HISTORY AND REVIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COPPER, IRON, SILVER, SLATE 
 
 AND OTHER 
 
 Material Interests 
 
 OP THE 
 
 SOUTH SHORE OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 A. P. SWINEFORD. 
 
 MARQUETTE, (L S.) MICH. 
 THE MINING JOURNAL. 
 
 1876. 
 
ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1876, BY 
 
 A. P. SWINEFORD, 
 IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 THIS volume lias been compiled for the triple purpose of preserving 
 the history of the Lake Superior region, to attract attention to its 
 unparalleled mineral resources, and, if possible, to put enough money 
 into the pocket of its compiler and publisher to compensate him for 
 what might otherwise be a labor of love. 
 
 In this connection I desire to return my sincere thanks to Hon. John 
 H. Forsier, one of the earliest among the pioneers of the copper region, 
 for a very nearly complete history of the discovery and development 
 of the copper interest, and at the same time, to beg his pardon for 
 having so elaborated his valuable paper as to impair, in some degree, 
 the style and harmony of his composition. 
 
 I am also indebted to Jacob Houghton, A. R. Harlow, and Hon. 
 Peter White, for much valuable information, acide from the former's 
 very interesting paper on the "Ancient Copper Miners of Lake 
 Superior." The geology of the Iron District, by Chas. E. Wright, 
 M. E., though brief is exhaustive, and written in words that are within 
 the comprehension of others than scientists. It is pronounced the 
 ablest and most reliable paper upon the subject that has ever been 
 written. 
 
 For himself, the author claims no other credit than that which may 
 justly be accorded for having made the best use lie could of informa- 
 tion derived from others that part of the book relating to copper, 
 being, so far as he is concerned, little else than a compilation. 
 
 Marquette, March, 1876. A. P. S. 
 
 M85848 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 EARLIEST DISCOVERIES AIsT> RESEARCHES. 
 
 The Jesuit Fathers were the first in modern times to inti- 
 mate to the world the existence of native copper on the 
 shores of Lake Superior. In the seventeenth century more 
 than two hundred years ago impelled by a burning zeal for 
 the salvation of souls, these devoted and intelligent French- 
 men, cross in hand, pushed boldly out into the savage 
 wilderness of the great Northwest. These men were some- 
 thing more than mere zealots; they were good geographers, 
 topographers and naturalists; they were apt observers, and 
 possessed the skill and industry necessary to render their 
 discoveries of value to mankind. Among other things, they 
 carefully noted, as they navigated the great lake in their 
 frail canoes, copper lying on the shores and in the possession 
 of the superstitious savages; but it is doubtful whether these 
 holy Fathers understood much about geology, or whence the 
 float copper came. The Indians seem never to have made prac- 
 tical use of this valuable metal, but regarded the copper in their 
 possession as something sacred. At a very late day, since 
 mining became an industry on the lake, the same super- 
 stitious reverence prevailed. In this respect they were far 
 inferior in intelligence to that pre-historic race known as the 
 ancient miners. Of the works of this unknown people more 
 hereafter. 
 
 The first published account of the existence of copper and 
 other minerals on Lake Superior, is to be found in " LagardeV' 
 book, which appeared in Paris in 1636; it contained many 
 things which would be of interest to the general reader at 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 this time, but we shall have to be content with a few brief 
 quotations. All the information concerning the existence of 
 copper and other minerals on Lake Superior given by this 
 early writer, appears to have been obtained from the Indians, 
 and it would seem that he was not himself well versed in 
 mineralogy: 'H^.-^ays;, referring to the south shore of the 
 lake: ^ There aie -mines of copper which might be made 
 \pitofitable if there were\ inhabitants and workmen who would 
 ' labor iraithfully, That would be done if colonies were estab- 
 lished. * * * About eighty or one hundred leagues from 
 the Hurons there is a mine of copper from which Truchement 
 Brusle showed me an ingot, on his return from a voyage 
 to the neighboring nation." This book, it must be remem- 
 bered, was published thirty years before the advent of the 
 Jesuit Fathers, Allouez, Mesnard and Marquette, and the 
 language of the author is such as to encourage the belief that 
 there existed at the time to which he refers copper mines 
 that were actually being wrought by the Indians, or, perhaps, 
 by a last remnant of the "ancient miners;" otherwise why 
 should he have used the word "mines?" Nor could he have 
 seen an ingot. It is much more probable that his "mines" 
 were undeveloped lodes, and the "ingot" a mere boulder- the 
 ancient miners must have been extinct thousands of years 
 before, according to archaeologists. " It is," says he, " pre- 
 tended, also, that near Saguenay, gold, rubies, and other 
 precious stones are found. I am assured that, in the country 
 of the Souriquois there are not only mines of copper, but 
 also of steel; also certain blue transparent stones, which are 
 as valuable as turquoises." He also says that "among the 
 rocks they found stones covered with diamonds attached to 
 the rocks some of them appearing as if just from the hands 
 of the lapidary, they were so beautiful." He was not sure, 
 however, that they were fine, but they "were very handsome, 
 and would write upon glass." And: " it seems that one might 
 find mines of iron and many other minerals, if one would 
 take the trouble of searching, and go to some expense. 
 There is an abundance of limestone and other materials- 
 required for building." 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 In the Relation de ce qui s'est passe dans le pays des 
 Hurons, there is much information concerning the "Lac 
 Superieur." The Eelacion for 1659-'60 gave an account of 
 one of the Jesuit fathers " residing in the lake which we call 
 Superieur." " It is enriched on all its borders by mines of 
 lead almost pure, and of copper all refined in pieces as large 
 as the fist, and great rocks which have whole veins of 
 turquoises." 
 
 In a small duodecimo volume of less than two hundred 
 pages, published in Paris in 1640, by Pierre Boucher, the fol- 
 lowing mention of Lake Superior is made: 
 
 " There are mines of copper, tin, antimony and lead." Can 
 it be that the author visited the tin discovery on the north 
 shore, afterwards found and lost again by Detroit parties? 
 " In Lake Superior there is a great island which is fifty 
 leagues in circuit, in which there is a very beautiful mine of 
 copper; it is found also in various places in large pieces all 
 refined." Is it not probable that the " beautiful mine of 
 copper " referred to by this writer was the ancient mine now 
 being re-opened by the Minong company ? It is barely possi- 
 ble that the exodus of the ancient miners may have been so 
 recent at that time as to leave fully exposed the pure masses 
 that are now being taken out of ancient pits by Mr. Davis. 
 If the works of the ancients are so clearly discernible at this 
 late day, it is not impossible that the scene of their mining 
 operations, may at that date two hundred and fifty years 
 ago have presented more the aspect of a lately developed 
 mine than that of one long abandoned. 
 
 In the Eelacion for 1666- 1 67, in a chapter entitled, " Jour- 
 nal du Voyage du Pere Claude Allouez dans le Cais ''des Outa- 
 ouacs 1 " are to be found these passages: 
 
 "The savages respect this lake as a divinity, and make 
 sacrifices to it, on account perhaps, of its magnitude, for it is 
 two hundred leagues long and eighty leagues wide; or on 
 account of its goodness in furnishing them with fishes, which 
 nourish all these people where there is but little game. 
 There are often found beneath the water, pieces of copper 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 all formed, and of the weight of ten and twenty pounds. I 
 have seen them many times in the hands of the savages, and 
 as they are superstitious, they keep them us so many divini- 
 ties, or as presents from the gods beneath the water, who 
 have given them as pledges of good fortune. On that 
 account they keep the pieces of copper enveloped among 
 their most precious furniture. There are some who have pre- 
 served them for more than fifty years, and others who have 
 had them in their families from time immemorial, and cherish 
 them as household gods. 
 
 " Sometime since a large mass of copper, like a rock, was 
 seen with the point projecting out of the water. This 
 afforded passers by an opportunity of cutting off pieces. 
 Nevertheless, when I went by there it was not to be seen. I 
 believe the storms, which are here very violent and like those 
 on the ocean, had covered the rock with sand. Our savages 
 wished to persuade us that it was a divinity, and had disap- 
 peared, for some reason which they did not mention." 
 
 " De la Mission du Sainte Esprit a la Pointe de Chagaoumi- 
 fjond dans le Lac Tracy ou. Super ieur Chapter XI, des Pro~ 
 prie tez et Earitez. We find in Dr. Jackson's report, made to 
 the Secretary of the Interior in 1849, the following transla- 
 tions: 
 
 " The lake has nearly the form of a bended bow, of more 
 than eighty leagues in length. The southern side represents 
 the string, and a long tongue of land which springs from the 
 south shore, and projects upwards of twenty-five leagues into 
 the lake near to its middle, is the arrow." (The writer, of 
 course, refers to Keweenaw point, and his illustration of the 
 form of the lake was apt and truthful, though he does not 
 seem to have had an accurate knowledge of its length.) " The 
 northern coast is bordered with frightful crags, which are 
 the termination of that prodigious chain of mountains which 
 take their rise at Cape Tourment, above Quebec, and extend 
 to this place, traversing more than six hundred leagues in 
 extent, and losing themselves at the farther extremity of the 
 lake. There are very few islands in the lake, and they occur 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 mostly on the northern side, near the shore. This great 
 expanse of the waters gives room for the winds, which agitate 
 the lake with as much violence as they do the ocean." 
 
 On page 26, of the same work, is a chapter entitled, 
 " Mines of Copper which are found on Lake Superior:" 
 
 u Up to the present time it was believed that these mines 
 were found only on one or two of the islands; but since we 
 have made a more, careful inquiry we have learned from the 
 savages some secrets which they were unwilling to reveal. It 
 was necessary to use much address in order to draw out of 
 them the knowledge, and to discriminate between the truth 
 and falsehood. We will not warrant, however, all we learned 
 from their simple statements, since we shall be able to speak 
 with more certainty when we have visited the places them- 
 selves, which we count on during this summer, when we' 
 shall go to find the l wandering sheep ' in all quarters of this 
 great lake. The first place where copper occurs in abundance, 
 after going above the Sault, is on an island about forty or 
 fifty leagues therefrom, near the north shore, opposite a place 
 called Missipiconatong. 
 
 u The savages say it is a floating island, which is sometimes 
 far off and sometimes near, according as the winds move it, 
 driving it sometimes one way and sometimes another. They 
 add that, a long time ago four Indians accidentally went 
 there, being lost in a fog, with which this island is almost 
 always surrounded. It was long before they had any trade 
 with the French, and they had no kettles or hatchets. Wish- 
 ing to cook some food, they made use of their usual method, 
 taKing stones which they picked up on the shore, heating 
 them in the fire, and throwing them into a bark trough full 
 of water, in order to make it boil, and by this operation cook 
 their meat. As they took up the stones they found they 
 were nearly all of them pure copper. After having partaken 
 of their meal they thought of embarking, fearing to remain 
 lest the lynxes and the rabbits, which are in the place as 
 large as dogs, would come and eat up their provisions, and 
 even their canoe. Before leaving they collected a quantity 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 of these stones, botli large and small ones, and even some 
 sheets of copper. But they had not gone far from the shore 
 before a loud voice was heard, saying in anger, ' who are 
 these robbers who have stolen the cradles and playthings of 
 iny children ? ' The sheets of copper were the cradles, for 
 the Indians make them of one or two pieces of wood a flat 
 piece of bark with a hoop over one end the child being 
 swathed and bound upon the flat piece. The little pieces of 
 copper which they took were the playthings, such pebbles 
 being used by Indian children for a like purpose. This voice 
 greatly alarmed them, not knowing what it could be. One 
 said to the others, it is thunder, because there are frequent 
 storms there; others said, it is a certain genii whom they 
 call Missibizi, who is reputed among these people to be the 
 god of the waters, as Neptune was among the pagans ; others 
 said that it came from Memogovissiousis that is to say, sea- 
 men, similar to the famous Tritons, or to the syrens, which 
 live always in the water, with their Ions: hair reaching to 
 their waists. One of our savages said he had seen one in the 
 water; nevertheless, he must have merely imagined that he 
 did. However, this voice so terrified them that one of these 
 voyageurs died before they reached land. Shortly after a 
 second one of them expired; then a third; so that only one 
 of them remained, who, reaching home, told all that had 
 taken place, and died shortly afterwards. The timid and 
 superstitious savages have never since dared to go there for 
 fear of losing their lives, believing that there are certain 
 genii who kill those who land there; and within the memory 
 of man no one has been known who has set foot on that 
 shore, or even coasted along its shores, although the island is 
 within sight, and even the trees are visible upon another 
 island called Achemikonan. 
 
 " There is both truth and error in this story, and this is 
 probably the explanation: These savages were poisoned by 
 the water which they boiled with red hot copper, which by 
 the intensity of its heat gave off its poison, etc. It is not a 
 poison which acts immediately, and on one as soon as it will 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 on another, as happened in the case of these Indians. It may 
 be that when they were taken ill, they more readily imagined 
 they heard a voice; perhaps an echo, such as are very common 
 among the rocks which border this island; or, perhaps, they 
 made this fable since, not knowing to what to attribute the 
 death of these Indians. When they said it was a floating 
 island it is probable they may have been misled by the vapors 
 which surround it; they being rarified or condensed by the 
 variable action of the sun's rays, made the island appear some- 
 times near and sometimes far off. It is certain, however, that 
 it is a common belief among the Indians that there is a great 
 abundance of copper on the island; but they dare not go 
 there. We hope to begin our discoveries upon it this summer. 
 " Advancing to a place called the Grand Anse, (Great Bay,) 
 we meet with an island which is celebrated for the metal 
 which is found there, and for the thunder which takes place, 
 because they say it always thunders there, (Thunder Cape.) But 
 farther towards the west, on the same north shore, is the 
 island most famous for copper, called Minong, (the good 
 place,) Isle Royale. This island is twenty-five leagues in 
 length; it is seven leagues from the main land, and sixty 
 from the head of the lake. Nearly all around the island, on 
 the water's edge, pieces of copper are found mixed with 
 pebbles, but especially on the side which is opposite the 
 south, in principally a certain bay which is near the north- 
 east exposure to the great lake. There are shores ' tons 
 escarpez de terre glaize,' 1 and there are seen several beds 
 or layers of copper, one over the other, separated or divided 
 by other beds of earth or rocks. In the water is seen copper 
 sand, and one can take up in spoons grains of the -metal big 
 as an acorn, and others as fine as sand. This island is almost 
 surrounded with islets, which are said to be composed of cop- 
 per, and they are met with even to the main land on the 
 north. Advancing to the head of the lake, and returning 
 one day's journey, by the south coast, there is seen on the 
 edge of the water a rock of copper which weighs 700 or 800 
 pounds, and is so hard that steel can hardly cut it; but when 
 
10 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 it is heated it cuts as easily as lead. Near Point Chagaouaii- 
 orong, where a mission was established, (Lapointe,) rocks of 
 copper and plates of the same metal were found on the shores 
 of the islands. 
 
 " Last spring we bought of the savages a sheet of pure cop- 
 per two feet square, which weighed more than 100 pounds. 
 We do not believe, however, that the mines are found on 
 these islands, but that the copper was probably brought from 
 Minong, or from other islands by floating ice, or over the 
 bottom of the lake by the impetuous winds, which are very 
 violent, particularly when they come from the northeast. 
 
 " Returning still towards the mouth of the lake, following 
 the coast on the south, at twenty leagues from the place last 
 mentioned, we enter the river called Nantounagan (Ontona- 
 gon,) on which is seen an eminence where stones and copper 
 fall into the water, or upon the earth; they are readily 
 found. Three years since, we received a piece which was 
 brought from this place which weighed a hundred pounds, 
 and we sent it to M. Talon, at Quebec. It is not certain 
 exactly where this was taken from; some think it was taken 
 from the river; others that it was from near the lake arid dag 
 up from the soil. 
 
 "Proceeding still further, we come to the long point of 
 land which we have compared to the arrow of the bow 
 (Keweenaw Point;) at the extremity of this there is a small 
 island which is said to be only six feet square, and all copper. 
 
 "We are assured that copper is found at various places 
 along the southern shore of the lake. All the information 
 we obtained from others it is not necessary for us to detail ; 
 but it seems necessary that more exact researches should be 
 made, and this is what we shall endeavor to effect. If God 
 prospers our enterprise, we shall speak next year with more 
 certainty and knowledge.*' 
 
 The Relation of 16TO-'71 contains the remarks of Pere 
 Ablon. On page 91, he gives an account of the copper 
 mines: "We would remark, by the way, that copper is found 
 in all parts of this lake, although we have not as yet suf- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 11 
 
 ficiently exact knowledge, for want of thorough explorations; 
 nevertheless, the plates of this metal wliich we have seen, 
 weigh each a hundred or two hundred pounds, and much 
 more. The great rock of copper of TOO or 800 pounds, and 
 which all the travelers saw near the head of the lake, besides 
 a quantity of pieces which are found near the shore, in vari- 
 ous places, seem not to permit us to doubt that there are 
 somewhere the parent mines, which have not been 
 discovered." 
 
 These accounts are from the letters or reports, of the 
 Jesuit missionaries; Rene Mesnard having been, so far as is 
 known, the first white man who visited this region. He left 
 Quebec on the 28th of August, 1660, and on the 15th of 
 October of the same year reached the head of Keweenaw Bay 
 (L'Anse,) having coasted along the south shore in a frail birch- 
 bark canoe. Spending the winter among the Indians at that 
 point, the following spring, accompanied by only a single 
 Indian, he started for Chaquamegon Bay. He took the route 
 through Portage Lake; while the Indian was carrying the 
 canoe across the Portage to Lake Superior, the good father 
 wandered into the woods, and was never seen again. That 
 was the story told by the Indian ; but it is far more probable 
 that he fell a victim to Indian treachery. Father Claude 
 Allouez was the next to follow, reaching Lapointe on the 
 first of October, 1665, where he established a mission. After 
 him came James Marquette and Claude Dablon, who estab- 
 lished a mission at Sault Ste. Marie, in 1668. The first map 
 of Lake Superior was drawn by Allouez and Marquette in 
 1668, and was published in 1672." They named the lake "Lac 
 Tracy Ou Superieur" 
 
 In 1688, Baron Le Houtan published a book of travels in 
 Canada. He had followed in the footsteps of Allouez, and 
 describes many of the objects spoken of by the latter. After 
 describing the lake, and the people who dwelt upon its shores, 
 he closes by saying that " upon it we also find copper mines, 
 the metal of which is so firm and plentiful that there is not 
 a seventh part base from the ore." 
 
