Story: From Grass Roots to Iron Mine in Nine Months - 1917

[Editors Note: This is an article from The Diamond Drill, a Crystal Falls newspaper, of September 22, 1917 which explains now a iron exploration is built into a fully functioning mine. Prior to this period, most mines were powered by steam boilers. The new Odgers Mine was mostly run by electricity, brought in by wire from Iron Mountain. Though Crystal Falls had electricity generated from the Paint River by this time, that was insufficient to power a large mine of this type.]

Remarkable Record Achieved at the Odgers Has Never Been Equaled

On December 1 the Property was a Wood Lot; On October 1 it Had Sent Forward 50,000 Tons of Ore From Workings

Nestled between the hills that surround it on three sides, the Odgers mine, located on the south ½ of northeast ¼ of Section 30, T43N-R32W moves along in the daily grind so quietly and unostentiously that, were it not for its remarkable record and the fact that it is proving to be one of the main stays to Crystal Falls, one would hardly know a mine existed in the locality. The familiar puff of the steam engine is absent; the cloud of black smoke is not seen there, for it is an electrically operated property and the whir of its motors does not create the noises nor does its power plant attract the attention that mining properties equipped with the machinery of older days creates.

The mine lies right adjacent to the city and its location is really a part of the city, although separated from it by a small parcel of vacant land. Many of the workmen employed at the Odgers live in city homes owned by themselves and in that way - it differs from the outlying properties where transient workingmen living in company houses make up the major portion of the employees.

A Short History of the Property

The fee to the Odgers mine is owned by the Shelden estate of Houghton and comprises a portion of a tract of mineral lands in the section that were located by Ransome Shelden and Jacob Shafer in the early days of the upper peninsula.

The first exploratory work on this land was done in the latter eighties when the prospectors on the old Volunteer property put down some test pits on the quarter line about 200 feet south of the present Odgers office. Capt. Thomas Bosanko was in charge of the work and the material shown up was lean red slates with some jasper so work in that section was abandoned and not resumed again until about the year 1900. A.L. Flowelling secured an option on this tract and let a contract to Matt Lee who, at that time represented the Cole & McDonald interests in this section, to do some diamond drill work. Mr. Flowelling showed up a small vein of ore, but work was soon suspended and nothing was done on the property until about four years ago when Mr. H. Jarcow of Virginia, now of Chicago, came here to do some exploring for a Duluth syndicate. Mr. Jarcow employed Ira Odgers of the Cole & McDonald company to do the drill work and the records showed up promisingly. Mr. Jarcow stated that his funds were limited and that he was unable to do deep work, so most of the exploring he did was of the shallow kind that just punctured the formation. He quit work and the property lay idle for a short time.

About this time the Cole & McDonald company decided to change its policy. Prior to that time it had religiously refrained from doing any exploratory work on its own account. The slump in exploratory work necessitated either the letting out of a number of skilled workmen that the company had in its employ or the starting of exploratory work on its own account. It decided on the latter course.

Mr. Odgers had all along advised Mr. Jarcow to do some deep work on the property and now that his company was entering the exploratory field he very strongly recommended the acquiring of an option on this property.

In less than three months after the option was acquired the Cole & McDonald people had sufficient information to warrant them in claiming that they had a mine.

Negotiations were soon entered into with the Corrigan-McKinney interests and the property went to that concern at a handsome increase in royalty.

Development Work Started

The Hudson Mining Co. was organized to operate the property and the opening of it was placed in the hands of Supt. W.J. Richards of this city. Mr. Richards at once started out on plans for the opening and equipping of a model mining property. He called in his advisors and told them what he wanted and soon after plans were submitted to him on the different equipment items which were altered and added to until Mr. Richards was satisfied that he had what he wanted.

It was decided to operate the Odgers by electrical power. The Peninsular Power Co. had just extended to Alpha and was at that time considering an extension to Crystal Falls so the moment was opportune for the making of arrangements for economical power agreements. They were made and work started on an extension of the lines from Alpha to the Bristol, passing the Odgers and several other mines on the way.

As soon as the plans were matured, Mr. Richards started shaft sinking. Some testing had been done with a diamond drill to determine the best place in which to sink a shaft and although formation was shown up on all sides, the shaft was finally located on the south, or foot-side of the ore body in the ore formation, but about 100 feet removed from any known ore lens.

