THE PIONEERS OF IRON SPRINGS
During the winter of 1849, Brigham Young sent a scouting party of approximately 50 men south from Salt Lake City to find locations for further settlements. Parley P. Pratt, the party's leader, camped at present-day Parowan, Utah, where he found water, game, and plenty of room to grow the crops necessary to sustain a settlement. He also observed significant mineral deposits – high-grade magnetite (Fe3O4) iron deposits with grades as high as 60% iron. In 1850, Brigham Young organized the Iron Mission and called for volunteers to colonize the area and develop an iron industry.
The settlers selected a site for mining, and the new colony completed a small blast furnace in Cedar City 10 months later. The furnace was charged with a mix of ore, coked coal, and limestone. The first iron was produced on the morning of September 30, 1852. It was the first iron to be manufactured west of Missouri.
The "ironmen" were challenged by finding the right mix with which to charge the furnace, inadequate materials from which to build the furnace, furnace design, equipment breakdowns, floods, manpower shortages, insufficient financing, and prioritizing iron production versus survival. The community was further tested by profound poverty – many settlers wore rags and some even had no shoes.
As the church began to split its holdings into independent companies, the mission was later converted to a cooperative called the Deseret Iron Company. The cooperative established a company store and a skill-based pay scale was devised. Because of the scarcity of cash, few, if any, workers were paid in cash. Instead, pay was posted to an account at the company store. Workers drew their pay in the form of goods and services on their company store account. Likewise, suppliers were rarely paid in cash, but through the company store account books.
While in production, the foundry used "Iron Mission" iron to make a wide range of items including stoves, bells, tools, machine parts, farm implements, and much needed nails. This production proved very valuable to the Mormon settlements, since pre-railroad (1869) freight costs from St. Louis, Missouri ran about $200 per ton.
Unlike many small mining towns of that era, Cedar City continued to grow and prosper. By 1870, Cedar City had 2,000 inhabitants and soon, the steel industry began to notice Iron County.
GENEVA STEEL
In 1941, The United States government built the Geneva Steel Mill in Utah County to produce plate steel and structural shapes for news ships. After World War II, U.S. Steel Co. bought the mill from the War Assets Administration for $47 million.
Geneva Steel Co. managed most of U.S. Steel’s Utah operations until Geneva Steel merged with Columbia Steel Co. in 1952. The new Columbia-Geneva Steel Division of U.S. Steel operated the Utah County steel mill and the Iron Mountain Mine until 1964, when Geneva Steel became independent.
In 1987, Geneva Steel and its Iron Mountain Mine temporarily shut down in the face of stiff foreign competition and high labor costs. The company started up again later that year, now owned by Basic Manufacturing and Technology of Utah, Inc. Leaders Joe and Chris Cannon were credited with saving the company and 1,100 jobs for the state.
The Cannon brothers began an expensive modernization project in 1989 and in 1990 Geneva Steel became a publicly traded company.
In the late 90s, a surge of cheap, foreign steel flooded the U.S. market and forced Geneva to close its Iron Mountain mine. Geneva closed down operations at Iron Mountain and the Geneva plant in 1996 in response to high operating costs associated with antiquated technology, coupled with low steel prices in the mid-90s and a high debt load. These factors contributed to Geneva subsequently filing for bankruptcy protection. Expansive ore bodies remained ready to mine, only waiting for a change in the market.
PALLADON & THE FUTURE
The closure of the mine resulted from factors unrelated to the value of the resource in the ground. The bankruptcy did, however, allow for the inexpensive and strategic acquisition of this valuable resource, during a time when the world iron ore market was at historic highs. Palladon Ventures, Ltd. completed the acquisition, with the help of financing from the Luxor Capital Group in early 2005, before the market in general was aware that the property was available.
Palladon Ventures subsequently founded Palladon Iron Corporation as its operating subsidiary and in 2007 changed the name to Iron Bull Mining and Milling. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Iron Bull Mining and Milling will manage the transition towards bringing mining operations back to Iron County.
