The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-10
RIRMINGHAms onE pIsoovERIEs

BIRMINGHAMs ORE DISCOVERIES
 From the Baltimore Manufacturers Rec
 ord
 The know iron and steel making poten- tialities of the Birmingham district have probably been doubled by the diamond drill tests, to which reference has recent ly been made in the Manufactures Record, and which are elaborately covered in spe- cal articles in this weeks issue. These demonstrations, moreover, add vastly to the amount of iron ore held by independ- ent interests, and make possible new de- velopments which but a few weeks ago might have been considered questionable. It matters not how great may be the growth of the souths consumption of iron and steel how great the demand from abroad, when the south enters the worlds foreign trade, as ultimately 1t will do on larger scale, these demonstrations at Birmingham are but another confirmation of the position always taken by the Man ufacturers Record that the south's re- sources, as yet scarcely touched, even as yet scarcely discovered. will prove equal
 to llmitless expansion.
 A few years ago it was estimated that the entire Lake Superior region had about | 1,50o, ,000,000 tons of iron ore, and based on that was the whole iron and steel trade of the north and west. Later discoveries have enlarged the known supply of ore in the Lake Superior district, but 1t has now been demonstrated that immediately in the Birmingham region there is more iron ore than the Lake Superior country five or six years ago was suppRed to have More than five years ago the Man. ufacturers Record published several elab- crate articles, based on the studies of scientists, that the diamond drill would ultirrately demonstrate the truth of our claims to that effect The men who had the enterprise and the nerve to put down | thesdiamond drill to test this theory as to whether ore in paying quantities could be found in Shades valley, near Birmingham. have not only rendered the south, but | the naHon, a great service. They have en- larsed the field for metallurgical research in the south, end their courage will stimu- late others to spend money in hunting for other minerals in other parts of this sec ton.
 In the article in this issue by MT. Y. A. Dyer of Birmingham, following that of MT. David Hancock, a well known engi- neer and chemist of high standing 1t is pointed out that 1t was but a few years ago when 1t was believed that the avail able resources of Alabama were fully known. but that Henry F. DeBardeleben, enc of the great pioneers of the district, had opened up a new coal region in that state which had vastly enlarged the known resources of coal. And so what was done in this coal field, and what has now been done by these diamond drillings into iron ore, are illustrative of the fact so often presented by the Manufacturers Record that there are vast resources in the south not yet known to the geologists which offer field for exploitation ap- pealing nightly to the imagination of men of capital and of vision. Every day broadens the known resources and possi- bilities of the south. Every day opens new visions of the future of this section.
 Todays most enthusiastic optlmist of the south and its future will in the years to come prove to have been a pessimist. so vastly greater will the development of this section be than even the optimist would now dare to predict.