The work was started with a windlass and a bucket while a small steam plant was being placed in readiness and in a remarkably short time the ledge was reached and about the time that the mechanical force was ready with steam the work commenced in the rock.

The work of sinking at the Odgers commenced on the 16th day of November, 1915 and on the 1st day of April, 1916, the first level drift was run off. The hoisting of ore commenced on the 3rd day of May, and at the close of shipping season, the Odgers was accredited with 53,176 tons of ore.

The Odgers shaft is one of four compartments, two skips for the handling of ore and a ladder way. It measures 22x6.5 feet inside of timbers and the first level was run off at a depth of 150 feet from the grass roots.

The Mine Building Program

The matter of machinery was a more difficult one to solve. As stated, the equipping of the Odgers mine was carried on at a time when the business of the nation was turning its attention feverishly to the matter of producing munitions and machinery for war purposes and speed in the delivery of mining machinery was therefore interfered with. Captain Richards carefully laid out his program and then invited the machinery men to figure on the stuff.

The requisition called for two 72x18 horizontal boilers each rated at 150 h.p., these boilers to be used for heating purposes and emergency work [in case of electric power disruption].

A main hoisting plant with a capacity for 2,600 feet of cable with a speed of 1,000 feet per minute. A cage hoist with a capacity of 2,600 feet of cable and speed of 600 feet per minute.

A compressor with a capacity of 200 feet of air per minute. A crusher No. 8 and a full line of cable and of electric motors for underground.

Motors for power purposes of 2,200 volt to drive the hoists and compressor.

In a very short time the manufacturers had figures in and orders were placed for every item that was necessary to equip the mine with as speedy delivery arranged for as was possible to obtain.

Foundations and Settings

As soon as the selections were made and the mechanics knew what the measurements were, work was started upon the foundations for the buildings and the settings for machinery and most of them were ready when the machinery arrived.

In the meantime the temporary plant was doing duty so that the work of developing underground was not interfered with in any way and when the new pieces of equipment were ready for use they were connected up and one plant merged into the other so well that the transition was not noticed and before one realized what a big task it was the Odgers mine was fully equipped and at work.

The Steam Generating Plant

The two boilers are set in an encased Tomahawk steel setting. The plant is very compact and it is used only for emergency {power failure] and heating purposes, the strain upon it is not great. It is rigged up for efficient and economical use and every appliance is provided to care for the plant with as little extra work as possible.

The coal dock, which is remarkably small for a mining property when compared with what such docks where steam power plants are used, is close by and so arranged that an economical handling of the coal supply can be arranged for.

The method of handling the ashes at this plant is worthy of note. An ash conveyor is so arranged that it passes along in front of the boilers. It is well known litter carrier that raises and lowers as needed. The ashes are loaded into it and conveyed to a hopper. The hopper connects with a chute through which the ash is run into a wagon to be hauled away.

Water is fed to the boilers through two injectors either one of which is large enough to feed both boilers. The water used is that supplied through the city mains which were extended to the Odgers plant while the work of installation was in progress.

A Model Electric Power Plant

While Captain Richards was busy getting the machinery and foundations ready, the Peninsula Power Company was at work erecting towers and stringing the lines to transport electric power manufactured at Twin Falls to the property. [Editors note: Twin Falls is located on the Menominee River near Iron Mountain. It is about 19 miles to Alpha and 22 miles to Odgers Mine].

The power company was ready as soon as the machinery was installed to turn on the "juice" and to do so they installed three 200-watt transformers in the basement of the new engine house where the current 6,600 volts is stepped down to 2,200 volts for use in the motors that operate the different machines.

The switchboard through which this reduced current is distributed is large and very complicated, necessitating the attention of an electrician. The necessity is supplied by one head electrician who attends to the work at all of the mines of the company in this district;.

The pumps are operated at the present time by air which in turn is compressed by the use of electric current to operate the big compressing machine. It is the intention, just as soon as the third level is opened up, to install a rotary electric pump which will handle all of the water from the mine. The pumping plant consists now of two No. 10 Cameron pumps located on the second, or bottom level.

For auxiliary power the pumps are all piped ready for steam so that should anything happen to disable the electric power plant it would take but a few minutes to substitute steam. Steam is also used to heat all of the buildings and furnish hot water for the changing house.

