History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

IROX-WCRKS. 735
among the manufactures of Utah. In 1883 the
product of her founderies and machine-shops was estimated
at over $360,000, being second only to that of
her flouring and grist mills. With suitable and abundant
fuel, there is probably no state west of the Mis*
souri with better facilities in this direction, among
them being a great variety of rich and pure ores, labor
and supplies at moderate rates, a climate that seldom
interferes with out-door work, a central location, a
net-work of railroads, a fair demand, and a freight
tariff 46 that almost prohibits the shipment of crude or
manufactured iron from more distant sources of sup-
ply, whether to Utah or the surrounding states.
At a very early date it was ascertained, as will be
remembered, that there were immense deposits of iron
in various parts of Utah. At Smithfield, in Cache
county, there were beds of hematite sixty feet in
thickness. On the Provo near Kamas, on the Weber
in the neighborhood of Ogden, on the Wasatch near
Willard and Bountiful, at Tintic, at City Creek canon
in the Cottonwoods, on many of the mountain slopes,
and on much of the desert land, ores were found in
almost every variety except in the form of carbonates.
The largest deposits were in Iron county, and in what
may be termed the southern prolongation of the Wasatch
Range, about two hundred miles south of Salt
Lake City. The most remarkable outcrops were in
the neighborhood of Iron Springs, Iron City, and
Oak City. In the Big Blowout, as it is termed, a
solid mass of magnetic ore near Iron Springs, with a
length of 1,000 feet and half that width, it is estimated
that there are 3,000,000 tons near the surface.
Other deposits have each 1,000,000 in sight, and in
this district there are probably some 50,000,000 tons
above or near the surface, while the ledges are practically
inexhaustible and of excellent quality. 47
46 Varying from $20 to $40 per ton.
47 Blodgett Brittan, a prominent Philadelphia iron-master, who analyzed
five specimens of ore from this district, the analyses being only for iron, phosphorus,
and sulphur, reports that they averaged 64 per cent of iron, 12 per