Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-06-06

great docks have been erected. These
ore docks are unlike any other type
of cargo handling appliances in the
world. They rise 60 and 20 feet
above the water, and some of them
are half a mile long. At the top are
the railway tracks, on which are run
the ore laden cars. Their contents
fall into huge pockets, and thence,
| through chutes, t. the holds of the
waiting vessels. All told, the docks
of Duluth and its associated ports
from which the shipments of last
| year were made, have a capacity OF
6S1 ,440 tons and a water frontage of
and additional docks are now being
completed. To carry the ore east
ward last year it required S92 vessels,
more than three times as many as the
craft of all classes now fit for service
in the United States navy, and this
great lake fleet transported 9,S07 car
goes.
From the time operation begins in
| the spring until navigation closes,
work in the open pit mines goes on
with few Interruptions. At night
! electric lights fare in the depths of
the excavations, and always there is
the rumble of the long trains and the
clanking of the chains and creaking of
the machinery of the great shovels.
All of the digging done by the great
shovels does not bring out ore, for be-
fore the precious. reddish brown ma
terial is reached the earth must be
removed or. as the mine men say, the
stripping must be done. There are
| places where the ore is found only a
few feet below the surface. In others
the rock and earth must be taken out
to depth of perhaps rs feet or more
before the ore is reached. This
earth is hauled away in cars to places
where tests have shown that no ore
| is likely to be found. There it is
dumped in great piles. Near the
range. one of these dumps, which
looks like an artificial hill a hundred
feet or more in height. has been Sc
lected as house lot by :. man who
apparently wants to live in a place
with a good outlook of the surround
| ing country.
While in the open pit mines bust
ness goes on only during the navi-
CATION season, the underground mines
work the year round. during the win
| ter piling the ore at the mouth Of the
pits so that in the spring there are
scattered about the landscape red
colored hills which during the sum
mer disappear and are carted away
in the cars on which they are loaded
| by the steam shovels. The under
ground workings are sometimes con-
Quoted in connection with open pits.
becoming in that case what are
known as milling propositions, the ore
dug in the pit being hauled through
] tunnels into the old workings and
raised to the surface through the
shafts.
These ranges, which have made Du-
luth the greatest ore shipping city
in the world. are places where there
is little use for the man with the
pick and shovel II is a region
where vast results are obtained by
the use. of great power. Up to the
present time these operations have
been dependent upon the energy Of
steam. Now, however, with the com
pletion of the great hydraulic develop
ment near Duluth, which, combined
with electrical transmission. will sup
ply power to all the region rounda-
bout. it is likely that electricity viii
do much Of the work on the ranges.
in addition to running trolley cars.