In the Engine House

The contract for the hoisting engine was given to the Nordburg Co., of Milwaukee, and, we are told at the mine that the machinery has given the best of satisfaction and that the Nordburg Co. who gave this job particular attention, have demonstrated their ability to put out electrically driven machinery that is fully in keeping with their excellent make of steam machinery so long used about here.

To begin with, the basement of the engine house is filled with masses of concrete on which the different items of machinery are a set. The basement is also connected with the shaft through the tunnel which we will tell of later.

As one enters the engine house the most noticeable piece of machinery is the big hoist which operates a drum 9 foot in diameter by 8 feet in length. The drum operates two skips hung in balance so that as one comes to the surface with its load, the other descends to be filled, taking from the hoist all of the load excepting the ore.

This drum is large enough to accommodated 2,000 feet of cable and winds it onto the drum at the rate of 1,000 feet per minute, so that the time consumed in raising the load of ore from the landing place at the bottom of the shaft to the landing in the shaft house is but very small.

The motor which drives this hoist is of 250 h.p. and of the General Electric Co. make as are the other motors in use. The power is transmitted through a herring bone gear that is proving very satisfactory, eliminating much of the noise that is present in straight geared machinery.

Next to the big hoist is the cage hoist the drum of which is of the same dimensions as that which hoists the skip, but it is turned at a speed rate of only 600 feet per minute. The hoist is used to handle the men going up and down the shaft, and is driven by a 122 h.p. motor of 2,200 volts.

These hoists are equipped with electrical apparatus which works automatically and when one set switches off the current so that the hoisting of a skip too high in the shaft is guarded and likewise the cage.

In addition to the two shaft hoists there is a small Lidgerwood hoist which is used to handle the ore from the pocket to the crusher. The drum speed of this hoist is 200 feet per minute and it is driven by a 35 h.p. motor of 440 volts.

The other item of machinery shown in the picture of the engine house is the big Ingersoll Rand compressor. It is of the Rogers valve type and has a capacity of 2,180 feet of compressed air per minute at 225 revolutions. It is driven by a 400 h.p. motor of 2,200 volts and is equipped with an unloading device which allows the compressor to regulate itself to the load which it carries. This device works automatically at ¼, ½, ¾ and full loads, thus keeping the air practically at a constant level.

Tunnel A New Departure

The next building of interest is the dry, or change house where the men wash and change their clothes. It is a long step from the old, ill-smelling, dirty wooden buildings of twenty years ago to the spick and span, well kept changing house of today.

A special feature at the Odgers property and one that might be copied to advantage by other mining companies is a tunnel which connects the dry with the shaft so that the workingman needs not go out of doors in passing from the shaft to the dry and, visa versa. One of the frequent causes of pneumonia among the minters is the sudden change from the semi-warm air of the underground workings to the freezing cold of a winter day when the oil clothing freezes still upon a man as soon as he arrives at the landing. By means of this small tunnel the miner need not go out into the cold air at all until he has changed and is ready to go home.

In addition, the tunnel serves as a place for the protection of steam pipes from the cold as well as for electric wires, etc.

Th miner arriving at the shaft landing passes through the tunnel to the dry, a distance of about 200 feet. He goes up a flight of steps to the dry room where he takes off his working clothes and places them over the pipes to dry. He then passes into the shower bath and next to the long wash sinks where he finishes up his cleansing and then passes into the locker room where his wearing clothes are kept.

This room forms an ell onto the main dry and is equipped with steel lockers. There are 150 of them manufactured by the Durand Steel Locker Co., of Chicago Heights, IL. They are arranged in the center of the room in two rows, each row having a double deck of lockers. They are set up from the floor so that the hose can be played under them when the balance of the floor of the room is being cleaned. This makes a very sanitary arrangement and aids much in keeping the place clean.

The miner's "diggings" clothes and boots are left in the dry room where they are hung on a chain from the ceiling over the steam pipes. Each chain is fastened with a lock, and has a number which corresponds to that on the locker in the adjacent room. The miner may lock his locker if he chooses, a place having been provided for a padlock. Each man is furnished with an enameled wash basis which is charged to him and credited back when he quits, if he returns it.

