Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 31, Number 149, 24 June 1906 — Page 11

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I 'BON U tb backbon ef AmerfctD t B3nufacturlng lndntry, and so It la ' th backbon of the Immena traffic n et tha Great Lakea, and of tba boay Ufa of that part f Minnesota. Michigan " and Wlaconiln bordering on Lake 8a- ; pfrjof, the greatest C the Great Lakea. through the cmals at Sanlt 8te. Marie, f Mich., tba on t let of Lake Superior, 3; amounted to ,2T0,680 tona, Including ST: ahlpmenta both .way a. Of thla imposing ZZ,. total, Taitly exceeding the bnstneaa of the treat Sues Canal, 81.832.C3T tona were T' Iron ore, bound down the lakea from tba Lake Superior Iron dlatrlcta be worked tip Into pig Iron, and thence Into the fin f Ishcd products In the ameltera and fae -. torla of the Bait. tZT la tba production and transportation of, tn troii ora In the Lake ' Superior dlatrlct ullllona of capital are Inreated and thooa t anda ef men are employed. And yet large part of the aereral- proeeaaea atending tba mining and ahlpment of Iron SI or la dona by purely mechanical meana, ao that from mine to amelter human SS( handa ecarcely eror touch the unproroi' latoff pllea of red, brown and yellow miterlal that foea Into the manufacture of J Iron and ateel. p; The Initial atagea of the proceea by which our atructural Iron, our railroad ateel. our plowa and knlrea and nails are CC made are tinged with, the romance of human achleTment.s Fascinating, Indeed.! are the exhibits of human Ingenuity that t hare been derlsed to enable man to betX ter and more quickly reap the rich fruits j of nature'a beneroleuca. IT Iron ore la scooped out of the earth by '; giant at earn ahoTela, dumped by them Into T cars, abot by mechanical meana from 21. cars Into pockets In the or docks, and - finally dumped by (rarity Into the holds of Teasels to be carried a thousand miles to the Eastern porta, where great clamahell buckets dip Into the Interiors of . JV the ships and bite out great masses of j the freight, which they deposit with alIT1 most human Intelligence upon the cars ? watting to take the rich freight to the .'ameltera. The Iron deposits of the Lake Superior region are acattered about the shores of thla greatest body of fresh water, chief -member of the family of large waterways known as the Great Lakea, which, like a f '.' cluster of giant fingers, grasp a large proportion of the traffic of the United I States and of lta British cousin on the JS i north. r Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, In EtlUthe order named, furnish most of the J-lron ore mined In this country. MinnaPaota alona furnishes nearly two-thlrda of the American product, and her yield of , Iron annually exceeds that of any alngle -nation on the globe other than Spain and Great Britain. On the north shore of

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-'- mining Industry, and some considerable depoalte haTe been derelopcd there. But jia flre ranges' of the threa ,4 tr-Un Clfitatea named furnish not only the best ;:iron ore found In tba world, but most of r ,the world'a supply. rr The ultimate value of Iron ore dependa -vpon these three characteristics: First. ,r quality; second, acccaalblllty. and third, quantity. As to quality, the Lake So- - perlor Iron la the best there Is, highest t ' Jn percentage of Iron and lowest la perlrentage of deteriorating mtnerala. Aa to accessibility, the deposits border the jtpake, handy to porta where resseta of -40,000 tona and more do nothing else but j-iandle It. As to qaantlty, the amount --3s nntold, and last year'a output of nearrjfly 85,000,000 tona barely left a noticeable .dent In the supply. x.,. '77 The entire shtpmenta of Iron ore from T.the Lake Superior regions last year wet X4.SSS,45I tona, the greatest output In ,2thetr history. A small part of thla went. tUn response to hurry-up calls from the amelters daring the season when narlga"tlon on tba lakes was closed, by rail all pthe way. A small part, too, waa con-

