Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1910-09-08

ing. 1t followed only the crest of
a vertical vein of rich magnetic
ore on Shepherd Mointain. On
Cedar Hill is another rich body of
ore, from which but $4,000 tons
were taken. Russell Mountain,
Tiptop and Shut-In Caye contain
more or less rich ore. The terri
tory abounds with undsTeloped
and half-worked veins II great
richness. Mr.. Crawford Is enthu-
siastic over the prospects dis
closed.
Fundamentally conditions then
and now cannot be compared"
saio NJ. Crawford at the Southern
Hotel yesterday shortly before his
departure for Pilot Knob. "There
was poor dema nd for any kind
of pig iron during previous activ-
tiles in the Arcadian Valley, and
it was often drug on the market,
its value fluctuating like the
weather. The industry was in
many respects crude.
Missouri has always produced
more or less charcoal iron, but
because of modern methods the
demand for it has consistently de-
tclined. Chemistry has reduced
the blast furnace business to an
exact science. Silicons, sulphurs
and phosphorus carbons are now
determined with wonderful ac-
curacy, and as a result, we have
progress from an age of iron to an
age of steel. In fact, there is
much interesting history that has
more to do with the undeveloped
steel of Missouri's iron resources
than the want of workable de-
posits of iron.
SIT is case of the iBrawny
Scit' of Pittsburg putting it over
on the sShow Me- men of Mis-
souri, and in those days it made
the Missourians so sick they never
even tried to come back" Then
ton of steel rails was worth no
more than a ton of basic iron to-
day-about S18 per ton. Pilot
Knob ore was worth from 90 cents
to S1.25 per ton in cars.
"The specular ores OF Pilot
Knob and Iron Mountain are very
dense, hard and refractory, re-
! quiring a maximum amount of
3 coke, unless a mixture.oa porous
brown or red ore can be had in the
furnace. | am told there was al
ways lack of these ores in Mis-
souri, in those days, so the furnace
men had to look elsewhere for
their coke, which was had at a
very high price-that tells a large
part of the story of abandonment.
"The Eastern men were always
! good buyers of rich Bessemer ore
from Pilot Knob and Iron Noun
t tain, which they mixed with the
! low grade ores of Pennsylvania
and with cheap coke they con-
trolled and made good steel cheap
and incidentally the pace was SO
swift, competition so keen that it
made the Missouri operators quit
the business, and they lost mill
. lions of dollars by it, They did
not look around for coking coal
: and other necessary mineral used
in the production of iron, so to
abandon the business without de-
!, feat they said the ore had given
: out.
"The Iron Mountain Company,
! then the most famous in the
world, sold it's dupps for $50, 1000,
realizing 100000 for 10000 acres
Of land, including Iron Mountain,
= and the broker who sold it. it is
said, realized $4,000 on it. The
: people who bought the dumps did
not half finish them in six years
4 And SO the man who paid 100000
for 16,000.acre stock farm looked
y in at the iron and stopped working
on the property, and in the las
. four or five years has sold 800, ,00(
worth of ore, and this year has
y finally got the mud out of the old
y slopes and is again producing ore
y, 1t was an inspiration to me in my
~ negotiations for Pilot Knob.
= ~ will venture the assertion
- that the ore wealth Of old Irol
y Mountain to-day can be estimated
I as worth $500, 900, say nothing 0
4 being the finest stock farm in Mis-
y souri, with about 1000 acres unde
u plow, and | think it is fairly
q typical OF the business sagacity
~ capacity and energy that ha
Y. managed the rise and fall Of tn
s. iron industry in Missouri"
gB Irnr CaIa at n Rarra;n