The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-12-21
Becoming Scarce
Best Grades of Lake SUPERIOR
Ores Are Gradually
Disappearing.
WILL HAVE TO USE LEANER ORES

While the iron ore deposits of the
Lake Superior region are generally
described as practically inexhaust-
lble; the feet is we'll known to the
keenest gentlemen in the ore pro-
duc1ng business that the annual
t"t1naSe being sent out for the past
few years has developed few things
that must not be under
We are now sending out something
like twenty million tons. as against
a single million not 80 many years
ago. 1t is the divulging of no Sc
cret t." say that the fancy Bessemer
ores OF the older ranges are fast dis
appearing. having been shipped in
seasons gone by, and it is apparent
to those who keep wcll-informed
upon the conditions at the mines
that the consumers of iron ores will
soon have to be satisfied with ores
containing more of phosphorus and
less of iron than they have been in
the habit of using, and insisting
upon. In the city of 1Shpt,ning the
Lake -\nHelin". once the pride of
our town. and enjoying national
reputation for the quality Of it's
product, is fast rounding up its fine
BesSencrs, there being only a few
more years of shipments from this
class OF material in sight, or, as a
matter of fact, upon the company's
lands in this place. The end of
these once famous deposits can he
seen. and the time of their exhaus~
ton is not far distant. The old mine
Hematitc of the Lake Superior has
been worked out, and the Lake de-
post, of much less size, is the only
The ores beneath the old Lake An
gelinc basin are not yielding the
percentage of Bessemers as was
hoped for and expected, the Clevc-
land company mining a large guam
tity OF nonBesScmer ores from this
deposit. They have now in stock
somewhere about sixty thousand
tons, which will be carried over I'M
til another season.
Nessrs. Alfred kidder, agent, and
Thomas Walters, superintendent, Of
the Lake Angeline mine, are now in
Canada exanlininga property which
is reported to carry large amount
Of ore of Bessemer grade. The COM
pany has also purchased the jack
pot mine on the Gogel'ic range, hop
ing to develop a profitable mine at
that point and to make up for the
shortening lenses at it's older prop
ertN.
The Meno,ninet range has little
BcsScncr ore, this coming from the
-AraG0n, Lorctto and PeWabic prin.
cipally. The Goyebic is not as pro-
life as was hoped for, and much of
it's product is injured by a wrong:
percentage of manganese.
The giant Nesaba is not showing
as much ore of BeSscmer grade as
was figured upon few years ago.
One mine, noted for it's immense
shipments, and where one hundred
millions of BesSener grade ore were
said to have been measured, is now
reported to contain only a ninth of
that quantity, while the non-Bessc
mer grades are of extremely poor
quality. Add to this the peculiar
tincness of ore structure and it
makes the property far less ~alua-
bic than was formerly figured.
The Chandler and Pioneer, of the
\ermilion range. are exceptions,
their product holding we'll up and
being of the finest The Chandler,
however, is fast exhausting it's ore
stores, and reduced outputs will be
noted in a few years unless new
lenses are discovered. On the other
hand. the Pioneer gives evidence of
increasing in size for some years to
come.
With the mining men fearing the
Mesaba would swamp them, they
are now seeking new ore deposits
on Canadian soil, and already ore
shipments from Nichipicotcn. on
the Canadian side, have been com
nenCed to the United States. There
are said to be fine ores in Canada,
although many Of them are worsh-
less, due to the titaniun they hold.
Some plan for the elimination of
this will probably be found. but
thus far it renders the ore unSala
ole.
The Michigan ranges have inn
n1enSr amounts OF ores runt,it1 O.
better than 80 per cent and compar-
ing favorably with the ores of the
southern fields, but at the present
there is little market for it. \ few
mines where the ores run high in
silicon have developed market in
,,,;x+,,re witt, the Amor r~,;~,o~1 o,-,c