Show IRON DEPOSITS A recent issue of the mining reporter of denver contains an interesting article on the coal deposits of utah by A W warwick in which after alluding to the iron fields of iron county the writer makes special mention of the iron measures of uintah and wasatch counties mr warwick says the deposits of iron county utah have been attracting the attention of iron and steel producers during the last year or two and from current reports the rio grande western railroad is contemplating the construction st ofa road for the express purpose of marketing these ores yet it is but a few years since the writer remembers that these deposits were looked upon as having very little value from a commercial point of view the construction of the moffat road will also open up iron ore dep deposits of excellent quality the deposits occurring in such a way as to insure a downhill haul from the flanks of the uintah mountains the close proximity of these deposits to the coal fields of routt county and the excellence of the grade of iron ore greatly enhances the commercial value of these ores from a number of analyses made it would appear that the ore is remarkably free from sulphur and phosphoric acid when the railroads reach the deposits of iron county utah and those of the uintah mountains we expect to see an impetus given to iron and steel manufacturing in the west and the sight of western rails made from western ores in foreign countries will become so go familiar as to pass without comment the imbor importance tance of am sample supply of high grade iron and steel at low prices to foundries and machinery manufacturers facture rs is so obvious as not to need dilating 1 1 upon the iron mines of the uintah range have recently been studied by mr J M boutwell of the united states geological survey from these studies mr boutwell concludes that there is at least one deposit of high grade workable iron ore hematite in the uintah range mr boutwelle Bou work also settles some interesting geological problems practically proving praying that the great red sandstone series the age of which has long been in doubt is certainly earlier than the lower carboniferous the traditional absence of deposits of metallic ores it is only a tradition i based on error in the uintah range the prospective development of this region in the near future due to the building g of the moffat road and of the opening of the uintah indian reservation er give an interest to the geological features of this little known and practically area the uintah range is situated mainly in the northeastern portion of utah running however over into the northwestern part of colorado it has a length of about miles and an average width of about thirty five miles the eleva tion of the range varies from feet to feet corrected on emmons peak the range is an elongated dome composed of a deeply dissected central plateau and encircling cuestas the iron deposits recently studied by the ceolo geological cical survey lie just outside the interior plateau region on the southwestern slope of the mountains two deposits are described one is located in uintah county utah twenty miles north of vernal and eight to nine miles east of the point at which green river enters utah on the boundaries between utah and wyoming the ore in this deposit is a brown manganese iron of limonitic character it outcrops as a bed three to eight feet in thickness at the crest of a hogback and is traceable along its strike for several hundred feet this deposit has frequently been visited by prospectors pec tors who report traces of gold in the iron in a sili clous gangue it is generally reported by prospectors and others that the ore is of a good quality but at the present it isi is too far from the railroad to admit of profitable exploitation and that generally speaking it is mainly of use as a flux the other deposits are situated on the rhodes plateau and appear to be the principal metallic deposits so far developed in the uintah mountains the deri deposits are situated in wasatch county utah in the southwestern portion of the uintah range en cn the main divide between the provo and duchesne at the head of soapstone basin at it an elevation of between and feet beet it is easily accessible by way of provo brov 0 rina aver and soapstone creek |