12 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 In 1721, De Charlevoix visited Lake Superior and crossed 
 from the falls of the St. Louis river to the Mississippi, explor- 
 ing that river to the Grulf of Mexico. His published account 
 is much more minute than that given by those who preceded 
 him, entering, as he does, more into details concerning the 
 resources of the country through which he passed. Speak- 
 ing of Lake Superior, he says: "Large pieces of copper are 
 found in some places on its banks, and around some of the 
 islands, which are still the objects of a superstitious worship 
 among the Indians. They look upon them with veneration, 
 as if they were the presents of those gods who dwell under 
 the waters; they collect the smallest fragments which they 
 preserve, without, however, making any use of them. They 
 say that formerly a large rock of this metal was to be seen 
 elevated a considerable height above the surface of the water, 
 and as it has now disappeared, they pretend the gods have 
 carried it elsewhere; but there is good reason to believe that 
 in process of time the waves of 'the lake have covered it 
 entirely with sand and slime; and it is certain that in several 
 places pretty large quantities of this metal have been dis- 
 covered without being obliged to dig very deep. During the 
 course of my first voyage to this country, I was acquainted 
 with one of our order, (the Jesuits,) who had been formerly a 
 goldsmith, and who, while he was at the mission of Sault De 
 Ste. Marie, used to search for this metal, and made candle- 
 sticks, crosses, and censers of it; for this copper is often to 
 be met with almost pure." 
 
 In 1765, Capt. Jonathan Carver, starting from Mackinac, 
 coasted to Green Bay in company with some fur traders, 
 then ascended the Fox river through Lake Winnebago, to 
 the portage between that river and the Wisconsin, and thence 
 descended the latter to the Mississippi. From there he pro- 
 ceeded up the Mississippi to St. Anthony, where he remained 
 with the Indians until the spring of 1767, when he retraced 
 his steps to the Chippewa river, and made his way up that 
 stream to an Indian village of the same name. From there 
 he crossed over to a head branch of the St. Croix, descended 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 13 
 
 this branch, to a fork, and then ascended another to its 
 source. On both of these rivers, he says, he discovered 
 "mines of virgin copper, which was as fine as that found in 
 any other country" From the head waters of the St. Croix 
 his route was to the sources of a river which he named God- 
 dard's River, was most probably the Bois Brule which he 
 descended to Lake Superior. He says in his publication that 
 the Ontonagon river is " remarkable for the abundance of 
 virgin copper that is found on and near its banks, a metal 
 which is met with also in several other places on this coast." 
 u I observed," says he, u that many of the small islands, par- 
 ticularly those on the Eastern shores, were covered with cop- 
 per ore." His book was, justly perhaps, regarded by many as 
 a second edition of Gulliver's travels, and it is certain that 
 the subsequent explorations of the country through which 
 he passed failed to confirm the truth of many of his state- 
 ments, which appear to have been merely the creations of a 
 vivid imagination. That he visited the places he describes 
 there is no good reason to doubt; that he discovered "mines 
 of copper" on the Chippewa or St. Croix no one is now will- 
 ing to believe. He may have seen a few boulders, and from 
 their presence took it for granted that they came from 
 " mines" near by, but which really had no existence. Such 
 boulders are occasionally found far removed from any known 
 lodes of the ore or metal, but their only significance is to 
 confirm belief in the glacial theory. However, the publi- 
 cation of his book of travels produced such a sensation in 
 England that a copper company was at once formed for the 
 purpose of developing the mines Carver claimed to have 
 discovered. This was in 1770. The company engaged in 
 their arduous and doubtful enterprise with great spirit and 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 The details of the operations and failure of this company 
 have been preserved in a book published by Alexander 
 Henry, entitled " Travels and Adventures in Canada and the 
 Indian Territories between the Years 1760 and 1776." 
 Henry was the earliest English traveler who visited the 
 
14 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 shores of Lake Superior of whom we have any account. 
 Mr. Henry was an adventurous gentleman. He escaped the 
 dread fate of others at the Mackinaw massacre; was an Indian 
 captive and carried into the Rocky Mountains; was a fur 
 trader, and, after the ancient miner, was the first mine super- 
 intendent on the lake. He was also the historian of this first 
 mining enterprise, and in his book gives an account of a trip 
 made by him along the south shore of the lake in 1765, 
 which shows that he was here in advance of Carver. He says : 
 
 " On the 19th of August, 1765, we reached the mouth of 
 the Ontonagon river, one of the largest on the south side of 
 the lake. At the mouth was an Indian village, and three 
 leagues above, a fall, at the foot of which sturgeon at this 
 season were obtained so abundant that a month's subsistence 
 for a regiment could have been taken in a few hours. But I 
 found this river chiefly remarkable for the abundance of cop- 
 per which is on its banks and its neighborhood, and of which 
 the reputation is at present more generally spread than it was 
 at the time of my first visit. 
 
 " The copper presented itself to the eye in masses of vari- 
 ous weight. The Indians showed me one of twenty pounds. 
 They were used to manufacture this metal into spoons and 
 bracelets for themselves. In the perfect state in which they 
 found it, it required nothing but to beat it into shape. The 
 Piwatie, or Iron river, enters the lake to the westward of the 
 Ontonagon, and, hence, as is pretended, silver teas found 
 while the country was in possession of the French. 
 
 " On my way back to Michilimackinac, I encamped a sec- 
 ond time at the mouth of the Ontonagon river, and now took 
 the opportunity of going ten miles up the river with Indian 
 guides. The object for which I most expressly went, and to 
 which I had the satisfaction of being led, was a mass of cop- 
 per of the weight, according to my estimate, of no less than 
 five tons. Such was its pure and malleable state, that with 
 an axe I was able to cut off a portion weighing a hundred 
 pounds. On viewing the surrounding surface, I conjectured 
 that the mass, at some period or other, had rolled from the 
 side of ^ lofty hill which rises at its back." 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 15 
 
 In 1770, Henry built a sloop of forty tons, at Point Aux 
 Pins, and in the spring of 1771, with a party of miners, 
 sailed on a voyage of discovery around the lake, finally land- 
 ing at the mouth of the Ontonagon, in the fall of that year, 
 where they built a house. Having pitched upon a spot for 
 the commencement of operations, and arranged everything 
 for the accommodation of the miners during the winter, he 
 returned to the Sault. He says: 
 
 "Early in the spring of 1772, we sent a boat load of pro- 
 visions, but it came back on the 20th of June, bringing with 
 it, to our surprise, the whole establishment of miners. They 
 reported that in the course of the winter they had penetrated 
 into the face of the hill, but on the arrival of a thaw, the clay 
 on which, because of its stiffness, they had relied, and neg- 
 lected to secure by proper supporters, had fallen in; that 
 from the detached masses of metal, which to the last had 
 daily presented themselves, they supposed there might ulti- 
 mately be reached a body of the same; but they could form 
 no conjecture of its distance, except that it was probably so 
 far off as not to be pursued without sinking an air shaft; 
 and, lastly, that the work would require the hands of more 
 men than could be fed, in the actual state of the country. 
 
 "Here our operations ended. The metal was probably 
 within our reach, but if we had found it, the expense of car- 
 rying it to Montreal must have exceeded its marketable value. 
 It was never for the exportation of copper that our company 
 was formed, but always with a view to the silver, which it 
 was hoped the ores, whether of copper or lead, might in suffi- 
 cient quantity contain." 
 
 According to Dr. Hough ton, "Henry began his operations 
 at Miner's river, in the upper gray sandstone; and, also, on 
 Ontonagon river, near the mass of native copper, at which 
 point a shaft was commenced and carried about forty feet 
 through a reddish clay, at which point the red sand rock was 
 reached.' 1 Why Henry failed is obvious to any practical 
 miner of to-day. 
 
16 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Later on, from time to time, scientific and treaty making 
 expeditions were conducted up the chain of lakes, and thence 
 across to the head waters of the Mississippi. Governor Cass, 
 Mr. Schoolcraft, Colonel Long, U. S. A., and others,, men 
 eminent in affairs and scientific acumen, early in the present 
 century, gave to the world in graceful and instructive narra- 
 tive the sum of their observations and discoveries. 
 
 In an humbler sphere, perhaps with more selfish aims, the 
 great fur trading companies were largely instrumental in 
 bringing the lake region into notice. The Hudson Bay, 
 Northwest and American fur companies had extended their 
 almost regal sway from the lakes to the Polar regions, from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Penetrating the great 
 trackless wilderness, ransacking those boundless solitudes, the 
 contemplation of which now fills the mind with wonder and 
 awe, the hardy hunters and trappers, the voyageurs and cour- 
 iers du bois, pursued their adventurous calling. Neither 
 heat nor cold; nor toil, nor hunger, nor savage foe. nor 
 mountain heights, nor boundless plains, nor swollen torrents, 
 nor tempestuous lakes, nor labyrinthian swamps stopped 
 these enduring continental rangers. The practical knowl- 
 edge of the countries traversed acquired by these men of the 
 woods, was great, and although the policy of the fur trading 
 monopolies was close and repressive, yet it was not possible 
 to wholly prevent some portion of that knowledge concerning 
 those vast, richly endowed solitudes reaching the outer world. 
 At a later day, these voyageurs of the rank and file be- 
 came useful aids in the exploration and settlement of the 
 Upper Peninsula. Many of our respected French citizens, 
 of to-day, were of this class. 
 
 Notwithstanding the very considerable measure of knowl- 
 edge gathered from all of the above-mentioned sources, yet 
 it must be confessed that even at so late a period as 1840, 
 that knowledge seems not to have spread far or wide. The 
 general public regarded the great Northwest as through a 
 glass, darkly. We extract a paragraph or two, from the 
 Detroit Free Press, to illustrate this point; these extracts 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 17 
 
 also fix the date of the first bill for an appropriation for the 
 St. Marie ship canal: 
 
 WASHINGTON, April 21st, 1840. 
 
 This day in the senate, the bill granting to the State of Michigan 
 100,000 acres of land to aid her in the construction of a canal around 
 the falls of Ste. Marie, came up again on third reading. Mr. Norvel 
 and others, advocated the bill. Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, took occasion 
 to speak of the work as one beyond the range of the remotest settle- 
 ments in the United States, or in the moon. Senator Norvel advocated 
 the bill mainly on the ground that the completion of the canal would 
 stimulate the fisheries of Lake Superior, estimated to be worth one 
 million of dollars per annum. The honorable Senator added, " In the 
 country bordering on the southern shore of Lake Superior, copper ore 
 and other minerals are believed to exist in abundance." 
 
 It remained for Dr. Douglass Houghton, the first and 
 ablest State geologist of Michigan, to make such careful 
 exploration of the south shore of Lake Superior as to clear 
 up the mists of tradition, illuminate the subject and attract 
 the attention of the people of the United States and of 
 Europe to the new mineral fields of North America. Dr. H. 
 first visited Lake Superior in 1830, with Gen. Cass. While 
 at the mouth of the Ontonagon, the whole party went up 
 the river to see the famous copper rock referred to by Henry. 
 The year after he came back with the Schoolcraft expedition, 
 which was sent out by the general government for the pur- 
 pose of ascertaining the sources of the Mississippi. Having 
 prepared himself with chisels, he again visited the copper rock, 
 and cut off and took away some specimens, which are still 
 retained in the family. In cutting off the specimens he broke 
 two of his chisels, which he left on top of the rock. While 
 making his first geological survey in 1840, he again visited 
 the rock, and found his broken chisels just as he had left 
 them, nine years before. His first report to the legislature. 
 in 1841, after ten years of explorative toil, produced a great 
 impression. In 1844, Dr. Houghton took a contract from the 
 general government to make the linear surveys on the lands 
 bordering Lake Superior on the south, combining them with 
 the geological survey. This system was his own the rapid, 
 
18 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 careful, minute manner in which the surveys were conducted 
 under it, is the best evidence of its wisdom. 
 
 Dr. Houghton was ably and faithfully assisted in his sur- 
 veys by Messrs. Win. A. Burt, Bela Hubbard, C. C. Douglass, 
 Wm. Ives, 8. W. Hill, Mr. Higgins and Jacob Houghton, Jr. 
 
 In the autumn of 1845, while on his last expedition for 
 the season, when approaching Eagle river in a small boat, a 
 sudden storm arose, and before his "frail bark could find a safe 
 landing place, on the iron-bound shore, it was capsized and 
 all on board perished, save one man. The whole country was 
 shocked at the announcement of this tragical event, and 
 science mourned for one of its brightest ornaments. Aside 
 from personal considerations, his death was to be deplored; 
 many of his field notes were lost with him, and the treasures 
 of his well stored mind were irreparably beyond recall. His 
 final report, which he was prepared to make, could never be 
 given to the world. Mr. Bela Hubbard completed the contract 
 which Dr. Houghton had entered into with the United States 
 Government. Mr. Hubbard and Wm. A. Burt. Esq., subse- 
 quently made interesting and valuable sub-reports of their 
 operations. 
 
 Dr. Houghton was small in statue, blue eyed, with light 
 hair; temperament exceedingly active and nervous. He was 
 hardy, bold and daring, even to rashness; he endured the toil, 
 hardships and privations of a life in the rough wilderness 
 with unconquerable resolution. He was a leader among men. 
 Said one of our upper peninsula representatives in an address 
 before the members of the legislature of 1875:' u Here let 
 us pause for DOUGLASS HOUGHTON is a name which no citi- 
 zen of Michigan, and certainly no Lake Superior man, can 
 pass without a tribute; unspoken, perhaps, but none the less 
 stirring, deep and pure in the bottom of his heart. The 
 world has now but just turned from the pageant which fol- 
 lowed to an illustrious tomb, the scarred and weather beaten 
 frame of that great man. Dr. Livingstone, who gave up his 
 life to his God, humbly kneeling by his rough couch in the 
 wilds of Africa, where no other white, man's foot had ever 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 trod, in magnificent solitude. We have here no enormous 
 London, no rich and cultured people, bowing in enthusiasm 
 before the thrones of intellect, science, genius and heroism; 
 no titled hereditary lords and sovereigns, in funereal train; 
 no vast and sombre monumental pile, where rest in peace the 
 ashes of the mighty dead. We are a rough, practical, money 
 making race ; seldom, in our busy life can we pause to ponder 
 on the goodness of a by-gone friend ; and we shudder to think 
 how soon the stream of life will close over our heads after 
 we too have followed. But we have great, warm, working, 
 western hearts, which the icy waters that were his winding 
 sheet cannot chill, and they shall be our Westminster Abbey 
 DOUGLASS HOUGHTO^'S mausoleum." His remains were 
 not recovered until the spring of 1846. when they were taken 
 to Detroit by his brother, Jacob Houghton, Jr., for inter- 
 ment. The same spring the writer of this encamped at 
 Eagle river, and observed a plank nailed to a hut with the 
 following rude inscription: "Douglass Houghton wrecked 
 Oct. 13, 1845." This is the only monument that the people 
 of Lake Superior have yet- erected to the memory of one of 
 their earliest and best benefactors. 
 
 In the year 1846-7, Dr. Jackson was commissioned by the 
 United States Government to make further geological sur- 
 veys. He appeared on the lake with a large party of inter- 
 esting young men. He spent some time in visiting the work- 
 ing mines and in collecting niiiieralogical specimens. He 
 employed as assistants Messrs. Foster and Whitney, who had 
 been in the country one or two years acting as geologists, 
 we believe, for private exploring parties. About mid-sum- 
 mer, Dr. Jackson sailed for Isle Roy ale, accompanied by Pro- 
 fessor Foster, John H. Mullett, surveyor, and others. The 
 object of the expedition was a brief examination of the 
 island, but as no vessel came for the distinguished party, it 
 was detained there many weeks. Their observations were 
 confined to the immediate shores of Rock Harbor, and a study 
 of the piscatorial inhabitants of that charming inlet. 
 
 In 1848, Doctor Jackson was superseded by Messrs. Foster 
 
20 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 and Whitney, and the valuable report which they gave to the 
 world is evidence enough of the able manner in which they 
 discharged their duties. In 1873, Professor Foster, LL.D. t 
 published an interesting work entitled Pre-Historic Races of 
 the United States of America. He died in Chicago in 1874. 
 Professor Whitney has since become eminent as state geolo- 
 gist of California. 
 
 In the summer of 1842, a treaty was made with the 
 Chippewa Indians, by Robert Stewart, which was ratified by 
 the Senate at the next session of Congress. By this treaty r 
 all the country east of Fond du Lac, including the islands in 
 Lake Superior not previously acquired, was ceded to the 
 United States. Immediately after the ratification of this 
 treaty, applications were made for permits to explore and dig 
 for copper ore, within the limits of the territory thus acquired. 
 Hon. David Henshaw, of Boston, was then Secretary of War, 
 'and he not only gave these applications favorable considera- 
 tion, but through his influence Boston capitalists were 
 enlisted in the prosecution of the first mining enterprises; 
 and ever since then Boston has been largely identified with 
 the development of the Lake Superior copper interest. She 
 is interested in, if, indeed, she does not control, all the larger 
 mines; and her investments have all been returned with 
 interest, though the money may, in some instances, have gone 
 into the pockets of others than those who made the original 
 investment. 
 
 Caught in the whirl of excitement which pervaded the 
 country the writer of this, in the spring of 1846, found him- 
 self one of a packed crowd on a small steamer commanded 
 by Eber B. Ward, late millionaire of Detroit, bound for the 
 copper mines. He reached the Sault in due time, and found 
 that old trading post transformed into a very lively city of 
 white tents filled with gay adventurers. A wagon road led 
 across the portage; baggage and freight were transported to 
 the head of the falls on carts. A few small schooners and 
 the propeller Independence, which had been hauled over the 
 portage, constituted the Lake Superior fleet. The side 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 21 
 
 wheeler. Julia Palmer, was that year hauled over. We 
 embarked upon the schooner Swallow, and spread our 
 blankets in the main hold, on top of the freight. We sailed, 
 and six days thereafter made our first landing at Presque Isle, 
 near the now beautiful and enterprising city of Marquette, 
 then among the things to be. On that rocky peninsula we 
 met some Cornish miners at work on a smaJJ vein of pyritous 
 copper associated with sulphuret of lead. Some beef cattle 
 which we had brought for these miners were thrown over- 
 board and left to swim, in the ice cold water, to the shore. 
 On the seventh day out from the Sault the vessel reached 
 opper Harbor. 
 
