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Show War Interest Recalls Early Pioneer Mining (From the Files ol Uis Utah Writers Project). Forced with a need never before be-fore ' Imagined in its history the United States is turning feverishly feverish-ly to the development of its mineral min-eral reserves. This situation is diotated by the necessity of the hour, and it is apparent from the files of the Utah Writers' Project that the early Utah pioneers pio-neers faced an analogous stiuation when they turned to the virgin earth of Iron County, in 1852 to moil up iron for the production of badly needed tools. But where early pioneer mining ventures were killed by the coming of the ! railroad and cheap imports, the future of metals now being exploited ex-ploited in Utah and elsewhere looks more bright. Chances are that these mineral developments will play an increasingly important impor-tant and permanent role in the story of the State and the Nation. To take a single example, that of iron and steel. Early in the year 1941, he national spotlight turned to the possibility of developing devel-oping Utah's known deposits of iron. In October, the State thril- of fire tongs. A long period of experimentation ex-perimentation and production followed, fol-lowed, but the enterprise was never altogether successful, owing to the primitive equipment employed. em-ployed. With improved methods of transportation, this first iron industry in Utah perished. Small, local concerns dabbled with iron from 1885, but modern development develop-ment was by the Columbia Steel Corporation which in 1923 erected a foundry. From this point production pro-duction remained relatively on a level through the twenties and thirties with the production of pig iron running about 165,000 tons annually. Present plans call for a production many times multiplide, with introduction of steel processing proces-sing on a large scale, thereby utilizing util-izing Utah's large reserves of coal, mangenese and other minerals necessary to the process. Even the iron industry in Utah, insignificant as it has remained through the years, has brought forth at least 1 one colorful legend, which as found its way into Project Pro-ject files. Early day miners report re-port that the practice of taking horse-pulled wagons to the mines on Iron Mountain had .to be discontinued, dis-continued, owing to' the fact that the horses became sore-foofced. "Yes sir, that there Iron Mountain Moun-tain is so plumb magnetized, thet it pulled the nails right out uv the horse's shoes the minute they stepped on it." led to the announcement of a proposed $35,000,000 expansion of the iron plant at Provo. Signing of contracts for an additional expansion ex-pansion of $91,000,000 a month later la-ter was hailed as one of the most Important developments ever to strike the industry, and the fruition of this program seems destined to make of Utah an important im-portant processing, as well as iron producing state. War in the Pacific makes iron mining and development of a steel industry in the West outstanding necessities. It is probable, however, that the pioneers looked no further than their own immediate needs as they discovered and exploited the first iron mines in Utah. Of thirty men sent in 1851 to Cedar Valley, Iron County to develop the iron deposits, fifteen went into the hills to mine, while the remainder re-mainder set about creating a settlement set-tlement to sustain them. Coal was discovered near the working on Iron Mountain, and a road was built to a crude blast furnace. A blacksmith shop, pattern shop, moulding shop, and offices were erected in quick succession; and by September 1852, the pioneer plant ready to make its first run. All furnaces being fired, and at dawn the first stream of molten metal poured into the sand box the first to be poured west of the Missouri Mis-souri River. No longer, it was hoped, would it be necessary to transport farm implements and other badly needed articles from the East. The first cast iron was made on March 17, 1353 a pair |