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petted to ba larger shortly when the development of water powera, now under way, furnishes a substitute for the lack of coal for power creation. These shipments came from five ranges, as follows: Mesaba range. In Minnesota, 20,153,699 tons;.. Vermilion range. In Minnesota," 1,677,188 tons; Gogebic range. In Michigan, 8,705,207 tona; Menominee range. In Wisconsin. 4,405,481 tons; Marquette range, la Michigan. 4.210,822 tona; miscellaneous (from ' Wisconsin), 11.881 tons. Of these five ranges the youngest and greatest and most Interesting Is the Maaaba. which made lta first shipment In 1802. when It sent out 4.245 tons. From that point Its advance was rapid and continuous, until last year lta output as stated above, was nearly two-thirds of the total , from . the Lake Superior dlatrlcta. On . mine . alona . on thla range, the Mountain Iron Mine, shipped In 1900 almost 2.500.000 tone. Probably two-thlrda of the known deposits of Iron ore In the Lake Superior regions la owned or controlled by the TJnlted States Steel Corporation, otherwise known as the "steel trust," but the remalnlnr ne-thlrd Is owned by Individnals or by Independent manufnetnrera of steel products. . Several large manufacturing concerns ontslde of the regular ateel trade. Including one manufacturer of farm machinery, using considerable Quantities of Iron and ateel. own mtnee In this section and ahlp their own ore to their own ameltera to be made into pig Iron for use In their own factories. The steel trust, however, does better than this. Tt shtps Its own ore over Its own railroads to Its own docks, and In Its own boats to Its own smelters. Labor In the mines and upon the railroads, docks and vessels engaged In the Iron trade la well paid, aa a rule, and there is. perhaps, no Industrial section of this country so free from labor troubles as the Iron mlnlnr regions of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. The only strikes that have occurred In recent years have been among the laborers employed by individuals or corporations to whom the mine operators have let contracts for "stripping." a process to be described Is ter. Ease snd cheapness of mining sre prominent features of many parts of this region, while modern American methods of handling and banting the product bring It cheaply and quickly to the ameltera of the East. Ever year new discoveries broaden the known fields of Iron, and the end 1s not yet. Every year great Quantities of It are hauled to market, and yet the supply seems Inexhaustible. Tet It ts not, of course, and experta figure that at the present rate of Increase of production the Lake Superior fields of high-grade ore will not last more than 60 yeara. There are almost as many varieties of mining methods In the lake rea-lon as there are varieties of deposits, and these are many. Sometlmea the or Is found deeply hidden In the esrth. Jealously guarded by great difficult bede of jasper and granite. Sometimes the deposits rnpear upon the surface, and all that Is needed In order to work them Is to "strip" off the thin layer of earth above them and scoop out the ore as gravel la scooped out of a gravel bed. Sometlmea the ore bodies 11a In thin. wM lenses; sometimes these lenses are horisontal. and again they may be perpendicular. Sometimes the ore Is In round compact masses with no foreign matter Intervening: sometlmea ft Ilea In small areas separated by earth, taconlte, Jasper and granite. There are three principal methods of mining, however, including openplt steam abovel mining, the milling process and blasting out the hard ores. In the openpit mines of the Mesaba range. In Minnesota, they simply scoop H out with steam ahovela In the open daylight put tt Into cars with the same steam shovels and run It away to the docks. Often both steam shovel and milling process are used In the same mine, part of which will renin naderground methods, and part of

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' - h ? . . - -, i - x:;.;:w-::..l..:..T .-v:--w vaaar-r-which will be capable of operations upon the openplt plan. Most of the openplt mining la done on the Mesaba range, where last year 50 per cent, of the output waa mined by steam shovela out of open pits of large slie. Some of the ores are hard, while others, like those In the openplt mines, are soft The hard ores are generally of a higher grade and easier to market while the softer ores are of lower grade, bat Infinitely easier to handle. . In mining upon any of these plana the deposits are first surveyed and outlined by drilling. Churn drills ara used In the soft earth and diamond drills are used to go through the rock. 'The ore body la definitely located and approximately measured before the mining operation begin. With the hard ores the mining proceeds In the conventional fashion, by sinking a shaft and by drifting at various levels, the ore . being loosened by blasting and taken oat by hoists. Just as people naturally . expect a mine to ba operated. t But In the openplt mines the method are aa little Ilka the popular conception of mining aa possible. The drilling completed and the extent and depth of the or body learned. If the overburden, or layer of carta over the ore body, la shallow enough a "stripping" contract Is let. The term la luminously descriptive. The pro-

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m tS I - - : - - . t -. A " X . 1 ..... , xssrrsi- " wnvst-y?.-cess consists of literally stripping off the earth from the ore body, and the work la done by steam ahovela, great Intelligent machines, not unlike dredges, which bite out great chunks of earth weighing tons, and will move In a season hundreds of thousands of cubic yarda. The ore body laid bare, mining begins. Steam ahovela are used here also. Tba usual steam ahovel weighs 65 to 75 tons, and lta dipper win handle from two to fonr yards of material at a mouthful. It will lift dally from the bed of the ore to the cars from 4,000 to 7,000 tons of Iron ore. A yard of Iron ore weighs about two tons, and a yard of overburden about one ton. In stripping work a fair average day'a task will he from 1.500 to 2.000 yards for every 20 hoars of continuous work. With a ahovel In ordinary practice will be about three attendant locomotives and as many trains of damp cars. On the Mesaba range alone, during the present season, about 150 of these ahovela are In constant use. When the ere bodies are too deep for the openplt method of mining they ' are "milled." - Underneath the or body a . drift la ran to lta center. Then a millhole la "stoped" or caved up to tba top of the ore body. A track la laid In the lower drift, and ears are run under the mlllhole. At the top miners slice the or off and let It drop through the mlllhole

