Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 31, Number 151, 26 June 1906 — Page 2

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f tl, W ' I ROW ti th backbone of Amerlenn mnntifacturlng Industry, and so It Is tbe bnrkbono of the Immense trnfllc of tbe Great Lakes, and of the busy life of tbat part of Minnesota. Mlcblgnn and Wisconsin bordering on LnUe Superior, the greatest of tbe Great Lakes. For instance, last season' the traffic through tbe canals at Snult Ste. Marie, Mich., the outlet of Lake Superior, amounted to K.370.6S0 tons. Including shipments both ways. Of this Imposing total, vastly exceeding tbe business of the grent Sues Cnnnl. 31,332,637 tons were Iron ore, bound down tbe lakes from the Lake Superior Iron districts '- be worked vp Into pig Iron, and thence Into the finished products In the smelters and factories of tbe East. lo the production and transportation of Iron ore In the Lake Superior district millions of capital are Inrested and thousands of men are employed. And yet a large part of the several processes attending the mining and shipment of Iron ore Is done by purely mechanical means, so that from mine to smelter banian bands scarcely ever touch the unpromising piles of red. brown and yellow material that goes Into the manufacture of Iron and steel. The Initial stages of tbe process by which our structural Iron, our railroad steel, our plows and knives and nails are made are tinged with the romance of i human achievement. Fascinating. Indeed, are the exhibits of human Ingenuity that have been devised to enable man to better and more quickly reap the rich fruits of nature's benevolence. Iron ore Is scooped out of the earth by giant steam shovels, dumped by them Into cars, ahot by mechanical means from cars Into pockets In tbe ore docks, and finally dumped by gravity Into the holds ' of vessels to be carried a thousand miles lo the Eastern ports, where great clamshell buckets dip Into the Interiors of the ships snd bite out great masses of tbe freight, which they deposit with almost human Intelligence upon the cars waiting to take tbe rich freight to the smelters. 'The Iron deposits of the Lake Superior region are scattered about tbe chores of this greatest body of fresh water, chief member of the family of large waterways known as the Great Lakes, which. like a cluster of giant lingers, grasp a large proportion of tbe traffic of the ' United States and of Its British' cousin on .the north. Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, In tbe order named, furnish most of the Iron ore mined In this country. Minnesota alone furnishes nearly two-thirds of tbe American product, and her yield of Iron annually exceeds that of any single nation on the globe other than Spain and Great Britain. On the north ahore of Lake Superior, In Canada, there has lately appeared, the beginning of the Iron mining Industry, and some considerable deposits have been developed there. But the five "rangea" of tbe three American states named furnish not only tbe best Iron ore found In tbe world, but most of the world's supply. The ultimate value of Iron ore depends pon these three characteristics: First, quality; second, accessibility, and third, quantity. As to quality, tbe Lake Superior Iron Is the best there Is, highest In percentage of Iron and lowest In percentage of deteriorating minerals. As to accessibility, the deposits border the lake, bandy to ports where vessels of 30,000 tons and more do nothing else but handle It. As to qnantlty, the amount Is untold, snd last year's 'output of near1, 1 85.000.000 tons barely f noticeable lent In the supply. w Tbe entire shipments of Iron ore from the Lake Superior regions last year we 84,353,456 tons, the greatest output In their history. A small part of this went. In response to hurry-op calls from the smelters during the season when navigation on tbe lakes waa closed, by rail all the way. A small part, too, was consumed by local smelters and factories at Iuluth. The local consumption Is expected to be larger shortly when tbe development of water powers, now under way, furnishes a substitute for the lack of coal for power creation. Tbese shipments raine from Ave ranges, as follows: Mesaba range. In Minnesota, 20,153.000 tons; Vermilion range. In Minnesota, 1.077.1S0 tons; Gogebic range, lo Mlchlgin. 3.705.C07 tons; Menoinluee range. In Wisconsin, 4,495,451 tons; Marquette range. In Michigan, 4,210,522 tons; intscellaneou (from Wlscousln), 11,391 tons. 4 Of tbese five rangea the youngest snd freatest and most Interesting Is tbe Mesaba. KtUrji made Its first shipment la

