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

DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 533
Rouchleau-Ray Mine.—The Rouchleau-Ray mine is one of the
great mining properties of the Alesabi. Not a ton has yet been taken
from it, but the proved deposit is 23,953,707 tons. F. T. Higgins and
Giles Gilbert were the feeholders, and mining right was granted to
Rouchleau, of Duluth, the Rouchleau-Ray Iron Land Company being
formed. The deposit was proved, to an extent, but no attempt was
made to mine the deposit, probably because of the money panic of
1893, and the flatulency of market 'in 1894 and 1895. On November
20, 1895, however, the Rouchleau-Ray Land Company, together with
feeholders, gave H. V. Winchell an option to purchase the mine for
$1,125,000. For a ninety-day option $125,000 was paid, and it tran-
AUBUKN MINE, 1902, AS IT APPEARED THEN, AND AS IT STILL IS, NOT A TON OF THE
TWO MILLION TON DEPOSIT HAVING SINCE BEEN MINED
s])ired that the interested partv w;>s the Lake Superior Consnlidiitcd
Iron mines, then owned by John D. Rockefeller. "Just before the
option ex])ired, the com])any asked for an extension of time, which
was refused." That meant the saving of a few hundred thousand
dollars to Rockefeller, for about a year later he purch.-.sed the prt)perty
for $750,000. The mine, of course, passed with the other mining
property of John D. Rockefeller, to the Steel Corj)oration in 1901.
It has since "lain d(;rmant in the control of tlie Oliver Iron Mining
Company.
Auburn Mine.—A mile to the southward of the Normrn is the
Auburn, which was originally known as the Iron King. The jiroperty
was explored by Nat Moore, for A. E. Humphreys and otl^ers.
Soon it was leased by the Minnesota Iron Company, on a 30-cent basis.