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until the cara are filled. Both the openplt and milling processes so cheapen the cost of .sluing that by their use ores that are of too low a grade to be profitably mined In the old fashions can be sent to market and make money for their owners. The difference In the three principal cc ?thoda of mining cannot be better lllustrsted than by comparing their cost Steam-shovel mining, after the stripping la done, costs 6 cents a ton; milling, after the stripping Is paid for. costs 85 cents a ton; while getting out the hard ores by blasting; costs about $1.23 per ton. Some of the openplt mines are most Interesting exhibits. Imagine a great pit a ters of a mile the other way, 100 to 200 tera of a mile the other way, ir to 200 feet deep, and ever- bit of what baa been taken out except perhaps, 20 to 50 feet of overburden, la Iron ore. The bed of It la Iron ore, too, and the ore extends, perhaps, 100 feet further down. Tracks are run Into It In half a dosen directions, and the ore cara are being filled by the steam ahovela. . - Dumped Into the ore cara at the mine, whether from steam ahovela, from steam hoist or by hand, they ax hurried quickly to the docks at on of half a dosen porta. The or cara are rather Ilka coal cara, little red dumpy affairs of wood or steal. The old-faahlonad eight-wheeled

wooden cara, which succeeded fourwheelers, holding a dosen tons v apiece, will hold from 20 to SO tons of ore, while the modern steel cara. which are rapidly replacing the woodVn ones, carry 40 to CO tons and sometimes 60 tons. , The trains, drawn by the largest strongest and most modern engines, consist of 80 to 60 cars, and carry from 1,200 to 2,000 tona of ore apiece. In Minnesota alone three railroads are devoted to this traffic, their general freight and passenger business being but a minor feature on their balance sheets. Some Idea of their activity may be gained from the fact that Minnesota's 8 per cent tax on the gross earnings of railroads brought trom these three roada last year something like $750,000 toward the support of the state. The docks from which the vessels are loaded for the long haul down the lakes are themselves most Ingenious and Interesting contrivances. At a distance tbey look like long, tall v railroad trestles, which. Indeed, tbey are. for the ore cara are run out upon their decks. Tbey axtend far out Into the harbors, some of them 2.400 feet and they stand In some cases nearly ,100 feet clear from the water. One or two tracka extend the full length of their decks, and the cara are drawn directly ont upon them. The jerking of a lever In each car dumps Its' freight Into the pockets In the dock, where It awaits the coming of the vessel that Is to take It away. These pockets are deep bins, soma of them holding 230 tona of ore. The vessels are drawn alongside the docks by tugs and long chutea or spouts sre lowered from the side of the dock Into the open hatches. Then little gates at the bottom of the pocketa are opened and streams of Iron ore ran down until the hatches are full. Then the gatea are closed, the spouts are drawn np again, the batches are covered and the vessel Is ready for Its long trip down the lakea. which It will make, when running wlthoit a tow. In little more than three days. Thna the ore la dropped from the car Into the pocket and from the pocket Into the vessel, entirely by gravity, and but few men are needed. Originally much of this work wss done by hand, and In addition men were employed to "trim" the cargoes, distributing them over tba hold so aa to give the vessel balance. Nowadays tbey no longer atop to trim the cargo, but take It aa It folia, and no trouble la experienced. A vessel carrying 8,000 tona will be loaded In the manner described above In two or three hours. There are 25 of these ore docks on Lake Superior, aa followa: Six at Escanaba. Mich.; three at Ashland, Wla.; five at Two Harbors, Minn.; four at Duloth. Minn.; three at Superior, Wis.; three at Marquette. Mich., and one little on at Mlchlplcoten. Ontario. They range from 12 pocketa at Mlchlplcoten to 884 In each of the four Dnluth docks, the greatest in the world. Tba latest dock constructed, the Duluth, Mlssabe and Northern's No. 4 dock at Duluth, la taller than any of tba rest standing nearly 100 feet np from the water of St Louis Bay, and la built particularly for the accommodation of the larger type f lake vessels, those carrying 8,000 tona and over. Her storage capacity la 96,000 tona, and the 25 docks on Lake Superior will bold at ona time 1,200,000 tons of ore. These docks range in height from 100 feet down to about 40 feet from the water to the deck or top. Their extreme width la 66 feet 6 Inches, and tba spouts which conduct tba ore Into the boles of the vessel are from 21 to 82 feet In length, depending upon the height of the dock. AH of these docks are lighted by electricity and at night from a distance.

