1921 Duluth & St Louis County MN, Van Brunt.pdf - Garon.us

DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 547
Stevenson Mine.—The Stevenson Mine was discovered by E. J.
Longyear in 1894, and leased eventually to the Stevenson Iron Mining
Company, which seems to have been a company formed by Corrigan
McKinney and Company. It is said that the mine "was named for
Stevenson Burke, who was prominently identified with Corrigan
McKinney and Company." At the outset, mining was by shaft, and
the first year of shipment was in 1901, 56,031 tons. However, it was
soon decided to strip the heavy overburden, and that work was
begun in 1901. A review of Mesabi mining in 1902 stated that the
Stevenson was "the largest thus far opened on the western end of
the Mesabi Range." Mining operations at the Stevenson were then
"carried on with steam shovels, there being three of them on ore
bodies, besides two working on stripping." The property then was
under the supervision of Amos Shephard, and the mining captain
was Frank McCreary. Several million yards of surface were removed,
and "the immense pit opened" was "one of the largest and most noteworthy
of any on the Range, being one mile in length, while the
extreme width is 800 feet." It is now very deep. Water became one
of the main obstacles to mining, and in 1906 and 1907 shafts were
sunk, primarily to drain the water, but incidentally to mine. One
of the features of the mine was a suspension bridge, 815 feet long, to
span the open-pit gully, and to provide means of getting from the
location and offices to the shafts. G. E. Harrison was the superintendent
from 1904 until the property passed, a few years ago, to the
McKinney Steel Company, E. D. McNeil being now the general superintendent,
and E. L. Cochran, superintendent. Altogether, to the
end of 1919, the Stevenson Mine has given 13,945,402 tons, but its
available deposits seem now to be very little.
Susquehanna Mine.—The first attempt to develop the Susquehanna
mine was made in 1900 by E. Dessau, of New York. He failed
and abandoned the lease. The property eventually passed to the
Great Northern Railway Company, and was sub-leased by that corporation
to the BuiTalo and Susquehanna Iron Company. The mine
was opened in 1906, and is one of the "big holes" that hem Hibbing
in. The shipment in 1906 was 20,984 tons. Up to end of 1919 the
mine yielded 6,324,358 tons. But the hole will be much bigger and
deeper before the deposit has been exhausted, for there is still an ore
body of about eighteen million tons to mine. The early superintendent
was Bert Angst, and A. E. W^ilson is now general superintendent.
The property is now in the control of the Rogers-Brown Iron Company,
a Chicago promotion.
Sweeney.—The Sweeney Mine was discovered by E. F. Sweeney
and J. B. Adams. Leased to the Denora Mining Company, and later
absorbed bv the Oliver Iron Mining Company. The propertv has
a deposit o'f about 1,800.000 tons, but has only yielded about '8.000
tons. It is interesting in one respect, in that "it has a very light
surface" and should have been one of the first discovered, the ore
being "but a few inches" below the surface in places, and located
"on the old Grand Rapids road" which was traxclled over for years
by mining men without being suspected." It was not discovered
until l'>01.
Utica Mine.—The Utica mine is a Pickands Mather property,
and it has yielded, to end of 1919, 3,999,524 tons. It was explored in
1900 by Thomas J. Jones and others, and leased to Pickands Mather.
Under Robert Murray it was developed as an open-pit and as an
underground mine, first shipment being made in 1902. 9,009 tons.
There is an available deposit of about 2,700,000 tons.