Prospecting

Title: Two Efforts to Dig Test Pits
Type: Book
Date: 1912
Source: Minnesota Historical Society

Description: These log entries describe two efforts to dig test pits in search of iron ore.
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Activities:

1. What is the difference between the experience in Log A and the experience in Log B?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Log A shows a test pit process that went very smoothly and efficiently, while Log B shows just how long and difficult the process could be.
2. Did the A Log experience go better because they had better workers?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Not necessarily. The Log A group simply had the good fortune to be digging in an area that didn't present as many problems as the area where the Log B workers were digging.
3. What are some of the things that made the process take so much longer for the Log B group?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: The Log B group had 148 feet of surface to dig through compared to the Log A group's 21 feet. This is just one example of a difference between the two.
4. Why would it matter if it takes more time to dig a test pit?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: The longer it takes, the more money you would have to pay the workers, the more supplies you would need, and the more concerned you would have to be with the change in the seasons.