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of brtlllanta, and make a beautiful night scene. Nearly 500 vessels In all are engaged almost exclusively In the re-carrying trade. One concern alone has 125 large vessels which do nothing but carry Iron ore, except noon occasions when for their own use or because of a temporary scarcity of ore cargoes they bring coal op the lakes. Usually, however, they go down the lakes with Iron ore and hurry back empty for another load. 'Last season one of these vessels, the El H. Gary, carried a cargo of 18,443 net tona of ore on a draft of 21 feet the greatest cargo ever carried on the Great Lakea. From tbli achievement back to the pioneer daya of Iron mining and shipping on Lake Superior, when the first cargo of 12 barrels of ore went down the lakes, la a far cry Indeed. A couple of decades sgo the average cargo on the Great Lakea waa leea than 1,200 tons. A decade ago It waa nearly 8.000 tons, and thla season tt Is about twice that figure. Thla will give an Idea of the growth that has attended the lake traffic. The season of navigation . runs from some time In April or Msy. when the channels connecting the lakea are unlocked by the northern advance of the summer sun to esrly December, when the winter storms make navigation ao -hasardous that Insurance ceases and owners must send their vessels out at their own risk -or not at all. A little' later the canals and rivers and harbors art lealocked, and the aeason Is over. The growth of the lake traffic haa beer made possible by the wisdom of the government In appropriating funds sufficient to dredge out a waterway, from Duluth to Lake Erie, more than 20 feet deep. ' Thla has Involved the expenditure of Immense sums, but In cbespened freight It has all been returned to the people many fold. '" ' ' From Lake. Superior the loaded steamer, perhaps, conducting a tow-barge, pro-" ceeds over well-defined and chartered courses direct to tba ore-receiving ports ' on Lake Erie, such aa Cleveland, Conneaut Lorain and Ashtabula. O. Through the canal at Sault ' Ste. Marie, where locking la necessary for the only time 00 the voyage. Into 8t Marys Blver, and then ont upon the broad expanse of Lake Huron goes the cargo of yellow dirt that la wanted In Plttsbnrg to be made Into implements of use. Next. comes beau-, tlful Detroit River, Lake St Clair and the St. Clair Flata. and then Lake Erie, the last stage In the Journey. Occasional cargoea are diverted at tba Sanlt through the Straits of Mackinac Into Lake MlcUl-. gan and thence to Chicago. ri Though in the summer seasons the lake voysga la commonly mild and uneventful. In the spring and fall violent storms often occur, and navigation Is attended by perils aa great aa those ot the salty deep. Last November a terrific snow- ' storm, accompanied by heavy gales, arose on Lake Superior, and before It was ended n dosen wrecks strewed the shove, and ona vessel had foundered In mtdlake, carrying 19 souls Into eternity. One large ore-carrying vessel missed the ship canal at Duluth and was driven on the beach within COO feet of the houses on shore. There It broke In two, and nine men who ware caught aft where the heaviest seas bioke, perished miserably, while thousands of anxloua watchers on shore, almost within reach, looked on In impotent horror. . At the Lake Erie receiving port again the marvelous mecbautsm that man has ' invented to save himself work comes Into play. The vessel Is placed nnder a tremendoaa unloading machine, perfected to such an extent that the entire cargo is taken out without human aid. Two such machines will take 6,000 tons of ore from a vessel In five or six hours, loading It upon cara waiting to take ' it away to tba ameltera. Other unloading machines, not so np to date, simply send large buckets Into the bold of the vessel, which men must load by band. Lake navigation, like water navigation everywhere, la Infinitely cheaper than rail traffic, Tba entire charge against iron ore from tba time It leavea the most inaccessible mines on the moat distant Lake Superior range until It la In cars or on stock pile at some Lake Erie port la less than f 1.80 per groaa ton, and thla Includes throe handlings, mora than 10(1 miles of rail haul and 1,000 mile of water transportation, Tba charges for the water haul are not much mora than half tba cost of carrying it 100 mile by. rail, from mine to dock.

More than $200,000,000 of American capital is Invested In Mexican, railways. Af the rata of a pint and a half of liquid a day, a man drinks 8250 pints during his life, - The Angora goat furnishes most of the hair which adorn ordinary doll. Thla product to valued at $40,000,000 a year. Two hundred thousand eel nave been deposited In Lake Maggiora, at Lolno, where are situated government hatcheries for lake fish. The Chinese detective fore to a secret body and the best organised In the world. It members keep an eye on every man, woman or child, and. In addition, watch ona another. V Miss Belle McTyre, of Chesterfield, Va recently killed a large eagle which bad been feasting for sometime on her chickens. The eagle measured ft teat 6 knsSMS from wing to wing.