, 1907-10-03
A MOUNTAIN
OF RICH ORE
WRITER IN DENVER MINING PA
PER GIVES DESCRIPTION OF
FINDING IRON MOUNTAIN
Discovered Sixty-seven Years Ago by
Army officer Passing to Salt Lake,
Who Gave Brief Description OF
MineraI-FulIy Described in Re.
cent Geology Bulletin.

Iron mountain, in southeastern Wyo-
ming, in the e~ast-central part of Albany
county, is a rugged ridge of granular
igneous rocks, 300 to 600 feet wide
and one and ~one-quarter miles long.
whose ragged top presents a marked
contrast to the regular hogbacks ni
the foothill sedimentary rocks, say
the Denver Ores and Metals. 1t lies
eight miles west of Iron Mountain sta,
ton, on the Colorado II Southern
railroad, from which it may be reached
by wagon road. and approximately for
ty miles northwest of Cheyenne. Chug.
water creek passes in a gorge through
the iron ore body of the mountain.
Found by Army Officer.
The iron was first noticed September
80, 1910. by Captain Howard STAINS.
bury, United States army, when ho
camped on the banks OF Chugwatec
creek on his way to Great Salt lake.
He found along the banks of the
streams and in the adjacent hills 'int,
mense numbers of rounded black no,
dulles of magnetic iron ore, which
seemed to be of unusual richness.
The greater portion of the main dc.
post passed into the hands OF the Un-
ion Pacific railroad as a, part of lana
granted to it in 1862. In 1872 a wagon
road was built to the deposit, pros
pectors rushed in. and tne whole coun-
try was staked. In the following year
a postofice was established, only to
be abandoned a year later. Eight or
ten years ago the Colorado Fuel and
Iron company employed fifteen teams
for several months in hauling ore from
the mountain to the railroad, whence
it was shipped to their shelters at Pl
eblo. The work was then suddenly
abandoned.
New Bulletin Prepared.
This, in brief, Is the history of the
development of this region, who's eco
monte possibilities are again awaken
ing wide interest. In the fall of 1906,
Sydney H.. Ball of the United States
geological survey visited the mountain.
and he has prepared FOR the surveys
annual volume on economic geology
bulletin No. 315) all account of tile
deposits, chiefly because previously
published descriptions, a list of which
is given, are out of print or difficult OF
cess
An Igneous Dixie.
The mass of iron forming the main
deposit is an igneous dixie, one and
one-fourth miles long II 40 to 800
feet wide, its greatest width being at
the point where Chugwater creek cuts
through the mass A second dixie OF
the iron ore, 6 to 20 feet wide, is ex-
posed about 800 feet down stream
farther east), on the south side OF the
creek; and about one-eighth OF a mile
southeast of the south end of the main
mass is a third dixie, ten to thirty feet
wide and 800 feet long, with a trend
approximately parallel to that of the
main mass. Several smaller bikes,
ten to fifty feet long, n none OF them
over three feet wide, lie east of this
mass in parallel alignment
Contains Much Titanium.
The ore is a black, granular, holo'
crystalline rock, with metallic or SUD
metallic luster, and, as chemical analy-
ses show, contains a high percentage o.
titanium. By present smelling meth
DDS iron ores that contain so much
titanium are almost ~valueless, as they
are practically unreducible at the tenn
perature of blast or open-hearth fur
naces. AS a constituent of iron II
steel, however, titanium increases
t~oughness and tensile strength, n
the production of ~high-grade iron from
titaniferous ores is under some n
lions profitable. Progress is being
made in the treatment of these ores,
and at some future time the deposits
at Iron mountain will doubtless be Il
great commercial Importance.