The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1913-03-21
DISCOVER ORE DEPOSIT
ADJOINING the silver
william Merrill and Associates So Deeper
than Former Explorers aad Find Ex.
ee||ent Bessemer Body

Hsu JVJm61 IApjVJUIS dHU TIHu ca
es||ent bessemef Body
From chief deputy sheriff to mine
owner is the rapid step of William
Merrill of this city. Until few
weeks ago Mr.. Merrill was Sheriff |
Meining's head man on the Range
and since that time he has acquired |
the lease for half century of 4Ol
acres of valuable ore land immedi- |
ately north of the Silver mine near
Virginia.
The property is known to be one
of the richest in this vicinity and
has more than half a million tons
of high grade Bessemer ore within |
fifty feet of the surface.
The new mine is situated on the |
S. W. n of the S. E. "A of section 80,
township SO, range II.
The property has had a somewhat
romantic history and is said to have
"brOken" more than one mining
man who has tackled it. 1t has
been drilled over three times al.
ready and twice was turned down
as valueless because the drillers
went down as far as the taconite
and then quit. For many years it
was considered the infallible rule
that ore was never found below |
taconite and this forty was drilled
by the same exploration company
who drilled the Buffalo and Susque.
hanna mine in Hibbing and turned
that down as worthless when Gen.
eral Superintendent D. N. Philbin,
of the mining department of the
Great Northern owned the lease.
After going through the taconite
the drillers recently located rich
ore and the deal for the so year lease
was closed before any local people,
other than the three men interested,
knew anything whatever about the
transaction. The Virginia men as
sociated with Mr.. Merrill in the
property are General Superinten.
dent G. III. Rogers of the Virginia
aud Rainy Lake company and WAL
ter Markham late of Bemedji and
now proprietor of the Fay hotel in
this city.
The new mine will be developed
at once and it is expected that the
work of sinking shaft will be CON-
menced within 80 or 40 days time,
after which drifts will be run. into
the various ore bodies. Because
the depth of the over bnrden is less
than 46 feet it is not expected that
the work of sinking shaft will be
either very long or expensive CON-
pared with the immense value of
the known ore deposits. The work
of sinking a shaft and erecting
mining buildings will be rushed
ahead and it is anticipated that
very considerable stock pile will be
above ground before fall and prob.
ably the property will be on the
active shipping list before the close
of the present season.
On account of the presence of
considerable quantities of hard
taconite the property will not be
"stripped" but will be operated as
an underground proposition, at
any rate for the present.
The grade of the ore body is said
to be very high and much the came
as the adjacent mines and it 10
known to be worth from $500 to $3.50
a ton on the cars and from $l.25 to
$3.50 in the ground.
The lease was secured for half
century from the we'll known Mer-
ritt interests in Duluth and their
old records are said to have shown
that the property had been drilled
over aud passed up as not worth
working.
Mr.. Merrill left Virginia on Mon.
day afternoon for the Twin Cities
for the purpose of buying mining
supplies and also consulting with
the Minneapolis men who are in
terested in the new mine as asso-
ciates of Mr.. Merrill who owns the
lease.
The deal has been kept dark here
aud absolutely nobody has been
able to get in on the good thing
even though they were good friends
of the late chief deputy.
The uew mine will add another
shipper to the long list of actiye
mines in this district. 1t is i'm.
medlateiy adjoining the new
Osterberg. Johnson-Smith-Markhan;
property which was recently &C.
ouired and is now in process OF