The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1899-02-15
HEAVY SALES
SALES AGGREGATE MILLIONS.
The Iron Trade Review IL First Class Au-
thority In the Following;

the whirlwind OF week some mil
lions Of direct sales were made and
other millions were set down in the
usual way for furnaces having related
mining interests. or owning and OBJ
Grating their own mines-these to-
gether making up the bulk of the
IA. 900. 600 to Is, OOo, 900 tons that the
Lake Superior region will attempt to
produce in 1899. There have been
some ore buyers in the market for the
past week, and all have been taken
care of. so far as can be learned.
Whether any portion Of the earliest
purchases made will be available
later in the year IN re-sales by fur
nacemen who overestimated their
wants, is factor not determinabie
at this distance, but there have been
such sequels of an early ore furry,
in which every furnaceman took pains
TO get ore in plenty. Eastern fur
nacemen, remote from the scene Of
activity, scarcely appreciated the sit
uation. aid when long distance tele-
phones brought them into it, they
were not long in makingstheir reQui-
sitions. Yet the failure Of some to
get the ores they have had IN other
years may lessen somewhat the
amount Of Lake Superior material
shipped east this year. The nom
Bessemer producers are probably
more closely sold up than the Besse-
mer mines. The Marquette range
hematites, which are always con-
siderable factor. were promptly taken
at the advance upon 1898 prices pre-
viously noted. 1t is announced that
the mines at Ishpeming and Negau-
nee viii increase wages March l.,
bringing back the level that prevailed
when ore sold at IS per cent above
today's prices. II is settled that the
lease Of the Queen mine OF Negaunee,
whose ores are sxcellently adapted to
the production of basic iron, passes to
the Carnegie Steel Co.
The iron trade has moved farther
up, in the past week, and is coming
close to the line that in the minds of
many of the leaders may not be
crossed with safety. There is not the
same conservatism in al quarters
that has been shown in advancing
ore and coke, or even Bessemer pig
iron: and this fact, together with the
control of intermediate products,
already exercised in some cases and
aimed at by pending negotiations in
Others, presents some possibilities Of
complications later. The advances
of the week are in Bessemer and
foundry irons. steel billets. rails,
sheets, plates, bars and wire and wire
nails. None of them have had any
effect TO stop business where prOduc-
ers were at all able to promise the
deliveries wanted. There is no sign
of slackening in demand; in fact,
while production increases, it is still
outrun by consumption. The dispar-
ity between output and demand prom
lses to be greater as the year advances
| in the case of foundry and mill irons,
than in Bessemer iron. The list of
furnaces producing foundry iron viii
be increased by various preparations
now being made, but as we have
pointed out heretofore, non-Bessemer
ores. particularly the Lake Superior
supply, are so well taken up that even
i furnaces fairly equipped and able to
make a small profit on todays prices
can not by that token be counted as
possible reserves.