Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1916-01-22
Lake Superior Mining Methods.

known mining 3@ngineer, who is
writing a series of articles for the
Cleveland Iron Trade Review enti-
tled@s SsErt Talks on Iron Mining"
has written the following which tells
Of the many problems Of the mines
OF late years, there have beensSso
many new iron mines developed side
by side on the ranges Of Michigan and
Minnesota, and 50 many different
men have worked at developing them,
that the practice Of mining as eyoly-
ed at LakezSuperior has become in a
way standard. That is, it has and il
hasn't. For, although many matters
OF general practice are similar at the
different mines. and much of the dali
~ routine (of shaft sinking, drifting
stopping, pumping, drilling, blasting
hosting etc., seem about the same
at one property as at another, there
are still such vast differences in the
various problems 5hat confront the
master mechanic and Surface boss"
that these officials are kept guessing
a good part of the time Nowhere in
the world, it may be safely said, is
ore found in such un-get-at-able plac-
es as in the Michigan field, and no.
Wire is there such a variety of
shapes, sizes, structures, tex lures,
and general differences in ore depos-
its - in the Lake Superior region as
a whole
The ore bodies are found beneath
swamps, and lying under quicksand.
and next to soft crumbly slate whicl
caves III on the ore, and behind huge
thicknesses of hard quartzite, and
under lakes, in flat lenses, in string
ers, in masses, in "stOve- pipes, " in
vertical seams, veins, sheets, blocks,
and sometimes it is not found at all.
Thus, though a mine superintendent
may be aided and guided by what is
going on in the other mines around
him, he mostly has to follow his own
ore and get it ont in the cheapest
manner suited to the individual diff
culties OF that particular ore body.
Possibly after planning out "a method
Of mining his ore which promises to
give good results. tits found, as the
mine gets deeper, that the ore has
changed from hard ore toa soft ore,
or from a wide body to a narrow bo-
dr. so the method OF stopping and
development mas to be entirely chang
ed.
"ln addition to Sc large prob
lens that puzzle and bother "A super
intendent at an iron mine, there are
any number of queer miscellaneous
predicaments that accompany the va
rious phases of removing ore from
the ground in large quantities and
shipping it, remember how hard
certain superintendent OH the Mesa
ba Swore one morning in May, when
aIttr getting a locomotive and a
string OF ears IA a side track to the
mine large stockpile, and after
starting the stealn-shoyel 10 loading
ears, the work was brought to a
stanjstll by the discovery that, due
to the ore having been dumped on the
pile in the winter. and being a very
wet, soft and sloppy ore, it had froz-
EN- tight under the loose exterior of
the later dumpings. \ half dozen
miners were quickly hoisted from the
mine and told to bopherhole, " right
to the center of the pile, where kegs
and kegs of black pos Ter were then
packed for making a grand Ioosening
CO he whole dump The superintend-
ent said he'd show EN- how to break
up pile o ,rozeu ore," When the
blast was pun Oft. the train was blown
from the track, the cars smashed aud
great clouds of heavy ore distributed
over the place; for the frozen part OF
the pile was in fact only a crust on
the outside. and the bulk OF the ore
was soft and unfrOzen. Ehe supto-
lntenGeut had showed 'em bit too
II rODp -