The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-01-10
1ncrea$edDe inal1d|
For Mesaba Ores as Furnaces
are Adapted for Handling
Or Product. -
SAVING OLD RANGE ORES.

The following from the Iron Trade
Review, treating of the iron depos-
it's OF the range and the futures of
Mesaba ores will convey an idea OF
the importance of the Mesaba in the
iron world:
Especial interest attaches to the
decision of the Sharon Steel Co. to
increase it's blast furnace plant by
building two stacks of about $50
tons daily capacity, instead of sin
gle stack 100 feet high and of 600
tons daily capacity. The reason in
large part is involved in the prob
lem of Mesaba ores on which blast
furnacemen have been steadily at
work since the introduction of these
ores in their practice eight years
ago. The Mesaba mines that first
made any considerable shipments
produced material so cOmminuted
as to give considerab bic trouble from
scaffolds, explosions and flue dust.
The experience with these ores
stamped the characteristic of fine
ness upon all that came from the
Mesaba range, though the produc-
ers of the more lurnpy ores made
every effort to have distinctions
made that would give their product
standing to which their physical
characteristics entitled them.
AS the demand for Lake Superior
Bessemer ores has increased the
new range has been more and more
drawn upon Old-range Bessemer
ores sold in the open market have
grown less and less, by the absorb
ton of the principal sources of
supply by large steel producers.
And even these companies, with
their ownership of the bulk of the
old-range Bessemer ores, find that
their supply of the latter must be
husbanded. Few new additions to
the known reserves are being made
on the old ranges and mine-owning
furnacemen, as we'll as those still
depending largely on the market
supply for their ores, have been
compelled in part by the necessities
of the situation and by the induce
ments of the low prices for Mesaba
ores to increase the percentage of
the latter in their mixtures. Thus
the new range has not only steadily
increased its output actually but
relatively. From contributing l.
793052 tons in 1894, or q per cent of
the output of the Lake Superior dis
trict, it has produced about9jooo0o0
tons, or A per cent of the totaf for
all ranges, for the year just closed.
I Today every steel company in the
central west is a considerable owner
of Mesaba mining property. Some
have in addition 1O-year contracts
for Mesaba ores from other mines,
and steel companies not yet owners
of mines have also made 10year
contracts insuring them all or near
ly all the Mesaba ores they will
need in that period, and at low
prices. 1t is evident that at the rate
of over 100000 tons a year from
Lake Superior mines, which may
run to 25,O00,O00 tons within two or
three years, the Mesaba range will
be drawn upon to a constantly in
creasing extent.
But what becomes of the limita-
tons upon the use of these ores,
against which furnacemen have
been battling from the first? The
ores themselves have settled the
question in part, for in the more re-
Gently developed properties there is
a larger percentage of lumpy ores
than in those that were first opened.
At the same time furnacenen have
gained some ground; and in fur
naces of moderate height using
ores of the best physical character
istics as high as s. and 80 per cent
of Mesaba ores have been used. But
in the high furnaces where the ores
are more liable to pack and scaffold
explosions have been inevitable;
and it is still found in these furnace
es that when the Mesaba percentage
goes up, particularly with any fine
ore in the mixture, the output goes
down."
|
| OUR TIMBER SUPPLY.
To people who live in timber
country and become so accustomed
to the endless forest that they little
think of possible scarity of timber
supply, the following computations
made by Jas. Oswell, of Madison,
Wis, will scarce be credited, but
present a set of figures susceptible
of proof:
"Over 4OooO00O0O feet of pine lum-
Der is used annually for matches
equivalent of the product of 100000