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

582 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Lincoln and Higgins Mines.—The Wyoming Iron Company was
formed on April 11, 1892, with a capital of $300,000. The organizers
were Frank Cox, S. W. Eckman and W. F. Gore, and the result of their
operations were the Higgins, Tesora and part of the Lincoln. The
company sub-leased the ne. of nw. of sec. 9-58-17 to John T. Jones on
a royalty of 50 cents and 25,000 tons minimum.
John T. Jones and his associates explored the Lincoln, which
adjoined their Commodore property. Later they disposed of their
lease to the Inter-State Iron Company, the mining division of the
Jones and Laughlin Steel Company. The mine, however, did not come
onto the shipping list until 1902, when 87,908 tons were shipped. It
has been continuously operated ever since, averaging about 250,000
tons a year, at which rate there is enough proved ore to last for about
another seven years. C. T. Fairbairn was the mining manager when
shipments first began, Thomas Pellew succeeding him in 1906. They
were working four shafts in 1907, a'nd it was then the best equipped
underground property in the district. The Lincoln still belongs to
the Interstate Iron Company, IMark Elliott being general superintendent
and J. H. Mclnnis, assistant general superintendent.
The Higgins mine passed to the Oliver Mining Company in 1897
or 1898, Capt. John Gill becoming superintendent for the Oliver Company
in 1898. The mining was somewhat more difficult than at some
other mines, at the Missabe Mountain for instance. The first shipment
from the Higgins was made in 1904. The surface was stripped
and the mining carried on both by milling a^id by steam shovel,
although owing to the steep grade the ore mined by steam shovel was
not taken direct from the mine but dumped through a chute, and then
hoisted in the shaft. About a million and a half tons have been taken
from the mine, and about eight million tons still remain.
Norman Mine.—The Higgins Land Company was the original
owner, paying $1.25 an acre, in 1887. for 11,661 acres on the range.
The right to explore and mine was sold to Louis Rouchleau, the lease
being of July 11, 1892, from F. A\". Higgins, of Olean, to Louis
Rouchleau. who sub-leased to the Minnesota Iron Company. The
company opened the mine in 1894, and "was the second to adopt the
'milling' method" of open-pit mining, the process being to strip off
the overburden and mill the ore down through a winze into cars in the
mine, from which the ore was dumped into skips and hoisted. The first
superintendent was Capt. John Armstrong. By the end of 1898,
421,132 tons had been shipped. Eventually the mine passed, with the
consolidation, into the control of the Oliver Iron Mining Company,
but with the exception of a few thousand tons in 1907, nothing was
mined from the Norman from 1898 until 1908, when the Oliver Company
worked it "in connection with the Lone Jack, Ohio and Oliver
(Missabe ^lountainj." The Norman was a very deep and narrow
mine, and as the open-pit mining proceeded furiously (as it did in
1908, 1909 and 1910, the three years averaging a million tons a year),
the mine developed the appearance of a deep gully. The feeholders
were concerned at the method of mining, and brought suit to set aside
the lease, alleging that the Oliver Company was "wasting the ore,
and hurting the mine." A compromise was effected, much to the
financial advantage of the feeholders, it is believed. The lease was to
expire on March 31, 1913, and just prior to that time a much richer ore
bed was discovered beneath the other. The total shipment to end of
1919 was 6,481,788 tons.