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4 5 V 1802, when It sent out 4,243 tons. From that point Its advance was rnpld and continuous, until last year Its output, as stated above, was nearly two-thirds of the total from ' tbe Lake Superior districts. One mine alone on this range, the Mountain Iron Mine, shipped In 1903 almost 2,500.000 tons. Probably two-thirds of the known deposits of Iron ore In the I.nke Superior regions Is owned or controlled by the United States Steel Corporation, otherwise known as tbe "steel trust." but the remaining one-third is owned by Individuals or by Independent manufacturers of steel products. Several large manufacturing concerns outside of the regular steel trade, Including one manufacturer of farm machinery, using considerable quantities of Iron and steel, own mines In this section and ship their own ore to their own smelters to be made Into pig Iron for use In their own factories. The steel trust, however, floes better than this. It ships Its own ore over Its own railroads to Irs 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 Is well paid, as a rule, and there Is, perhaps, no Industrial section of this country so free from labor troubles as tbe iron mining 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 later. Ease and cheapness of mining are prominent features of many parts of this region,while modern American methods of handling and hauling the product bring It cheaply and quickly to tbe smelters of the East. Every year new discoveries broaden the known tlelds of Iron, and the end Is not yet. Every-year great quantities of It ore bau!ed to market, nnd yet the supply seems Inexhaustible. Yet It is not, of course, and experts figure that at tbe present rate of Increase of production the Lake Superior fields of high-grade ore will not last more than 50 years. There are almost as many varieties of mining methods in tbe lake region as there are varieties of deposits, and these are many. Sometimes the ore Is found deeply bidden in the earth. Jealously guarded by great, difficult beds of Jasper and granite. Sometimes the deposits r.npear upon tbe 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. Sometimes tbe ore bodies lie in thin, wide lenses; sometimes these lenses are horizontal, and .again they may be perpendicular. Sometimes the ore Is In round "compact masses with no foreign matter Intervening; sometimes I lies in small areas separated by earth, tacouite, Jasper and granite. There are three principal methods of mlulng, however. Including openplt steam shovel mining, the milling process and blasting out the hard ores. In the openpit mines of the Mesaba range. In Minnesota, tbey simply scoop It out with steam shovels in tbe open daylight, put It 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 require underground methods, and part of which will be capable of operations upon the openplt plan. Most of tbe openplt mining is done on the Mes&ba range, where last year 60 per cent, of tbe output was mined by steam shovels out of open pits of large site. Some of tbe ores are bard, while others, like those In tbe openplt mines, are soft. The bard ores are generally of a higher grade and easier to market, while the softer ores are of lower grade, but Infinitely easier to handle. In mining upon any of tbese plans tbe deposits are first surveyed and outlined by drilling. Churn drills are used In the soft earth and diamond drills are used to go through tbe rock. Tbe ore body Is definitely located and approximately measured before the mining operations begin. With the bard ores the mining proceeds to the conventional fashion, by sinking a shaft and by drifting at various levels, the ore being loosened by blasting and taken out by hoists. Just as people naturally expect a mine to be operated. But lu the openplt mines the methods are ss little like the popular conception of mining aa possible. The drilling comUd and tbe extent and depth of the

