Show IRON ORES IN THE UNITA MOUNTAINS an interesting exhibit of the united states geological survey will be found in the rest room for mining men and geologists in block 74 of the mines and metallurgy building at the st louis exposition C R van hise C K leith and W N X smith have prepared four diagrammatic charts each 25 by feet illustrating certain well known principles of the depo deposits gits the uinta range is in the northeastern part of utah but it extends also into the extreme northwestern part of colorado immediately south of wyoming in about the latitude of salt lake city and the southern shores of great salt lake it reaches from the wasatch range kange eastward approximately miles with an average width of about 35 miles the range is in the form of an elongated dome composed of a debely dissected central plateau and encircling hills the iron deposits described by mr boutwell occur in limestone near the inner margin of the belt of f encircling hills and thus immediately outside of the interior plateau region the narrow divide in which they occur overlooks eastward the broad glacial k amphitheater of the upper duchesne and its canyon and westward the corresponding amphitheater of the basin of soapstone creek the locality is easily accessible aces sible from the west by way of provo river and soapstone creek it is reported that the continuation of the same route leading by other deposits farther south may also be taken from the duchesne on the east the iron was probably discovered and first used by the indians who are reported to have looked with favor on it as a source of paint about 25 years ago the most promising deposits were located by a party from heber it is believed that they did the first actual development work on the property and hauled a few loads of ore to the smelters shelters sm elters in salt lake valley it is known that shipments were made amounting in all to at least tons about 1882 the ground was surveyed for patent and eventually patented by E P ferry some seven claims each by 1500 feet were further prospecting has since been done in the vicinity and as a result a few more claims may have been staked in the fall of 1902 other droppings crop pings were prospected additional claims were laid out and some sime assessment work was done the ore is a red hematite of two varieties the red of the and the gray of the massive semi type it varies in purity from samples of high grade which are solid pure iron to those in which the barren country rock mere patches of lean ore an analysis of a selected sample of the high grade massive semi variety reveals not only a high content of iron per cent and a suitable amount of silica 1855 per cent but also a most desirable absence of the dele cerious elements titanium and sulphur and only a trace of phosphorous it indicates a high grade workable iron ore so little development work has been done however that there is meager basis for estimating its quantity A surveyor who ran a line for a railroad through this region in the early days reports an extensive body of iron apparently on this same divide several miles to the north no rth and others state that promising outcrops occur to the south along this divide at intervals of several miles A good wagon road now out of repair was built in the early eighties s from the main road along the provo river up soapstone creek past a saw mill to the ore pits at the crest of the divide at present the nearest railroad point is park city about 35 miles west standing timber is plentiful and a small creek flows across the property if on thorough investigation of these deposits and the others reported to occur in the vicinity it should appear that the amount of ore warranted operation of the property the chief problem would be that of transportation |