The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-10-27
THE VERMIL|ON
This Range Now Receiving Considerable At
tention From Iron Men.
Much Work Going on and Much in Prospect
The Soudan Mine.

|
nectlon with iron ore and the iron
ranges in Northern Minnesota, the
old pioneer Vermilion range seems to
have been neglected, if not forgotten,
by the great general public, says the
Duluth Herald.
One thing that threw the Vermilion
range in the shade was the fact that
many of the best properties were in
litigation just before the ,Mesaba
range came to the front. The latter
proved to be more nearly poor man IS
range and carried off the honors in in
terest, development, rich discoveries
and then actual mining.
Then after litigation ended, "big
Interest,"" declined to take hold, not
desiring an activity nor an excess of
high grade ore. Property owners,
lightweight capitalists and ordinary
promoters believed that the Vermilion
proposition was too heavy for them,
therefore they dropped and forgot 1t.
The "big interests" too, permitted,
If not encouraged, the belief that work
on that range was too expensive and
too uncertain for the average man or
company to undertake and 900 men
out of 1000 meekly accepted that idea.
Better methods, better workmen,
new ideas and dissipation Of some of
of the old "bogeys" show that much
of the Vermilion work can be done
more cheaply, easily and with decent
ly sure results than generally believed
AS a result. the main "big interests"
on the range are, today. making
a fairly vigorous scramble for new
properties and several lighter financial
weights are entering the field. Then.
to crown AL, IL is genera1ly screwed
that the 'Hill interest" are displeased
because the 'Steel trust" interests IN
vaded the Western Mesaba and haye
determined to acquire heavy holdings
on the Vermilion and Eastern Mesaba
not far distant and, possibly, unless
there is a flag of truce and gentle
mems agreement" invade that terri
tory with a branch of Great Northern
railway. It is quite certain that the
next thirty days will see either Wig
orous policy Of encroachment and con-
| fiict of these interests or some sort of
a compromise. The Eastern Mesaba,
around the Mailman mine, is about
half way between Virginia, the most
eastern point Of the Great Northern,
and section 30, which A. M. Chisholm
and others recently acquired under a
years option. Already, on the East
ern Mesaba, the Hill interests have
acquired lands and shown up ore.
Further, former railroad survey
from Virginia to Grand Marais, Mimi.
via the Eastern Mesaba, made by Al
fred Merritt a couple of years ago,
has been turned over to the Great
Northern people.
The first mine on the Vermilion was
at Soudan, the old Minnesota, now
but shadow of what it was ia its
days of glory and vigor. Exploration
work on tliis has been started, how
ever, that may result in new ore bod
les that, il realized, will last for years
and bring strength to the property.
Near Soudan, within hailing dis
tance Of Tower Junction, earnest eff
fort sare being made to show up ore on
the Roy and LaChance properties in
sections 4 and 5, ellis. The drills on the
Roy have shown results that have en-
couraged the Roy Iron company to
put on a second drill which will start
work at once.
East of this and south of Jasper
Peak, ten forties belonging to Silas
Robinson and others, have been ac-
quired within the past few weeks at a
royalty of 25 cents a ton and mini
mum annual output of 10000, 900 tons.
Drilling will start soon.
North of Mud Lake, in section 5.
62-14, on the John Semer property, the
Oliver Iron Mining company has been
drilling for several months under a
lease carrying a royalty of 25 cents.
A bunch of properties have been
leased by people who have, to date,
concealed their identity, in 62-14, near
Robinson lake station. Levy of Du-
luth, 100 acres in section 10; Mr.. Bis
bee in section Z, and DR.. Goetchius in
section 8, and the Robinson Lake Iron
company in section IS. This COM
pany includes Fl. R. Spencer of Du-
luth, Silas Robinson of Tower and
Attorney Kennedy of Superior.
Levy gave an option to Bisbee. Par
ties came to Levy for the same pur-