The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-10
HOW MICH mon Am STONE.

HOW MUCH IRON AND STONE:
Minnesota in the year 1900 produced
more iron ore than any other state in
the Union and more than any foreign ma
ton in the world That is to say, it is
supposed she did. But what she &C
tually did produce, we nave no official
means of knowing, because Minnesota
las no statistical record; notwithstanding
the fact that the state itself is a large
owner in fee simple of iron mines and
that one of the state mines is one of the
largest ore producers in the world.
Cur neighboring states of Wisconsin,
Michigan, Iowa and Nebraska, as. in
deed most of the states of the Union,
have their bureaus of geology and mines,
or their commissioners of natural re-
sources, or some kindred scientific or
statistical department. whose duty it is
tc look after the states statistical and
scientific interests in the mines and
quarries, the. clay beds and deep wells.
and the various natural resources of tho
state These states keep an accurate and
official scientific and statistical record of
such resources and products, both for
the information of the public and for
the protection. Of the states direct in
terests in the resources of its sta.e. lands.
But Minnesota does. nothing of the
kind, although it probably has greater
need for such a bureau than any other
state on the continent.
Take first, the industrial side. 1t is
to the interest of the state to invite cap
itaI to develop the mines and quarrIes,
the clay beds and peat beds, the lime
and cement materials the road and paw
ing materials, and in all of these ma
terials of nature Minnesota has rich
possibilities. There is scarcely a
county that is not rich in one of these
natural resources or the other! How
can they be developed? There are two
ways: First, scientific exploration or
investigation that the public may know
what resources the respective counties
possess; and second, an accurate record
in such development. One bureau of
information can both furnish the SCI
critic investigation required and thu
statistical record needed. -
Take. second, the states public. inter
est in the protection of its lands and
mines. The state owns and collects roy
alties-or, is supposed to get ROYALTIES
from three iron mines. For example, for
the years 1S94-7 we collected from the ia
nous Mountain Iron mine, leased to the
Onver-Carnegie people, s220,501.64 We
took the statement Of the lessees that in
that period they. had taken out SS2,006
tons of ore, for which they were entitled
to pay into the state treasury 25 cents
per ton. But what they took out, there
is no means of knowing, except their
voluntary ex parte statement. In 1893 the
state received $31, 323.9 80 royalty from the
! Mesabi Mountain mine; and nothing at all
since In 1884, we got s3,906.45 royalty
from the Biwabik Mountain Iron COM
pany, and nothing since. Besides these
dreds and even thousands of iron ore
| leases to various parties for the mining
of given state public lands. Some Of
these supposed iron-bearing lands doubt
less have iron deposits. The state is
likewise owner of perhaps 100000 acres
| or more of school, university, indemnity,
| swamp, and internal Improvement lands,
| with 10OO,o coo acres more yet to accrue to
| the state from unsurveyed townships !;
| and no one knows how much of this vast
! public domain may possess great mineral
| value in its iron, clay, stone, and other
natural resources. The state would pay
for the cost of its bureau and probably
save thousands of dollars annually be-
sides, from the money alone saved to it
from the protection such bureau could
give through information in regard to the
mines and lands.
We have commissioner of statistics
| to compile farm statistics; a board of
| health to record vital statistics; a su-
1
tends to educational statistics; but the
resources and products of the mines and
| quarries, the brick and cement resources,
| and all the other natural resources Of
the earth, in which the state has a d.
rect fee simple interest to the extent OF
upwards of 100000 acres, we have not
| provided for either in a statistical or
| scientific way We do not know what we
possess, nor what we produce. We may
have a hundred iron mines, or thousand
valuable stone quarrfes or clay beds in
our school lands. and through our igno-
rance may sell them off for S. an acre
Our industrial product In these lines may
reach a vast total, sufficient to attract
to Minnesota large capital and extensive
| development; but we remain in ignorance
while our neighboring states. with far
less mineral and quarry resources, but
greater enterprise. are reaping the bene-
fits.
For number of years, Minnesota sup
| ported state geological survey to map
/ A..