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c ore body learned. If the overburden, or layer of carta over the ore body, Is shallow enough a "stripping" contract Is let. The term Is luminously descriptive. The process consists of literally stripping off the earth from the ore body, and the work Is done by steam shovels, 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 yards. The ore body laid bare, mining begins. Steam shovels are used here also. Tbe usual steam shovel - weighs 65 to 75 tons, and Its dipper will handle from two to four yards of material at a mouthful. It will lift dally from the t?d 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's task will be from 1,500 to 2,000 yards for every 20 hours of continuous work. With a shovel In ordinary practice will be about three attendant locomotives and as many trains of dump cars. On the Mesaba range alone, during the present season, about 150 of tbese shovels are In constant nse. When the ore bodies are too deep for tbe openplt method of mining tbey are "milled." Underneath the ore body a drift Is run to Its center. Then a millhole Is "stoped" or caved np to the top of the ore body. A track Is laid in the lower drift, and cars are run under the mlHhole. At the top miners slice the ore off and let It drop through the mlllhole until the cars are filled. Both tbe openpit and milling processes so cheapen the cost of alnlng that by their use ores tbat 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 methods of mining cannot be better Illustrated than by comparing their cost. Steam-shovel stains, after tbe ixinlsA

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Zjdazztig- Qzzz: Gfjzs "it 1 , ' ' Si 'SIs done, costs 6 cents a ton; milling, after the stripping Is paid for, costs 35 cents a ton; while getting out the hard ores by blasting costs about $1.25 per ton. Some of the openpit mines are most Interesting exhibits. Imagine a great pit a quarter of a mile one way and three-quarters of a mile the other way, 100 to 200 feet deep, and every bit of what has been taken out. except, perhaps, 20 to 50 feet of overburden. Is Iron ore. Tbe bed of It Is iron ore. too, and tbe ore extends, perhaps, 100 feet further down. Tracks are run Into It In half a dozen directions, and tbe ore cars are being filled by tbe steam shovels. Dumped Into the ore cars at the mine, whether from steam shovels, from steam hoist or by hand, they are hurried quickly to the docks at one of half a dosen ports. The ore cars are rather like coal cars, little red dnmpy affairs of wood or steel. Tbe old-fashioned eight-wheeled wooden cars, which succeeded fourwheelers, holding a dosen tons apiece, will hold from 20 to 30 tons of ore, while the modern steel cars, which are rapidly replacing tbe wooden ones, carry 40 to 50 tons and sometimes 60 tons. Tbe trains, drawn by tbe largest, strongest and most modern engines, consist of 30 to CO cars, and carry from 1,200 to 2,000 tons 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 tbe fact that Minnesota's 3 per cent, tax on tbe gross earnings of railroads brought irom tbese three roads last year something like 1750,000 toward the support of the state. The docks from which tbe vessels are loaded for the long baul down the lakes are themselves most Ingenious and :ter estlng contrivances. At a distance tbey look like long, tall r-II road trestles. tik taf

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40 JTIttlf. 3 .j.. - , - . Jv1 are run out upon their decks. Tbey extend far out Into the harbors, some of them 2,400 feet, and tbey stand in some cases nearly 100 feet clear from tbe water. One or two tracks extend the full length of their decks, and tbe cars are drawn directly out upon them. Tbe Jerking of a lever In each car dumps Its freight Into the pockets In the dock, where It awaits tbe coming of tbe vessel tbat is to take It away. Tbese pockets are deep bins, some of tbem holding 250 tons of ore. Tbe vessels are drawn alongside the docks by tugs and long chutes or spouts are lowered from the side cf the dock Into the open hatches. Then little gates at tbe bottom of tbe pockets are opened and streams of Iron ore run down until tbe batches are fuIL Then tbe gates are closed, the spouts are drawn up again, tbe hatches are covered and tbe vessel is ready for its long trip down the lakes, which It will make, when running without a tow. In little more than three days. Thus tbe ore is dropped from the car Into tbe pocket, and from tbe pocket into the vessel, entirely by gravity, and bnt 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 the bold so as to give the vessel balance. Nowadays tbey no longer stop to trim the cargo, bnt take It as It falls, and no trouble Is experienced. A vessel carrying 8,000 tons will be loaded In tbe manner described above la two or three hours. There are 25 of these ore docks on Lake Superior, as follows: Six at E scan aba. Mich.; three at Ashland. Wis.; five at Two Harbors, Minn.; four at Duluth, Minn.; three at Superior, Wis.; thre? at Marquette. Mich., and one little one at Mlchiplcoten, Ontario. The; range from 12 pockets at Mlchiplcoten to 3S4 In each of the four Duluth docks, the greatest In the world. The latest dock constructed.

