Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-29
ORE OF MESABA RANGE
Over a Hundred Million Ions
Taken Out.
IRON OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Yearly Excavation Greater Than fol-
the Panama Canal.
DISCOVERY BY THE MERRITTS
Neglect of the Early Reports OF
eologists-Attention Paid Solely
to the Timber Resources.
IRON OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY
DISCOVERY BY THE MERRITTS
EY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS
s-a=r t,-respon,ience Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

Record Herald.
DULUTH, September %. 1907.
Minnesota now furnishes two-thirds of
t,. iron ore mined in the United States
It, annual product is greater than that OF
any single nation on the globe, except
T.rtars Great Britain, whose figures Tor
last wear are not yet available. All TINS
irou comes from the single county OF 81.
T.,.is. bounded by Lake Superior on the
east and r,4ching northward to Canada.
Ogtsid, The, rity of Duluth there is prob
ably population Of 5000 people who
al. entirely dependent upon the mines,
and most of them are of alien birth. They
r,rr-.,,ut almost every race, country and
religion in Europe and il is matter of con-
1ectur,. what would become of our boasted
development were it not for the aid OF
these Immigrants.
There IRE two distinct iron ranges in
St louis county. MINI, known as the
Nrrmirruu and the M"Saba. The latter
word. witch means giant in the Indian
trug.-.. is spelled i'm several ways
M,Slhl. N5sahi. Missabi, Misahe. NJ sabt,
N:~-rhi and nobody knows which Is cor.
ret J counted three different ways NUt
-rglIIig the name as il was painted upon
ill.,. ,,.o-iNr and ore cars of a train on
ON. .. rt- railways running from Duluth
l. the range
Peculiarities Of the Mesaba.
I'll. 1I.saba rang, is very different
fgem auy other meteorological formation in
tlis country It is almost unique. In
SOM. .srts of Norway there are ore beds
which sr-,,. nle it, and they are mined IL
q sla+lag manner. but those Of the Mesa
IA range ar" rIyErr and easier OF opera
tinu r.au any otnaE III the world. 1t 5
s-t.l.at q that within a radius Of five
miles .,rciud the town Of Htbbine there
IS g. lar..yr d"ro-i, E iron ore than any
where. -i.. IN tho world. MI. Stevens, re-
Gently r.g.g--r # the Panama canal, not
Ing ago declared that if much earth
Was tak-I. uuc NJ me Panama ditch every
Year Us orc from luc mines on the Mesaha
rang. i've rNrHNatons for tn" canal would
D.. no.,T!-f-d IN fCul years.
Tn N~saha is a fiat, blanket, horizon
tuI Formation of iron from ten to- 200
fr-t taick. covered with common drift
G.rt. gravel and clay, to a depth Of
from SIX feet To PAU feet. The miners
strip off the soil and find solid body of
ore which il sCooprd up ty steam shovels
similar 10 those used in railroad grading
and in building the drainage canal in Chi
Cago, only the contents of the shOvels are
worth 1T Cleveland 81. so ton and are
dumped into steel railway cars made cor
the purpose and sent To the furnaces of
Ohio and Pennsylvania instead OF being
Thrown aside as an incubus and worthless
Obstruction. The ore varies In color from
yellow To purple. but the most of it is
dull red, and the redder it is the larger
the percentage Of iron. The excavations
from which il has been sCoOned out by
drcdgrs look like great bloody gashes,
terrible wounds. made in the body of
Mother Earth bY some Titanic force
The ore will average 50 per cent metallic
iron 10 Der cent water, 10 per cent silica,
9 per cent of maEnesia and the rest alumni
mum. clay and other elements in small pro-
portions The EcOCgists say that this great
source OF wealth was washed down the
surfac- Of the earth from unknown sources
In solution and happened to be caught