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Modern Business Geography

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UNITED STATES
DEPOSITS OT
IRON ORE

Fie. 87. Iron ore is widely distributed in the United States. But ore alone is not enough to
make mining a profitable business. There are several other requirements: (1) the ore must
be easy to get out; (2) it must have a good percentage of metallic iron; (3) it must be so situated
that it can be smelted at low cost, that is, either near supplies of fuel and limestone (used in smelting)
 or near cheap transportation to such supplies.

UNITED STATE.
PRODUCTION
IRON ORT

Fig. 88. This map shows in a general way the regions of commercial production of iron ore in
the United States: the lightest shades represent regions of small and scattered production ; the
heaviest shades represent the regions of great and concentrated production. For example, Minnesota
 produces more ore than any other state; Michigan comes second ; Alabama is third. The
Great Lakes offer cheap water transportation for the Minnesota-Michigan ore to the large industrial
 cities near the Pennsylvania-Ohio and Indiana-Tllinois coal fields. Alabama has coal fields
near the iron mines.