Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-10-23
iron FOR ALL NEEDS
BLACK SANDS OF COAST RICH
In ORE.
Geological Survey Officials Say the
Northwest Has lnexhauSfibie
Supplies That Are Easily Re.
duCed-1On OF Sand Yielded
6SJ Pounds of iron.

Portland, Or, Oct. 1S.-"All that
is needed for the establishment of iron
industries at dozen points along the
Patcific coast of the Northwest that
will rival those of Pittsburg and other
Eastern cities is the application of
capital and enterprise in the handling
of the material that lies in inexhausti
BILE quantities at hundred places
along the coast"
This is the announcement made by
DR.. David T. Day, chief of the mining
division of the United States geolog-
ical survey, who, with his associates,
has for several months been expert
menting with variety Of sands taken
from the bays. river beds and other
places inland and on the coast.
These experiments have been carried
on as feature of the government work
at the Lewis and Clark expo sition.
The results of their work in the extrac
ton of gold from certain black sands
taken from river beds have been made
known. The discovery of the highest
grade and most valuable iron known
to the world-and that in unlimited
quantities-is the latest Development
At riouth OF Columbia.
At the mouth of the Columbi river
DR.. Day and his assistants have found
immense deposits Of magnetic, or
magnetic iron, and the doctors inter.
esting statement in this connection is
that the find rivals in Importance the
richest of iron ore in the Lake Superior
region.
st is the same sort of ore," said he,
as that from which the famous Nor.
way iron and steel-with which the
world as yet has nothing else to COM
pare-is made. In Norway and Ger.
many iron manufacturers have for
years been working this mineral and
turning out products that are the des.
pair of the other iron producers of the
world.
Further, the deposits we have
found at the mouth of the Colum bia
is only one Of 500 or more along the
coast. There are similar beds of the
stuff at river mouths and inlets all
along the Northwest coast. Magnetic,
as is we'll known, is the richest Of all
iron ores, and the deposits we have
found are equal in every way to the
ores from which the world renowned
Norway iron and steel are made"
"One.Third pure nsgneftfe."
DR.. Day and his associates have built
at their quarters on the fair grounds
an electric smelling plant for the
treatment of magnetic iron ore taken
from the mouth of the Colum bia river
The smelter has just been completed,
and as a result of the first run the doc
tor gives out the news that from a ton
of the black sand treated he has secur-
ed 6S3 pounds of iron. A carload of
the sand was found to be one-third
pure magnetic.
For months DR.. Day has been con-
vinced that deposits of the kind could
be found along the Coast, but it was
not until recently that the existence of
the material in commercial quantities
was positively made known. Then
the chief of the mining division of the
geological survey set about securing
the services of an electrical smelter
expert for experiments in the reduction
Of the ore. c. E. Wilson, man of
national fame IN this line of work,
was engaged, and he and Dr. Day last
week built and put into operation a
small electric emelting plant. The
results Of the first run are given above.
Other Minerals Found.
"You people of the Northwest, said
DR.. Day, deserve the appellation of
barbarians until you learn to make
your own iron and steel. As long as
you continue importing everything
needed in the iron and steel line from
the East you are merely colonists or
dependencies of the East.
"With the inexhsustible deposits of
the highest grade of magnetic iron at
your doors, and easily reduced, you
can make anything known or needed
in the iron or steel line. There is here
available enough iron to build the
United States another navy"
But the discovery Of magnetic on
the Coast is not the only result Of the
Investigations Of DR.. Day since he be.
gan his work at the fair. A mineral
known as monozite-so named because
it is so rare-is used largely in the
manufacture Of the mantels Of the
Welsbsch style Of gas burner. Hither-
to all of this mineral so used has been
obtained from mines in Brazil, with
the exception of small portion mined
in North Carolina. DR.. Day announces
that immense deposits Of the substance
have been found within a short dis