The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-08


The iron mines of Minnesota, so far as
developed, are situated in st. Louis coun-
ty and are located on two separate
ranges, one known as the Vermilion and
the other as the Mesabi The Vermillion
range mines are grouped at Ely and
ROVER, twenty-three miles apart and the
Mesabi range mines are centered around
blWaolk, Mckinley, Sparta, Eveieth, W.
gina Mountain Iron and Hibbing
Inc Mesabf range has the enviable
reputation of containing the greatest and
most valuable deposit of iron ore known
to the world. Not long ago. wnen Mr..
D. Plerpont Morgan was In London. It
was reported that he was interviewed
by newspaper men of that city and asked
II the recent discoveries of ore in North.
-ern sweden were not menace to the
newly formed United States Steel cor
poration They have 100000 tons OF
ore there" said the reporters. Mr.. Nor
CANS reply was, why should we fear
these deposits when we have in Northern
minnesota alone not $4,000, 600 tons but
elSht times as much" And Mr. Nor
cams company Is not the only owner of
iron ore lands in Northern Minnesota.
iron ore was first mentioned as being
considered of any value in Minnesota, in
1860, by II. II. Eames, state geoIogist. In
ms published report at that time he
L
ern end of the Mesabi range.
The first shipments of ore according To
the state geological report, were made in
1854 from the VermiIlion range agere-
eating 62 GOO gross tons from the min
hesota The shipments from this ranga
amounted to 1.655,S20 gross tons in 1900
ne MeSabl range commenced shipping
ore IN 1872 with the small aggre gate ship
ment of 1926 gross tons from the '.Moun-
IRON Toto
amounted to 613,62O gross tons and the
production of the Mesabi range has
steadlly increased until the enormous ag-
gfegate gross tonnage of 1883, 535 was
reached in 1909. The total of all Lake S11-
perior ore shipments in 1900 amounted to
l90oS,393 gross tons, and the total amount
OF ore mined in Minnesota since the COM
Inehcenent OF the industry aggregates
nearly 50,C00.G00 gross tons.
The quality of the Mesabi ore is known
as hematite and the chemical analysis
ana physical structure establish the mar
Ket value. Mesabi range ore assayine so
per cent in iron and .040 per cent in
prosperous is cons uered reasonably
nigh grade bessemer. Large amounts of
ore are shipped each year, which are Of
considerably higher grade as well as of
lower grade. The physical structure of
Mesabl ore being as a rule fine or gran
ular, operates to depress the price of this
ore for the reason that it is necessary to
mix coarser ore with the Mesabi ore I'm
order to successfully use it in the blast
furnace. The result is that ores which
give better average chemical ANALYSIS
than those from any other district in the
world, bring at present the very lowest
price in the markets. Mesabi ore has
been used alone by some few furnace
operators with satisfactory results, and
IN all probability the time is not far dis
tant when this ore will be successfully
used alone by the largest furnaces in
the country and ultimately command a
much better price.
The cost per ton of mining is reduced
to minimum in the open Dit steam
shovel propositions after the stripping
OF the surface mas been accomplished.
The cost of stripping depends, Of course.
on the depth of surface 1t has been
stated by good authority that it is profit
able to strip foot of surface for a foot
OF ore, or in other words 1t would paw to
strip a surface of thirty feet depth In
order to mine a deposit of ore of same
depth. 1t is obvious that this rule would
not apply in every case. In underground
mines the cost Of mining depends on the