The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1913-09-18
RICH IRON ORE BEDS.
Americas Deposits Make 1t Leader in
Iron Production.

4 year or so after the late William
H. Barnum retired from active poll
tics he occupied himself in study Of
the iron ore resources OF that part OF
the United States with which he was
familiar, says a New York letter.
Senator Barnum possessed great
furnaces in the northwest corner OF
Connecticut He was familiar with
the iron ore resources of the upper
Harlem valley and also Of north
western Connecticut and the adjacent
country. His investigation justified
him in saying that he believed that
the iron ore mines of upper New
York and the upper Harlem valley
were practically inexhaustible. He
meant to convey the idea that at the
rate of increase in American iron ore
production it would be many years
before these mines would be exhaust
ed.
The governmental agitation to pre-
vent monopolistic control of the iron
ore of the United States has been Of
great educational benefit 1t has serv-
ed to teach the people what the mag
nitude of the iron ore deposit of the
United States really is. A govern
ment commission recently reported
that in New York state alone there
probably lie beneath the surface iron
mines of almost inconceivable great
extent and richness. Some of them
would require a great deal of surface
excavation to reach. These are in
the central part of the state. The
Adirondack ores, which can be con-
veniently shipped by means of Lake
Champlain, are of such magnitude
that it has sometimes been said that,
Notwithstanding the long continued
working of these mines, nevertheless
they have not begun to yield a 1.-THE
of their crude wealth.
Among the other very great devel-
opments in the South of the natural
resources that of the exploitation of a
richness in iron is among the great
est. The experts and the government
tai authorities are inclined to the
opinion that, even if there were ex-
haustion of the mines in the north
ern part of the United States, within
the next 25 or 80 years, the iron ore
resources of the south are capable of
such utilization as will enable these
mines to make good what is lost in
the north.
Nearly thirty years ago the late
Abram S. Hewitt ventured to predict
to a great group of iron and steel
manufacturers of Great Britain that
the United States was bound within
generations time to leap ahead of
Great Britain in iron and steel pro-
duction, and would be enabled to do
that because of the almost exhaust
less amount of iron ore, both of high
grade and of low quality, which lay
beneath the soil of the United States.
Convenience of transportation, neigh
boring mines of limestone and other
ingredients used in iron and steel
production, together with the rapid
ly increasing domestic demand for
iron and steel products, would make
it inevitable that the United States
would achieve pre-eminent position
among the nations of the world as
producer of iron and steel in quanti-
ties and a miner of iron ore. Recent
statistics prove Mr.. Hewitt to have
been an accurate prophet.
In 1909 nearly S75,00O,000 repre-
sented the cost of operation and de-
velopment of American iron mines,
and about S40,000,000 represented
payment of salaries and wages. The
miners and the wage earners in that
year produced nearly 100000
tons of crude iron ore.
We get some idea of the magni-
tude OF this branch Of American inf
dustry from the recent report of the
bureau of statistics of the American
iron and steel institute. America, in
the fiscal year which ended on June
so, produced a little over 32,000,000
tons of pig iron. This, too, in year
which many persons have spoken Of
as one of business depression and
business anxieties. Moreover it was
in a year it was certain that there
would be new tariff law containing
the schedules which radically reduce
the rates from those fixed by the pres
ent tariff law.
A New Kind of Graft.