The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1907-10-25
THROUGH THE STATE
NEWS GATHERED FROM vARloua
INDIANA POINTS.
REPORT OF BIOLOGIST
W. S. 6latehley Predicts Great Fu.
ture in Iron Producing Line
Large Deposits OF Ore Within
Easy Reach.


lndianapolis.-ln his report for
1906 W $. Blatchley, state geologist.
discusses the iron ore deposits and
the iron industries OF this state and
predicts that Indiana is destined 10
take a leading position among the
iron producing states OF the union
\ paper by Charles w. Shannon.
OF bloomington. field assistant To Mr.
Blatchley. tells OF iron ore deposits
in the state. what Indiana has done in
the past and the methods employed
in prospecting in Indiana fields
The supply of raw materials with
In the state OF Indiana" says Mr.
shannon. lis unlimited. New develop
ments are being made along many
lines and old interests are being re-
vived which were formerly held in
check through lack OF means OF trans
portation and inexperienced manage
ment
To say that Indiana was at one
time chief iron producing state
might appear TO be misleading. but
1870 and find a dozen blast furnaces
in operation and producing a fairly
good tonnage OF iron we cannot fail
70 see that Indiana was a lar'ee pro-
Queer Of iron. Some OF the furnaces
used exclusively Indiana ores. others
worked their ores mixed with for
eign ores. others used only such iron
deposits like Iron Mountain. Mis-
souri,
The furnaces were located as fol-
lows St Joseph Iron works al
Mishawaka. al the extreme northern
edge OF the state. one az Logans-
port. the Old Virginia. or 'Cncin.
natl furnace. in western Monroe
county; the Richland fu..ac in
Greene county; the Irontown furnace.
in Martin county; the Brazil the La
fayette. or Masten. oil otter creek.
south OF Brazil. the Planet. o. Star
northeast Of Harmony. and the two
Western Iron company furnaces at
Knightsville make up the list for Clay
county; the Indiana blast furnace on
=
Vermilion county. and the Nigo blast
furnace. at Terre Haute. the last one
20 go out OF blast All OF these fur
naces have long since ceased opa~J
ton and little remains 10 ma i.
location OF the big iron industries OF
the state which went into decline.
yet leaving a more or less interesting
history.
Eastern furnaces with lowe rail-
road rates and better facilities for
handling ore and the opening of tho
great ore deposits OF the Superior re
gion and other districts have kept
Indiana from returning TO the manu-
facture OF iron. Bat in the last few
years interest has again revived in
the ore deposits OK the state. and the
construction at Gary. Ind. OF what
will eventually be the largest system
OF blast furnaces and iron mills In the
United States. makes il an assured
fact that Ins.ana is again to become
one Of the chief iron prodlcing
states OF the union.
While none OF the Indiana demos
its would be considered extensive.
as compared with the great ore dig
tricts. yet the deposits aggregate
fair tonnage The larger deposits,
which can be more easily worked.
would probably yield 100000 tons
Of ore and The smaller inaccessible
deposits, which would be easily
worked out by the owners or the in
habitants IL furnaces were in a reason
able distances. would bring the total
up 20 at least 25.00Sn0O tons. In
many cases the smaller deposits con
tain the best grade Of iron. This
would fully compensate for the extra
cost in mining. Further developments
and information from the use OF the
core drill may materially increase
the above estimate.
The methods OF prospecting in the
Indiana fields have not only been car
ried out in the iron ore fields OF
Greene and Martin counties. but also
extensively in the coal selds OF south
ern Indiana and in the limestone and
cement shale areas. BY the use OF
picks. shovels. drills and other hand
tools and dynamite vertical faces were
cut on the outcrops extending from
the surface down through the entire
body OF ore into the underlying forma-
tons The length OF these faces va
ried from FIVE to 100 feet"