Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-30

in the ground, sixty acres in extent and sew
enty-fve feet deep, like one Of the canyons
of the Yellowstone. The perpendicular
walls show almost every color and tint,
some brilliant and some dull, from prlght
yellow to purple and chocolate Ihe dark.
est colors indicate the highest grades or
ore, which run about 6S per cent OF pure
iron. The bright yellow, which looks like
clay or ochre, runs about 90 per cent pure
iron. serpentine railway, about Twelve
miles long, winds around the sides and bot.
tom of the hole, and a large number or
steam shovels-I didn't count them-were
growing away as they dug up the ore and
dumped it into the cars which are hauieo
out, made up into trains and sent 10 1ne e
ore docks at Duluth. The average is 5oo
cars a day, although 1t sometimes reaches
$50 Each car carries fifty tons, which Is an
average of 1900 tons of ore a day. Inc
output could be doubled or trebled II the
railway company could handle It, Inc ore
is worth perhaps $3.50 per ton at the mine.
1t is worth S4.65 a ton on the dock at
Cleveland or Ashtabula, but none of 1t Is
sold. as l have already told you; the rail.
way freight bills average $4,000 day at
the Mahonng mine.
The MahOning company employees ABOUT
900 men, mostly machinists. who work the
steam shovels and run the locomotives that
haul the cars out of the pit. Practically no
hand work is done, no more than in running
a railroad. The employees are comfortaoly
housed in neat cottages and Well-kept
tive village on the edge of the mine with
the Headquarters in the center. They work
only eight nine months in the year-as
long as navigation is open. When the In
surance companies call in the policies on
the steamers that carry the ore to Cleveland
and Ashtabua work is suspended, the
steam shovels are boarded up and the pit is
allowed to fill with snow, while the men
spend the winter making repairs.
Operated on a Long Lease.
The Mahoning company has lease of
the land it is mining for ninety mine years
from the Great Northern railroad and it
pays a royalty of 80 cents a ton to that
company on all the ore it takes out. The
land was owned for many years by a Mr..
Wright and a Mr.. Davis of Saginaw, Mich,
who bought it at an early day from the
government. The timber was sold % Fred
erick Weyerhauser for S1.6OO,OOO. and, as
told you in a previous letter, they offered
him the land also for 100000 additional
and he turned them down. Mr.. Weyerhaus-
er came up here a few years ago end stood
on the rim of the artificial canyon from
which nearly thirty millions of dollars have
already been taken. and wept over his folly
and short sig htedness. That thirty million
is only a trife compared with what remains
in the ground. Only sixty acres have been
attacked and the steam shovels are not half
way down to the bottom yet. Probably as
much more will be taken out from this
same hole, and when that Is done there is
still remaining strip or similar ore one
hundred feet deep. forty acres wide and two
miles long Anybody who chooses can spec
ulate on the value of that deposit
The manager OF the Ontario mine is the
man who opened it-Mr. w c. Agnew of
YOUNGSTOWN He has been here from the
beginning and is going to stay as long as
he can. But his great-grandchildren will
probably see the steam shove's still at
work His son. Mr.. w. &. Agnew jr., is
manager of another mine.
Other Rich Mines.
The only mines that outrank tie Mahon
ing are the Fayal and the Original Dis
coyery known as the Mountain Iron,
from which the first ore was shipped by the
| Merritt brothers in the fall of 1892. Both
belong TO the steel trust and are operated
by TIE Oliver Mining Company. About H.
| Us)GOO tons of have already been
| taken out at the Mountain Irol and as
| much more Is in sight, while the human
! mind refuses to accept the calculations of
| the wealth that lies concealed under the
| rest Of the property.
| The Fayal, which was developed in 1895
| and shipped 10000 tons the first year,
| stands next to the Mountain Iron a pro-
Queer. Since 1909 it has yielded more than