 Copper Harbor is a good, rock-bound haven, and has always 
 faeen esteemed b}^ navigators as a harbor of refuge on that 
 stormy coast. It is a beautiful sheet of water, and enlivened 
 as it was in the summer of 1846, by numerous canoes, 
 Mackinaws and sloops, darting to and fro, it formed a lively 
 picture. These small vessels belonged to the copper explorers. 
 Opposite the mouth of the harbor is seen the wreck of the 
 fur trading brig Astor, her ribs bleaching upon the inhospi- 
 table rocks. Located at the head of the bay is the Brock way 
 House. Father Brockway, the genial landlord of that inn, 
 still resides in the copper country; he has dwelt in the land 
 continuously, displaying great adhesiveness and endurance; 
 may his shadow never be less! Two of his daughters, who 
 are emphatically Lake Superior ladies, u to the manor born," 
 were married in the country, namely, Mrs. Farwell and Mrs. 
 J. N. Scott. Nearly opposite Brockway's is Porter's Island, 
 a bit of .rock, upon which was built the u government house," 
 the residence of that high and potent individual, the U. S. 
 agent, who reigned over the copper land, countersigning per- 
 mits and dispensing favors of a consular nature. The then 
 occupant was Major McNair, a large, dignified Pennsylvanian, 
 with Freeman Norvell, now of the Spurr Mountain iron 
 mine, as secretary. Near the eastern end of the harbor, a 
 little way back from the shore, was situated, upon the margin 
 of lake Fanny Hoe, the small stockade called Fort Wilkins, 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 it was screened from the winds by a native grove of poplars, 
 birch and fir. One company of infantry was stationed at the 
 fort under the command of Captain Alburtis. In the fall of 
 1847, the troop was ordered to Mexico, and the gallant cap- 
 tain was decapitated by a cannon "ball, in front of V era Cruz. 
 Charlie Brush the good, genial, hospitable sutler of the post 
 who among th^ old pioneers will ever forget his unremitting 
 kindness! He has been dead many years. 
 
 In the summer of 1843, Walter Cunningham who had 
 been appointed Special Agent for the mines on Lake Superior, 
 in company with some twenty persons, landed at Copper 
 Harbor, where he established his agency. This agency 
 remained at Copper Harbor until the spring of 1846, when it 
 was removed by Gen. John Stockton to Sault de Ste. Marie, 
 with assistants stationed at Copper Harbor, at the mouth of 
 Ontonagon river, and La Pointe. 
 
 About that time Col. Charles H. Gratiot, with a company 
 of miners from Gratiot's Grove, arrived at Copper Harbor, 
 and also a company consisting of Thomas Carrol and others, 
 from Vinegar Hill, Wisconsin. This last company immedi- 
 ately proceeded up the lake as far as Ontonagon river. They 
 here found James K. Paul and Nick D. Miniclier, who had 
 reached there some time in the month of March, having 
 crossed the country by land from Plattville. Paul and Mini- 
 clier were the first miners who came into the country, for 
 the purpose of mining, after those under Henry, in 1771. 
 They had coine to take, and were in possession of the copper 
 rock, which they had succeeded in removing to the mouth of 
 the river. It was sold by them to Julius Eldred, and afterwards 
 seized by the government and taken to Washington, where 
 it still remains. 
 
 The policy of the general government at this time was 
 not to sell mineral lands, nor allow pre-emptions. These 
 lands were not controlled by the general land office, but by 
 the War Department. As before stated, an agent of the 
 War Department was stationed on Porter's Island, with his 
 corps of engineers and draughtsmen. Permits, as they were 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 called, were issued in Washington. These permits at first 
 covered nine square miles, but were finally reduced to one 
 square mile. This permitted you to enter upon any lands 
 not otherwise claimed; you were allowed one year for explora- 
 tion, and three more years to mine, with the privilege of two 
 renewals of three years each, making the whole term ten 
 years. The Department required returns to be made to the 
 Mineral Agency, giving an account of the work performed 
 and mineral raised, and a payment to the mineral col- 
 lector, at the rate of twenty per cent, mineral value. The 
 term of the grant or lease, was presumed to be ample to 
 enable the fortunate holder thereof to realize immense gains, 
 such wealth as would lead him to regard as mere bagatelles 
 the mine plant and other improvements which would revert 
 to the government. Afterwards commissioners were sent to 
 appraise the mineral lands and fix a money value on them. 
 Five dollars per acre, if our memory serves us, was the valua- 
 tion. Later, all lands were subject to pre-emption except 
 mineral lands. Finally, all lands, without exception, remain- 
 ing unsold, (save school and canal lands) were thrown open 
 to pre-emption, and could be had for one dollar and a quarter 
 per acre. Lands held under permits required personal occu- 
 pancy. These permits were issued in vast numbers, still 
 there was much wire-pulling used to secure these invaluable 
 documents, the mere possession of which was enough to 
 make a man happy and affluent. It was the business of 
 geologists, surveyors and explorers to hunt up eligible land 
 upon which to plaster the permits. The country was pros- 
 pected thoroughly for this purpose, but at last an actual 
 examination of land suitable for "locations" was abandoned 
 as too slow, and the work of locating was done in the office, on 
 the maps. One of the consequences was, that when the own- 
 ers came to examine their properties, guaranteed to be rich in 
 copper and silver, the lands were found to be out under the 
 lake, or down among the lower Silurians. A powerful mag- 
 nifying glass was an indispensable instrument to an expert 
 explorer. It took but a few grains of copper to insure a good 
 
24 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 vein. Geologists, and the practical miner from Cornwall, 
 assured us that that was enough to start on. One had only 
 to " sink " on the vein to be rewarded, in due time, with an 
 abundant yield. Since that day there has been much " sink- 
 ing " done but not always with the results predicted. Many 
 of our readers will remember how it used to be necessary to 
 salivate a mineral specimen in order to bring out its beauty. 
 
 We learn from a valuable book, entitled, " Reports on the 
 Mineral Region of Lake Superior published in 1846, by 
 Jacob Houghton, Jr., and T. W. Bristol, 1 ' that there was 
 made on the south shore of Lake Superior upon permits 
 issued from the War Department at Washington, and appli- 
 cations to the Mineral Agency at Copper Harbor from August, 
 1844, to November, 1845, 595 locations. As this business was 
 most active in 1846, it is safe to assume that from first to 
 last more than 1,000 locations were made. 
 
 Many of these locations were worthless, and perhaps a 
 majority were never occupied as mines, at least, not until many 
 years afterward, and then by other parties; the laads fell back 
 into the hands of the general government for disposal at 
 some future day. 
 
 We are very certain that the Ste. Marie falls Company 
 has not realized its humble aspirations. We quote from 
 prospectus: " This company has secured fcur islands in the 
 Falls, as desirable locations for erecting stamping mills, etc. 1 ' 
 Think of the Calumet shipping 800 tons of rock per day to 
 the Sault, for treatment! 
 
 In. the earlier times, when permits were in vogue, a man 
 was hired at twenty dollars a month and provisions, and sent 
 far into the woods to hold possession of a claim. By the side 
 of some brook he erected out of poles and cedar bark the 
 rudest of huts; some hemlock boughs, thrown upon the 
 ground, formed, with the aid of a pair of blankets, a couch; a 
 fire in the middle of the hut served for warmth and cookery. 
 The smoke was expected to escape through a liberal hole in 
 the roof, but it did not always satisfy expectation; on the 
 contrary, it persisted in remaining inside; this was good in 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 25 
 
 the mosquito season, and, strange to say, the human occu- 
 pant of this tabernacle did not seem to mind it only he 
 smelt smoky to one of delicate olfactories. In winter, when 
 this rude habitation was covered with snow, but for the smoke 
 issuing from the peak, one would mistake it for a natural 
 mound, or large boulder. The fire in this lodge was never 
 allowed to go out; in the ashes stood an iron kettle, always 
 simmering with delectable bean porridge, hot; this porridge, 
 and bread baked in the ashes, constituted the u baked meats " 
 all the year round; a cup of tea or coffee, pure, served to 
 enliven the repast; a pipe of " soul-soothing tobacco" was a 
 constant companion. After several years of seeming wasted life 
 and certainly it was a terrible life, to spend a long, dreary 
 winter in one of those lonely hovels the necessity of watch- 
 ing locations was done away with. Then, perhaps, the origi- 
 nal locators, having abandoned their claims, the watchers 
 became squatters, and some of them in time realized hand- 
 somely from the sale of lands to mining corporations. They 
 -deserved all they got. 
 
 Upon the first threatening of winter in the autumn of 
 1846, all fair weather birds, all high governmental dignitaries, 
 all who' cared not to brave the rigors of the climate, sought 
 more genial climes. Those who remained, settled down to 
 the regular work of mining, or to watch developments, so as 
 to be ready for new enterprises when the whelming snows 
 should have disappeared, on the return of summer. ' 
 
 The people whom the winter of 1846-7 found residents in 
 the isolated wilderness in which the mines were situated, 
 were wholly dependent upon each other for society. The 
 mails, brought by clog trains, once a fortnight, through a 
 trackless wilderness of three hundred miles, afforded the only 
 intelligence of what was transpiring in the outer world. 
 These mails were eagerly looked for, but they were uncertain 
 and disappointing. The mail-carrier, if he found his dogs 
 overloaded en route, had a facile way of easing them; he sim- 
 ply had to hang a bag or bags of mail matter upon a tree and 
 leave them, in most cases, to winter. Unfortunate, indeed, 
 
26 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 was the person whose letters happened to be in the suspended 
 mail bags. During a period of seven months the writer of 
 this did not draw one prize in the mail lottery, but in the 
 month of June he received, at least, half a bushel of letters. 
 The mine locations were few and far between, but there was 
 much visiting, locomotion being performed on snow-shoes. 
 Hospitality was unlimited, unbounded; when you came you 
 were welcomed with open arms when you went awjiy, your 
 departure was a matter of regret. The best that a limited 
 larder could supply was spread before you pork, beans and 
 bread take your choice. A joint of fresh beef was the 
 choicest of luxuries, and could only be had when an over- 
 worked ox gave out, and it was required to sacrifice him upon 
 the altar of necessity. The visitor ahvays carried his blankets 
 strapped on his back; the hospitable log cabins receiving him 
 seldom had the luxury of a spare bed. Yet, with all these 
 aids to social enjoyment, the denizens of the remote locations 
 in the forests found the winter to "drag its slow length 
 along " rather wearily. After the close of navigation, for 
 weeks upon weeks, there was nothing but clouded skies and 
 ceaseless falling of snow; no bright ray of sunshine darted 
 through the noonday gloom; the days were short and the 
 nights proportionately long; Jack Frost, reigning supremely r 
 penetrated everywhere, hushing in the silence the babbling 
 brook and flashing lake, and smothered every voice of nature 
 in a deep pall of snow; the deep forests, stripped of their 
 summer apparel, and, with the lesser growths buried out of 
 sight, presented a cold, bare, melancholy picture, not at all 
 conducive to a buoyancy of spirits. Often, after a great snow 
 storm accompanied with high winds, locomotion, even on 
 snow-shces, was impossible. In these days of well-broken 
 highways and railroads, and thick clustering towns and cities, 
 the northern regions washed by Lake Superior are robbed of 
 the terrors of the pioneer days. 
 
 Copper Harbor was the great depot and rallying point of 
 copper hunters; here the innumerable exploring parties pre- 
 pared for the woods, and hence departed in quest of hidden 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 27 
 
 mines of copper and silver. The country was penetrated far 
 and wide by these sanguine De Sotos, and the dense forest 
 ransacked up and down. Probably at no time while the 
 aborigines held sole possession of the territory, had the woods 
 been so populous. Camp fires blazed upon a hundred shores, 
 and the most secluded and rocky recesses awoke to the echoes 
 of shout, song and story. After weeks of arduous toil, coast- 
 ing in small boats many a league of stormy shore, pushing 
 their way through tangled underbrush and almost impenetra- 
 ble cedar swamps; carrying packs of provisions, tools and 
 blankets on their backs; fording, or rafting on streams, and 
 exposed to all the storms of heaven, tortured by mosquitoes, 
 black flies and sand flies, and often suffering from thirst and 
 hunger, worn, ragged, unshorn, tanned like Indians, these 
 indomitable explorers would return to Copper Harbor, and 
 pitching their tents in a cool place by the side of the waters, 
 indulge in a period of rest and recreation. The '" Boys." 
 were sometimes a little wild; but the spirit of adventure was 
 abroad and the restraints of civilization feeble. That same 
 unconquerable spirit since those days has led men to sweep 
 across the continent without pause, no barrier preventing 
 this side of the golden shores of the Pacific. MaDy of our 
 earlier pioneers were found later among the throngs which, 
 with undaunted hearts, climbed the far-distant Sierra Nevadas 
 and rushed down the opposite slopes to seek their fortunes in 
 the gulches and canyons of California. By some, fortune and 
 fame were secured; others only found graves to cover broken 
 hearts, while a few, after years of toil and hardship, gravi- 
 tated back to the old camping grounds of Lake Superior. 
 The excitement which began in 1844, reached the culminat- 
 ing point in 1846. Delegations from the four quarters of the 
 globe came to spy out the land scientific men, capitalists, 
 members of Congress, Senators, Governors, agents for land 
 and mining corporations, business men, pleasure seekers, and, 
 a host of young men who had their fortunes to make. Many 
 of these gentlemen remained in the country, or have been 
 identified with it ever since and have exercised a powerful 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 influence over its destinies. John N. Ingersoll, Esq., editor 
 and proprietor, issued the first copy of " The Lake Superior 
 News and Mining Journal " from the Astor House, Copper 
 Harbor, in the summer of 1846. The appearance of this 
 sheet produced a sensation. Ingersoll still lives at Corunna, 
 full of honors. The paper was afterwards removed to Sault 
 Ste. Marie, and from thence to Marquette, where it is still 
 published by the author of this book. 
 
 The Copper, or Trap Range, extending from the extremity 
 of Keweenaw Point to the Porcupine Mountains, is about 
 140 miles long, and has a width varying from one to six 
 miles. There is another sub-district within the state of 
 Michigan, known as Isle Royal. This whole territory, now 
 become famous throughout the civilized world under the 
 name of the Copper Mines of Lake Superior, was the broad 
 and wild domain upon which our people set themselves to 
 work, with indomitable energy and courage, to hew out a 
 new empire, and achieve fame and wealth as miners. Mining 
 on a grand scale was a new occupation to the American citi- 
 zen. He who views the whole ground in this year of our 
 Lord, 1876, we think, cannot justly deny that our people 
 have acquitted themselves well. The earlier pioneers had a 
 Herculean task to perform; a fact which those who have come 
 after should not forget. 
 
 Burt's solar compass then a recent invention was 
 highly appreciated by those who had seen it; but its merits 
 were not generally known. Parties who desired to locate on 
 unsarveyed lands, knowing the uncertainty of the magnetic 
 needle in the copper and iron regions, were perplexed, and 
 wondered how they should be able to run straight lines. A 
 learned gentleman at last solved the question to his own 
 satisfaction, at least. Basing his theory upon the assumed 
 fact that, at a certain distance above the earth, the local 
 attraction would cease to have any effect upon the needle, he 
 proposed that a survej^or ( he must needs be the reverse of 
 corpulent) should take his compass, climb the highest tree, 
 and from the top sight to some other tree in the distance; 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 
 
 then come down, proceed to the tree noted, climb it and 
 make another observation; and so on to the end of the sur- 
 vey. Whether the learned gentleman ever obtained a leather 
 medal from any scientific society, has not transpired. 
 
 EARLY NAVIGATION". 
 
 The American, British Northwestern and Hudson Bay Fur 
 companies, prior to the year 1829, had on Lake Superior, 
 employed as traders, the following named vessels: Discovery, 
 Invincible, Otter, Mink and the Recovery. They were 
 respectably sized schooners, of from 20 to 100 tons burthen, 
 and all built, it is quite certain, on Lake Superior. The 
 respective years of their building are not known, but as some 
 had long been in service, their construction would seem to 
 date back very early in the nineteenth, if not even to the 
 closing days of the eighteenth century. The Invincible was 
 wrecked on White Fish Point, prior to the year 1823, and the 
 Discovery lost in an attempt to run the rapids in Sault Ste. 
 Marie river. What became of the Otter is not definitely 
 known, but in the records of the war of 1812, there is an 
 account of the capture of a vessel above the Sault by the 
 U. S. brig Niagara. As it would be impossible for the brig 
 to ascend or make the passage of the river at that time, the 
 inference drawn is, that the capture was effected by means of 
 boats sent out from her for that purpose. This vessel was, in 
 all probability, the Otter, as all the rest are accounted for, 
 and her known history terminated at that time. Furiher, 
 and what is still more conclusive, the records above cited 
 state that in the attempt to run the prize over the rapids she 
 was wrecked and lost. The Mink, our informant states, 
 " laid her bones in the bay on the Canadian side, just above the 
 rapids." The Recovery belonged to the British Northwest- 
 ern Company, and on the breaking out of the war of 1812, 
 great fears were entertained for her safety. It is stated as a 
 historical fact, that in one of the deep, narrow bays on the 
 north-east end of Isle Royale, which was then within British 
 jurisdiction, the vessel was secreted, and her spars being taken 
 out, she was entirely covered over with boughs of trees and 
 
30 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 brush-wood, and there lay until the termination of hostilities, 
 when she was brought out from her hiding place, and again 
 put in commission. She remained on the lake till 1829, in 
 which year she made a safe run over the falls into Lake Huron. 
 She was a schooner of about 90 tons, well built of spruce, 
 pine and tamarack, and finely fitted and furnished in every 
 particular. She was bought of the Hudson Bay company 
 by Merwin Giddings, of Cleveland, in the same year (1829) 
 and taken to that city by her owners, who afterwards sold 
 her to some parties in Canada, and she ended her days on the 
 lower lakes. It is also known that Bayfield, in the years 
 1822-23, used a small vessel of about 20 tons, while engaged 
 in making a survey of Lake Superior. The vessel used by 
 him, however, may have been the Mink, furnished by the 
 Hudson Bay company. 
 
 From the year, 1829 to 1835, there was a lapse in the navi- 
 gation of Lake Superior, during which no vessels of any con- 
 siderable size were known to be upon her waters only the 
 common batteaux and canoes in use by the Indians, French, 
 and traders of that early da}*. 
 
 In the year 1835, George W. Jones, of Cleveland, con- 
 structed above the Sault, for the American Fur company, 
 the John Jacob Astor. a schooner of 113 tons. In August of 
 that year she was fitted out and made her first voyage, under 
 the command of Capt. Charles C. Stanard, with the following 
 officers: John Webster, first mate; John J. Stanard, second 
 mate; and Capt. John McCargo, pilot. Capt. C. C. Stanard 
 sailed the Astor until the close of navigation on Lake 
 Superior in the fall of 1S42. 
 
 In 1843, Capt. B. A. Stanard took command of the Astor, 
 and sailed her during the seasons of 1843 and 1844. She 
 was wrecked at Copper Harbor while under his command, 
 Sept. 20, 1844. i Stanard's Rock,' 1 an almost indiscernible 
 projection, lying nearly on a level with the water, and 
 extremely dangerous for vessels, was discovered by Capt. C. 
 C. Stanard in August, 1835, while on his first trip up the 
 lake in command of the Astor. Its location was determined 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 as nearly as possible with the instruments then at hand, 
 which consisted merely of a common mariner's compass and 
 a u chip log and line," by Mr. B. A. Stanard, in the summer 
 of 1844. This opportune discovery, no doubt, has been of 
 great advantage in perfecting reliable marine charts of the 
 coast, and preventing disasters to shipping. 
 
