The Iron Mountain, Missouri. [Volume: 8, Issue: 1, 1888, pp. 36-45]

36

UNITED STATES ASSOCIATION OF

[VOL. 8,

Nearly all mills and furnace works use electric lights. Mining
machinery, drills, coal cutters, pumps and hoisting engines will be
driven in many places by what is now the waste power of neighboring water-falls, and before long we shall have few waste waterfalls."
The Iron Mountain, Missouri.
The Iron Mountain of Missouri, probably more than any other
single deposit of American iron ore, fails to be appreciated in its
true relation, even by those who are fairly conversant with the
iron ore resources of the country; for it is either considered as a
mountain of iron ore, practically inexhaustible, and really the
most important one in the country, ot else it is looked upon as a
rather unimportant and practically worked-out deposit. Neither
of these opinions places the Iron Mountain in its proper position,
and the exaggerated view first instanced is the natural result of
the eclat attending the early development of what, from the magnificent showing of a hill whose top was formed of solid ore, and
sides covered by large quantities of broken ore, was believed to
be an inexhaustible deposit. The Iron Mountain is far from being
unimportant or worked out, and cannot be said to be even fully
explored; it has been and will continue to be one of the large
American mines, as will be evident from the production for a series of years as given in this article.
The idea of possible exhaustion probably arose from the fact
that when the iron ore which formed the crest of the mountain
was removed, it was found that it really existed as a dome, covering and extending down into the porphyry; and when the interior of this dome was found to consist of veins or beds of ore in
the porphyry, some of which were soon mined out, the impression
gained ground that the Iron Mountain would not long exist as a
prominent producer of iron ore. The unfortunate combination of
circumstances which have prevented the pig-iron industry in the
vicinity of St. Louis assuming the importance which it is natural
to expect, and the apparent speedy exhaustion of the vein of ore
worked on Pilot Knob- within six miles of Iron Mountain, have
had a tendency to belittle this really excellent source of iron ore
supply. To understand properly the true position of this inter