The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1926-11-05

ing has concentrated more than ever
in the central Mesabi, and that its
high grade ores, valuable today but
PERHAPS priceless tomorrow, are be-
ing hurried out of the state. Iron
ore is receiving the same destructive
depletion that timber once received.
Mining on the Mesabi was once
wasteful, the best ore being removed
from a property, the rest being lost.
While this condition has receiver cor
rection in part, yet we see it reflected
on even a greater scale today. Min
ing operations on the Mesabi are to-
day directed to the heart of the
range, the exhaustion of its rich
ore bodies, and while this proceeds
the outlying deposits, east an west,
are left idle with mineral leases can
celled and homes are empty and vii
lagos deserted. You wish under
ground mining because it employs
people, but in many mines the situa-
ton is so hopeless that virtual aban-
donment has resulted. The great
future of the Mesabi rests in the de-
velopment of it's low grade reserves,
yet within the past five years no new
washing plants have been built on
the Western Mesabi and the tendency
is away from the development which
insures activity for centuries rather
than decades.
"And despite the fact that the GEN.
trail Mesabi has fallen heir to that
prosperity which has left the east
and west, how prosperous is that
section? In Virginia families are
moving out. In Hibbing there are
335 empty ihomes and apartments
and in August ITO families moved
from the community. 1t is fact,
which cannot be disguised, that the
general prosperity of the Mesabi
range has never faced longer con-
tinued depression or more unstable
prospects for the future.
"The causes leading to the decline
of employment, the basis of prosper
ity within the mineral section, are
several.
Zone of the first to be considered
is the fact that under the stimulus
Of wartime activity large amount
of development work was done, so
much that the producing ability of
the Mesabi may continue at high
rate for many years to come with
out normal development activity. 1t
is said that the ore producing capac-
ity of the Lake Superior district is
about IS million tons a year and the
normal demand is about 55 million
tons.
eff this were the only trouble the
solution would be simple. All that
we would need to do would be to
wait a few years for production to
catch up and make demands for new
work..
"The next factor, and it is a great
one, is that of increased efficiency
in mining. Under the necessity of
low producing costs the mineral in
terests have made wonderful ad-
vances in mining methods. Under
ground men produce today about
twice the tonnage that they produced
10 years ago. In open pit mining,
with large shovels, electrical equip
ment, and important new mechanical
devices for handling trackage and
dirt, even greater efficiency has been
established. I need not talk of these
items to you who helped create them
fou you know far more about them
than / do.
Sand what is the proper attitude
towards this new regime of efficiency
in mining? 1t should be one of en-
thusiastic support. If the Lake
Superior region were failing because
its mineral methods We're Anticipated
and inefficient, there would be real
cause for apprehension. Some COM
plain that machinery is coming in and
men are going out, but remember
this-make mining a manual PROPOSE
ton and the Mesabi range miner,
who wishes home and an automo-
bile, must compete with the coolie of
China, the Indian of South America,
and the brown man of the Ganges,
whose only ambition is to provide
himself with enough coarse food to
maintain life.
"But most important, the vital in