Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-06-26
NEW ORE LANDS.
Field for Enterprise When OH Work
irus Are Exhausted.

Marquette, Mich. June 25.-Mneral
lands in the so-called Junction Range are
TO be given thorough rest. Toledo par
ties have secured an option on 400 acres III
section IT., IL, i'm Sands township, Mar
,nl.ttc County. and have contracted with
Il Mcsaba exploration company to put
c"nsid"rabir depth. The tract is owned
by Amcda PcliiSirr of Marquette. W ho has
held il for almost four decades, having
obtained his patent from the Govern
ment and has never been explored. \
large contiguous acreage is owned by the
Cleveland cliffs Iron Company. The dlS
trct has been scratched over hN pros
pectors without important results. al
though ore outcroppinSS are visible at
several places. Thcr" is great interest IN
the work not to he undertaken, and if re
suits are as expected there Will doubtless
he Il rush for options on junction range
Another field in which it is believed that
iron mines will eventually be opened. but
plureti. is the Junction basin. so called be
cause comprising the junction Of thr
which contain important producers. The
bn sin is about three miles long and thre"
miles wide. and g""losiStS declare II to b''
a sand and water filled ore trap. Near by
is Goose Lake. n reservoir large enough l."
enrich tremendous ore deposit. Iht
basin is surrounded by the rocks required
to make and hold iron bodies, yet the ONLY
exploratory work done to date has been
tIi., sinking OF few test pits at the edge
of the basin. The basin is entirely Il dit-
mnnd drill proposition. the deposits lN,ng
,I.,p if at all. and there is good opinion
thai if diamond drill holes Wrr" put down
in the swamp. within the field, ore of bet
ter uuality than anything yet discovered
in tL,, Cascade range would he tapped.
Much Of the land in and south ot the
basin has been abandoned. Some fifteen
Years ago exploratory operations were
conducted hy N"gaunee men who heid IN
opJion on q tract ut the edge Of the June
iien baSin swamp. A shalt was SUNK
;, bollt ninety feet. Ore was struck IN the
bottom of the shaft. The water could not
he taken out fast enough with the bucket
to permit operations. Negotiations were
pendjng for the purrhaS" of equipment
when the men disagreed over the division
Of interest and the deal fell through
In any Michigan iron field II cannot be
stated positively that iron does not EXIST
until after the iind has been pune he'd full
of diamond drill holes sunk to the under
Wing country rock, below which S'dimen-
tnry or. deposits may not reasonably he
hook ed for Properties that have been eX-
rI,,rrd off and on for years occasionally
davpIop into good mines. under the fortu-
maize touch of some explorer with better
ideas or better luck than those who pre-
coded him Although there is work In
that line on either the Mardneft" or
Gogebic ranges to- occupy several decades
at IN. present rate OF progress, there IS a
larger field for exploration on the Memo
mjnee range than in the other two dis
tricts combined Physically 1t is The
largest of the Michigan ranges. extending
aYst and west sixty miles There are more
snurs or outlying districts than on the
oth.r ranges and the iron formation is 50
extensive that many new and large mines