Box 17, Folder 1: Iron 1866

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I do not remember seeing in [any of the] publications of the I.H. Association, any account of the iron works in Wisconsin, & presuming that you desire such, I will send the facts noticed or collected on a brief visit to Iron Ridge in Dodge County in this state

Oct. 1866

There is a smelting furnace belonging to & worked by the "Sweeds Iron Company" situated on a spur of the Milwaukee & Minnesota Rail Road, 1 1/4 miles only from the main track 45 miles from Milwaukee, at Iron Ridge. It is well & substantially built with the improvements recently invented or discovered. The main structure is 30 feet square at the base & 42 feet in height [Bosh 9 feet- 4 1/2 at top].

Gas from the top is used to make steam, and to heat the air used keep up the combination within. The ore is granular and as easily worked as sand from a sand bank. The furnace is placed at the foot of the ridge so that the ore has only to be removed across a platform with a slight descent to the top. So convenient is this arrangement, and so easily is this "flex seed" ore worked that the cost of placing it in the furnace is only ten cents per ton! Such is the quality of this ore that no mixture of lime, or other material is necessary; [nor their best] ore & fuel only [is just with the] constitute the change.

2

The furnace [illegible, crossed out] was put in blast in January last (1866) and has yielded about an average of about ten tons of Big iron daily; [about say] over 3000 tons (of 2000 pounds) [each up to this time] will be made by the end of the year.

The iron is of the kind known as coed=short, being specially adapted for many purposes, but not suited for others; for the surface of rail road rails it proves to be exceedingly well adapted, its harness makes it more durable and less liable to yield under the pressure of the heavy trains.

Experiments are now making by mixing one third Lake Superior ore, [it] it [is] being known that the product will possess qualities more suitable for general purposes.

The side track has a down grade sufficient to send the cars to the station a distance of only one & half miles without the aid of the locomotive.

The average yield of the ore is 40 per cent. Its geological position is [in] equivalent to the Clinton group which contains ore of the same general quality in central N. York- Limestone lies above the ore and shale below; the thickness of the layer varies from a few feet up to twenty feet. But there

[Handwritten calculations]

4

een analyzed by several

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are large manes of ore from which the limestone has been removed by some geological action, and it is from there uncovered manes of ore that the supply is denied for use. The uncovered ore is found in such quantities as to be deemed almost inexhaustible--and when exhausted recourse may be had to the native bed in the ridge.

The ore is a hemalile (anhydrous heroxide)

Fuel is obtained i the immediate vicinity; the place being heavily "timbered". Char Coal costs 7 to 10 d per bushel and 125 bushels are used for each ton of [ore.] iron.

I first explored these mines in August 1848 before any settlements were made in the neighborhood; but was unable at that time to decide whether there were anything more than surface deposites; The geological ore (Clinton Group) was however even then made out— + the [medication hazarded?] that the ore would be found forming a regular bed among the rocks.

4

The ore has been analyzed by several chemists [and resulting as] a mean of ten is as follows:

[Hand written table of components/analysis].

[Some] One chemest reports a small proportion of phosphoric acid-but Dr. Jackson [the others] could not find it in the samples examined by him. Weight specific gravity 2.93. It looses 2 to 4 pr cent upon being heated to 212 Fahr.

Several copious springs, issue from the face of the ledge, nearby, from which an abundant supply of water is easily obtained.

The ore is so easily fusible that, as wll be seen, a much less than the usual quantity of fuel is required. It will be noticed that the proper amount of silex, alumina, and lime already exists in the ore- so that [no] more is needed, in the process of smelting.

5.

The ore bed was first discovered & brought into notice by [blank] May in [blank] and the village of Mayville was named in memory of him.

The first furnace (& 1st in the state) was erected by the Wisconsin Iron Company in 1849.

The next is the one here noticed erected by the Sweeds Iron Company.

The locality is described by Col. Chas Whillerey in Owns larger Report p 448 [in 1849] He visited the place in Nov. 1849 at which time a furnace had already been erected at Mayville. Also by Percival & Daniels & Hall while connected with the Wisconsin, State Geological Survey.

Bottom of Irone Ore bed above Lake Michigan is 439 feetSterlings Door Sill 439 feetBase of Ore bed at Hartford 382 " Difference- 57 " in 11 miles Pike Lake 415 feet

The rail road at the river is about 20 feet below base of the ore bed; or say about 420 feet above L. Michigan.