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10 MARINE REVIEW. Iron Ore Production in 1895. In 1895 the Lake Superior ore districts produced 62.31 per cent. of the iron ore supply of the United States. In 1894 the proportion from the Lake Superior region was 63.85 per cent., and in 1893 it was 54.44 per cent. The term "ore supply" includes ore im- ported. The total production (no imported ore included) in 1896 was 15,957,614 gross tons, and of this amount 10,268,978 tons, or 64.32 per cent. was produced in the Lake Superior region. These figures are from an exhaustive report prepared by John Birkin- bine of Philadelphia and just issued in pamphlet form by the United States Geological Survey. The production of 1895 is exceeded only by the outputs of 1890 and 1892. Michigan still leads with an output for 1895 of 5,812,444 long tons, an increase over the figures for 1894 of 31.5 per cent.; reported in the statistics collected by the United States Geological Sur- vey for the other years from 1889 to 1895, except in 1893 and 1894. This decrease output may in part be credited to a protracted strike in the Marquette range, which affected not only the mining of ore, but prevented shipments from stock piles. Minnesota in 1895 approxi- mated the output of Michigan in 1894, and showed a total of 3,866,453, long tons, an increase over the previous year of 30.25 per cent. Wis- consin, while not reaching the figures attained in the years 1889, 1890 and 1892, mined 301,850 long tons more in 1895 than in 1894, but the quantity mined last year was below that _ of steel production. parently valuable so that it may in the future be obtained for use would evidence a want of faith in the future of the northwest, and it is well for those who have at command ores below the accepted stand- ard to remember that the average yield of all the iron ores used in the United States does not exceed 54 per cent., while the phosphorus in non-Bessemer Mesabi ores is below that of the average non-Bes- semer ores of the country. "The longer rail and water transportation now required to bring the ores of Minnesota to blast furnaces which can use them gives the ores from other ranges an advantage equivalent to from 60 to 80 per cent. of the net mining cost, and the limitations placed upon ores ac- ceptable as of Bessemer grade restrict the output of the Mesabi range. But its large reserves of ore, which are above the average in iron and be- low the average in phosphorus of domestic ores now used, will seek a utilization and itis not improbable that these deposits will further stimulate the present rapid development of the basic open hearth method The development of the Vermillion and Mesabi ranges in Minnesota practically repeats, with local modifications, what took place on the Marquette, the Menominee, and the Gogebic ranges of Michigan and Wisconsin. The early exploitation of the Marquette iron ore mines shares with the initial work in the copper mines the credit of opening up northern Michigan within half a century, and the iron ores of the Menominee range were responsible for the develop- VIEWS OF NEW GOODRICH LINE STEAMER IOWA. ; bringing the total of the state for the year up to 649,351 long tons. Of course Mr. Birkinbine gives considerable attention in his report to development of ore mining in Minnesota. He says: "The ore deposits of the Mesabi and Vermillion ranges have in a decade advanced Minnesota from a non-producer to second rank as a contributor to the country's supply, furnishing a larger amount of iron ore per annum than any other state except Michigan, and more than any foreign country except Great Britain, Germany and Spain. To reach the ore bodies of Minnesota over 400 miles of standard-gauge railroad have been built and equipped with modern locomotives and cars through what wasa trackless wilderness ten years ago, and in fact much of the ore producing country was visited only ashunting ground within three or four years. "It will not be surprising if in the future a portion of the Min- nesota ores find a market at or near to the head of the lakes, for, not- withstanding the apparently unsatisfactory outcome of ventures in iron and steel production at Duluth and West Superior, enough was ac- complished to demonstrate that when ample capital is at command to erect the necessary converting and manufacturing plant, to buy material best suited to requirements, and to introduce the product into a market already supplied by established industries, projects of this class will become profitable. With the wealth of iron ores con- venient, and the low rates at which fuel can be brought to Lake Super- ior, the production of metal for the growing territory to the west seems to offer many opportunities. A failure to treat ore not at present ap- ment of the interior section of the Upper Peninsula less than two de- cades ago. Similarly, the timber clearings, railroad and town build- ing, etc., on the Gogebic range of Michigan and Wisconsin to secure the soft ores, which lay unused until slightly over ten years past, were contemporaneous with the bold venture which brought into market, the excellent ores from the Vermillion range in Minnesota."' "The quantities of ore in sight, the apparent ease of mining and the grade of material won on the Mesabi range may be pronounced marvelous. But the other ranges each in turn were surprises, and have done their part in making the Lake Superior region the greatest iron ore producing district of the world, for no other section has in forty years supplied 100,000,000 tons of this mineral." Grain to the amount of nearly 15,000,000 bushels was delivered at Buffalo during the latter half of October. Total receipts at Buffalo to Noy. 1 are: Grain, including flour, 169,322,382 bushels; grain, not including flour, 132,456,052. Receipts to Nov. 1, 1895, were: Grain, including flour, 116,549,810 bushels; grain, not including flour, 84,586,310. Receipts of grain, including flour, are now more than 11, 000,000 bushels in excess of receipts to Noy. 1 in the banner year, 1893. During October receipts of grain aggregated 27,522,826 bushels, against 20,077,590 bushels in October, 1895, and the receipts of flour footed up 1,586,353 barrels, against 1,377, 670 barrels dae the corresponding months in 1895. The Review has excellent photographs of lake ships. ?