Show IRON PAYS UTAH BILLS open pit workings iron field IN 9 ironton plant of columbia steel com pany pis K by E S OCONNOR HE one metal whose mining in T THE utah was not only tolerated but heartily encouraged by the authorities of the mormon church in the early days was iron the alternative was a long and costly wagon haul from the east welcome therefore was the discovery that iron ore existed in abunda abundance nee near the colony of 0 cedar in I 1 iron ron county in 1851 halt half the men at cedar were set apart to develop an iron industry during 1852 a blast furnaca naca was erected coal was coked caked and on oil september 30 a stream of 0 liquid iron was drawn from the furnace in november a company tile the deseret iron company 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 tile the the cost of 0 iron products was cut and the home industry become became inactive an effort to revive it on a cooperative basis was made DY by ebenezer hanks and the great western iron co la in isis at old iron town the company was absorbed in 1883 by the iron manufacturing fac turing co of 0 utah A local market tor for iron castings Is said to have been developed but the projected railroad on which the company relied did not materialize the appropriation ol of iron land began in 1877 with the survey gurvey ot of a lode claim called the blowout locating claims was the outstanding feature ot of the tha iron business tor for several everal decades those most ic active in acquiring claims were matthew cullen S B allner 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 0 time pointed to 1923 before a successor to the old iron town enterprise appeared la 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 an eventful avent tul carlod for the utah iron industry the united states steel corporation came west and purchased all the properties ties 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 planned surveying tor for a standard gauge line iffie was started in the fall of 1934 construction st began may 1 1935 ail was completed on august preliminary work on oil a mining a and nd crushing plant had been in progress tor for some time on august 1 1936 1935 tile tha building ot of the plant was actually begun and the following april it was completed adjacent to the plant site bite are several ore bodies one 0 of these tile the black hawk was selected tor for tile the first development an open pit was wag started feet from rom the receiving hopper of 0 the primary crusher the ore la Is broken by drilling and blasting inch ginch G 6 churn drill holes the open pit race face Is SO 80 feet high by feet long the ore ora Is loaded by a 21 J yard electric shovel into two trucks each with a capacity of 0 28 long tons and hauled to the hopper A pan feeder conveys the ore from the receiving hopper to a 60 x 48 inch law jaw crusher A belt conveyor carries it to a scalping screen which bypasses by passes tile finished product the oversize goes through either a reduction or a cone crusher the product ot of this operation which la Is all ot of 2 inch size or less is conveyed by a belt to a double deck finishing screen which produces three sizes as follows tol lows first grade under 5 16 inch second grade 5 16 to I 1 inch third grade 1 inch to 2 inches the ore Is loaded into railroad cars and shipped miles to the blast furnace at provo since the columbia steel corporation pora po ration tiou opened the mines at iron springs in 1923 operations in the district have been continuous the development ot of the iron industry in utah was ivas the greatest incentive to the building ot of the cedar city branch ot of the union pacific railroad the iron mines have been the largest source ot of revenue tor for the road and also the largest consumers ot of power in the southern part of 0 the state their payrolls have always been substantial from them have been derived most of 0 the of 0 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 state the count counties les and the municipalities farmers and local merchants are secondary beneficiaries 0 of the wealth produced by the iron industry it Is a highly competitive industry the utah field must compete not only with domestic producers but also with foreign interests fortified by cheap labor to do d 10 so it needs the same support throughout the state that it receives from tho people ot of iron county |