1908 



THE GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE 



315 



ows are beginning to find their places on 

 the other side of the hill. When I realize 

 that this is going to make no particular 

 difference to us of this generation, the great 

 patriotic duty devolves upon us, and upon 

 the people of the country as a whole, to 

 do that which is going to work out some 

 solution of the various problems for the 

 future, whether it be one hundred or two 

 hundred years hence." 



Referring to Mr. Carnegie's statement in 

 regard to the approaching exhaustion of 

 iron ore beds, Governor Johnson said : 



"I am rather inclined to contradict some 

 of the statements that have been made, if 

 I might be permitted to do so. I am rather 

 a stranger in the realm of iron to contra- 

 dict any opinion Mr. Carnegie may have. 

 Certainly he ought to know as much on this 

 subject as any other man in the country, 

 except, possibly, Mr. Hill, who I am sure 

 will be glad to take issue with him on cer- 

 tain things. * * * I think some eight 

 or ten years ago Mr. Schwab, who was con- 

 nected with all of the companies in which 

 Mr. Carnegie was interested, said on the 

 stand that there was something like a bil- 

 lion tons of ore in the Mesaba region. Mr. 

 Carnegie says it is a billion and a half tons. 

 I am sure that if there has been a growth 

 of half a billion tons in eight or ten years, 

 there is little necessity for conservation of 

 that natural resource." (Laughter and ap- 

 plause.") 



"In the long run the problem with us is 

 going to be — is even now — an engineering 

 porblem. If you will notice on the map, the 

 Father of Waters, the Mississippi, runs al- 

 most to the very outer western edge of 

 Lake Superior. The Government has paid 

 out sixty-odd millions of dollars to improve 

 Superior, Huron and the other Great Lakes. 

 I think less than seventy millions of dollars 

 have been invested there, and with this ex- 

 penditure the Government's engineers have 

 made out of the lake system the greatest 

 commercial waterway in the world. There 

 is nothing like it. Now, if seventy millions 

 of dollars will make out of the lakes such 

 a commercial waterway, what would a few 

 millions, intelligently used, amount to if 

 Lake Michigan, from its southern extrem- 

 ity, were canalized into the Mississippi ; if 

 Lake Superior were canalized into the up- 

 per portion of the Mississippi, and if the 

 Mississippi were improved ? We would be 

 given such a power of distribution as we 

 have never had, and with us this is, after 

 all, the great problem. It seems there are 

 two problems here — not only the conserva- 

 tion of our natural resources, but the de- 

 velopment of our industries — and one is 

 just as important as the other. I do not 

 believe the American people want to lock 

 up the iron mines ; I do not think they want 

 to lock up the industries of the Middle 

 •West or of the country. I believe that 

 what they want is the true, scientific devel- 

 opment of all of these resources and indus- 



tries ; and with such development the fu- 

 ture will come pretty near taking care of 

 itself." 



Governor Johnson then asked the 

 Conference to listen to Dr. Van Hise, 

 president of the National Association 

 of Universities, and for many years 

 connected with the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey. Dr. Van Hise said : 



According to Dr. C. K. Leith the known 

 iron ore resources of the Lake Superior 

 region are about 1,900,000,000 long tons, 

 bearing fifty per cent or more metallic iron. 

 According to Dr. E. C. Eckel the known 

 iron ore reserves of the Southern Appa- 

 lachians are 2,500,000,000 long tons, bearing 

 thirty-three per cent to fifty per cent metal- 

 lic iron. Taking into account the differ- 

 ence in metallic content, the amount of iron 

 in the known high grade ores is about the 

 same in each of the two regions. Whi'e 

 these two regions contain the great known 

 reserves of iron ore in the United States, 

 the known reserves of the central and east- 

 ern states are not unimportant. Also the 

 known reserves of the western states are 

 large, although not to be compared with 

 those of the Lake Superior region or the 

 South. 



While the amount of iron ore which has 

 been mined in the United States has been 

 rapidly decreasing during the past twenty- 

 five years, rising from 8,400,000 long tons in 

 1883 to 48,907,900 long tons for 1907. the 

 discovery of new deposits has ^one on at 

 even a more rapid rate, so that it is certain 

 that for the Lake Superior and the South- 

 ern Appalachian regions, together as well 

 as separately, more iron ore is now known 

 to exist than at any previous time in the 

 history of the country. 



If the grade of what is called iron ore 

 for the Lake Superior region should be 

 dropped from fifty per cent to forty per 

 cent — and some material is already mined 

 which runs between these figures — the 

 amount of reserves would be enormously 

 increased. But no quantitative statement 

 can be made at the present time in refer- 

 ence to additions which would be thus 

 available. 



Also, in the Southern Appalachians, Eckel 

 estimates that the probable amount of iron 

 ore which will become known in the future 

 by deep mining — that is, below the thou- 

 sand foot level — especially if the percentage 

 of metallic iron be somewhat lowered, will 

 greatly exceed the present known reserves. 

 Indeed, he suggests that future develop- 

 ment along this line may amount to three 

 times as much as the present estimated re- 

 serves, or 7,500,000,000 tons. This forecast 

 may be too sanguine, and is admittedly 

 more or less conjectural. However, it can 

 hardly be doubted that the quantity of iron 

 ore to become known in the future in the 

 south is enormous. 



