Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1900-05-30
THE WAUKON IRON MINES.
Description Of an Enterprise of Interest
to all Northeast Iowa.

A delegation representing the Busi-
ness Mems Association of Dubuque
went to WaukOn last Friday to inspect
the newly opened iron mines at that
place, and Saturdays Dubuque Times
gives description of the mines which
will be of interest to. residents of this
vicinity. We reprint the following
extracts:
The afternoon was spent at the
mines two and one-half miles north
east of Waukon and on the southern
slope of ridge running east and west
and which is one of the highest points
in northeastern Iowa The party was
taken at once to the quarry from
which l20 to 130 carloads of ore
have Leen taken and sald. The quarry
is about twenty-five feet deep and the
ore in places runs clear to the surface
while it has been necessary at no place
to strip it TO depth of more than two
or three feet. The ore is said to have
an average depth of fifty or sixty feet
and this quarry has been mined only
for developement purposes. 1t Is a
blanket deposit, covering an area of $50
acres accompany has bought or leased,
and the quantity of ore. within this area
is estimated at from fifteen million tons
up. The ore crops out at the top of the
ridges and at the bottom of the hills
and blooms in the form of boulders
here and there on the surface The
comp pany has proven the ground by
digging pits about the several hills
which rise like an amphitheatre about
the valley and Mr. Nehrhood has
theory that the deposit rests on a fiat
bed of limestone underlying the hills.
If this theory is correct every hill with
in the area of 60 acres prospected is
a mountain of iron ore. But if the
theory be that each of these mountains
is bianketed to varying depth with
ore the quantity there must still run
into many millions of tons.
The expert of the visiting party was
City Treasurer Gniffke, who for five
years was chemist for the Goodrich,
Tenn, iron company and who is famil
lar with the Alabama and Missouri iron
tnines. MI. GniffRe found the ore in
the quarry similar to the Alabama pro-
duct and reported after going over the
property that the extent of ore exceeded
any deposit he had seen in Alabama.
The ore of the latter state yields 45 to
80 per cent of metallic iron while the
report received Friday on nineteen car
loads of ore just as it was shipped from
Waukon to the Illinois Steel Co. with
out crushing or washing shows 5O.33
per cent of metallic iron and only .0l0l
per cent of phosphorus. Five cars
shipped TO the American Smelling and
Refining Co. at Omaha yielded sos per
cent of metallic iron.
The Waukon company, having dem
onstrated that the ore is there in inn
mense quantities, and is rich in metal
lie iron, is now preparing for new era
of developement. 1t is spending sl5, 900
on improvements. In the valley into
which the hills drain crushing and
washing plant is in course of erection
while on one of the hills to the west
work is under way on a reservoir. Mil
Ter & Co., of Chicago, have taken The
contract to sink deep well to furnish
water for this washing plant 20 which
the ore will be carried down from the
mine on dump cars. The plan is to
dump it from the crushing aud wash
ing mill into the cars on the proposed
railroad. This would reduce the cost
of mining. now over 81 90 DER ton to 40
cents per ton.
The Waukon company has received
a trial order from the Minerva Pig Iron
Co., of Milwaukee, which will want
1000 tons if the first shipment meets re-
quirements. 1t is calculated that the
ore crushed and washed will average
perhaps SO per cent of metallic iron.
The improvements now under way will
be completed in six weeks and the COM
pany calculates il will thereafter be
able to produce twenty-five 10 forty
thousand tons of ore per year. For
foundry pig and general utility it is
considered better than northern ore
Mr.. Leech, who is putting up the cru b
ing works, has had experience under
Carnegie and in the Alabama mines.
He declares the Waukon ore is superior
to the Alabama ore and can be mined
with less waste. The presence of this
deposit in Allamakee county has been
known for many years, but the low
price of pig iron and the absence of
suitable transportation facilities have
prevented earlier developement."
THE Story is going the rounds of
the papers to the effect that Missouri