The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-06-24

RON 10 the backbone Of American
manufacturing industry. and 30 1t Is
the backbone of the immense trafic
Of the Great Lakes. and Of the busy
!, life of that part of Minnesota. Michigan
ana Wisconsin bordering on Lake Su-
pfrior, the greatest OF the Great Lakes.
For instance. last season the tra1ic
through the canals at Sault Ste. Marie.
! Mich, the outlet OF Lake Superior,
| amounted to A,270, $50 tons, including
shipments both ways. OF this imposing
total. vastly exceeding the business Of the
great Sues Canal. 81 .Ss2. 6s7 tons were
iron ore, bound down the lakes from the
Lake Superior iron districts = be worked
. up into pig iron. and thence into the In
ished products In the smelters and fac
!. tories OF the East
= In tho production and transportation OF
: iron orc In the Lake Superior district
miilions Of capital are invested and thous-
ands Of men are employed. And yet Q
large part Of the several processes at
tending the mining and shipment Of iron
ore n done by purely mechanical means.
% that from mine TO smelter human
! hands scarcely ever touch the unprom-
Using piles Of red. brown and yellow ma
teriai that goes into the manufacture Of
Iron and steel.
4 The initial stages Of the process by
which our structural iron. our railroad
steel. our plows and knives and nails are
made are tinged with the romance Of
human achievement. Fascinating, indeed.
are the exhibits OF human ingenuity that
have been devised to enable man to bet
ter and more quickly reap the rich fruits
Of natures benevolence.
Iron ore IL scooped out Of the earth by
giant steam shovels. dumped by them into
cars, shot by mechanical means from
cars into pockets IN the ore docks. and
finally dumped by gravity into the holds
OF vessels to be carried a thousand miles
i. to the Eastern ports, where great clam
! shell buckets dip into the interiors Of
sthe ships and bite out great masses Of
the freight, which they deposit with al
4 most human intelligence upon the cars
J waiting to take the rich freight to the
! smeiters.
The iron deposits Of the Lake Superior
region are scattered about the shores of
! this greatest body OF fresh water. chief
member OF the family of large waterways
! known as the Great Lakes, which. like n
= cluster OF giant fingers. grasp a large
\ proportion of the traffic Of the United
States and Of its British cousin on the
north.
y Minnesota. Michigan and Wisconsin, In
the order named. furnish most OF the
\ from ore mined In this country. Mime
s.sota alone furnishes nearly two-thirds Of
the American product, and her yield OF
iron annually exceeds that OF any single
nation on the globe other than Spain and
Great Britain. On the north shore OF
Lake Superior. in Canada. there has late
~ appeared the beginning of the iron
mining industry. and some considerable
deposits have been developed there. But
.9ss ave .'ranges" OF the three A u,erican
MATES named furnish not only the best
iron ore found In the world. but most of
the worlds supply.
= The ultimate value OF iron ore depends
upon these three characteristics: First,
quality; second. accessibility. and third,
quantity. Az to quality. the Lake Su-
perior iron Is the best there is, highest
4 In percentage of iron and lowest In per-
-centage Of deteriorating minerals. As to
accessibility. the deposits border the
Jake. handy TO ports where vessels of
,l0 900 tons and more do nothing else but
handle 1t As to quantity. the amount
IS untold, and last years output OF near
! ~ 100000 tons barely left a noticeable
dent in the supply.
= The entire shipments of Iron ore from
.-sthe Lake Superior regions last year we
: B4. 1858. 456 tons. the greatest output In
.,fheir history. small part OF this went.
In response to hurry-up calls from the
: smelters during the season when naviga-
..tion on the lakes was closed. by rail all
-sthe way. A small part too. was con-
~
Duluth. The local consumption is ex-
=