| Show IRON PAYS UTAH BILLS S ilI il j Open Pit Workings in int I t Iron Field r II n Ironton Plant of Columbia s Steel Company Compan t e 1 r or t 1 i l t r A By Sy E. E S. S OCONNOR O'CONNOR IE one metal whose mining In hi THE Utah was not only tolerated but heartily encouraged by the authorities of the Mormon church churchin in the early earl days was Iron The alternative was a long and costly wagon haul from the east Welcome Welcome Wel come therefore was the discovery that Iron ore existed In la abundance near near- the colony of ot Cedar la In Iron county In 1851 bait naif the men at Cedar were set apart to develop an Iron Industry During 1852 a blast furnace furnace fur fur- nace was erected coal was coked and on on n September 80 a stream of ot liquid iron was drawn from the furnace In November a company the the Deseret Iron Company took over the plant from the colony Money was raised in Europe and for seven esven years the company continued con tinned to operate Upon the buildIng build build- Ing fag of a railroad to Utah In the the cost coat of Iron products was the home Industry became inactive An effort to revive It on ona ona ona a cooperative basis baste was made by Ebenezer Hanks Hank and the Great Western Iron Co In 1868 at Old Iron Town The company was wal absorbed absorbed ab in 1883 by the Iron Manufacturing Manufacturing Manu Co of ot Utah A local market for Iron castings ii is said to have been developed but the pro projected ro- ro railroad on which the company com pany parry relied did not materialize The appropriation of iron land and began In 1877 with the survey lurvey of ot a lode claim called the Blowout Locating claims was the lag ing feature feat of the Iron business for several decades Those ThOle most ac active ac- ac tive in acquiring claims were Matthew Mat Mat- thew Cullen S 8 S. B B. Milner and the Colorado Fuel Iron Co The ground once patented a search for capital to develop and exploit it was In order The clock of time pointed to 1923 before a successor to the Old Iron Town enterprise appeared In that year the Colum bia bla Steel Corporation went actively to work at Iron Springs using a tunnel and glory hole system The following year shipments of ore toa to toa toa a blast furnace at mouton Ironton were commenced was an eventful period for the Utah iron Industry The United States Steel Corpora rises tion came west and purchased all the properties of the Columbia Steel There was no lack of capital now Operations were shifted t to o Iron Mountain 12 miles southwest t S ot of Desert Mound and a railroad t to o that point was planned Surveying for A standard gauge line was as started in the fall of ot 1934 Construction Con Coa began May 1 1935 an and d w. w was wai completed on August I Preliminary work on a mining and sad crushing plant had been 1 1111 In a r M. M la i progress progress for some BOrne time On August AugustI 1 I 1935 the building of ot the plant was actually begun and the follow follow- following followIng I ing lag April It was completed I Adjacent to the plant site are severa several ore bodies One of ot these the Black Hawk was selected for forthe forthe forthe the the first lint development An open pit was started feet from the receiving hopper of the primary crusher The ore Is U broken by drilling and blasting Inch 6 churn chum drill holes The open pit face Is IsSO 80 SO feet high by feet long Theore The Theore Theore ore is II loaded by a 2 yard electric shovel into two trucks each with a capacity of 23 28 long tons and hauled to the hopper A pan feeder conveys con I Ivers veys vers the ore from the receiving hopper to a 60 z x inch 48 jaw crush I en er A belt conveyor carries it to toa toa toa a scalping screen which bypasses passes the finished product The oversize goes through either a reduction or ora ora ora a cone crusher The product of ot this operation which Is all of 2 2 Inch size or less is conveyed by a belt to a double-deck double finishing screen which produces three sizes as u follows follow First grade under 5 16 inch second grade 16 to 1 Inch I third grade 1 l inch to 2 Inches Theore The Theore ore is fa loaded Into railroad cars and I shipped miles to the blast furnace fur nace at Provo I Since the Columbia Steel Corporation Corporation Cor Cor- opened the mines at Iron Springs in 1923 operations in the district have been continuous The development of the iron industry In n Utah was the greatest Incentive to the building of ot the Cedar City branch of ot the Union Pacific rail rail- road read The iron mines have been the largest source of ot revenue for the road and also the largest con sumers Burners of ot power In the southern part of the state Their payrolls have always been substantial From I them have been derived most of ot the of ot taxes tues paid annually i by the railroad to Iron county I I Payments by the railway mines minas and power company to the county I are aro well over Although it has not been feasible I to smelt melt the ore In Iron county it is III done within the state so 80 that the coal mines mine tone stone quarries and transportation companies contri bute buts to the employment of labor and the tax tu revenue of the state the counties and the municipal ides Farmers and local merchants are secondary beneficiaries of ot the wealth produced by the Iron indus Indus- try I It U is ts I a highly competitive Industry Indus Indus- try The Utah field must compete not only with domestic producers but also alo with foreign interests Interest for tor deed by cheap labor To do to so it needs need the same lame support through out the state that It t receives from the people of ot Iron county |
