El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-11-03

the FermilliOn and the Cayuua RANGES.
I at the north and south.
On the Roof OF the Continent.
And now let US look at these
mighty deposits Of iron which lie
I here IN the Mesabi mountains They
aTe on the very apex Of North Amer
I lea. on the height Of land half way
l between the Gulf Of Mexico and the
I Arctic ocean, and on the roof Of the
j continent east Of the Rockies. Here
at Hibbing is the parting Of the
waters. OF the rain that falls on
the mountains. some flows into Hud-
son Bay. some goes into the AIissis-
Slppi river and the Mexican gulf and
some PUSHES down into Lake Superior
and out 70 the Atlantic over Niagara
Fails. Hihbing is 1000 feet above the
surface Of the lake and 1900 feet
above the level Of the ocean.
II Is in the top OF these mountains
that the forces Of nature have crea-
ted what might be called a river Of
iron. The stream flows from the
northeast to southwest. It is about
100 miles long ana from a quarter Of
mile TO three miles in width It
narrOws and Widens. In some places
IL rises TO the surface OF the ground
and in some il is 400 feet below. The
deposit is not continuous nor Of an
even thickness, but altogether IL con-
tains hundreds Of millions OF tons.
The ore lies in great pockets which
might be compared 10 the golden
crow n OF decayed tooth with Jagged
points running down below and fill
ing the roots A single crown may
be several hundred feet thick II
may cover 100 acres OF more and con-
tain ore TO the amount OF tens of mill
lions Of tons. The Hall-Hurst mine,
y hich is really q part of il, is a great
oval pit Of more than 800 acres. out
of which they took last year almost
100000 tons Of excellent ore. Be
lore 1900 there was not an iron mine
in the world that was producing one
tenth that amount Of ore in one year.
Today there are six mines in the
Lake Superior region, each OF which
annually produces more than 1000.-
COO tons. and within the past Is years
the MISUNDERSTANDING mine alone
has Rad product Of something like
100000 tons. Sixty million tons Of
iron ore, II is hard to appreciate
what that means. It Is enough TO
make 30.000,000 tons of steel. which
al the low price OF $50 per ton would
be worth $3.50, 900. 600.
Streak Of steel 100000 Miles Long.
4 ton Of steel will make about 100
feet Of rails Of 50 pounds to the yard
That ore, II made into a single rail.
would form streak Of steel 100000
miles LONG or enough TO lay SOC, 900
miles Of track II could replace the
iron in every railroad in Europe and
Asia. with several thousand miles TO
spare. II could relay every track in
the United States and leave enough
over for all the railroads OF Africa
and Australia. Altogether, the 500
coo miles of track would reach from
the earth to the moon and traverse 2 (
tunnel through the center Of that I
luminous body and leave enough over
TO twice girdle the earth and make a
rack through II rom one side TO
the other Al the ore needed 70 make !
that steel would not be as much as
has come from this one pit. on the
edge OF which I am writing.
Whining IA Done scientifically.
The methods Of mining here are (
different from those OF other parts Of I
the world Everything Is done scien- /
tifically- The prospecting Is largely 4
by the aid Of q magnet or magnetic 4
needle, which dips as the pros 3ector /
passes over the ore bodies beneath.
After the ore IL found the operators /
ascertain the exact quantity in each
deposit and how much pure iron it I
contains. They also get an exact
picture OF how the deposit lies, and
how thick OF how thin every part o.
il is, and how much is lean and how
much is fat !
A large part of this work Is done I
with diamond drills, machines that /
cut out holes in the earth as big
around as your arm and bring out
solid cores OF the strata as thick as \
=
q thousand feet deep They go from
the surface Of the earth down to the 4
ore body. and through that body to I
the statum below The core that /
comes up gives the thickness OF the
iron deposit and when the chemists
have snalyzed Il they know just how
much iron il contains. Holes like this
are sunk all over this region. So I
many are drilled through each bed Of
iron that its exact shape Is known.
even though its form be that Of an
octopus. with tentacles reaching out
In every direction. The drill. in short.
is like a great Y ray camera. II pho
toEraphs the ore deposit Just as the
X ray shows the bullet or needle in
the flesh
Drilling t. Expensive.
This work is expensive. II costs
five or ten thousand dollars TO equip
a drilling outfit and the force suffic-
lent TO operate it, The Oliver Iron !
Mining company, which is a branch of I
the United States steel corporation
spends a million dollars a year in
finding out what ore IL has and
whether the new ore lands offered
10 II are worth the taking That
company has done so much drilling
that If the holes could be Joined end
10 end they would reach farther than
from Philadelphia 20 PittsburE-
After the ore body has been out
lined the land must be cleared The
most OF the country here has been
covered with forests The trees have