156 MONTANA: INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES 



area of 2,500 acres. The iron couteut i.s said to ran^e from o.j per cent in soft 

 earth to 65 per cent in two main ontcroppings of iron cliffs. Private geologists 

 have reported from 80,000.000 to 140,000.000 tons of workable ore in sight, 

 of which lOO.OOO.OOO tons could he recovered by means of the steam i^hovel. The 

 ore bodj- has l)ccn prospected to a depth of 40 feet without going out of ore. and 

 geologists report the contour is such as to indicate the ore goes to" a depth of 

 200 feet. 



The U. S. G. S. reports the existence of magnetite beds over the west half 

 of the Blackfeet Indian reservation, Glacier county, which can be traced for 

 many miles entirely across the reservation. The principal beds are found on the 

 South Fork of the Milk River. The beds are a number of small, widely scattered 

 areas which contain rich magnetite sandstones reaching a thickness of nine 

 feet, with an average thickness of four to five feet. The U. S. G. S. says a 

 considerable tonnage of ore which would average about 50 per cent of iron could 

 be hand sorted from the deposits. It concludes : "The proportion of titanium 

 oxide in the ores is considerable, averaging over 12 per cent in one sample. This 

 high titanium content renders these ores unfit for use, according to present metal- 

 lurgical practice, although it must be recognized that ores of this type may eventu- 

 ally be successfully smelted." 



On the south side of Birch Creek, about half a mile .south of the Indian 

 Queen mine, six miles west of Apex station, Beaverhead county, the U. S. G. S. 

 reports deposits of magnetite iron ore. They occur as irregular pockets and have 

 been opened by shallow pits and shafts to obtain fluxing material for copper 

 or lead smelters. 



Reported that Smoky Butte, 10 miles west of Joi'dan, Garfield county, is a 

 mountain of high grade iron ore. Much meteoric iron found in that region and 

 particularly near Smoky Butte. So far as known, no examination by geologists 

 has ever been made. 



In 1919, 476,461 long tons of iron ore were imported into the United States. 



LEAD 



Uses — As metal it is made into sheets, pipes and cable coverings and is used 

 as constituent of industrial alloys — babbit, type metal, battery plates and bullets. 

 In the form of carbonates and oxides great qiiantities used in paints, in manufac- 

 ture of storage batteries, enamel, glass, pottery, rubber and varnish. 



Occurrence — Has been commercially produced in Beaverhead. Broadwater. 

 Cascade, Deer Lodge, Fergus, Jefferson, Granite. Lewis and Clark. Lincoln. Madi- 

 son. Meagher, Mineral, Missoula, Park. Powell, Ravalli, Sanders and Silver Bow 

 counties. 



MANG.VNESE 



Uses — In making steel by the open-hearth and Bessemer processes. Two 

 alloys in common use — ferromanganese which contains 70 to SO per cent of 

 manganese and made from ore that carries more than 40 per cent manganese, 

 used largely in open-hearth steel from which structural shapes, sheets, bars and 

 wire are made ; and spiegeleisen. which contains 10 to .30 per cent of manganese, 

 used largely in making Bessemer steel, from which rails, forgings, etc.. are made. 

 In steels made for most uses none are so cheap or so effective as manganese. 

 In glass making as a decolorizer. 



Ocourrenoe — Reported by the U. S. G. S. in eleven different places in Mon- 

 tana. U. S. G. S. says : "The greatest, best developed and most available do- 

 mestic reserves of high-grade manganese ore are in the Philipsburg district of 

 Montana''. Of the deposits at Butte says : "The bodies of rhodochrosite at Butte 



are among the largest and mo.st valuable sources of manganese in the 



country". Adds Philipsburg and Butte possess several advantages that partly over- 



