Evening star., 1940-07-14
Iron Ore Freighters
Are Rushed 10 Keep
Abreast Of Mills
Shipments for June Are
Third Highest in History
Of United States

inIIo 0I9neSC III nIStOIy
Of United States
By the Associated Press.
CLEVELAND, July 13.-Day and
night along the Great Lakes, elec-
trio monsters are rushing ashore
the "pay dirt" which is vital key
to Americas defense.
The dirt" strategically as pre-
cious as gold In wartime, is iron
ore. 1t is the basic constituent
Of shells and scooters, armor and
automobiles, castings and cookie
cutters.
This is one of the biggest ore
shipping years in United States his
tory. Mills are producing steel vir-
tually at capacity, and 1t takes mil
lions of tons of ore to keep them
going.
Two tons of the ore, with coke
and limestone, make ton of iron,
which may be transformed into
steel with little "shrinkage."
200 Freighters in Use.
Three hundred giant freighters
are shutting cargoes of ore to
lower Lakes mills from northern
ranges.
Ashore, ready for movement to
blast furnaces. the piles Of ore
look like diggings of ordinary rock
or clay-red. brown, yellow or black.
It seels for base price of $445
to $475 a ton, but most people.
not knowing what 1t was, would
pass it by without second look.
You can't smell it and you can't
tell thing about it by just look
ing. A yellow clay" may turn out
to be one of the richest of ores.
The base price for a 2,240-pound
ton is calculated on the theory
that ore contains Sis per cent
iron. In practice, commercial ores
may range as low as IS per cent
and as high as 68 per cent. So
prices are graduated accordingly
from the base rate.
Although iron ore is found in
each of the United States, the Lake
Superior district produces about IS
per cent of the Nations supply.
Third Highest Total.
Last month shipments Of this
"pay dirt" totaled 9.525,4 gross
tons. That was the highest figure
for any month in history except
June and August, 1897. Every
Great Lakes vessel capable OF carry
Ing ore is in commission to feed
steel mills operating.
Iron ore comes from both open
pit and shaft mines. In the first
instance, it is stripped from the
earth by giant power shovels. In
the second, shafts are dug to it.
Big freighters carry the ore to such
lower Lakes ports as Cleveland,
Buffalo, South Chicago and Gary,
Ind, for movement ashore in mon
ster machines known as Hulett ore
unloaders.
From underneath, the blunt -nosed
machine with its huge claw re-
sembles nothing so much as a bad
dream-coming closer and closer.
It really is a gigantic power shovel
on tracks.
Each Bite Is 13 Tons.
An operator sits in the arm of
the unloader, directing its imper-
sonal clawing: At each bite. 13 to
IL tons Of ore are grabbed from a
ships hold and released into a
hopper. whence the ore goes into
the steel mills storage bin-or drops
into a railroad freight car for
trip to non-Lake steel centers such
as Pittsburgh and Youngstown. Each
round-trip bite" takes about IS
seconds, and four unloaders working
at once will empty a 550-foot
freighter in four hours.
Because iron ore weighs so much,
the usual open freight car has as
much as 1t can safely carry when
only a third or half full. This cir
cumstance recalled to the superin-
tendent Of one of Clevelands ore
docks yarn about World War diff
f1culties.
I'VE were doing our best, but the
railroads had broken down and
didn't have enough cars. Ships
would lay around four or five DAYS
to be unloaded." he recalled.
Finally civilian official of the
railroad administration visited one
dock and thought he spotted the
dificulty.
No wonder you don't have
enough cars he said. Those that
you are sending out are only half
filed"