RT II-THE IRON ORE MINING INDUSTRY IN MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

ion of the Mesabi and Vermillion ranges-The development of iron-ore -Iron-ore production-The extent of the territory studied-Households d-Members of households for whom detailed information was securedoyees for whom information was secured-[Text Tables 82 to 86 and General 851 to 53].

DESCRIPTION OF THE MESABI AND VERMILLION RANGES.

territory known as the iron-ore mining region of Minnesota the extreme northern part of the State, and for the purposes of vestigation is treated as confined to the counties of Itaska, uis, and Lake. A geological division of the region has resulted districts or "ranges," as they are popularly called, known as ermillion and the Mesabi. The Vermillion Range is the smaller two, although the older, and lies about 20 miles northeast of the Mesabi Range. The iron-ore bearing deposits in the system northeast and southwest, in a narrow belt about 40 miles long etween 1 and 3 miles in width. Lying parallel to and to the west of the Vermillion Range is the Mesabi Range, being ximately 100 miles in length, with a width varying from 2 to les. It has an area of about 400 square miles. Transportation ies are provided by three railroad lines, which connect the s with the Lake Superior shipping points at Duluth, Two Harand Superior. The Duluth and Iron Range Railroad was the to be constructed and operates in the extreme east of the region, shing the only outlet for the Vermillion Range. The Duluth, be and Northern Railroad and the Great Northern Railway rse the Mesabi Range. Operating to the north of the Mesabi ge, the Duluth, Rainy Lake and Winnipeg Railroad connects with Canadian Northern Railway, furnishing an opening into the idian Northwest. There are also extensive local, or intrarange ay systems owned by the several mining companies, and operated onnection with their properties. The general character of the on, together with its transportation facilities and the location of principal mining communities, may be seen from the sketch map he region, which is submitted below.

ee sketch map of the locality, facing p. 291.

pelled also Mesaba and Missabe. Mesabi is the Chippewa Indian name for nt," and this spelling has been adopted by the United States Board on Geo- Monograph XLIII, U. §. Geological Survey, p. 21.

hic names.

bid., pp. 20-21.

Until the eighties and early nineties the surface of the land in the iron region was covered with great forests, in which the white and yellow pine, spruce, cedar, balsam, and a few of the hard woods were found. To-day the charred and blackened stumps of those great trees disfigure the landscape in all directions. Great wastes of land stretch for miles, marking the path of the lumberman, covered only with the remains of forest. The forests have given way to the mines, and human ingenuity and engineering skill are fast removing in like manner the great iron-ore deposits of the region.

With but two exceptions the communities on the ranges are engaged almost entirely in iron-ore mining. Lumbering is the other industry found in these two distinctive communities. The town of Virginia, on the Mesabi Range, is the most important and supports important lumbering as well as mining operations, while the little town of Winton, on the Vermillion Range, is exclusively a lumbering community.

The iron-ore mining industry on the ranges is carried on by one larger company and a number of smaller independent concerns. The dominant concern controls the operations over the Vermillion Range and carries on over two-thirds of the mining done on the Mesabi Range, and owns probably a larger portion of the total ore deposits. In all, there are more than 100 producing mines on the two ranges, while a number of others are being developed. In all, about 1,000 men are employed in the 5 mines of the Vermillion Range, while from 12,000 to 14,000 men are employed in the Mesabi mines.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF IRON-ORE MINING.

Beginning in the sixties, a number of exploring parties visited and examined the Mesabi district, but none of them found ore deposits in grade and quantity sufficient to warrant the undertaking of systematic mining operations until the year 1890, when ore of good quality was found on the roots of an upturned tree by a railroad engineering party. After the first discoveries of ore were made towns sprang up in the wilderness, railroads pushed their way northward, people from the Vermillion Range on the north and from the old ranges of Michigan swarmed in, and the timberman began his work of devastation. By 1892 such progress had been made that the first shipment of ore went forward in the fall of that year. The total production of ore in 1892 for the range amounted to 4,245 tons. Mines were opened rapidly in all sections of the east Mesabi district, the principal ones being around the locations of Biwabik, Virginia, Sparta, McKinley, Elba, Eveleth, Hibbing, Chisholm, Nashwauk, Mountain Iron, and Keewatin, and by 1902 the total production of ore for that year on the range reached 13,329,953 tons.

The western

Mesabi district was not developed to any extent until about 1905, due to the fact that the ore was badly mixed with silica, which made it unmerchantable. When a plan of washing the ore was devised and proven to be successful, one of the large mining companies entered the field and opened large mines near the present towns of Bovey and Coleraine.

IRON-ORE PRODUCTION.

a

From 1884 to 1900, inclusive, 15,191,180 long tons of ore were shipped from the Vermillion Range. This production, when compared with the output of the Mesabi Range during just a little more than one-half of the same period, 1892 to 1900, is rendered comparatively insignificant. From 1892, the first year of shipment, to 1900, inclusive, the total production of iron ore on the Mesabi Range was 31,933,958 long tons. At the present time the Mesabi Range is producing, on an average, over 20,000,000 tons of ore annually, as against a production of about 1,500,000 tons on the Vermillion Range.

THE EXTENT OF THE TERRITORY STUDIED.

Detailed information for employees was secured from both ranges in the course of the investigation. In making the detailed study of selected households and in collecting descriptive and historical data communities were selected which were considered representative of the region. On the Vermillion Range the towns of Ely and Tower were visited. In the Mesabi district the towns of Hibbing, Chisholm, Buhl, Mountain Iron, Virginia, Eveleth, Biwabik, Gilbert, Aurora, and McKinley, located in St. Louis County, and the towns of Nashwauk, Bovey, and Coleraine, in Itasca County, were selected for intensive study.c

HOUSEHOLDS STUDIED.

An intensive study was made on the two ranges of a total of 218 households, of which the number and per cent, according to general nativity and race of head of household, is shown in the table which follows:

TABLE 82.-Households studied, by general nativity and race of head of household.

Of the total number of households studied, 89.9 per cent of the heads of these households were foreign-born and 10.1 per cent were native-born of native father. Of the foreign-born, Croatians, Finnish, and Slovenians, in the order mentioned, show the highest percentage and English the lowest.

a Twenty-first Annual Report, U. S. Geological Survey, Part 3, p. 401.
Ibid., p. 351.

See sketch map of the region, facing p. 291.

MEMBERS OF HOUSEHOLDS FOR WHOM DETAILED INFORMATION WAS SECURED.

The following table shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the persons in the households studied and persons for whom detailed information was secured:

TABLE 83.-Persons in households studied and persons for whom detailed information was secured, by general nativity and race of head of household.

Of the persons in households studied, 93.4 per cent were foreign-born and 6.6 per cent were native-born of native father. Croatians show a considerably higher per cent of the total than any of the other foreignborn races, Finnish, South Italians, Slovenians, Slovaks, Swedish, and English following in the order mentioned. Information was secured for 1,433 persons, 90.4 per cent of whom were foreign-born and 9.6 per cent of whom were native-born. Finnish, Croatians, and Slovenians, in the order named, show the highest percentage of the total number for whom information was secured.

The table next presented shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the sex of persons for whom detailed information was secured:

TABLE 84.-Sex of persons for whom detailed information was secured, by general nativity and race of head of household.