 The schooner William Brewster, 75 tons, was built for the 
 American Fur company at Sault Ste. Marie in 1838, and was 
 sailed by Capt. John Wood until the fall of 1841, when she 
 was laid up in ordinary at La Pointe. She was again fitted 
 out in the summer of 1842 by Capt. B. A. Stanard, brought 
 down to Sault Ste. Marie and run over the rapids. From 
 thence she was taken to Detroit, and ended her days on the 
 lower lakes. 
 
 The schooner Algonquin, 50 tons, was built at Black 
 River, Loraine county, Ohio, by Capt. Gr. W. Jones, in the 
 summer of 1839. She was owned by the firm of Converse & 
 Mendenhall, and was taken to the Sault in the fall of that 
 year, hauled over the portage and made ready for navigation 
 of the lake in the spring of 1840. She was commanded first 
 by Capt. Rockwood, and subsequently by Capts. Goldsmith, 
 Smith wick and McKay. 
 
 In 1839, the American Fur company built a small 
 schooner of from 15 to 20 tons at La Pointe, called the Made- 
 line, for the purpose of collecting fish from their stations 
 along the west shore of Lake Superior, and upon Isle Royale, 
 and bringing them to La Pointe for shipment to the Sault. 
 She was under, the command of Capt. John Angus, and was 
 lost nt Isle Royale the same year. The schooner Siskiwit, of 
 about 40 tons, was built by the same company soon after at 
 La Pointe, to supply the place of the Madeline, and sailed 
 under the command of Capt. John Angus. She went ashore 
 at Isle Royale in 1841 or 1842, but was subsequently gotten 
 off and repaired by Capt. John J. Stanard, and laid up in 
 ordinary at La Pointe; but she was again fitted out in 1845, 
 and navigated the lake during the summer and fall of that 
 year, under command of Capt. B. A. Stanard. She was laid 
 
32 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 up on the close of navigation, at the Sault, and her after 
 career is not known. 
 
 The Canadian schooner Whitefish, about 40 tons, was- 
 built by the Hudson's Bay Fur company at the Sault, in 1838, 
 and was sailed by Capt. Lamphen. She was still in service 
 up to a very late date, but it is hardly probable that anything- 
 remains of her at present. 
 
 In 1845 the following named vessels were hauled over the 
 portage at the Sault, and made their appearance on Lake 
 Superior: schooner Chippewa, 20 tons, Capt. Thomas Clark, 
 master and owner; schooner Florence, 20 tons, hauled over 
 the Portage on the Canadian side by Antrim & Keith, com- 
 manded by Capt. David Keith; schooner Swallow, 80 tons, 
 was hauled over on the American side and tried her fortunes 
 on the lake, under command of Capt. Smith wick; schooner 
 Merchant, 80 to 90 tons, was hauled over and made her first 
 appearance on the lake under command of Capt. Moore. The 
 Merchant was lost in 1846 or 1847, under the command of 
 Capt. Robert Brown, with all hands on board, and no vestige, 
 of her was ever found. Next in order came the schooner 
 Uncle Tom, (Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's)90 tons, under the 
 command of Capt. John Angus. She, like the others, failed 
 to make the anticipated fortunes of her owners, and was sub- 
 sequently run over the rapids, and ended her days on the 
 lower lakes. The schooner Fur Trader, about 60 tons, made 
 her appearance the same year (1845) under command of Capt. 
 Calvin Ripley, master and owner. The propeller Inde- 
 pendence, Capt. P. Averill, was hauled over in the summer of 
 1845. and made one trip during the fall, to La Pointe. She 
 returned to the Sault and was laid up for the winter. Dur- 
 ing the summer of 1845, the schooner Napoleon was built at 
 the Sault, and commenced the navigation of the lake under 
 command of Capt. John Stewart. The Napoleon was over- 
 hauled in 1849, and changed to a propeller. She continued 
 running on the lake until the completion of the St. Mary's 
 Falls ship canal, when she was taken to the St. Clair Flats 
 and used as a tow boat until taken out of service. In the fall 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 33 
 
 of 1845, the steamer Julia Palmer, 240 tons, was brought to 
 the Sault and laid up for the winter. In the spring of 1846, 
 she was drawn over the portage, and during the season was 
 under command of Capt. John J. Stanard. She was laid up 
 in the fall, and thus ended her career, except, perhaps, that 
 she was subsequently towed to Waiska Bay, and there con- 
 verted into the foundation for a wood dock. Subsequent to 
 1846, the schooner Ford, Capt. Parker, steamer Sam Ward 
 (master unknown) and propeller Manhattan, Capt. J. Spauld- 
 ing, were hauled over the portage and successfully navigated 
 the lake until the .finishing and opening of the St. Mary's 
 Falls ship canal. 
 
 In 1846, the steamer Julia Palmer an old-fashioned, 
 turtle-shaped side- wheeler was the popular vessel in the 
 Lake Superior fleet. The propeller, Independence, was her 
 only steam competitor for the public favor. In caLm weather, 
 with a full head of steam, the Independence could make four 
 miles an hour, easily. She was finally destroyed at the Sault, 
 by the accidental explosion of her boiler. The Julia Palmer 
 was a staunch sea boat; she had been tried severely on Lake 
 Erie, and was destined to still severer trials on the great 
 northern lakes. Late in the fall, deeply laden with freight 
 and passengers, she sailed from the Sault for Copper Harbor. 
 Before she could reach her destined harbor one of those fierce, 
 westerly gales, accompanied with snow, common to Lake 
 Superior in the fall, struck her. Bravely did she buffet the 
 winds and waves, but she could not make head against them ; 
 she drifted off into the middle of the lake, and then her fuel 
 gave out; she fell into the trough of the sea and was at the 
 mercy of the elements; consternation fell upon all on board; 
 the waves dashed over and through her; ice accumulated 
 rapidly; the sick passengers were hurled from side to side of 
 the cabin; she sprung a leak; the pumps were started; the 
 freight was thrown overboard; but the water gained on the 
 pumps, and the passengers were compelled, all through a 
 dark, stormy night, to bail with buckets, or anything else 
 that would hold water. By the most strenuous exertions they 
 
34 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 kept her afloat, for thirty-six hours the boat drifted help- 
 lessly; at last, as if guided by a Providential hand, she drifted 
 into a snug, rock-bound harbor in an island on the north-east 
 shore of the lake, in Canada. The anchor was dropped, and 
 a period of rest and respite was granted. But the question 
 was soon propounded: How are we to get away from this 
 desolate coast, without sail or fuel? Winter was at hand, 
 and what was to be done must be done quickly. The crew 
 and passengers were armed with axes, (fortunately there was 
 a supply on board intended for the mines,) and sent ashore 
 to cut wood. After hard work, sufficient fuel was provided 
 to run the boat to Copper Harbor; the anchor was tripped, 
 and in a few hours the exhausted and happy passengers 
 reached the desired haven. Ever after they entertained a 
 wholesome fear of the great lake when aroused by the ter- 
 rific, snow-laden gales of November. 
 
 THE FIRST WORKING COMPANIES, 
 
 organized for the mining of copper, silver, and iron, were 
 managed by boards of Trustees ; were incorporated under the 
 laws of different States, and issued such numbers of shares or 
 stock certificates, as suited the convenience of each individual 
 set of incorporators. One company, for example, issued 1200 
 shares, par value one hundred dollars; another 3000 shares, 
 par value ten dollars. The largest number of shares that we 
 can remember was 6000. It was not until some years later, 
 that the state of Michigan enacted the wise and salutary 
 general mining laws now on the statute-books, fixing the 
 number of shares of each organization at 20,000, with par 
 value of $25 per share. These laws were afterwards amended 
 so as to permit actual working companies to consolidate, and 
 thereby virtually increase the number of shares. More 
 recently, the law was so amended as to permit the organiza- 
 tion of mining companies upon a basis of $2,500,000, divided 
 into shares of the par value of $25 each. They are also per- 
 .mitted to acquire and hold 50,000 acres of land, instead of 
 being limited to 10,000 acres, as formerly. . 
 
 The practical miner, whether of American birth or foreign 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 35 
 
 extraction, at the very outset of his work found a new and 
 marked feature in the veins which were to be subject to 
 exploitation. Native copper, in a chemically pure state, in 
 large masses, and in great quantity, was an anomaly. The 
 celebrated copper mines of Cornwall, Germany, and Chili 
 the chief sources of copner supply for the world, so far 
 produced only the ores of copper, sulphurets, and oxides. It will 
 be seen, moreover, that the difficulty which arose, incidental 
 to the mining, dividing into convenient forms for handling 
 and smelting, was new and perplexing. But the skill of the 
 Cornish miners, and the philosophic minds of such men as 
 John R. Grout, Esq., finally overcame all obstacles. 
 
 For several years after mining had become a regular busi- 
 ness and while explorations for new veins continued, nothing 
 was considered of any practical worth except true, or fissure 
 veins. Such was the impress made by books; such were the 
 ideas imported from Europe by alien miners; (and the first 
 valuable discovery of copper in place, in fissure veins, con- 
 firming the whole,) it was not strange that men should believe 
 in nothing else. This mistaken notion caused much blind 
 groping for years, great waste of means, and the abandon- 
 ment of many valuable properties, and a persistence in the 
 working of others utterly worthless, because of the existence 
 thereon of thin seams filled with chlorite, serpentine or spar. 
 The great and famous contact vein which was the basis of 
 the Minnesota mine; the lodes containing mass and stamp 
 copper, like the Pewabic, and the conglomerate belts, all run- 
 ning with the formation, (and not across it like fissure veins,) 
 such as the mammoth Calumet and Hecla consolidated com- 
 pany is working upon, subsequently corrected the ideas 
 erroneously entertained as to the mineral sources of the 
 country. 
 
 We will now, beginning in point of time with the year 
 1846, pass in hasty review the working mines of note 
 making mention of the men and managers of the time, so 
 far as we may be able to do so then give a brief account of 
 new discoveries and developments, on the Trap Range, and 
 
36 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Isle Roy ale; trace the growth of new districts and villages, 
 with mention of the prominent men of the country down to 
 the present time. 
 
 In the year above mentioned a mine had been opened by 
 the Pittsburgh, Boston and Copper Harbor Company, on a 
 fissure vein a few rods east of Fort Wilkins; several tons, 
 perhaps 40, of black oxide of copper had been raised from the 
 shafts and cuts. But the mine was speedily abandoned, and 
 the miners and appliances had been transferred to another 
 location, owned by the Company, tying a few miles south- 
 west of Eagle river, whereon a wonderfully rich vein of mass 
 copper had been discovered since known as the Cliff mine. 
 
 West of Copper Harbor was a mine which we mention to 
 bring out the fact that one George N. Saunders, the notori- 
 ous rebel sympathizer and wire-puller during the late war, 
 was the superintendent thereof. There was another mining 
 company operating near the Harbor the Isle Royale of 
 which Mr. Cyrus Mendeiihall was superintendent. 
 
 BOHEMIAN" AND LAC LA BELLE COMPANIES. 
 
 These two companies were operating on locations situated 
 on the south side of the Range near Lac La Belle. The 
 mining was confined to small fissure veins, charged with 
 yellow and gray sulphuret ores. Mr. Simon Mandlebaum was 
 the superintendent of he former, and Major Alexander H. 
 Sibley of the latter, In their log cabins by the beautiful 
 lake, these gentlemen dispensed a princely hospitality to all 
 comers. They have been largely interested in copper and 
 silver mines from that day to this, and have done very much 
 to aid in the development of the country. Work on these 
 mines was suspended in 1847, to be resumed again about the 
 year 1864-'5. at which time, a village on the immediate lake 
 shore was begun, smelting works erected, the Harbor opened 
 to large class vessels, aided by an appropriation from the gen- 
 eral government of 100,000 acres of land, and a good wagon 
 road built out to the other mines. A few years later the work 
 was suspended, the attention of the proprietors being engaged 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 37 
 
 hy the rich discovery of Silver Islet on the north shore. Mr. 
 A. C. Bishop was the last superintendent. 
 
 From the Indian trail leading from Copper Harbor to Eagle 
 Harbor and Eagle river, one had access to several locations 
 small clearings in the woods whereon mining, in its incipi- 
 ent stages, was being conducted. The Messrs. Bernard were 
 in charge of a party near Copper Harbor on the west. At 
 Agate Harbor, the New York and Lake Superior Company 
 was operating. Mr. Edward Learned was president of this 
 company, and Mr. C. G. Learned was superintendent. The 
 Northwest Company were mining in the bluff back of Grand 
 Marais Harbor. Mr. Bailey, now one of the patriarchs of 
 Keweenaw county, was first in charge. Horace Greeley was a 
 trustee. Mr. Stoughtenburgh, the tall New Yorker, was, a 
 little later, the superintendent. Quite a handsome show of 
 small mass copper was discovered in the open cut, at the 
 mine. This mine has never risen into importance. 
 
 EAGLE HAKBOE. 
 
 The Eagle Harbor Company were working quite a large 
 force of miners. The harbor is a natural one and convenient 
 of access; there were several good buildings at the west end 
 of the bay, nestling among the pines. The mine is near the 
 village and lake shore ; it was one of the most promising yet 
 opened. A mass was in sight, which was estimated to weigh 
 75 ton-, almost pure native copper. The vein projects under 
 the lake; from a boat, out in deep water a mass of copper 
 could be seen protruding from the rock bottom. (Query! is 
 this the mass Father Allouezsaw?) Subsequent workings in 
 this mine did not justify early promise. At this day the 
 Eagle Harbor location a nine-mile tract is considered a 
 valuable undeveloped property. 
 
 Copper Falls Company, location situated west of Eagle 
 Harbor, had Mr. Joshua Childs as its superintendent. It is 
 one of the oldest mines on the lake, and is now operating. 
 In 1846, it was in a flourishing condition. They were work- 
 ing on a fissure vein (Owl creek?); in an open cut, near the 
 surface of the ground, a handsome mass of native copper, 
 
38 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 several yards long, was exposed. There was no machinery 
 available to enable the miners to hoist it out; Mr. Childs was 
 puzzled to know how to remove it, or cut it into convenient 
 pieces for removal. A saw was tried, but did not answer the 
 purpose. Copper Falls mine has been worked for 30 years 
 with varied success, but we believe has never QUITE been, 
 recorded among dividend paying mines. It has been a source 
 of wealth to individuals. The operations have been upon 
 the fissure vein and the u Ash Bed," a lode producing only 
 shot and fine copper stamp work. Ball's celebrated steam 
 stamps and washers were first introduced here. During 
 its long career, Copper Falls mine has been under the man- 
 agement of several able men, namely: Messrs. Childs, 
 Petherick, the man of figures, Hon. Sam'l W. Hill, A. P. 
 Thomas and Mr. Emerson. When quite a lad, Mr. John 
 Simpkins was clerk at this mine; this gentleman became an 
 influential, wealthy copper broker, and was director in several 
 successful mining enterprises. 
 
 Northwestern Company. Working on a location lying 
 south-east of Eagle river. The mass vein showed consider- 
 able mass copper. Mr. Jacob Ho ugh ton was superintendent. 
 
 Lake Superior Company. This is the pioneer company 
 of the region: location situated 1-J miles south of Eagle river. 
 Mr. C. C. Douglass is superintendent. There were about 20 
 buildings on the location. Seventy men were at work. Sev- 
 eral shafts had been sunk on the vein to a depth of 125 to 150 
 feet. A horse-whim was used to hoist water and mineral from 
 the mine. The ore raised from the mine was valued, to wit- 
 
 u A ton of ore, delivered in Boston, yielded as follows: 
 Of Silver, $568; of Copper, $200 DR. JACKSON." 
 
 This is truly a wonderful mine ! It was stated that the 
 Shares had sold for $1200 each. Whole number of Shares, 
 1200. This mine had in operation a small stamp-mill and a 
 saw-mill, run by water-power, the first concerns of the kind, 
 erected by a mining company, in the country. In 1847, Mr. 
 Corry)! succeeded Mr. Douglass as Sup't. In after years 
 this company took a new name, the Phoenix. It is an active 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 39 
 
 and productive mine at this day but the main work is now 
 on a fissure vein under the greenstone. 
 
 Eagle River. On the sand hills, near the lake, and bhe 
 mouth of a small stream into which it is hard work to force 
 a small boat, is a cluster of rude cabins dwellings, stores, 
 and shops this is Eagle River. Deacon Johnson, after- 
 wards long-time resident at Ontonagon, kept a good hotel in 
 his log cabin. Enterprising Uncle John Atwood, in 1847, 
 built a large frame warehouse on the lake shore. This hale, 
 hearty old pioneer is still ready with a smile and warm shake 
 of the hand to welcome his friends at I/Anse, where he now 
 abides. In his sphere, he has done well in the building up of 
 the country. Phil. Morrison was a resident of Eagle River. 
 Mr. John Senter has resided there from very early times, and 
 has been largely instrumental in promoting the prosperity 
 and advancement of Keweenaw. James Crawford, a well- 
 known character, Dr. Alexander, Porter Hitchcock, the 
 Leopolds and Austrians, and Col. Wright were also residents 
 of the village. Eagle River is the port through which the 
 mines of that vicinity have received their supplies and ex- 
 ported their mine products. The Cliff mine has maintained 
 a dock and warehouse there. The village became a lively 
 business centre. 
 
 The Pittsburgh and Boston Company. This company had 
 been operating at this point about two years; quite a con- 
 anine mile tract; the works upon it were situated about five 
 miles southwest of Eagle River. It had opened a grand 
 fissure vein, under some high, picturesque chfts, which was 
 wonderfully rich in native copper and silver. They had 
 siderable log village clustered in the clearing, under the 
 shadow of the cliffs. Messrs. Hussey ; Avery, Howe, Petit 
 and Scudder household names in the copper region were 
 trustees. Dr. Petit was the superintendent for a brief period. 
 He will be vividly remembered by all old settlers. Mr. John 
 Hays was another active gentleman connected with the 
 Cliff and many other enterprises. Capt. Jennings was one 
 of the earliest superintendents of the Cliff. There were 
 
40 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 others holding the same position whose names cannot be 
 recalled. Mr. John Siawson occupied the position ably for 
 many years. During its prosperous days the "Old Cuff" 
 divided to its stockholders $2,280,000. Drs. Senter and Hea- 
 ton were the distinguished resident physicians and surgeons 
 at the mine for a long period. Hon. E. J. Hulbert was the 
 mine engineer who engineered the famous perpendicular 
 snaft down through the greenstone. Capt. John Gundry, 
 Capt. George, Capt. Carnsew and Capt. Benetts, were able 
 underground men. Mr. Augustus Coburn, afterward an 
 influential citizen of Ontonagon, passed the winter of 1846-'7 
 at the Cliff mine. A few years ago the old company sus- 
 pended work, and let the mine fill with water. The whole 
 property was subsequently purchased by a gentleman resi- 
 dent in Boston for $100,000, and Mr. Farwell, long well 
 known as the able manager of the Pncenix mine, was placed 
 in charge. He, with his characteristic energy, started the 
 pumps, removed the water, resumed mining, and, to-day, 
 may congratulate himself that the good old mine has again 
 arrived at almost a dividend paying point. All honor to 
 him! The "Old Cliff" is truly a historical mine. During 
 the dark days that followed the excitement of 1846, and dur- 
 ing other da'/k days, which from time to time fell upon the 
 copper region the "Cliff'' was a sure and steadfast reminder 
 that copper mining could be made profitable in the upper 
 peninsula. It was always a strong, moral force encourag- 
 ing new hopes and enterprises. 
 
