoters
had in the permanency of their enterprise
Then water from the lake was pumped to
the big reservoir and thence piped to the
Iron Mountain. where II was sent plung
ing into the friable soil. washing away and
leaving the ore TO be gathered and carried
to the smelter.
Two smelters were built and great
deal of the ore was smelted on the spot.
This was some time previous to the con-
struction Of railroad line to Iron Noun
tain, and the ore and pig iron were trans
ported by OK and mule teams to Ste. Gen
evieve, on the Mississippi River. a dis
tance OF about forty miles, by way of the
company's own plank road. From Ste.
Genevleve the iron was sent to ST. Louis
and to cities and town up the Ohio River.
Even in the earliest times the opera
tions Of the Iron Mountain Company were
conducted on a prodigious scale Hundreds
Of horses, mules and oxen were bought to
transport the ore. and farm Of nearly
:. 900 acres was cleared and put under cul-
tivation to provide the necessary proven |
der and pasturage for the animals For |
many years the regular force consisted |
of 200 men, variously disposed In mining. |
smelling. transporting. logging, charcoal !
burning, farming. etc. A city soon sprang !
into existence and for a considerable time |
was the largest, busiest, and most pros /
porous on the Iron Mountain Railroad, |
with the exception of st. Louis. AT one |
time its population touched the 5000 mark. |
Stores. foundries. machine shops, car |
penter shops. churches. schools, a large ho- |
.el, lodgerooms. halls, dwelling houses, and |
barns were erected by the Iron Mountain |
Company. and everything necessary to |
,ity Of its size was provided. II wasn't |
built with any idea of becoming a boom |
.own, and in it's prosperous days 1t was |
,ne of the best markets ST. Louis had. |
Produce and provisions were shipped there |
BY the commission merchants in great |
Quantities and prices which in the present |
lay would be considered dreams of avarice |
we're received. In those Utopian days little |
arming was done in the vicinity Of the |
own. the one all.consuming industry be- |
ng mining and it's ramifcations.
AT this time the Bessemer process of |
Ised exclusively, for the burning of which |
immense quantities of timber were essen |
ial. Fortunately all that portion of the |
country was splendidly timbered, and char |
oal manufacturing became most import |
INT branch of the operations. When all /
he timber on the original tract Of 1900 /
lcres was consumed. and, to be sure, it /
lid not take the company long to exhaust
t. additional lands we're bought as re-
luired, until the holdings of the Iron
Mountain Company reached the imposing |
otal of $1,000 acres. Practically all the
vailable wood on this enormous tract had
,een made into charcoal by the time the
3essemer process came into universal use.
then the company discontinued smelling
t Iron Mountain, and only the ore was
hipped.
The period of greatest activity in work.
ng the Iron Mountain mine followed the
Of the company in 1869.
cience and the mining world awaited the
esults Of this reorganization with inter-
st for 1t was done with a view to attack
ng the great cliff of ore in the centre |
Z the mountain. and the means adopted to
orce the cliff to yield up it's treasures
we're expected to revolutionize mining.
md, indeed never before had such mining |
een heard of, where an enormous body
4 ore projected above the surface and had
o be shunted down to earth before it could
e transported.
But the combined efforts Of engineers
md the work Of an army Of workmen
revailed over all obstacles and difficulties,
md the disintegration Of the cliff was
begun. Not only was the
re easily mined. but 1t proved to be one
4 the highest grade ores ever discovered
or it averaged g. pr cent OF pure Iron.
Had the ore held out there is no telling
What might have resulted. so readily was
obtained.
"Well, for years the great work went
4. with no sign or hint Of the exhaustion
( the ore. Iron Mountain was ever busy. |
prosperous to an extreme, and the envy
I all Missouri and some other places be-
ides. The ore was taken out by millions
tons. Money poured into the treasury
nd made the stockholders rich. The en-
loyes had pie for breakfast, and there
,ere more Sunday clothes in the town
han in any other place outside Of st.
ouis.
1.-THE mining had proceeded for nearly
fly feet below the level Of the mountain