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the Duluth, MIssabe and Northern's No. 4 dock at Duluth, Is taller than any of the rest, standing nearly 100 feet np from the water of St. Louis Bay, and Is built particularly for the accommodation of the larger type of lake vessels, those carrying 8,000 tons and over. Her storage capacity Is 00,000 tons, and the 25 docks on Lake Superior will bold at one 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. Tbelr extreme width Is 66 feet 6 inches, and the spouts which conduct the ore Into the boles of the vessels are from 21 td 32 feet In length, depending upon the height of the dock. All of tbese docks are lighted by electricity and at night, from a distance. tbelr sparkling arc lights look like rows of brilliants, and make a beautiful night scene. Nearly 500 vessels In all are engaged almost exclusively In the ore-carrying trade. One concern alone has 125 large vessels which do nothing bnt carry Iron ore, except upon occasions when for their own use or because of a temporary scarcity of ore cargoes they bring coal up 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 E. n. Gary, carried a cargo of 13,443 net tons of ore on a draft of 21 feet, the greatest cargo ever carried on the Great Lakea. From this achievement back to tbe pioneer days of iron mining and shipping on Lake Superior, when the first cargo of 12 barrels of ore went down the lakes. Is a far cry Indeed. A couple of decades ago the average cargo on the Great Lakes was less than 1,200 tons. A decade ago It was nearly 3,000 tons, and this season It Is about Banknotes Put To Queer Uses. Not often U a banknote used to stuff a broken window pane. A lad employed In a clothier's factory expelled tbe wintry wind by crumpling up a sheet of brown paper and fixing It within tbe broken glass. Tbe paper was smeared with gura as It bad left tbe office table, and the twenty-flve-dollar note carelessly left on the desk attached Itself to the sheet. To a glazier Its discovery was due. Pulling out the paper preparatory to fixing the pane, his eye caught tbe valuable label. By placing the note In hot water It easily floated off tbe brown paper backing. The honest workman was rewarded by tbe sweet rln- of a sovereign on the office counter. The note had thus courted destruction for two years. Purchasing an old silver-backed handglass at an auction sale, a lady found that the article was so loose ss to require repairing. Accordingly, she took It to pieces, to find that some previous owner bad attempted to render the mirror firm by packing It with paper. Judge of her astonishment when, unrolling tbe stuffing, a fifty -dollar note and some pieces of newspaper met ber gase. No owner appeared, despite ber advertisement, and the note procured a handsome seal mantle for tbe lucky finder, while the mirror cost ber only $1.20. Shaving himself In a hurry, an absentminded musician seized a banknote to wipe bis razor, leaving It on his dressingtable liberally smeared with balry lather. Fortunately, the maid did not tidy tbe room punctually, as usual, and. therefore, he recovered the money towards evening. A hot Iron restored It to Its former crispness. Equally self-abandoned was tbe wlgbt who tore a twenty-dollar note In bslf to leisurely make a cigarette of one portion, which he smoked, perfectly unconscious of its value. Another cigarette was rolled, bnt this time the engraved side was uppermost, and It attracted the smoker's attention when partly consumed. Having no paper handy, "a clergyman, while strolling In the conn try. wrote a fine sermon on the back of a twenty-dollar note, nslng his silk bat as a desk. Intending to copy the matter down on returning home, he was suddenly called from his study, tbe note being dropped In the waste-basket and afterwards coosigned to the flames.