 Dr. Avery was a wealthy Methodist clergyman, and 
 resided in Pittsburgh. He was associated with Dr. Hussey, 
 James M. Cooper, Thomas M. Howe, and some Boston 
 gentlemen, as a stockholder and director in the Pittsburgh 
 and Boston company. Several assessments had been levied 
 and paid; another was called for or talked of. Considerable 
 copper had been mined and shipped, but the cost of mine 
 improvements, purchase of machinery, etc., had absorbed 
 all the earnings, and more with it. The Boston stockhold- 
 ers were dissatisfied, and refused to contribute anything more 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 41 
 
 in the way of assessments, and there was every prospect that 
 the mine would have to be abandoned. At this juncture, 
 Dr. Avery stepped forward, made a thorough examination of 
 the mine, and called a meeting of the board for consultation. 
 At this meeting the doctor expressed his unwillingness to 
 abandon the mine, and, " gentlemen," said he, " I have lying 
 in the bank just $83,000, eighty thousand of which is at 
 your disposal, if you will use it to continue the work, and 
 give me a mortgage on the mine property as security. 1 ' 
 The offer was accepted; work was continued, and in less than 
 eighteen months the money was repaid from the earnings of 
 the mine, and a goodly surplus divided among the share- 
 holders. But for this action on the part of Dr. Avery, the 
 mine would have been abandoned, and the development of 
 the copper interest delayed for years. In the dark days the 
 old Cliff stood as a beacon light to the despondent operators 
 throughout the district; its failure would have been followed 
 by a general collapse, and the mineral wealth of Lake 
 Superior would have been everywhere regarded but as a 
 punctured bubble. 
 
 North American Company. This company was operating 
 just west of the Cliff on a fissure vein. Gurdon Williams 
 and Henry J. Buckley, of Detroit, were, respectively, President 
 and Secretary of this company, well known Michigan men. 
 Honest John Bacon was the superintendent. This company 
 had made quite a start in the woods, but were exploring, 
 rather than mining. In the winter of 1846-'7, Judge Bacon 
 struck quite a large mass of clean copper in the vein or adit. 
 He was so much elated that he, in hot haste, mounted his 
 snow-shoes and started for Detroit, to buy more stock. 
 Think of this heavy, corpulent man tramping 300 miles 
 through an unbroken wilderness to Green Bay, in mid-win- 
 ter, a journey that required from four to six weeks hard 
 work ! Before the Judge reached Detroit, the mass came to 
 an end, or in the elegant language of the country, Petered. 
 The North American has had a varied career, but it has 
 never reached a point of success. Captain Joseph Paull was, 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 at one time, the superintendent. The property was after- 
 wards sold to the Pittsburgh and Boston company. 
 
 The Albion Company. This company held several loca- 
 tions. Two or three miles west of the Cliff we found active 
 operations going on under Mr. Wm. H. Stevens, the u Pro- 
 fessor." Mr. Stevens is well known in the copper region as 
 an active, energetic man, a mine manager and stock operator 
 of shrewdness, whose footsteps may be traced from the 
 extremity of Keweenaw Point to the region beyond the 
 Ontonagon. The company was testing fissure veins, and 
 hunting for more under the greenstone cliffs. Several snug- 
 log houses had been erected, and quite a large number of 
 miners were at work. Tom Taylor was clerk a man of great 
 parts. Later, Mr. Rickard and Captain Richard Edwards 
 tried their hands at this mine. They also superintended a 
 branch mine of same name, situated near the village of 
 Houghton; this location subsequently became the Columbian, 
 then, by consolidation, the Shelden and Columbian. The old 
 Albion finally took the new name of Manhattan, and is quiet 
 at this time. Captain Rickard was at one time superintend- 
 ent of the Isle Royale mine, Portage Lake. He came to the 
 lake in June, 1850, and remained at the Albion until the 
 latter part of January, 1851. In February, 1851, he pre- 
 empted the south-east quarter of section 10, Town 57, Range 
 32 the first pre-emption made in the upper peninsula. The 
 land office was then located at Sault Ste. Marie, and leaving 
 Eagle river sometime in March, he reached the Sault on the 
 12th of April, being the first to file pre-emption papers with 
 Register Backus a fact shown by the records. He retired 
 from the country in 1858, and settled in New York city. But 
 he has always taken a warm interest in this upper country, in 
 which he owns large interests. He is a gentleman much 
 respected for his ability and integrity. 
 
 Captain Edwards removed with his family at an earl} r day 
 (1853) to Portage Lake, and settled in the now village of 
 Houghtoti. Having acquired considerable wealth, he died in 
 the year 1868, lamented by the whole community. He was 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 43 
 
 a gentleman of much shrewdness and sagacity, high-toned, 
 and possessed of great amiability of character. He was a 
 good citizen, and those who knew him best loved him most. 
 
 Fulton Company. Working on a location a few miles 
 south-west of the Albion. A few log cabins had been erected 
 and a few miners were at work on a thin fissure vein, showing 
 some native copper, found in a low knob of trap. Mr. Ken- 
 nedy, of New York city, a sanguine, whole-souled gentleman, 
 was the superintendent. 
 
 Ohio Trap Rock Company. Working on a location on 
 headwaters of Trap Rock river, south-west of Fulton; sink- 
 ing a shaft on a vein of serpentine; no copper. McGritfin, 
 superintendent. 
 
 New York & Michigan Company. This company own 16 
 locations, one of which was an iron ore bed. Messrs. John 
 R. Grout and C. C. Douglass, general agents. Mining for 
 copper at junction of trap and sand-rock with 8 men; found 
 considerable fine copper stamp work. John H. Forster, 
 superintendent. This property is now called St. Louis. 
 
 Douglass Houyhton Company. Mining by driving an 
 adit under the falls, on a branch of Trap Rock river, about 
 two miles from Torch Lake and Calumet stamps. Some fine 
 copper exposed. Lavalette Douglass in charge. 
 
 Portage Lake. A. party belonging to a Pittsburgh com- 
 pany spent the winter of 1846-'T in a rude hut on Wheal 
 Kate mountain. There was a small clearing, or boat land- 
 ing, near the present Quincy Stamps. Some exploring 
 had been done on the hill side, below the present Quincy 
 mine. Elsewhere the beautiful wooded shores of Portage 
 lake were in a state of nature. 
 
 Mr. Ransom Shelden, the Father of the Portage lake min- 
 ing district, came to the lake in the summer of 1846, but he 
 passed the winter at L'Anse. He built a large frame ware- 
 house and dwelling at the mouth of Portage river in 1847, 
 and settled there with his family. L'A^SE was an old mis- 
 sionary settlement. On the west side of the bay the vener- 
 able Father Baraga, afterward bishop of Marquette, resided 
 
44 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 with his Indian flock a good shepherd of the fold. On 
 the east side was the Methodist mission, under the care of 
 Hev. Mr. Pitzel, a worthy, yonng man. Then u old man" 
 Jackson was beating the anvil; then Maj. Beedon taught the 
 natives civilization, and all the arts; Capt. James Bendry 
 cruised on the lake during the summer and ran a saw mill 
 during the winter. 
 
 It was in the month of October, 1846, that we, for the 
 first time, passed over Portage lake. This remarkable sheet 
 of water, which fills a gorge cut boldly through the trap 
 range, where the range is six hundred feet high, and which 
 nearly severed Keweenaw Point from the main land, the con- 
 necting isthmus being only two miles wide, (since pierced 
 by the Portage Lake and Lake Superior Ship Canal making 
 Keweenaw Point to-day, in fact, an island,) has been for 
 centuries, perhaps ages, the highway of travelers. The 
 ancient miners doubtless navigated its waters, and many a 
 peaceful or warlike band of savages have availed themselves of 
 this short-cut in their migrations or forays. This grand 
 portage saved a detour around stormy cape Keweenaw of 110 
 miles. 
 
 The scenery bordering the lake was exceedingly beautiful, 
 especially so at the narrows through the highlands, at points 
 where Houghton and Hancock now stand, and westward 
 and northward. Our cheerful Canadian boatmen, singing as 
 they rowed, would often rest upon their oars in order to 
 enjoy the quiet, brilliant panorama. The native forests in 
 primitive grandeur, starting at the water's edge, slope up 
 precipitously toward the sky, presenting a great variety of 
 pleasing shades and colors, from the soft neutral-tinted 
 maple, the lemon-colored birch and poplar to the dark green 
 of the pine, hemlock and fir. Here and there, there is a bit 
 a patch which has been touched severely by the first 
 frosts of autumn; upon it is a brave display of scarlet, 
 orange and gold. The mountain ash, which flourishes in 
 this high northern latitude and loves the water, is seen here 
 and there, with its red berries clustering among the green 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 45 
 
 leaves, and the soft maple, its delicate foliage blushing " rosy 
 red " more intensely than any of its sisters, under the rude 
 assault of master Jack Frost. The surface of this narrow 
 lake is perfectly smooth, and reflects back each overhanging 
 declivity. The color of the water is that of brandy a tinge 
 acquired from the seepage from cedar swamps and beaver 
 dams. An intense quietude pervades the scene the only 
 sound which falls upon the ear is the cadence of our oars, 
 or the echo of our own voices coming back faintly from the 
 muffled wooded shores. At one or two points only were to 
 be seen " signs" of vandal man. A few trees had been felled 
 and space cleared sufficient for a small encampment. And 
 this was at a point which is now the busy mining and com- 
 mercial centre of Portage. 
 
 To-day 1875 the reverse of this picture is presented, and 
 a more stirring locality cannot be found in the country. 
 The busy, picturesquely situated villages of Houghton and 
 Hancock, with their outlying suburbs; the giant stamp 
 mills, which make the earth tremble with the heavy thud of 
 ponderous hammers; the air dark with smoke, and the 
 water discolored with rejected sand and slime, once beautiful 
 crystalizations of calcite and feldspar; the fiery furnaces of 
 the copper smelting works, when the copper from the mines, 
 once tortured and beaten under the stamps, is again subjected 
 to volcanic heat that it may become more pure and fit for 
 use; the numerous manufactories, with their noisy rattling 
 and banging; the fleet of steam and sail vessels that might 
 navigate the ocean, lying at the docks, where once the bark 
 canoe noiselessly glided under overhanging forests; and, lat- 
 est innovation of all, there goes rushing up the hill-side a 
 locomotive with a train of cars all of these things, and more 
 that could be mentioned, go to make up a picture instinct 
 with life and characteristic of this age of progress. And 
 while we write it is announced that the lake, 60 feet deep, has 
 been spanned by a bridge 1,600 feet long. The old ferry, like 
 the dog-train, succumbs to progress. We trust that Mr. 
 John Martin, the pioneer ferryman, may reap new honors in 
 
46 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 some other field. The time was when John's old yawl boat 
 was gratefully appreciated, and a quarter given " to cross the 
 ferry," cheerfully. 
 
 Silver Mountain, a conical trap knob, which arose out of the 
 level plain some ten or fifteen miles west of I/Anse, had been 
 worked by a party of miners. They drove an adit into the 
 base of the knob on a vein, but we who visited the works 
 after they were abandoned in the fall of 1847, could find not 
 a trace of silver. The miners left two comfortable log houses, 
 well furnished, to rot down. In those days there were men 
 called "wreckers;" men who made a business of levying 
 upon the personal property left at abandoned mines. One of 
 these u wreckers," who is still a resident of Portage Lake, 
 visited Silver Mountain after it had been abandoned, built a 
 raft, and loaded upon it the anvil, bellows, steel, etc., and set 
 sail down the Sturgeon river. Ten miles below the moun- 
 tain the river passes through Otter Lake. While crossing 
 this lake, the raft parted, the whole of the " wrecker's" booty 
 went to the bottom, and he and his men narrowly escaped 
 drowning. It is but just to say that the incident served a 
 good purpose in that the gentleman was never afterwards 
 known to engage in a similar enterprise. 
 
 The headwaters of the Elm, Misery, and Flint and Fire 
 Steel rivers were pretty thoroughly explored in 1846. Julian 
 Magill was the only superintendent who can now be recalled 
 to memory. 
 
 Ontonagon. We describe Ontonagon village as first seen 
 in the summer of 1846. The river of the same name, is one 
 of the largest streams on the south shore of Lake Superior; 
 it is one hundred yards wide at the mouth, and carries eight 
 feet of water over the bar. A short distance above the mouth, 
 the stream expands, forming a wide basin, or bowl, with an 
 island in it. The east bank is from six to eight feet high; 
 quite a level plain sweeps off to the eastward, offering a good 
 town site. A few acres are cleared, but some oaks have been 
 spared. Two buildings occupy the open space, namely, Jim 
 Paull's cabin and the Mineral agency. The last named is a 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 good log structure, costing $1,500. Mr. Paull's cabin is about 
 eight feet by ten, with a door, but no window and low roof. 
 This is the hotel of the place, par excellence; chief entertain- 
 ment, whisky, tobacco and Jim's stories. Mr. Paull is a 
 character hailing from Old Virginia, a generous, honest, 
 fearless, backwoodsman. Ontonagon is the rallying point on 
 the west for copper hunters. Sunday is the day when the 
 crowds, pouring in from the woods, there most do congre- 
 gate. A wild, nomad set truly ! Whisky is then fearfully 
 punished and punishes in return. Bar fights are common. 
 The little clearing swarms with people. The white tents 
 gleam up and down on the banks. Gambling is the amuse- 
 ment of those who do not fight. At such times Mr. Paull 
 has much business on hand with the drunken half-breeds. 
 He is equal to the occasion. He had a rencontre with ine- 
 briated John Champaign. Old John was a powerful half- 
 cast, gentle as a lamb when sober, but a devil when in liquor. 
 Already drunk, he presented himself at Jim's bar and 
 demanded more whiskey. He was refused. Thereupon he 
 challenged Mr. Paull to fight. The southern blood was up 
 in an instant. Jim leaped over the counter, seized a spade 
 and made a pass at John's head; the blow glanced and struck 
 Captain Graham and nearly brought him down. Meantime 
 John darted a knife at Jim's abdomen, but only the waist- 
 band was cut. Now Jim raised the spade again and brought 
 the edge thug down upon John's head. He sank to the 
 ground without a moan, quivering like a stricken ox. The 
 place ran red with blood, and John was dragged off the scene 
 by the hair of his head. He was around all right, next day. 
 Paull, afterward, in graphically relating the story of the fray, 
 would say. '' T tuck him the second time.' 1 
 
 Poor Mr. William Schlatter was a denizen of Ontonagon 
 at this time. He was a gentleman of fine education and 
 possessed great talent as a draughtsman; but he was the 
 bond slave of whisky WOULD have it, somehow. Among 
 our camp stores was a bottle of pungent physic. One day, 
 when the tent was empty, Mr. William stole cautiously in, in 
 
48 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 search of whisky. He eagerly clutched the bottle of physic 
 and drank freely thereof before he discovered his mistake. 
 The consequences may be imagined, not described. The poor 
 gentleman was afterwards frozen to death on the hill back of 
 the Quincy mine. When discovered, he was lying meekly on 
 his back, with his hands folded on his breast, and his hat 
 placed reverently by his side. He had chosen a spot where 
 the branches of the trees opened so he could see the stars. 
 He died bravely, looking into the heavens ! The old pioneers 
 will remember him. 
 
 Col. A. B. Gray, attached to the mineral agency, afterward 
 Chief Surveyor on Mexican Boundary Survey, and, later 
 still, a Col. of Confederate Engineers, killed on the Missis- 
 sippi river, once went with Mr. Paull after a big mass located 
 by an Indian geologist somewhere in the region of lake 
 Agogeebic. The party sailed mysteriously from Copper Har- 
 bor and landed at Iron River, and then took to the woods, 
 guided by the Indian. On the evening of the third day the 
 guide announced that they were near the mass, but they 
 didn't see it. He had lost his reckoning; they would find it 
 on the morrow without fail. They tramped all the next day 
 and reached the spot where the mass had been. But the evil 
 Manitou had carried it off! Was angry with white man ! 
 The lively little Colonel threatened to shoot the lying Indian; 
 Mr. Paull proceeded to Castigate the gay deceiver, who, divin- 
 ing trouble, ran into the woods and was seen no more. Travel 
 worn, out of provisions, our deluded ones started for the 
 nearest water, and finally came out at L'Anse with their 
 faith in Indian geologists much shaken. Col. Gray related 
 this story to the writer, under the genial skies of Mexico, 
 in the old homes of the Aztecs of the Gila that mystic peo- 
 ple who may have been the same race as the " Ancient 
 Miner " who worked at the mass of copper discovered by Mr. 
 Knapp in the ancient diggings at the Minnesota Mine. Who 
 knows? Paul still resides at Ontonagon, and takes great 
 pleasure in relating how he found the copper rock and scared 
 off Eldred and his Indians. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 49 
 
 The copper boulder noticed by the earliest travelers was 
 the cause of many strong delusions. Dr. Houghtoii saw and 
 described this mass, as lying in the westerly fork of the 
 Ontonagon river, twenty-six miles from its mouth. Hough- 
 ton and Bristol say, "this mass was removed by Julius 
 Eldred, and after considerable pieces had been cut from it, 
 was weighed in New York, and found to weigh 3,708 pounds 
 net avoirdupois/ 1 (They were mistaken. The honor belongs 
 to Paull, who found and removed the rock, and afterwards 
 sold it to Eldred, as before stated.) The writer of this sketch 
 finds in his note book the following memoranda: date, sum- 
 mer, 1846. " I saw 011 a rude raft, tied up near the mouth of 
 the river, a slab-like mass of pure copper several feet in 
 length, worn smooth and spotted all over with silver. This 
 float was found up the river in the drift; it is a great curi- 
 osity. Many arc the conjectures as to whence it came. Dr. 
 Jackson thinks it came on an iceberg from Isle Royale. 
 Why ? " Who found this mass, and brought it out, the writer 
 has no data for ascertaining. 
 
