IRON ORES 67 



produced 17,821,807 gross tons of pig iron, and the domestic 

 output of all the iron ore mines in the country for 1902 was 

 35,567,410 long tons. 



''At least 137 producing mines are now active in the Lake 

 Superior region, a number having exceeded annual outputs of 

 1,000,000 tons, and one mine has approximated 2,000,000 tons 

 in a year. The estimated iron ore production of the country 

 in 1854 approximated 1,750,000 tons, based upon the reported 

 pig iron production, and the yield of ores chd not exceed an 

 average of 40 per cent of metalhc iron. Therefore, it is doubt- 

 ful if in 1854 the United States produced as much iron ore as 

 the Fayal mine in IVIinnesota did in 1902, which in that year 

 shipped 1,919,127 tons. Considered on the basis of metalhc 

 contents, however, this output of the Fayal mine probably 

 produced as much pig iron as was made in the United States 

 in any 3'ear up to 1866." 



Next to the Lake Superior district in order of present 

 importance, basing such importance on the quantity of iron 

 ore produced, is the district of which Birmingham, Ala., may 

 be considered the business center, embracing northern Ala- 

 bama, part of northern Georgia, and part of southern Tennes- 

 see. The bulk of the Alabama ores are red hematites, these 

 ores being largely mined convenient to Birmingham. There 

 is, however, a considerable quantity of brown hematite mined 

 in Alabama and also in Georgia and Tennessee. 



Apparenth^ the largest development of the hematite ores 

 flanking the Allegheny mountains exists in Alabama, where 

 the red hematite (known locally as Red mountain ores), ob- 

 tained in large quantities close to deposits of coal suitable for 

 the manufacture of coke, have encouraged the growth of the 

 iron industry. The red hematites are localh" recognized as 

 soft and hard ores; the former, being at or near the surface, 

 are partially decomposed; the latter are mined by under- 

 ground workings and ma}' be subdivided into siliceous ores, 

 in which silica is present in quantity, and limey ores, in which 

 the proportion of lime ma}' be such as to make the ore approxi- 

 mately self fluxing. Nearly parallel with the Red mountain 

 deposits are important beds of brown hematite and limonite 

 ore, occurring in isolated deposits, some of large extent. In 