The Odgers dry is one of the most sanitary and fire-proof of any dry in the county. It is of concrete and brick construction and is practically indestructible. The tunnel feature appeals very much to the miners, and is duplicated only at one or two of the Cleveland-Cliffs properties on the Marquette range.

Solved the Crusher Problem

Captain Richards has been original in one very important item of mine equipping and that is in relation to the crushing plants. Many mining properties place their crushers in the shaft house where the vibratory movement causes a lot of annoyance. It sheers rivets in the steel frame and loosens the tenets in the wooden ones and causes them to sway.

To obviate this Mr. Richards sets his crushers on the ground and transfers the ore from it to the shaft pocket where it is either loaded into cars or sent out upon the stockpile.

A second frame structure resembling a shaft is erected over the crusher and the transfer engine works a skip that takes the ore after it passes the crusher and hoists it to the pocket. As the ore is dumped out of the skip it runs down a chute to the crusher, over a screen through which the fine ore passes to the pocket below without going through the crusher. The coarse stuff passes through the crusher and falls along with the fine in a pocket below. This pocket is so built that the ore will run out of it into the skip resting in a sump below when it is transferred, as stated. The big Odgers crusher is operated by a 100 h.p. motor of 220 volts.

Methods That Bring Results

Underground in the Odgers, every attention has been given from the start so to plan the mining methods that the greatest economy can be brought about from the top of the ore deposit to the bottom. The plans have brought results so far and will bring greater results as the mining operations attain greater depth.

Generally speaking, the deposit is being worked by the sub-level caving system. Subs are run off at intervals of twenty-five feet from foot to handing, beginning at the top sub and continuing down through each sub until the level is reached. As the stopes are worked out on each sub the floor is shot down, beginning at the hanging side and working back to the foot. In this manner, the ore is taken out in its entirety and very little is lost in the caving.

The main level drift is driven off from the shaft through the rock to the ore. On the first level this drift was 110 feet in length, but on the second level a small deposit of ore came in through the shaft so that the drift started in ore and hit the rock about sixty feet off where it was continued through the rock to the main ore 20 feet off where it was continued body 142 feet away.

As soon as the ore is cut a service drift is cut laterally along the foot wall and from this service drift the stopes are cut off, the stope drift  being driven through to the hanging. The subs follow this plan from the main levy to the top. The ore is run down to the null level where it is caught on chutes and run into the tram car. Mining is started about the top of the rise, the ore being shot away around the mill as long as it will run. When the stope is mined as clean as possible by this method work is started in blasting out the floor.

Eventually the surface will be caved. At the present time two pillars are left, one to support the shaft and the other the surface. When the mine is worked a couple of levels deeper the inside pillar will be taken down and its surface caved. Eventually the same method will be pursued with the shaft pillar, but not until such definite information is obtained as to the run of the ore so that a permanent shaft can be located with certainty.

The Odgers is equipped with electrical trams and a second outlet has been provided to the north of the shaft for both air and for the men.

The ore is comparatively dry, and that fact appeals to the miners as well as the good ventilation and safe manner in which the ore is being taken out.

Officials in Charge

The Odgers, like the other properties of Corrigan-McKinney & Co. in this section, is under the supervision of Captain W.J. Richards, Michigan superintendent for the concern. The supervision of the workings is under William A. Richards, assistant superintendent, who has charge of all of the mines of this county. The local superintendent is E.J. Osward, who left the general office where he had been cashier for many years, to take this work.

The underground mining captain is John Erickson. C.G. Smith, the company's electrician installed the electric plant and has charge of it along with other plants of the company. The mine machinist is Frank Bertrand, and the office is looked after by F.E. Munns and Jake Oswald.

The general supervision of this machinery during the installation period was under J.S. Jacka, mechanical engineer for the company in this section, and the construction work was looked after by Wm. Fraser, assistant superintendent, with John O. Larson in immediate charge. Ernest Diele, the company's mason foreman had charge of all of the concrete work.

The expected output of the Odgers mine this year is 200,000 tons.

[Image info: Top, a birds eye view of the Odgers mine, taken in 1917. 2nd photo, another view of the mine with a collapse from the surface, in 1923.]

[Article from The Diamond Drill newspaper, September 22, 1917][DD-1917--022]