 About a mile up the river, Mr. Cash had opened a farm on 
 the west bank of the river; he finally made it a success. . This 
 pioneer resided in Ontonagon county until the day of his 
 death, about four years ago. He was a useful and much 
 respected citizen. Colonel Whitllesey, the distinguished geolo- 
 gist and writer, a graduate of West Point Academy, explored 
 the Ontonagon region very thoroughly in 1846-'7. South- 
 east of Ontonagon, on the Range, there was a vast amount of 
 exploring done and, at points, regular mine work was begun. 
 At the Algonquin mine, quite a clearing had been made, and 
 a force of miners were at work on an epidote lode showing 
 considerable copper. Mr. Bushnell was superintendent of this 
 company. The surface of the whole country was wild and 
 broken, and there were many out-crops of Trap, a favorable 
 condition for exploration. 
 
 Up the river, on the east bank, some miners were working 
 on an epidote vein which yielded considerable bunch copper. 
 This point was near the afterward famous Minnesota mine. 
 
50 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Iron Elver. Exploring parties had penetrated the region 
 drained by this river, and locations were made. The Porcu- 
 pine mountains were also thoroughly explored and located, 
 though unsurveyed. Nor did the bold copper and silver mine 
 hunters pause at the limits of the State of Michigan; they 
 pressed onward to the head of the lake and thence, following 
 around the north shore, explored the deep bays and islands 
 of that rugged coast, and, after weeks of dangerous naviga- 
 tion, in frail boats, they finally rested at the falls of Ste. Marie. 
 
 This completes our hasty and imperfect sketch of the first 
 crusade, so to speak, and the beginning of permanent mine 
 industry and actual settlement in the Copper mines of Lake 
 Superior. 
 
 It remains for us to sweep with the utmost rapidity over 
 the canvass which the local events of thirty years has crowded. 
 In the space allotted, it would be impossible to do justice to 
 this teeming period. We dare attempt only the briefest 
 mention. 
 
 The closing down of the winter of 184:7- 1 8, brought gloom 
 and despondency. The "Cliff 11 was really the only bright 
 spot in the whole horizon. 
 
 The discovery of the great Minnesota lode in 1847, near the 
 Ontonagon river, was a memorable and salutary event. It 
 gave a new impetus to mining, revived hope in despondent 
 breasts, and inspired confidence in all. It was the beginning 
 of a new era in progress and discovery. TJiis grand mine, 
 for many years, produced mass copper in great abundance; 
 much native silver was also raised. During its active career 
 this mine divided among its stockholders nearly, if not quite, 
 $2,000,000, we believe. 
 
 Mr. Knapp, w.e believe, was the first superintendent. 
 Messrs. Roberts and Townsend were, for a decade or more of 
 years, the sagacious managers or agents. Captain William 
 Harris acquired here an enviable reputation as chief mine 
 captain. Very many gentlemen, since prominent in the cop- 
 per mines, acquired their experience at this mine. The 
 National and Rockland were immediate neighbors on the 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 51 
 
 same lode. In this community we found in 1847 the follow- 
 ing named gentlemen: Drs. Flanner and Osborne, Messrs. I. 
 N. Wright, Thomas Buzzo, Button, Webb, Richards, Cheno- 
 weth, Hoyt, F. G. White, Mr. Anthony, Mr. Sanderson. Mr. 
 ooper, of Pittsburgh, was a conspicuous figure in . the 
 National, as he was in the Cliff and many other enterprises. 
 All along the range, both east and west of the river, mining 
 operations were, for a time, active. Of the names that we 
 can now recall, we note those of Messrs. A. C. Davis, S. S. 
 Robinson, L. M. Dickens, W. H. Stevens, Captain Hardie, Mr. 
 Sales, Hon. W. E. Dickinson, Mr. Roberts, Captain Martin, 
 Mr. Buzzo, Sr..Mr. Spaulding, Mr. Coburn, all chief mine man- 
 gers or proprietors. The nourishing village of Rockland 
 sprang up under the nurture of the Minnesota and National. 
 Messrs. Benjamin T. Rogers, Phelan, Johnson and Judge Alan 
 were prosperous citizens of that town. 
 
 Ontonagon village, the county seat and sea port of the 
 county, grew rapidly and became the handsomest town on 
 Lake Superior, before Marquette arose to claim precedence. 
 The people were refined and enterprising. Among the good 
 citizens, Mr. Lew Dickins. one of the oldest of the pioneers, Mr. 
 Paull, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Sales, Mr. Cash, Mr. Jones, Honorable 
 Jay A. Hubble, present member of Congress from the Ninth 
 District of Michigan, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Close, Mr. Carson, State 
 Senator Willard, Mr. Condon, Mr. Holland, Mr. Beaser and 
 Mr. Devereaux, were conspicuous names. Thomas F. Mason 
 was pecuniarily interested in the Minnesota mine. He vis- 
 ited the country at an early day, and has many claims to the 
 rank of a pioneer. He has occupied important and controll- 
 ing positions in the Quincy and several other mines. Mr. 
 Horatio Bigelow, also, in all the copper counties, has filled 
 acceptably, many responsible directorial and financial posi- 
 tions. Our space will not permit of even a passing notice of 
 the numerous mines that have flourished in Ontonagon 
 county. The abatement of the copper yield of the Minne- 
 sota and National, among other causes, has placed the county 
 under a cloud. But its mineral resources are great, and we 
 
52 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 think the time is not distant when some new discovery, or a 
 more favorable set of circumstances, will make that district 
 once more prosperous and happy. The very best mining coun- 
 tries have had their ups and downs, and so it will ever be. 
 
 Ancient Mine Works. All along the Trap Ranges ancient 
 mining works are numerous. The first discovery of one of 
 them was, according to Dr. J. W. Foster, made in the winter 
 of 1847-'8, by Mr. Samuel 0. Enapp on the Minnesota Com- 
 pany's grounds. One pit opened by Mr. Enapp, is thus 
 described. "When he had penetrated to a depth of eighteen 
 feet, he came to a mass of native copper, ten feet long, three 
 feet wide, and nearly two feet thick, and weighing over six 
 tons. On digging round the mass, it was found to rest on 
 billets of oak, supported by sleepers of the same material. 
 The wood, from its long exposure to moisture, was dark-col- 
 ored and had lost its consistency. It opposed no more resist- 
 ence to a knife blade than so much peat. The earth was so 
 firmly packed as to support the mass of copper. The ancient 
 miners had evidently raised it about five feet and then aban- 
 doned the work as too laborious. The number of ancient 
 hammers he took from this and other excavations, exceeded 
 ten cart loads. They were made of greenstone and porphyry 
 boulders. Selecting a stone of the desired size and form, the 
 ancient miner cut a grove, arched it so that it might be secured 
 by a withe, and thus wielded as a sledge hammer." 
 
 The instances of similar works elsewhere are too common 
 and well known to be dwelt upon. There is scarcely a pro- 
 ductive vein or lode in these districts, that did not show 
 traces of ancient works. Mr. Hulbert found them at the 
 Calumet, leading down to the conglomerate belt. Hon. 
 Samuel W. Hill, some two years ago, discovered pits and 
 trenches on Isle Roy ale of great magnitude and of surpassing 
 interest. He states that those works exceed in extent all 
 other works of the kind heretofore seen in the copper region 
 put together. The Minong mining company, Mr. A. C. 
 Davis, Supt., is successfully operating in a system of those 
 pits, which covers a space 400 feet wide and 1^- miles long. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 53 
 
 An army of ancient miners must have wrought there many 
 
 Float copper is also of common occurrence; it often leads 
 to the discovery of veins in the immediate neighborhood 
 The largest pure mass found in modern times was cut up by 
 Mr. Jacob Houghton, Agent of the mine on the Mesnard 
 Mining Company's land, near Hancock. It weighed eighteen 
 tons. It was found in the woods, and was covered with moss. 
 It had been worked at by the ancient miner. Much charcoal 
 was found under it; its top and sides were beaten smooth; 
 marks of stone hammers were apparent. All projections, ever}' 
 bit of copper that could be pounded off had been carried away. 
 The ancient man then left the pure, noble mass, doubtless 
 feeling a supreme disgust at his inability to remove the treasure. 
 
 This mass had evidently been forcibly torn from its bed, 50 
 feet distant the Epidote lode by an iceberg. Subsequent 
 mining disclosed its original bed, or matrix. 
 
 PORTAGE LAKE COPPER DISTRICT. 
 
 This district, at the present time the most prominent, did not 
 attain to much note prior to the year 1860. Mr. Ransom Shel- 
 den, who now resides at Houghton, as we have already stated 
 settled at Portage Entry in 1847. For a time he traded with 
 the Indians, but his summers were spent on the Range in 
 exploring. Although not a mineral expert, or highly edu- 
 cated, he acquired a good practical knowledge of the vein 
 phenomena of the country, multiplied field-notes and, in the 
 course of time with the assistance of capitalists, he suc- 
 ceeded in purchasing many sections of mineral lands of 
 value, which ultimately placed him and his partner, Mr. C. C. 
 Douglass, among the largest and wealthiest landed proprietors 
 in the upper peninsula. 
 
 In 18r>2 he removed to the Quincy mine and lived in a 
 small log house on the hill side. In 1854 he removed to 
 Houghton, built the log house which stands across the street 
 from his present mansion, and the old log store which stands 
 opposite Smith & Harris 1 store. In 1857, Houghton con- 
 
54 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 tained, by count, 40 buildings including shanties. It is now 
 a flourishing village of 3,000 people, and is the county seat. 
 
 In the decade, 1850 to 1860, Portage Lake mine industry 
 was of slow growth, with many pull backs arid clouded with 
 doubt and uncertainty, and not very highly esteemed by the 
 magnates of the Cliff and Minnesota. On the south side of 
 the lake mining at first was most active. The Isle Royale, 
 Portage, Huron, Shelden and Albion, were wrought with 
 more or less vigor. Three of these companies had con- 
 structed small stamp mills on the lake shore. C. C. Douglass 
 managed the Portage and other properties J. H. Forster, for 
 a brief term in 1857, was Supt. of the Portage. Mr. Rick- 
 ard was at the Isle Royale, afterwards Mr. Dickinson and Mr. 
 Hopkins, and later still, Mr. Eschweiler and John Mabbs. 
 Captain Edwards was at the Albion, and had constructed 
 a saw mill near his family residence. Mr. Shelden was 
 active in mine operations on both sides of the lake. 
 Under the management of Mr. Sam'l W. Hill, the " old war- 
 horse" of Houghton and Keweenaw counties, with Messrs. 
 Thos. M. Mason and John Simpkins as directors and financial 
 men in New York, the QUINCY MINE, in 1860, had emerged 
 into the position of a first-class mine. Mr. Hill was assisted 
 by Mr. Nathaniel Simpkins, clerk; Capt. Hardie, chief mine 
 captain; Mr. Quinn, Mr. Duncan, and the Pattersons, with Mr. 
 Scheurman, Stamp mill Supt. The Messrs. Emerson, civil 
 and mine engineers, were for many years connected with the 
 mine Mr. Luther Emerson is there still. Professor George 
 Emerson is now filling the chair of civil and mine engineer 
 in the University of Missouri, at Rolla. Mr. S! S. Robinson 
 succeeded Mr. Hill as Supt. in 1860. In 1861-'2 the Quincy 
 reached a dividend paying point, which it has maintained 
 ever since having divided to its stockholders $1,890,000. 
 The deepest shaft in this mine is about 1,800 feet. Mr. Corey 
 is the present agent; Mr. Clift, mine Capt.; Quinn, 2d. 
 
 Pewabic and Franklin Companies. These companies are 
 contemporaneous with the Quincy, and are working on the 
 same lode. They were opened by Mr. Chas. H. Palmer and 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 55 
 
 Mr. Win. B. Frue, and placed upon a favorable footing. In 
 1857, we saw Captain Frne hauling out masses of copper at 
 the Pewabic. from open trenches on the lode, with oxen. From 
 Oct., 1860 to 1865, these mines were under the management 
 of John H. Forster, agent, assisted by captains John Gun- 
 dry, John Ryan, I. P. Hodgson, J. C. Hodgson and John 
 McCrystal. E. I. Loring, Esq., of Boston, was Treasurer, 
 and Chas. Emery, Sec'y- These mines, during the term men- 
 tioned, paid handsome dividends (the Pewabic, $270,000; 
 the Franklin, $160,000,) besides adding largely to the mine 
 plant and liquidating a large indebtedness. Messrs. Chas. 
 Wheeler, James Blandy, John Blaine, John Rice, Carlos 
 Watson, Henry Lewis and Chas. Smith were clerks. The 
 Pewabic and Franklin each had four heads of Ball's stamps, 
 and separate tram-roads leading thereto. Mr. Cleaves was 
 Supt. of the latter, and Mr. W. T. Forster of the former 
 mill. The Franklin company introduced the first locomotive 
 seen in the copper mines, and the first skip car. Mr. John- 
 son Vivian is at present agent of these mines. 
 
 The copper smelting works on Portage Lake were begun 
 in 1860 by Col. Brigham, of Boston. Mr. John Williams 
 was chief smelter and agent for several years. Mr. John R. 
 Grout, the very able chief manager, has brought these works 
 to a position of high excellence and effectiveness not exceeded 
 by any other works of the kind in the world. 
 
 Whereas the counties, or copper districts of Keweenaw 
 and Ontonagon were mainly distinguished for their great 
 fissure veins which produced native copper in masses, often 
 of enormous dimensions and great purity, the Portage Lake 
 district is almost destitute of true fissure veins, (the small 
 cross-courses found thus far, being destitute of copper in 
 paying quantities,) and has relied exclusively upon stamp 
 lodes for products and success. There are several of these 
 lodes of prominence, namely, the Isle Roy ale, Pewabic, Han- 
 cock, South Pewabic or Atlantic, Allouez Osceola and Calumet. 
 These lodes run with the formation, that is, about 33 degrees 
 east of north; all are amygdaloidal in character, except the 
 
56 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Calumet Osceola and Allouez, which are conglomerates, and 
 yield from two to five per cent, mineral. Most of the mines 
 working upon these lodes or belts, raise some heavy copper in 
 irregular masses, technically called " mass and barrel work." 
 This kind of mineral is freed from rocky impurities by means 
 of sledging or hammerings, and is then sent direct to the 
 smelting works for treatment. But at least 70 per cent, of 
 the mineral raised from these mines is what is termed stamp 
 rock. The conglomerate belts are almost exclusively stamp 
 rock. Occasional rounded boulders are found in the matrix, 
 containing so large a percentage of copper and of such con- 
 siderable size that they are sent direct to the smelt house. 
 
 The stamp rock is the finer grades of native copper from 
 the size of a walnut, buck-shot, bird shot, down to the finest 
 flour combined with the vein-stone, or matrix of the lode. 
 It is associated with a great variety of beautiful minerals, 
 such as calcite, quartz, phreite, table spar, laumonite, chlorite 
 epidote and soft brown amygdaloid. In the conglomerate 
 the copper is the cementing material which binds the 
 boulders, pebbles and sand together in a hard, tough mass. 
 After being mined, the reduction of the stamp rock to what 
 is called mineral fit for reception at the smelting works, 
 necessitates the use of powerful machinery, known as stamps 
 or stamp mills. Hence we find on Portage Lake many mills 
 of this character, of enormous proportions and great exe- 
 cution. The mills of the Calumet & Hecla company on 
 Torch Lake, for example, with seven heads of steamp stamps, 
 treat no less than 800 tons of hard copper-cemented rock 
 each twenty-four hours, reducing said rock to fine sand and 
 slime. The sand and copper as they flow from under the 
 stamps, which by the most violent pounding conceivable, 
 have forced a dissolution of particles, long wedded in the 
 mine, fall upon Collum's patent washers and finishers. 
 These washers, in great numbers, neatly adjusted, and moved 
 by the great engine of the place, and with nicely graduated 
 streams of water flowing through them, separate the copper 
 from the waste sand; the copper, by its own gravity, settling 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 57 
 
 in the bottom of the wired jiggers, or falling into boxes 
 through Asmus' self-dischargers, while the sand, flowing over 
 tne aprons of the jiggers, fall into launders or sluice boxes, 
 and is conducted by a rush of water into the lake or other 
 place of deposit. 
 
 The mineral, assorted and numbered, is placed in barrels 
 and sent to the smelting works to be converted into ingots, 
 cakes and bolts ready for market. Well dressed mineral will 
 yield about 80 per cent, ingot copper. 
 
 A large quantity of water is used in the various processes 
 at one of these mills say from 1,500 to 2,000 gallons per 
 minute. A powerful pumping engine is attached to most 
 mills, and this large volume of water is forced to the top of 
 the mill, in some cases 40 to 50 feet high. 
 
 A mill of the character above described consumes from 
 fifteen to fifty cords of mixed wood every twenty-four hours, 
 or bituminous coal in relative proportion, according to num- 
 ber of tons of rock treated. Hence, a large mill with its 
 two gangs of operatives, its wood choppers, teamsters and 
 general supply men, affords occupation for quite a numerous 
 community. 
 
 The monthly cost of operating such a mine as the Calu- 
 met & Hecla, in all departments, including a railroad five 
 miles long, is about $100,000. The monthly product of ingot 
 copper is about 800 tons worth about $300,000. 
 
 VILLAGE OF HANCOCK. 
 
 This place was laid out in 1858. The first store erected 
 was by that enterprising firm, the Leopolds. At one time 
 Hancock was destroyed by fire. It is now a very flourishing, 
 enterprising town, growing rapidly. It speaks for itself. 
 President Holland's narrow gauge railroad terminating at 
 this point is the latest triumph in this district. The days of 
 Indian trails and dog trains are indeed gone! 
 
 We deeply regret that the prescribed limits of this paper 
 cannot be exceeded. We would like to make further mention 
 of the Portage district of its older and newer mines its 
 
58 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 many local enterprises and its industrious, go-ahead, gener- 
 ous, cultured people. We must content ourselves with say- 
 ing that prior to 1866, the Huron mine had attained promi- 
 nence under the agency of Mr. E. J. Hulbert. Also, that the 
 South Pewabic and Adams (now Atlantic,) were discovered, 
 opened and equipped, having four of Ball's largest stamps, by 
 agent William B. Frue, assisted by Messrs. David Hodgson, 
 John Rice, William Ryan, William Noble, Henry Lewis, 
 Joseph Ames and William T. Forster. The mine is now 
 managed by Mr. Robert. Finally, the greatest discovery 
 made in the district was about the year 1866 iliefind of the 
 great Calumet conglomerate, by Mr. E. J. Hulbert. It 
 would be like attempting to paint the lily to describe this 
 mine. Mr. I. N. Wright is tne chief agent at the head of 
 this mammoth concern. 
 
