The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-04-18
REPORT ON THE
RICH UTAH ORES
iron Deposits Are Now Receiv-
ing Much Attention.
STEEL PLANT is POSSIBLE
SALT LAKE ROAD ONLY A FEW
MILES DISTANT.
Especial to The Herald


Washington, d. c.. April 1.-THE
United States geological survey has is
sued an economical bulletin which con-
tains an article on Utah iron ores, of
which the following is a synopsis:
Iron ore deposits OF considerable
promise have long been known in the
Iron mountain district Of Iron and
Washington counties, Utah, but be
cause Of their remoteness from railways
and from the principal coking, manu-
featuring and consuming centers, they
received little general attention until
the latter part Of the last decade. when
developments IN the iron and steel in
dustry made it necessary to look out
side Of the Well known iron producing
districts for further supplies. Deposits
that have been considered too remote
or of too low grade to be valuable have
recently been carefully investigated for
future availability, and remote areas
nave been explored to discover new
deposits.
Southern Utah Ores.
Among the remote deposits long
known that are receiving much atten-
ton are those of southern Utah It
VIII therefore interest many people 20
Know that c. X Leith of the United
States geological survey, who visited
these deposits i'm the fall of 1903. has
duscussed them briefly in the surveys
bulletin enc. 225). entitled "Contribu-
tons TO Economic Geology, 1903
The deposits are located along the
slopes Of a spur of the Wasatch noun
tains bordering the west side of the
high plateaus of Titan. where the
mountains break Off to the Escalante
desert on the west. The district is
reached by the salt Lake. san Pedro
q Los Angeles railway TO Lund. and
thence by stage about twenty-five
miles across the Esca1ante desert D
Iron Springs and Iron City, near which
the ores are located.
Iron Ore Area.
The exposures Of the iron ores lie in
several isolated groups in an area
treuding nearly sOuthwest-northeas
They extend for a distance Of about
eighteen miles, and range from few
feet TO two and a half miles in width.
The ores appear in conspicuous narrow
ridges and crags, following roughly the
contours Of the hills and sometimes ris-
ing as much as 100 feet above the base
of the oUtcrop.
Inc ore appearing in the jagged
exposures is a hard. black CrystalliZed
hematite ard magnetic. the two min
erals being present in varying proper
tons. Most of the ore that has been
reached by test pipes and shafts is a
somewhat soft earthly, red hematite,
containing much magnetic. Analy-
ses show that d considerable proper
ton of this ore is OF good grade.
thought for the most part non Besse-
mer, but just what that proportion is
remains 10 be determined by furt her
underground work.
Importance of DEPOSITS.
The economic importance of these
deposits depends largely on the con-
ditiOns and possibilities Of manufacture
and transportation. The nearest rail-
way, the San Pedro, Los Angeles &
Salt Lake railway, which runs south
from salt Lake, passes about twenty
two miles west Of the iron range. Per
sons interested in tine ores are now dis
cussing the feasibility of erecting blast
furnaces and a steel plant at Utah
lake or on Green river. Recent coking
experiments are said 20 have shown the
existence Of coal suitable for coking
within a reasonable distance of these
points II so. the principal difficulty
that remains for these interested in the
development of the deposits is TO Sc
cure a market for their iron and steel
products. and the matter Of transport
alton is the most important factor in
the solution Of that problem
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