The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-30

"0oIncI tudG DOIe ldrQly upon them.
And they had not the hope Of the placer
miner that day might bring forth
strike that would permit them to realize
fortune in some measure. Most of them
were, IN later years, in the employ of
the guiding geniuses of the prospect
ing community.
And at forefront of the men who
were formed by the times to have =
large share in the uncovering Of the
wealth of Minnesota were the Merritts.
D.. I. Adams and others, all marvel
ously equipped by nature to fulfill the
functions to which they were appointed
as the moving spirits in the discovery
OF the Mesaba ore lode. They knew
there was iron on the range. There was
no speculation about it with them. They
simply knew it and went at the recoy.
cry Of it from the hidden places of ma
ture by methodical means, and they
found certain proof that the: ore was
there in lS90-though as matter of
fact their finds were not merchantable.
The iron was there. Getting it to mar
ket was another affair, and even before
that could be done market had to be
created, in fact. But neither of these
problems interfered with the jubilation
over the discovery, and for many
months the prospectors were as thick
in the wilderness as spectators were
in Duluth. It took a couple of years
for the germ to work properly in Du-
luth, but two years after that first
strike the town was crazy on iron.
Scores of prospects were stocked, the
hotel lobbies were crowded o. nights
by men who were curbstone brokers by
day. Everybody had pocket full Of =.
iron stock and the entire population
talked glibly of iron holdings that were
sure to bring fortune. .. 49, $500
All sorts Of men were caught by the
lure of speculation. Even the practical
mining men, as the discoveries were re-
ported and some adequate idea was had
Of the vastness of the deposit came to
be had, big men and big institutions
became involved in the mad miscon-
ception Of what all this iron meant.
Prices were paid for holdings that
were absurd. Contracts were made for
royalties that could not possibly be
paid. Some Of the big mines were COW
cred by these contracts and the con-
tracts taken by big concerns, and they
had to be revised on reasonable terms
when the question of working the mines
at profit was gone into by practical
men. H.. -ss- IT,.
But in the first flush of the find
these matters were too trivial to be
worthy the consideration of men, though
they had fallen into the lap of fortune.
All the world, the woods and the sky
too, took on rosy hue. Editors and
orators exhausted the language in de-
plotting the gorgeous future. The more
conservative looked on in depreciation,
but they were few in number and their
protests went unheeded. Extravaganza
in plans and representations marked
everything concerning the iron, but the
maddest Of them all never approximated
in their widest dreams the things that
have been realized. IF one Of the j.
dreamers had found imagination to con- 7,
ceive and words to describe the things
that have come to pass in the last few
years he would have been disregarded
as mad. If somebody had said that the
face of the earth on the Mesaba range
would, in the course of dozen years,
show the frightful scars that have been
made in the removal of hundred mil
lion tons Of iron ore he would have
been charged with overindulgence. And
if it had suddenly been shown to the
community that obstacles must be re-
moved before the ore it was finding
every day could be turned into iron and
steel Duluth would have gone broke In
the liquidating process in day.
It took brains, the most persevering
energy, utter Indifference to hardship,
and pluck beyond measure, to get the
| iron ore of the Minnesota ranges To-
Gated. But all these were as nothing to
the indomitable viii, the genius in me-
chanics, engineering and invention; the
| resources in cash capital and organized
intellectual force that were required to
/ transmute the ore that was found into
the coin that the discoveries wanted.
| These elements of success were event
ually brought to the rescue of the men
who were threatened with poverty by
| very reason of the dead weight of inert
1 r;nbns ethev5 ware sflad fo NV r;rht ~