The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-06-26

1892. when 1t sent out 4,245 tons. From
that point its advance was rapid and
continuous, until last year It's output, as
stated above, was nearly two-thirds of
the total from the Lake Superior dis
tricts. One mine alone on this range,
the Mountain Iron Mine. shipped In 1905
almost 100000 tons.
Probably two.thirds OF the known de-
posits of iron ore In the Lake Superior
regions is owned or controlled by the
United Stntes Steel Corporation. other
wise known as the steel trust" but the
remaining one-third is owned by individ-
unIs or by Independent manufa cturers OF
steel products. Several large manufac-
turing concerns outside of the regular
steel trade, including one manufacturer
of farm machinery. using considerable
quantities of iron and steel. own mines
In this section and ship their own ore to
their own smelters to be made into pig
iron for use In their own factories. The
steel trust. however. does better than
this 1t ships its own ore over its own
railroads to irs own docks. and In its
own boats to its own smelters.
Labor in the mines and upon the rail-
roads. docks and vessels engaged In the
iron trade Is well paid, as rule. and
there Is. perhaps. no Industrial section OF
this country so free from labor troubles
as the Iron mining regions of Minnesota,
Michigan and Wisconsin. The only
strikes that have occurred in recent years
have been among the laborers employed
by individuals or corporations to whom
the mine operators have let contracts for
stripping" a process to be described
later.
Ease and cheapness Of mining are prom
ineIt features Of many parts of this re-
gion. while modern American methods of
handling and hauling the product bring
1t cheaply and quickly to the smelters of
the East. Every year new discoveries
broaden the known fields of iron, and the
end Is not yet. Every. year great guam
titles of 1t are hauled to market, and
yet the supply seems inexhaustble. Yet
1t Is not, of course, and experts figure
that at the present rate of increase Of
production the Lake Superior fields of
high-grade ore will not last more than so
years.
There are almost as many varieties of
mining methods In the lake region as
there are varieties of deposits. and these
are many. Sometimes the ore ls found
deeply hidden In the earth. jealousy
guarded by great, difficult beds of jasper
and granite. Sometimes the deposits Cp-
pear upon the surface, and all that Is
needed In order to work them Is to
strip" or the thin layer of earth above
them and scoop out the ore as gravel Is
scooped out of n gravel bed. Sometimes
the ore bodies lie in thin, wide lenses;
sometimes these lenses are horizontal, and
again they may be perpendicular. Some
times the ore is In round compact masses
with no foreign matter intervening; some
times l. lies In small areas separated by
earth. taconite, Jasper and granite.
There are three principal methods of
mining, however. including openpit steam
shovel mining, the milling process and
blasting out the hard ores. In the open
pit mines of the Mesaba range, In
Minnesota, they simply scoop 1t out with
steam shovels in the open daylight. put
1t into cars with the same steam shovels
and run 1t away to the docks. Often both
steam shovel and milling process are used
In the same mine. part of which will re-
quire underground methods and part of
which viii be capable OF operations upon
the openpit plan. Most of the openpit
mining Is done on the Mesaba range.
year ~ per cent. VI tue output
was mined by steam chovels out Of open
pits of large size.
Some OF the ores are hard. while others,
like those In the openpit mines, are soft
The hard ores are generally OF higher
grade and easier to market while the
softer ores are OF lower grade, but in
fnitely easier to handle.
In mining upon any OF these plans the
deposits are first surveyed and outlined
by drilling. Churn drills are used Ia the
soft earth and diamond drills are used
to go through the rock. The ore body Is
definitely located and approximately
measured before the mining operations
begin. With the hard ores the mining
proceeds In the conventional fashion, by
sinking q shaft and by drifting at vari-
Gus levels, the ore being loosened by
blasting and taken out by hoists, Just as
people naturally expect a mine to be
operated.
But In the openpit mines the methods
are as little like the popular conception
of mining as possible. The drilling CON-
RlAssd and the extent and depth Of the