 The Osceola, on the Calumet lode, is a promising new 
 mine. Hon. F. G. White, agent. 
 
 The Allouez is another new concern on the Allouez lode. 
 Capt. William Harris, agent. 
 
 As intimately connected with the mines, we mention the 
 Portage River Improvement. This work began in the fall of 
 1859; was opened to navigation in the summer of 1860. The 
 money to build it was contributed by the local mining com- 
 panies and Messrs. Shelden and Douglass. Mr. W. W. 
 Williams was the contractor, Mr. John H. Forster, engineer. 
 
 PORTAGE LAK.E AJO) LAKE SUPERIOR SHIP CANAL. 
 
 This work, predicted by Mr. Wm. A. Burt, a generation 
 ago, was finished in the year 1873. About seven years were 
 consumed in its construction. It is 2i miles long, 100 feet 
 wide, with heavy breakwaters on lake Superior, and cost sev- 
 eral millions of dollars. The Messrs. Avery & W'ells were 
 contractors and proprietors. J. N. Greene, C. E., planned 
 the work, and began it. Mr. John H. Forster was engineer 
 thereon during the administrations of Gov. Baldwin, and for 
 two years under Gov. Bagley. These canals have added 
 greatly to the commercial importance of Portage Lake. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 59 
 
 Before the Portage River improvement was made, and prior 
 to I860, Portage lake was difficult of access. At the earliest 
 time, the lake steamers used to land passengers in small 
 boats, at the portage; a portage of two miles had to be made, 
 most of the way through a tamarack swamp, and then the 
 traveler was rowed in a small boat, to Houghton. In 1857, 
 steamers began to run to Portage Entry. They anchored in 
 the roadstead, and landed freight and passengers upon scows, 
 which were towed into the river and up the lake by small 
 tugs. There was only three feet of water on the bar at the 
 mouth of the river. Several days were consumed in dis- 
 charging a steamer, and if a storm came on, the boat had to 
 cut and run to ITAnse, and there await favorable weather. 
 The arrival and departure of steamers at the Entry was a 
 matter of much uncertainty, and passengers were often 
 detained there several days, in consequence. Many will 
 remember vividly the days of waiting in Edgerton's log cabin 
 in the swamp, in mosquito time, with scarce a rood of dry 
 land to stretch one's limbs upon. The bill of fare did not 
 outrival Delmonico's, and the softest bed to be procured was 
 a blanket spread upon a pine puncheon. Cards and whisky 
 were the only and questionable resources from utter misery* 
 We are afraid that the amount of profanity evolved then, 
 under trying circumstances, was sufficient to demoralize the 
 neighboring community of bull frogs, for many generations. 
 Capt. James Bendry, as commander of the slow-sure tug, 
 Pratt, was a prominent figure in those waters. He could 
 steer his vessel over the mud flats and through the sinuous 
 river, just as well asleep as awake. . During the busy season 
 he never undressed, or laid down for weeks, and the little 
 sleep he got was while standing at the wheel; the Pratt, like 
 a thing of life, going where she had a mind to. Like a mud 
 turtle, she rather affected a soft, oozy point to run her nose 
 upon. Passengers were generally fortunate if they reached 
 Houghton the same day of their departure from the Entry, a 
 distance of fourteen miles such were the delays and dangers 
 of navigation. The delights of this voyage were greatly 
 
60 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 augmented when Captain Beiidry was towing a scow loaded 
 with a thousand kegs of powder, alongside his brave tug. 
 The scenic effect was increased if your journey was protracted 
 into the dark night ; for then the millions of sparks from the 
 wood fuel could be seen pouring out of the flue, and falling 
 in showers upon the powder. Passengers speculated, the 
 while, as to the probabilities of a speedy transfer to another 
 world, but the jolly captain never lost his aplomb, or showed 
 the white feather and what's better, he never blew up; for 
 our old friend is still an active and useful citizen of Baraga. 
 When he does receive his final marching orders, he will be 
 sadly missed. Mr. Carlos D. Shelden also commanded the 
 rival steamer, Princess. 
 
 The very latest water-way improvement is the ship canal, 
 about two miles long, cut through the marshes between Por- 
 tage and Torch lakes. This work was finished in September, 
 1875. It was executed by E. T. Williams & Co., with their 
 powerful dredges. The entire cost was about $100,000; this 
 sum was furnished by the Calumet & Hecla, Mining Co. The 
 largest steamers and coal-laden vessels on the lake, now dis- 
 charge at their docks on Torch lake, the lake terminus of their 
 railroad. 
 
 We record here the names of such mining-men as we can 
 recall, not previously mentioned, who have wrought in the 
 Portage district, many of them on the list of pioneers, name- 
 ly: Messrs. R. J. Wood, A. B. Wood, H. Q. F. D'Aligny, 
 C. E., Jacob Houghton, Mr. Crofts, Mr. Hague, Mr. Worm- 
 inghouse, Mr. Swift, Mr. Bennetts, the Pryors, Austin 
 Mabbs, Captain Moody, Graham Pope, Alexander Pope, 
 S. L. Smith, Wm. Harris, John and Richard Hoar; captains 
 Dunn, Northey, McDonald, Roberts, Beesly brothers, Reid, 
 Groodell, Asmus, Wallace, Cox, Chas. H. Palmer, Jr., Fleige, 
 Snell, Dr. Fuller, Dr. Rhodes, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Tompkins, 
 Dr. Robbius, T. J. Brown, T. M. Forster, Joseph Edwards, 
 Wm. Hendrick, Ross, Ellenbecker, Sullivan, E. S. Forster, 
 Winlock, Cowles, Wright, Hooper, Robinson, Todd, Fer- 
 guson, Tracy, Daniel, Fleming, Richard Uren, H. H. Mildon, 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 61 
 
 T. W. Edwards, John Mildon, Jeff Day, J, Q. McKernan, 
 and E. F. Douglass. 
 
 In Keweenaiv County, since 1854, the Central Mine Com- 
 pany has been working on a magnificent fissure-vein, which 
 has produced extraordinary masses of native copper. This 
 mine is situated under the greenstone, about midway between 
 Eagle River and Eagle Harbor; it has long pursued the 
 even tenor of its way ; it has been eminently prosperous a 
 beacon light in the land. Under Mr. Mills, as president, and 
 Mr. Petrie, as superintendent, and Mr. Dunstone, mine cap- 
 tain, it has occupied a most enviable position for years. It 
 has divided among its stockholders one million dollars. 
 
 The Phoenix (old Eagle River) is a promising mass vein 
 to-day, brought out by F. G. White, late superintendent. 
 
 ISLE ROY ALE. 
 
 This " Lone Isle of the Sea." has been the theatre of active 
 mine operations during the last two years. Under the super- 
 vision of Messrs. Hardie and Cole, the Island mine has been 
 partially developed upon a conglomerate belt, near Siskirvit 
 Bay. 
 
 THE MINONG MINING COMPANY OF DETROIT, 
 
 was organized December 16th, 1874, with a capital of one 
 million dollars. It owns 1.455 acres of land in sections 22^ 
 23, 26, 27, 34 and 35, township 66 north, range 35 west, 
 lying at the head of McCargo's cove, on Isle Roy ale. These 
 lands are traversed by heavy metalliferous belts and trans- 
 verse veins, carrying copper, elevated one hundred and fifty 
 feet above the lake, and distant but an average of half a mile 
 from the cove, which is about two and a half miles long and 
 one thousand feet wide, forming a perfectly land locked har- 
 bor. The exploration on this property, previous to the or- 
 ganization of the company, was induced by the discovery of 
 a very large amount of ancient mine work, which had been 
 done at some remote period in the past, the date of which 
 was antecedent to the traditions of the Indians, and by a race 
 who worked only with stone hammers and fire. The clean- 
 
62 v MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 ing out of sections of the transverse veins they had worked 
 to the depth of twenty-five feet, gave fine specimens of bar- 
 rel copper, and in the opening of a pit sixteen and a half 
 feet deep on the belt, there were found boulders of copper, 
 and one mass, weighing 5,720 pounds, bearing ancient ham- 
 mer marks, and evidently too heavy for those people to carry 
 away. The Minong Company did not commence work until 
 about the middle of June last; they had to construct every 
 thing to work with, having but the dense thicket of brush 
 and timber at their first landing. They have worked from 
 that time to the middle of November, a daily average of forty 
 men, and have shipped to Detroit 54,287 pounds of mass and 
 barrel copper, and adding to this the 5,720 pound mass, spoken 
 of above, which came from the same open cut, they have 
 60,007 pounds, producing 88 per cent, of ingot, leaving at the 
 mine over three hundred tons of very rich stamp rock. 
 They have also erected a substantial dock, store, warehouse, 
 and agent's, boarding and tenement houses sufficient to accom- 
 modate seventy men and families for the winter. This work, 
 with its promising results, has satisfied the stockholders of 
 the value of their property, the working of which will be by 
 an increased force, and by the addition of machinery for 
 stamping and hoisting, thereby insuring regular products 
 and with more economy. The business office of the company 
 is located at Detroit, and the following gentlemen are the 
 officers for the ensuing year: 
 
 Directors S. G. Wight, John Belknap, C. M. Garrison, 
 Charles Root, George W. Gilbert, Hiram Walker, I. B. Wayne. 
 
 President S. G. Wight. 
 
 Secretary and Treasurer C. M. Garrison. 
 
 Sometime between 1850-55 mining enterprises were con- 
 ducted on the Island on Rock Harbor. Several buildings 
 were erected, including a stamp mill. Mr. C. C. Douglass 
 was at one time a superintendent there. But later the whole 
 island was deserted, not a living soul remaining. We trust 
 that this rich island will soon become a prosperous mining 
 centre. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 63 
 
 Iii the summer of 1846 we saw a "half-breed 11 woman who 
 had been Crusoeing on the island. She and her husband had 
 been placed on the island in charge of property. Owing to 
 the wreck of the brig Astor in the fall of 1845, supplies 
 failed to reach them. Long they waited for succor, but 
 in vain, winter came on, snow covered the ground, and 
 ice gathered on the waters; then this lone pair were 
 left to their fate on this savage, desolate island u out of 
 humanity's reach. 11 The shrieking winds, as they swept 
 through the fir trees, and the black billows of the stormy 
 lake, spending their sullen fury upon the rocky coasts, were 
 the only sounds that could greet the ear during the long, 
 long dark winter of that high northern latitude. For com- 
 panionship they must depend upon each other. But, before 
 the winter was half spent, the husband sickened and died, and 
 the poor woman was left absolutely alone. Wrapping the 
 remains of her dead husband in a blanket, she removed them 
 from the hut and deposited them in the snow, where frozen 
 solid like a pillar of ice, they were preserved until the return 
 of spring permitted of other burial. The widow passed the 
 long winter as best she could, subsisting upon the flesh of 
 rabbits, which she managed to snare. Her bereavement, 
 hardships, and the terrors of isolation, wonderful as it may 
 seem, did not affect her health or mind. She was taken off 
 from the island in the spring, and was happy enough when 
 she reached the main land. 
 
 SILVER. 
 
 In the copper mines we find native silver in considerable 
 quantities, associated with the copper in the same veins or 
 lodes. But (unless we except the recent discoveries at Iron 
 river,) no distinctive silver veins of value have been, as yet, 
 discovered on the south shore of Lake Superior. At one time 
 the so-called silver lead regions of the Huron mountains 
 promised well; but the value of that section, with so many 
 possibilities, must still be written down not proven. From 
 our knowledge of the geology of the west coast of America, 
 
64 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 we are of the number who believe in the Huron mountain 
 region. Although not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, 
 yet we believe that before the lapse of another decade, those 
 mountains will cast their evening shadows upon busy mining 
 camps. 
 
 Even in the copper district proper, why may we not hope to 
 find native silver veins? If the occurrence of this precious 
 metal is so common in almost every copper vein, or lode, from 
 the extremity of Keweenaw point to the Porcupines, why 
 may it not occur somewhere alone in paying quantities? 
 Will some learned gentleman rise and explain? 
 
 At the old Lake Superior mine, in 1846, we saw a great 
 deal of silver, which had been raised from a drift under Eagle 
 river. It had been washed and rounded, and that which we 
 saw, in a quart measure, was of about the size of hickory 
 nuts. It was placer silver; it had been removed from the 
 vein by water; tumbled about and polished and finally pre- 
 cipitated into a seam in the rock. 
 
 The JMCS of silver at the Cliff mine were sometimes very 
 large. Although the miners, doubtless, carried off the largest 
 proportion of this metal, yet the mine agent was enabled to 
 save a good many barrels each year. We believe the largest 
 chunk or nugget of pure native silver ever found in the 
 county weighed eighty pounds. In the mine the silver was 
 generally found in pockets or vuggs. Once in the night a 
 party of miners fired their blasts, and after the smoke had 
 cleared away they returned to their work. What was their 
 surprise to find a small cavern opened by their shots; with his 
 candle in hand one miner crept into the hole; his exclama- 
 tions of surprise and astonishment caused his companions to 
 poke their heads in. Here was a cavern several feet in extent, 
 whose walls glittered with sparkling calcspar and pure white 
 silver. It was like a fairy dream like the palace of Aladdin. 
 The "boys" after sufficiently admiring this exquisite cave 
 lying one thousand feet under the ground, where no ray of 
 sunlight had ever penetrated, set to work with picks to spoil 
 it. Their cupidity out- weighed admiration; powder keg 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 65 
 
 after powder keg of the pure silver was gathered, and hid 
 away under stull pieces until such time as it could be carried 
 out of the mine without detection. But the lynx-eyed mine 
 captain, next morning saw the cave the marks of the pick 
 on the walls in the silver yet adhering and demanded of 
 the "boys" where they had concealed the treasure. They 
 were compelled to disgorge and there remained to them 
 only the remembrance of that gorgeous chamber. What 
 became of the gnomes whose favorite chamber this doubt- 
 less was, did not transpire. 
 
 The Portage Lake mines, all of them, produce more or less 
 silver. Silver-pickers are employed at most of the stamp 
 mills to pick out the small scale silver from the copper. 
 
 The old Minnesota mine was celebrated for its silver waifs; 
 from first to last, tens of thousands of dollars of silver must 
 have been raised from the mine; but the honest miner, as 
 usual, came in for the lion's share. The moral tone is that it 
 would be wrong to steal copper, but legitimate to pocket 
 silver. 
 
 At the present time there is a strong probability, if not 
 certainty, that the Iron river district, in Ontonagon county, 
 will prove to be the La Plata so long pre-shadowed by the 
 mineral seers of the country. 
 
 Shall we ever find gold upon the south shore of the lake ? 
 is a question often asked. There is a tradition that Dr. 
 Houghton did find it somewhere, either in the Huron moun- 
 tains or in the Porcupines. But if he did so, the secret died 
 with him. Some two years ago the writer and a friend an 
 expert chemist and assayer found traces of gold in some 
 rock sent for treatment from the Iron river section. But we 
 were incredulous. Eighteen months later we ascertained 
 that our specimens had been salted by a Californian, who 
 carries about with him a small vial filled with gold dust, for 
 the deceiving of the natives the heathen Chinee. 
 
 In 1846, certain of the most sanguine explorers were hope- 
 ful of finding gold mines. The party to which the writer 
 was attached was sent to explore the country lying east of 
 
66 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 L'Anse, or south of Huron Bay, in search of copper and 
 gold. We encamped at the Methodist mission; leaving our 
 geologist, who was of the kind who never went into the 
 woods, and who judged of the vein phenomena by the speci- 
 mens brought to him by the practical explorer, we plunged 
 into the woods. Before night we had crossed the Huron 
 river and arrived at an inviting region of slate and trap rock, 
 with strong indications of mineral. In fact, a massive vein 
 of quartz, with some yellow ore, was discovered, cutting 
 through a high knob. Only a partial, hasty examination 
 could be made before night set in. It was determined to 
 encamp near the spot r so that a thorough examination could 
 be made next morning Much excited over the supposed 
 discovery of a gold bearing vein, we hurried .down the slope, 
 and camped by the side of a pool of water in a cedar swamp. 
 After partaking of a hasty cup of tea, bread, and a bit of 
 pork, roasted on a split stick by the fire, we sought, in the 
 dark, to erect some sort of shelter from the impending storm. 
 In the deep recesses of the woods, nature was quiet and calm 
 as death; but we could hear the deep-muttered thunder in 
 the southwest. We had but one small hatchet, and it was 
 no easy task to procure material for the most impromptu 
 hut. In the pitch dark, our feeble camp fire sent its rays 
 only a little way out into the gloom. We succeeded in cut- 
 ting two poles, reclining them against a giant cedar, and 
 heaping a few boughs upon them. Then we. crawled under 
 our wigwam (there was a brace of us), which, by the way, 
 was just spacious enough to cover our heads and shoulders, 
 most ungenerously leaving our inferior parts exposed to the 
 weather. Now, the thunder rolled right over our heads, and 
 the vivid lightning, illuminating the swamp, caused every 
 mossy trunk to resemble a weird spectre. The rain came 
 pattering down very gently at first, but soon the burdened 
 trees began to drop big drops upon our frail tenement, which 
 drops finally became streams. We soon became drenched 
 and almost afloat in a pool of water, and had to flounder out 
 and stand up in the mud. We stirred up the flickering fire, 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 67 
 
 and amused ourselves all night heaping dead limbs upon it 
 and trying to keep ourselves warm. The thunder storm 
 passed over toward the north-east, but the rain poured down 
 steadily the livelong night. The profound gloom, the dark- 
 ness that could be felt, the utter, helpless misery of those 
 long, dreary hours, in that cedar swamp, will never be for- 
 gotten. A half-drowned rat, a barnyard fowl after a rain 
 storm, are feeble figures to convey an idea' of our appearance 
 when day broke. Our zeal as volunteer explorers was much 
 moderated; yet we returned to the quartz vein, filled our 
 haversack with the specimens, and started at once for L' Anse. 
 The rain continued to pour down, and the thick underbrush 
 was loaded with water, so that our tramp in was a continuous 
 bath, for, if the rain falling direct did not soak us enough, 
 the wet brush finished the business by rubbing it in. 
 
 We reached camp at noon, jaded and hungry, but we had 
 courage enough left to place our bag of gold specimens 
 triumphantly at the feet of our learned professor of geology 
 and mineralogy. After skillful manipulation with the blow 
 pipe and acids, he pronounced our quartz, quartz; our yellow 
 mineral, iron pyrites. Thus ended our first gold discovery. 
 So disgusted were all concerned, that we broke up camp and 
 sailed for Copper Harbor. Here our geologist left us. The 
 next time we saw the learned gentleman he was keeping 
 a corner grocery in San Francisco, in 1849. A two years' 
 exploration with pick and shovel, in the plains of California, 
 taught us the appearance and value of the yellow dross, in 
 more senses than one. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. f 
 
 The old adage, all is not gold that glitters, has an appli- 
 cation to the copper mines of Lake Superior. All the mines 
 are not Calumets or Cliffs. There are many idle mines in the 
 region and there have been many lamentable failures. 
 Why is it so? Many are the causes of disaster and failure. 
 We cannot stop to enumerate them all; we will merely 
 allude to some of them. 
 
