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Show FAMOUS MINING STRIKES Ey THOMAS E. STEWARD i"Si-- :--;--!:!! Great Source of American Steel BILLIONS of dollars' worth of gold, silver, copper and other metals had been extracted from American mines before tlie mines which were to be more important than any others were even thought of. This reference Is to the colossul deposits of Iron ore In northern Miunesota, which in less than 40 years have ben the basis on which the American sttel industry has risen to a position of almost world supremacy. And this remarkably important im-portant deposit was only discovered and proved up in 1S01-1S02. the same year in which the Comstock lode was found. The Mesabi iron district lies in the j part of Minnesota which Is northwest of Lake Superior. Charles K. Leith. a celebrated geologist, ha:i described it as extending from Grand Rapids, on the Mississippi river, northeastward for 100 miles to Birch lake, its width varying from two to ten miles. Over most of the extent of this range the ore is in a relatively loose, earthy form, and lies so near the surface that it is extracted by open pit mining. The surface is scraped iff, tracks are run into the pit. and steam shovels load the ore into cars. The main topographic ttature of the district is the ridge or "raivge" of hills known as the Giant or Mesabi range, Mesabi being the Indian word for giant. At its west end the range gradually slopes off to the Itvel of the surrounding country, about 1.400 feet above sea level, or 800 feet ab.ve the level of Lake Superior. Towaid the eastern end, the range becomes higher and higher, rising at a maximum 1,000 feet above sea level and 400 to 500 feet above the country between it and the Great Lakes. This "Iron Range," as Minnesotans call it, has addad interest because it is part of the height of land that divides the waters flowing through the Mississippi Missis-sippi into the Gulf of Mexico from those that flow northward into Hudson's Hud-son's bay and the Arctic regions. In its climate and vegetable life, the Iron range savors strongly of the Great North. It lies, indeed, well inside in-side the famous Minnesota north woods, with their deer, moose, bear, trout and landlocked salmon. Over much of the actual range, however, the scene is a relatively desolate one. Pit mines, old and new-, have thrown great scars of clay across the land scape, where they lie. yellow, reddish, or blue-green, according to the immediate imme-diate nature of the soil, like mammoth mam-moth wounds in the clear green surface sur-face of the surrounding forest. Old choppings. windfalls, fires, underbrush, under-brush, and thick swamp combine to make the near-by country difficult to travel. |