Show IRON PAYS UTAH BILLS open pit iron 1 AP 9 p 1 T W PER W tl pig qa A 1 Y I 1 t J 77 7 M f 1 l 7 IF r r Q of columbi S e I 1 P 19 k A 1 1 I ff f A allu k by E S OCONNOR HE one metal whose mining in THE abut utah was not only tolerated but heartily encouraged by the authorities of tile tha mormon church in tho the early doys days was iron the alternative was a long and costly wagon haul front from the east cast welcome therefore was tho the discovery that iron oro ore existed la in abundance near the colony of cedar in iron county in 1851 halt half the men at cedar were set apart to develop an iron industry during 1852 a blast furnace was erected coal was coked caked and on september 30 a stream of liquid iron was drawn from the furnace la in november a company the tha deseret iron company tool took over the plant from the colony money was raised in europe and for seven years the company continued to operate upon the building of a railroad to utah in the as the cost of iron products was cut and the home industry became inactive an eff effort ort to revive it on A cooperative basis basig was waa made by ebenezer Eb onezer hanks and the great western iron co in at old iron town the company was absorbed in 1883 by the iron manufacturing fac turing co of utah A local market tor for iron castings la Is said to have been developed but the projected ejected railroad on which the company relied did not materialize the appropriation of iron land began in 1877 with the tha survey of a lode claim called the 1316 blowout wout locating claims was the outstanding feature of the tha iron business for several decades those most active in acquiring claims were matthew matthaw cullen S 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 enthat in that year the columbia steel corporation went actively to work at iron springs using a tunnel and glory hole system the following year shipments of ore to a blast furnace at ironton were commenced nineteen thirty was waa an eventful period tor for the utah iron industry the united states steel corporation came west and purchased all the properties of the columbia steel there was no lack of capital now operations were shifted to iron mountain 12 miles southwest of desert mound and a railroad to that point was wag planned surveying for a standard gauge line was waa started in the tall fall of 1934 oon con st ruction began may 1 1935 1936 and was completed on august preliminary work on a mining and crus crushing hiag plant had been la progress tor for some time dine on august 1 1935 the building of 0 the plant was actually begun and the following april it was completed adjacent to the plant site are several ore bodies one ot of these the black hawk was selected for the first development an open pit was started feet from the receiving hopper of the primary crusher the tha ore is broken by drilling and blasting 6 inch churn drill holes the open pit face is in 80 feet high by feet long the ore is loaded by a 2 yard electric shovel into two trucks each with a capacity of 28 long tons and hauled to the hopper A pan feeder conveys the ore from the ro recell celIng ng hopper to a 60 x 48 inch law jav crusher A belt conveyor carries it to a scalping screen which bypasses by passes tho the finished product the oversize goes through either a reduction or a cone crusher the product of this operation which is all of 2 inch size or less is conveyed by a belt to a double deck finishing screen which produces three sizes as follows first grade under 5 16 inch second grade 5 16 to 1 inch third grade 1 inch to 2 inches the ore is loaded into railroad cars and shipped 01 39 miles to the blast furnace at provo since tile the columbia steel corporation horation po ration opened the mines at iron springs in 1823 1923 operations in the district have been continuous the development of 0 the iron indu industry in utah was the greatest incentive to the building of the cedar city branch of 0 the union pacific railroad the iron mines have been the largest source of revenue tor for the road and also the largest consumers of in the southern part of the state their payrolls have always been substantial from them have been derived most of the ot of taxes paid annually by the railroad to iron county payments by the railway mines and power company to the county are well over although it has not been feasible to smelt the ore in iron county it is done within the state so that the coal mines stone quarries and transportation companies contribute to the employment ot of labor and the tax revenue of the tha state the counties and the municipalities farmers and local merchants are ara secondary beneficiaries of the wealth produced by the iron industry it Is a highly competitive indus 1 try the utah field must compete not only with domestic producers producer but also with foreign interests interest tor for tilled tided by cheap labor to do so 10 it needs the same support 11 throughout the state that it receives from the people of iron county |