The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1904-04-01

of high grade iron ore and which IS
one Of the score or more big mines on
the Mesabi range, The geological
formation in which the discovery was
made was different from the forma-
tion in which the Lake superior iron
mines occurred, and the ore was OF a
different character. At first there
were skeptics among the lion men and
explorers, but the iron was there and
OF good quality, and almost at the
grass roots. for in many places only a
few feet OF loose gravel covered body
of iron ore from 200 to 800 feet thick
and to a horizontal exterior of 40 acres
or more. This discovery of iron in the
roots Of afallen tree changed the his
tory of iron mining in the Lake
Superior country and vitality affected
the commerce and industry Of the
whole United States.
The first shipment Of ore from the
Biwabik mine, which was the first
mine owned on the newly discovered
range, was in 1892. In 1895 the
Mesabi district. as the new range was
called, became the largest producer
in the Lake Superior region. The
total shipment OF iron ore from the
Mesabi in 1902 was 13,329.953 tons.
This was 80 per cent of the total pro-
duction of the United States and more
than half the production of the whole
Lake Superior district. The output
for 1903 was 1892, 242 tons. The total
reserve tonnage Of the Mesabi is esti-
mated at about 100000 900 tons, about
80 per cent of which is Bessemer
grade, the highest quality. The ag-
gregate amount Of high grade ore in
sight up to 1902 on the 'old. ranges"
of the Lake Superior region is esti-
mated at $50 ,OOO,O 900 tons.
The effect that the opportune dis
covery of this great body of iron ore
has had upon the iron and steel trade
Of the country cannot be figured out.
An iron operator said to me recently
that had the Mesabi not been dis
covered the ore from the old ranges
would today be selling at double the
present prices. In fact, in addition
to keeping iron ore at price which
permitted the iron and steel indus
tries to expand and prosper SO wonder-
fully, it may be said that the Mesabi
has actually saved these industries by
furnishing a supply of raw material
for the enormously increased product.
The Mesabi ores are nearly all soft
ores and break up like so much gravel
or dirt. The ore deposits all lie in
great shallow troughs or beds and are
generally only covered with mantel
of glacial "drift''-or gravel from a
few feet to 100 feet thick The usual
method of mining is to ''strip" off the
everything soil and load the ore direct
by steam shovels into railway cars for
to the ore docks at
Lake Superior ports. Some Of the ore
is mined by shafts and underground
methods, but none of the mines are
over 800 feet deep. The mining is al
together so cheap that aside from the
question of supply the price of ore in
the markets is much lower than that
of the hard ore mines.
The open pit mining is character
istic of the Mesabi aud along the strip
of the formation, productive belt
from one-half to two miles wide and
about 80 miles long, the surface yawns
with great gashes and cuts. The
amount of ore and rock removed on
the Mesabi in the past decade is more
than equal to that which will be
moved in the construction of the
Panama ditch, and all done by private
capital and enterprise. By reason of
the use Of the steam shovel compara-
lively few men are employed in this
prodigiOus work. The ore, in banks,
is loosened by blasting and then
loaded direct into cars at the.rate of
50-ton car every five minutes for every
shovel. These cars are. pushed around
by busy "dinky'' engines and are
made up into trains of from 40 to So
cars for hauling 70 the ore docks at
TIVE Harbors, Duluth and Superior,
a distance of about 80 miles. One