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twice that figure. This will give an Idea of the growth that bas attended the lake traffic. The season of navigation runs from some time In April or May, when the channels connecting the lakea are un locked by the northern advance of the summer sun to early December, when tbe winter storms make navigation so 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 are icelocked, and tbe season Is over. Tbe growth of the lake traffic has been made possible by the wisdom of the government In appropriating funds sufficient to dredge out a waterway, from Duluth to Lake Erie, more than SO feet deep. This bas involved tbe expenditure of Immense sums, but In cheapened freight It bas all been returned to tbe people many fold. From Lake Superior the loaded steamer, perhaps, conducting a tow-barge, proceeds over well-defined and chartered courses direct to the ore-receiving ports on Lake Erie, such as Cleveland, Conneaut, Lorain and Ashtabula. O. Through tbe ' canal at Sault Ste. Marie, where locking Is necessary for tbe only time on tbe voyage. Into St. Marys Blver, and ' then out npon the broad expanse of Lake Huron goes the cargo of yellow dirt that Is wanted In Pittsburg to be made Into Implements of use. Next comes beautiful Detroit River, Lake 8t Clair and tbe St. Clair Flats, and then Lake Brie, the last stage In the Journey. Occasional cargoes sre diverted at the Sault through the Straits of Mackinac Into Lake Michigan and thence to Chicago. Though In tbe summer seasons ,the lake voyage Is commonly mild and uneventful. In tbe spring and fall violent storms often occur, and navigation la attended by perils as great as those of tbe salty deep. Last November a terrlfle snowstorm, accompanied by heavy gales, arose on Lake Superior, and before It waa ended a dosen wrecks strewed the shore, and one vessel bad foundered In mldlake, carrying 19 souls Into eternity. One large ore-carrying vessel missed the ship canal at Duluth and was driven on tbe beach within 600 feet of tbe houses on shore.' There it broke In two, and nine men who were caught aft. where the heaviest seas broke, perished miserably, while thousands of anxious watchers on shore, almost within reach, looked on In Impotent horror, At the Lake Erie receiving port againtbe marvelous mechanism that man bas Invented to save himself work comes Into play. Tbe vessel Is placed under a tremendous unloading machine, perfected to such an extent tbat the entire cargo is taken out without human aid. Two such machines will take 0,000 tons of ore from a vessel In five or six hours, loading It upon cars waiting to take It a Way to the smelters. Other unloading machines, not so up to date, simply send large buckets into the hold of the vessel, which men must load by band. Lake navigation, like water navigation everywhere. Is Infinitely cheaper than rail traffic. Tbe entire charge against Iron ore from tbe time It leaves the most Inaccessible mines on tbe most distant Lake Snperlor range until It Is In ear or on stock pile at some Lake Erie port Is less thsn $1.80 per gross ton, and this Includes three handlings, more thsn 100 miles of rail baul and 1,000 miles of water transportation. Tbe charges for tbe water banl are not much more than half the cost of carrying It 100 miles by. rail, from mine to dock. Strange and Curious Monuments. It Is not often that a man of property. Instead of bequeathing It to his relatives, wills that all his estate after paying debts should be expended for a monument to be placed over his grave, but this eccentricity has been perpetrated by a man. His executor, in accordance with the provisions of tbe will. Is having a monument , constructed which when erected will have cost no less a sum thsn 520.000. The base Is a granite block 40 feet square' and weighs about sixteen ' tons. , A monument with a bead which does not belong to It is decidedly a cariosity. There Is one, however. In the parish church of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. It Is of Sir Richard Holmes, who fongbt under Prince Rupert and was governor of Isle of Wlgbt from 1667 to 1602. This bas the body of Louis XIV. and the bead of Sir Richard. An eccentric citizen of Lincoln has what might be termed original mortuary Ideas. IJe erected a - tombstone to the memory of bis son. The stone Is of white marble set on a sandstone base and bas been cut in the exact shape of an old-time traveling satchel. , Tbe son was of an unsettled disposition and traveled a great deal. Tbe Inscription above the name on tbe plate reads: "Here Is Where lie Stopped Last," and underneath ore tbe date of death end age. A curious monument'' has been discovered In the dense undergrowth of tbe so-called Brandbal, la Upper Harts. It Is r. granite block about seven feet hl?h, resting on a stone pedestal, and on tbe Iron tablet attached to It Is tbe following Inscription: "Here In tbe year of 1T47 the first trials were made with tbe cultivation of the potato." Tbe German peasant of the time did not take kindly to the potato plant on Its Introduction to the country. . Jt had, however, a great friend In King Frederick IL. who was convinced of Its value, but who was obliged to nse forcible measures to get tbe people of Pomeranla and SileFla to plant the bulb. - Philadelphia Is the largest yarn market In tbe United States, but a comparatively small quantity of sales yarn Is produced In tbat city. Of a total of - SOO.OUO spindles la the exclusive yarn mills of the country only about 115,000 . are m Philadelphia and 180,000 In the entire 8tata of Pennsylvania.