Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1909-07-06
MOORE FAvoRs
MINERAL LEASE.
Would Sign Contract With Thonp.
son for iron Ore Lands.

Bthte land board upon the land
sought to be leased by @. w. Thomp-
son OF Lewiston:
I'm compliance with your request.
have examined the land for which
Mr.. g. W. Thompson has made APP
plieation for mineral lease, and here
with submit the following report:
This land 10 located in the south
central part Of Nez Perez county,
about IL miles east OF the town Of
Greer, station on the Northern Pa
cific, and about two miles south and
west Of Weippe, in townships "a and
S5 north, range 4 east, b. M. The
land lies on the low water shed be-
tween Lolo creek and Jim Ford creek,
portion Of the land draining to the
north and the remainder to the south.
The elevation is approximately 1920
feet.
The country lying between this
land and the top Of the Hill near
Greer is exceptionally fertile and Is
very thrifty agricultural area, there
being many large and finely equipped
farms located along the road. which
have been redeemed from the forest,
as this country, few years ago, was
entirely covered with heavy growth
OF fairly good grade Of timber, the
larger portion being yellow pine.
"The soil is very rich, black, and
Of exceptionally good depth, having
been derived from the decomposition
of the basalt formation, which at one
time overflowed this entire section OF
the state. and which has since been
eroded by the many streams into
deep canyons
ITO the northwest are higher
mountains. the waters from which
drain into streams before they reach
this particular tract OF land. but this
condition could not have existed all
ways. for the fact that deposits Of
quartz sand are found along the
small stream beds, which is entirely
foreign to any formation exposed in
this vicinity.
THE property has been developed
by numerous shallow cuts, over an
area OF approximately five miles in
extent. and in all cases they show de-
posits of iron. Upo nsinklng through
the soil from two to four feet the
iron-stained subsoil Ii encountered.
and under this q decomposed basalt,
highly mineralized by hematite ore.
This ore Is OF varying character in
different portions Of the land; in
some places 1t appears, to be a sand
deposit, the particles of which are
cemented together by iron oxide and
in other places simply by an impreg-
nation Of the decomposed basalt.
While basalt rock contains large
percentage OF iron, 1t is unreason-
able to expect that this formation
would ever produce valuable iron ore
deposits. and on account Of this fact
and also from the finding of quartz
sand in the stream beds and also in
deposits under the surface Of the
ground cemented by iron. conclude
that the iron is Of foreign origin
and has been deposited on the basalt
bed at some early date. when the
drainage from higher land was across
this territory.
Samples we're taken from the
numerous cuts, which, from an eco
nomic standpoint, gave very unsatis-
factory results, the highest return OBJ
tanned being only S6.2 per cent iron
and O.1S7 per cent phosphorus. This
latter element would preclude the
ore from ever becoming CONNER
cially valuable as a Bessemer ore.
In making steel by the Bessemer
process an ore should contain less
than IL 900 OF It's amount OF iron;
thus, to be elassed as Bessemer, an
ore containing so per cent iron
should contain less than O.06 per
cent phosphorus. For making steel
by the basic process. high phosphorus
ores are used. but. at the present
time. by far the greater portion OF
the iron produced In the United
States Is by the Bessemer process.
The CHIEF center OF iron ore pro-
duCtiOn in the United States is about
Lake Superior, where the ores occur
along ave mineral belts or ranges in
Pre-Cambrian sedlmentary rocks
the Marquette range In Michigan; the
Menominee. mostly In Michigan. but
partly In Wisconsin; the vermilllon,
In Minnesota. and the Messabo in
Minnesota. As much Of this ore Is
hauled long distances to the surface.
SO per cent ore was once about as
low grade as could be shipped profit
ably, but now some Of the mines
ship Bessemer ore containing q little