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February 9, 1894. 
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“Texchange ”” 
THE MESABI IRON RANGE. 
BY E. PP. JENNINGS, IRONWOOD, MICH. 
THE discovery and development of this new source of 
iron ore within the last two years presents many Lee of 
interest. The deposits differ from all others in the Take 
Superior district in being horizontal, and are only covered 
by the glacial drift. 
The range is situated about 50 miles north of Lake 
Superior and extends from the Canadian line west to, and 
probably beyond, the Mississippi River, a distance of 
about r4o miles. ‘Vhe ore bearing belt is narrow, averag- 
ing about one mile in width. 
"The beds lie on the south flank of the Giant’s Range— 
watershed between 
Lake Superior and Hudson’s Bay. 
The rock series, according to Pr eMles 0% N- E. Winchell, 
is as follows 
First. The Archean granite of the Giant’s Range. 
Second. Green Schists of the NKeewatin-Archzan, 
dipping at high angles to the south. 
Third. Qiuartzite, unconformable on first and second 
‘Taconic, ~ 
Fourth. Iron ore and taconite horizon Taconic 
Fifth. Slates and cherts—Taconic. 
Sixth. Black slates—Taconic. 
Seventh. The gabbro overilow which covers the 
eastern third of the range, and also appears to the south 
of the central part of the range. 
Small bodies of banded titaniferous 
Ore occur in the 
-gabbro, but these deposits have no value and belong to a 
' different horizon from the vast deposits of the so- 
called 
taconite horizon. 
The taconite 1s a grayish, jaspery quartzite, enclosing 
‘narrow bands and masses of ore, and is somewhat similar 
‘ 
in character to the banded jaspery ores of the Michigan 
Ranges. Where the conditions have been favorable the 
ore bodies have been formed by the solution and removal 
of the silicious rock through the agency of carbonated 
waters. The iron oxides, being insoluble in this reagent, 
have been left in various states of aggregation from hard 
specular and massive hematites to soft hydrated oxides. 
The conditions favorable to the solution and remoyal of 
the silicious matter from the taconite or banded ore 
appear to be, first, that the taconite must not have been 
covered by other rock that would have preserved it from 
the action of the carbonated waters. So far no ore has 
; been found in the taconite when covered with the black 
SICIUEIN GIs, 
Us 
slates. Second, that a free drainage to these waters was 
essential; when, some barrier was interposed,—as, for 
instance, the green schists of No. 2 of the series, which 
in some cases cuts through the taconite, and so prevented 
the flow of the water saturated with silica,—no enrich- 
ment of the lean strata took place. 
The quartzite under the taconite has also been acted 
upon by the carbonated water, for the layers immediately 
under the ore are disintegrated and have the appearance 
of a soft white or yellowish sand. Slight streaks of the 
same sand are also found in the ore, showing that in 
places the action of the water has not been complete. 
About all the known ores of iron are found in these 
deposits, with the exception of carbonate, such as hard 
specular, massive hematite, soft blue black hematite, 
limonite, gothite and some magnetite. ‘lhe latter can be 
separated by a magnet from the soft blue hematite. 
‘Vhere is little or no pyrite in the ore, and in general the 
sulphur compounds are absent. ‘Vhe best ore is the so- 
called “‘blue” ore, a fine granular blue black hematite, 
which does not soil the hands as most of the soft ores do. 
This ore carries from 62 to 68 per cent iron, and phos- 
phorus from .o07 to .o50 per cent, with small amounts of 
silica, lime, magnesia, and alumina, and is an ideal blast 
furnace ore. 
Some of the ore basins are very large and show that the 
concentrating process has been on a very extensive scale. 
The basin at the Biwabec is about 3,000 feet in length by 
about 1,000 feet in width, with a depth along the axis of 
the deposit of 100 feet or more, the deposit gradually 
thinning out on the northern edge near the granite. This 
deposit is known to contain 20,000,000 tons of blue ore 
and possibly as much more of the yellow and brown ores 
that will run 60 per cent in iron. This is but one of 
many known basins. 
The ore in these beds is nearly horizontal and varies 
from a few feet to over one hundred feet in thickness and 
is covered by the glacial drift from a few inches to one 
hundred feet in depth. 
The operation of mining consists of first removing the 
“over-burden,” which is done by steam shovels. ‘Then 
railroad tracks are laid on this uncovered surface of the 
ore. ‘The ore is loosened by light blasts of black powder 
and shoveled and hoisted on ¢ars by steam shovels. . 
Two thousand eight hundred tons of ore have been mined 
and loaded with a single shovel in a day of twenty hours. 
The great hoisting and pumping engines of the deep 
mines of other districts are here replaced by the tools of 
a modern railroad contractor—the locomotive and steam 
shovel. As there 1s no pumping, no hoisting, no timber- 
ing, and as most of the work is done by machinery, no 
skilled miners are required and few men of any kind. 
The cost of mining is therefore very low. 
Considering both the quality and quantity of ore and 
low cost of production, this new range is certainly one of 
the most wonderful discoveries of the century. 
—Mr. Goldwin Smith in the preface to his latest book, 
“Oxford and her Colleges: A View from the Radcliffe,’ 
says: ‘“The writer has seldom enjoyed himself more than 
in showing an in friend over Oxford. He has felt 
something of the same enjoyment in preparing, with the 
hope of interesting some American visitors, this outline of 
the history of the University and her colleges. He would 
gladly believe that Oxford and Cambridge having now, by 
emancipation and reform, been reunited to the nation, may 
also be reunited to the race ; and that to them, not less 
than to the universities of Germany, the eyes of Americans 
desirous of studying at an European as well as at an Ameri- 
can university may henceforth be turned.” 
Americ: 
