Talk:Great Western Iron and Steel Company

A fact from Great Western Iron and Steel Company appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 23 December 2013, and was viewed approximately 4,007 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the Great Western Iron and Steel Company went bankrupt in the Panic of 1893 and its mill never began operations?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2013/December. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Great Western Iron and Steel Company.

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Iron ore?[edit]

Nice article. Though it seems to me that inadequacy of the iron ore has been cited as a major reason why Kirkland never became the "Pittsburgh of the West". Indeed, even though iron ore is fairly plentiful in the state, lack of significant development suggests it is of inferior grade, such that the mill might have been uneconomic even despite the other factors. ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 22:22, 3 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

According to this source the ore assayed at 65% iron, which sounds good to me but I'm not a geologist. — Brianhe (talk) 01:47, 5 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Curious. I might ask an economic geologist I know about this. ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 19:56, 5 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I came across a great source for you: Joseph Daniels, "History of Pig Iron Manfacture on the Pacific Coast". Around p. 183 he says: "The history of pig iron manufacture in Washington closes with the shut-down of the Irondale furnace in 1919." And then: "There is no question that the iron resources of Washington and of the Pacific Coast in general were largely over-estimated in the early days of development...." The problem seems to be not in the quality of the ore, but the quantity: a lack of large bodies of ore. E.g., the Denny/Chair Peak deposits are essentially a relatively thin seam between two formations, not a substantial ore body in itself. ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 00:40, 10 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. I checked with my resident economic geologist, whose opinion accords with Daniels: the iron ore deposits in this region, and even on the whole coast, are not large enough for modern economic exploitation. A century and something ago million ton deposits were considered adequate. Nowadays deposits have to be on the order of a billion (10^⁹) tons for consideration. ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 00:12, 13 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Workpage (expansion notes)[edit]

Some notes for expansion are stowed away at Talk:Great Western Iron and Steel Company/Workpage ☆ Bri (talk) 05:59, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]