68 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 In the first place, when the country was first opened to 
 mining, the geology of the range was little understood, and 
 the contents of veins were different in form from what had 
 been seen in other countries. The old miner from Europe 
 was about as much at loss how to manipulate the native cop- 
 per as the veriest tyro of native growth. Many mining 
 ventures, therefore, came to nought for want of sufficient 
 knowledge. 
 
 In the second place, all veins or lodes that are productive 
 at one place, or for a short distance, are not equally so 
 throughout the entire length. Hence, mines opened upon 
 well known veins or lodes of repute, in their extension may 
 find the vein rock so poor that the amount of copper raised 
 will not cover expenses. 
 
 In the third place, the length of the portion of vein or 
 lode owned or worked by a company, though the mine may 
 be rich, is insufficient to warrant large expenditures for mine 
 plant, and machinery. Hence a narrow, contracted policy 
 of operation, which soon ends in the closing of the mine. A 
 consolidation with neighboring mines, similarly situated, 
 would be an effectual remedy in such a case, and if followed 
 in many instances that could be adduced, would insure suc- 
 cessful mines. 
 
 In the fourth place, many stamp lodes of good percentage 
 of copper are idle to-day, because the managers have not had 
 the boldness or capital sufficient to provide adequate stamp 
 machinery. 
 
 And lastly, undoubtedly there has been opened, in specu- 
 lative times, mines based upon lean and hungry lodes, with- 
 out merit of any kind, and whose fate it was to absorb and 
 dissipate all the capital ever ventured in them. 
 
 We deem these statements, made in all fairness, due to the 
 copper mines and to strangers and legislators who visit the 
 country. 
 
 The copper mines of Lake Superior do not very much dif- 
 fer from any or all mining districts. Mining for the more 
 valuable metals has always been speculative in character and 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 always will be to the end of time. It is in the nature of 
 things. Wherever there is much uncertainty and occasional 
 enormous gains prizes in any enterprise, there will be 
 found the spirit of speculation if not gambling. One big 
 bonanza like the Comstock lode excites whole communities, 
 and peoples deserts. One big conglomerate mine like the 
 Calumet & Hecla fires the imaginations of all, and the waste 
 places of the Trap range teem (like dragon's teeth) with other 
 conglomerates, which shall rival the successful Calumet. 
 
 The business of copper mining on Lake Superior has 
 passed through many and great vicissitudes. Doubt, uncer- 
 tainty and gloom have more than once enshrouded the land. 
 Yet even when the tide of prosperity had run to the lowest 
 ebb, it has been met by an incoming wave which has carried 
 this industry to a higher point than it had previously attained. 
 The country is now blessed with a large, prominent and rap- 
 idly increasing population, whose homes and interests are 
 affixed to the soil; a large capital has accumulated, and as the 
 value of the mines, forests and fisheries is now assured beyond 
 peradventure, there is little reason for the apprehension of 
 great calamities and sweeping reverses in the future. 
 
 One of the darkest hours we remember for the copper min- 
 ing interests, was the first year of the war on the Union. 
 Every one supposed that the end had come that the mines 
 must close down that nothing was left to do but to shoulder 
 the musket and march to the South. Copper stocks fell to a 
 zero point; nobody would want our copper, and it must, per- 
 force, lie in the ground. The price of ingot copper fell to 17 
 cents, and the end came? No; as soon as the government 
 found that it had work to do, a large army and navy to arm 
 and equip, they turned to our own copper fields with eager de- 
 mand for a supply of copper, which could not be safely procured 
 from the old sources, in foreign lands. This demand greatly 
 stimulated mining, and created active business in all kindred de- 
 partments. It was not long before the price of copper 
 attained a highly remunerative point, and before the war 
 closed it reached the unprecedented figure of 50 cents per 
 
70 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 pound, or $1,000 per ton! This paid? Yes, indeed! But 
 there were drawbacks to this prosperity. The demands for 
 the army, the demands for miners and all other kinds of labor, 
 owing to the vigorous working of the old mines and the 
 springing up of new ones in every direction, explorations and 
 speculative movements rendered labor scarce, independent, 
 costly and refractory. Everything cost enormously; every- 
 body was making money, but all wanted more. There was a 
 great blossoming of new men superintendents and captains 
 of mines, promoted instanter from the ranks. It was a troub- 
 lous time. Intemperance, vice and crime ruled the hour. 
 Strikes among workmen, upon a large, combined scale, were 
 common during the winter months, and mine officers were 
 much exercised in their endeavors to control and regulate the 
 unreasoning, turbulent masses. Violent assaults, maiming, 
 and even manslaughter, were not uncommon occurrences, 
 and he who did not go around with a good revolver was 
 deemed foolhardy. At one time an appeal was made to the 
 Governor for arms, and fifty stand of muskets were sent for- 
 ward. Mine officers were drilled in the manual, ostensibly 
 for the purpose of fitting themselves for service in the army, 
 but really to be prepared to resist internal commotions. 
 Miners and laborers were composed of several nationalities, 
 but chiefly of Cornish, Irish and Germans. The first two 
 classes were bitterly hostile, and often assumed a belligerent 
 attitude in force, or would indulge in secret personal attacks, 
 which often terminated in murder. The older pioneers will 
 recollect the trouble which occurred at the Minnesota mine, 
 where the Irish and Cornish contended with desperate intent. 
 At Portage Lake these Greeks and Trojans, long before the 
 war, occasionally arrayed their forces, armed with picks, ham- 
 mers, guns and stones, and marching down the Portage hill 
 by different paths, entered the village of Houghton at ex- 
 treme ends, halted, and challenged each other to come on. 
 " Lay on, McDuff, and damned be he who first cries hold, 
 enough," was the cry; third parties always interfered and 
 prevented a collision en masse; but later in the day, individ- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 71 
 
 uals and squads, infuriated by villainous Pike's whisky, would 
 indulge in frequent bloody combats. At night the most 
 peaceable citizens were knocked down and beaten to a jelly. 
 At one time the Pewabic stamp mill was threatened with 
 sack. Some offended individuals proposed to clean out that 
 establishment one bright Sunday morning. Being warned 
 in time, the superintendent, Mr. T. Forster, prepared for the 
 emergency. He called in his men, armed them with chunks 
 of stamp copper, barricaded the doors, and attached the hose 
 to the boilers, so as to be able to deluge the assailants with 
 hot water. He was prepared to give his foes a warm recep- 
 tion, but they did not venture down the hill; they doubtless 
 smelt danger in the wind. 
 
 About the second year of the war, laborers became so 
 scarce that the mining corporations determined to send an 
 agent to Europe to induce immigration. An agent actually 
 went to Sweden and contracted with a large number of men 
 who finally made their appearance at Portage Lake. They 
 were billeted off to the several companies, but nine out of ten 
 refused to go to work or to abide by their solemn contracts 
 made in their own country. They had reached this free and 
 independent land without cost to themselves, and they pro- 
 posed to act a freeman's part and do just as they pleased. The 
 fact that the mining companies had expended $90,000 in their 
 transportation, and that they were required to work at good 
 wages, only a sufficient length of time to reimburse those 
 who had assisted them to reach this country, was of no 
 importance not worthy of a moment's consideration. But 
 one good came out of this venture at the time. Some forty 
 of the men volunteered to fill the draft quota and were 
 marched off to the wars, where some ill-natured ones chari- 
 tably hoped they might become food for confederate gun- 
 powder. This was the first introduction of the Scandinavian 
 upon Lake Superior. Its later fruits may be seen to-day in 
 the large, industrious class of this people now settled in the 
 copper and iron mines. They are generally esteemed as good 
 citizens. 
 
72 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 But, with the war ended, a more orderly and peaceable era 
 succeeded. Dull times followed, the price of copper fell; 
 many mines suspended operations, and labor was at a dis- 
 count. Hence, wise men became prudent and circumspect 
 in conduct they were obliged to or starve. For the last 
 decade there has been no general strikes in the copper mines, 
 even in prosperous times. Indeed, we should fail in duty 
 should we neglect to state that the laboring classes at the 
 mines are deserving of praise for the good order, industry 
 and temperance which, as a class, they have maintained for 
 many years. Their good example might well be imitated in 
 many mining districts that might be named, but notably, in 
 the coal fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Some of the very 
 brightest children in the public schools are the sons and 
 daughters of miners; and another thing must be said in 
 commendation of these, our worthy citizens; namely, they 
 do diligently attend to the scriptural injunction "increase 
 and multiply and replenish the earth.' 1 With a fine, healthy 
 climate to aid them, their achievements in this line are mar- 
 velous. 
 
 The rise and fall of prices had much to do with the success 
 of the copper mines. We note the fluctations for a series of 
 years, as follows: 
 
 July, 1860 21-J- cents per pound. 
 
 " 1861 17! " " 
 
 " 1862 2% " " 
 
 " 1863 32 " " " 
 
 " 1864 55 " " 
 
 After the war the price fell to 17 cents, and copper was a 
 drug in the market. It now sells at 22 to 24 cents. 
 
 Nothing in the copper mines of Lake Superior is more 
 remarkable and significant than the immense progress that 
 has been made in mining and kindred branches within the 
 last fifteen years. The rude skid shaft lining; the rickety 
 ladder, the awkward kibble, the clumsy chains, the whim, 
 the wheelbarrow, the horse and cart, and the old Cornish 
 stamps have all been superseded. In their places we find 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 73 
 
 the underground tram- way; the smooth-timbered shaft laid 
 with Trail, the man-engine to carry the men up and down the 
 mine; the eas} r running skip-car which dumps itself; the wire- 
 rope of Roebling's best; the powerful steam pumping and 
 hoisting engine with friction gear; the surface automatic rail- 
 way which rapidly moves the car from shaft to rock-house 
 " like a thing of life;" the vast rock-houses with steam ham- 
 mer and systems of Blake's stone-breakers preparing the 
 coarse stamp rock for further treatment at the stamps; the 
 efficient steam railroad carrying the mine product to the dis- 
 tant mill; the stamp mill, an immense building filled with 
 a maze of obedient machinery with steam stamps, each head 
 capable of pulverizing one hundred tons of hard copper-tied 
 rock into the consistency of fine sand and slime, each twenty- 
 four hours, washing and separating the copper at the same 
 time, are marvels of improvement. 
 
 This progress has been made under very trying circum- 
 stances, at the cost of infinite toil, expense and discourage- 
 ments. The miners found the country a howling wilderness 
 remote from the centres of population and supply ; half of 
 the year it was a region buried in snow, with the only outlet, 
 the lakes and rivers, closed by ice. If to-day our copper 
 mines are prosperous, it is owing, under Providence, to their 
 intrinsic worth, and the skill and indomitable energy of the 
 people, aided by non-resident capitalists. 
 
 The outlook for the future is bright. New discoveries will 
 be made; the country is yet in its infancy and freshness. 
 Not a tithe of the mineral ranges has been uncovered, and 
 there remains to the generations to come ample work and 
 almost unlimited wealth. 
 
 The Upper Peninsula of Michigan the Superior country 
 is destined to become a wealthy, populous and powerful 
 commonwealth. 
 
74 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 DIVIDENDS PAID. 
 
 The following table shows the amount of dividends paid to 
 shareholders by the several mines which have been profitably 
 wrought, together with amount of assessments and surplus: 
 
 Name of Company Assessments. 
 
 Calumet and Hecla .$800,000 
 
 Pittsburgh and Boston (Cliff) 110,000 
 
 Minnesota 440,000 
 
 Quincy ,. 200,000 
 
 Central 100,000 
 
 Pewabic ;'. 240,000 
 
 National , 150.000 
 
 Franklin 380,000 
 
 Ridge 200,000 
 
 Copper Falls .. , . , 500,000 
 
 Dividends. 
 
 $9,440,000 
 
 2,280,000 
 
 1,750,000 
 
 1,990.000 
 
 920,000 
 
 400.000 
 
 300,000 
 
 240,000 
 
 150,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 Surplus. 
 $4,000,000 
 
 20,666 
 
 385,000 
 140,000 
 25,000 
 40,000 
 10.000 
 43,000 
 45,000 
 
 Totals $3,120,000 $17,570,000 $4,708,000 
 
 Showing for the ten mines named, an excess in dividends 
 and surplus over expenditures of $19,158,000. Ten other 
 mines which have produced a very considerable amount of 
 copper, but have not yet attained a dividend paying basis, 
 have called assesments to the amount of $6,760,000. The 
 mines not enumerated in the dividend paying list, produced 
 in 1875 a little over 4,000 tons of mineral, worth $1,500,000. 
 Of these last named mines, some are rapidly nearing their 
 first dividends. The Osceola, in particular, gives promise of 
 a large production in the future. The Franklin, which paid 
 its last dividend in 1872, is again rising into prominence, and 
 the Atlantic, though not yet a dividend paying mine, ranks 
 fourth in the amount of mineral raised. 
 
 It will be noticed that there has been a steady increase of 
 production since 1867, and especially in the Portage Lake 
 district; Keweenaw county holds its own, but there is 
 a slight decrease in Ontonagon, as compared with 1873. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 STATEMENT OF COPPER PRODUCT FROM 1845 TO 1874. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1845 to 1854 7,642 
 
 1854 to 1858 f 11,312 
 
 1858 4,100 
 
 1859 4,200 
 
 1860 : 6,000 
 
 1861 7,500 
 
 1862 9,962 
 
 1863 8,548 
 
 1864 8,472 
 
 1865 10,791 
 
 1866 10,376 
 
 1867 11,735 
 
 1868 13,049 
 
 1869 15,288 
 
 1870 16,183 
 
 1871 16,071 
 
 1872 15,166 
 
 1873 18,638 
 
 1874 22,225 
 
 1875 22,802 
 
 Total 240,060 
 
 APPROXIMATE STATEMENT OF INGOT COPPER PRODUCED), AND ITS VALUE. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1845 to 1858 13,955 
 
 1858 3,500 
 
 1859 3,500 
 
 1860 4,800 
 
 18.61 6,000 
 
 1862 8,000 
 
 1863 6,500 
 
 1864 6,500 
 
 1865 7,000 
 
 1866 7,000 
 
 1867 8,200 
 
 1868 9,985 
 
 1869 12,200 
 
 1870 12,946 
 
 1871 , 12,857 
 
 1872 12,132 
 
 1873 14,910 
 
 1874 . . 17,780 
 
 1875 18,352 
 
 Value. 
 $9,000,500 
 1,886,000 
 1,890,000 
 2,610,000 
 3,337,500 
 3,402.000 
 4,420,000 
 6,110,000 
 5,145,000 
 4,760,000 
 4,140,000 
 4 592,000 
 5,368.000 
 5,696.240 
 6,171,360 
 7,774,720 
 8,200,500 
 8,180,800 
 8,390,860 
 
 Total 176,174 $101,075,480 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 TABULAR STATEMENT OF PRODUCTS. 
 
 The following table shows the product of the Lake 
 Superior Copper Mines in 1875: 
 
 PORTAGE LAKE AND KEWEENAW DISTRICTS. 
 
 MINE. TONS. LBS. 
 
 Calumet and Hecla 13,165 195 
 
 Quincy 1,763 1,315 
 
 Central (estimated) 1,150 
 
 Atlantic 1,089 898 
 
 Phoenix 964 140 
 
 Osceola 889 740 
 
 Cliff 824 1,341 
 
 Franklin 745 478 
 
 Allouez 850 
 
 Pewabic 397 1,795 
 
 Copper Falls 272 155 
 
 Petherick (estimated) 95 
 
 From other mines in Houghton and Keweenaw 
 
 Counties (about) 250 
 
 ONTONAGON DISTRICT. 
 
 Ridge 200 343 
 
 Minnesota 109 400 
 
 National 73 721 
 
 Nonesuch 30 986 
 
 Flint Steel 21 1,548 
 
 Adventure 18 1,380 
 
 Aztec 10 1,410 
 
 Rockland 9 1,073 
 
 Bohemian 5 1,263 
 
 Knowlton 3 1,923 
 
 Mass 2 186 
 
 Great Western 640 
 
 Total 22,941 1,930 
 
 Total Product in 1874.. . . 22,225 
 
 Increase in 1875 716 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 77 
 
 The copper interest of Houghton and Keweenaw counties 
 never presented a more favorable aspect than now, and it is 
 confidently hoped and believed that Ontouagon will, ere long, 
 assume her old time prominence as a mining region. 
 
 The Calumet and Hecla is the great copper mine of the 
 ivorld, and will, without doubt, maintain that distinction for 
 many years to come. The Quincy and Central hold their old 
 positions as dividend paying mines, while there are bright 
 prospects in the near future for not a few mines whose pro- 
 duction thus far has not been sufficient to return to share- 
 holders the capital expended. 
 
 The gross earnings of the Calumet and Hecla for 1875 
 approximated five million dollars! Ninety million of dollars 
 represents the actual yield of the Lake Superior Copper 
 Mines since 1860, a period of fifteen years ! Where can be 
 found another but partially developed mineral district in the 
 world, claiming a population of scarcely 25,000 souls, which 
 can present such a showing! 
 
78 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 THE ANCIENT COPPER MINERS OF LAKE 
 SUPERIOR. 
 
 BY JACOB HOUGHTON. 
 
 Geologists now find that the antiquity of man far antedates the era 
 assigned to his creation by the received chfonology, and submit the 
 evidences of their belief to an enlightened public sentiment. However 
 strange these new views with regard to the origin and history of our 
 race may appear, they cannot be disregarded. We must weigh the 
 value of observations, and press them to their legitimate conclusions. 
 The investigator at this day must not be trammeled, in the language of 
 Humboldt, by "an assemblage of doefinas bequeathed from one age to 
 another" "by a physical philosophy made up of popular errors."- 
 J. W. FOSTER. 
 
 The preparation of this paper is undertaken at the urgent 
 solicitation of the editor of this work. The limits into 
 which it is necessary to condense the facts, and the de- 
 ductions therefrom, are unavoidably contracted. To fully 
 elucidate the subject, and to present the comparative proofs, 
 would require a work of many pages, and involve an amount 
 of labor that could be given only by those who have at their 
 disposal the time to devote to the most fascinating study of 
 the day the pre-historic races of man. This will be the 
 more fully appreciated when the general statement is made, 
 that the traces which the ancient copper miners of Lake 
 Superior have left of the work performed by them, indicate 
 an intelligent and industrious race that their mining labors 
 extended through centuries of time- that there was a gen- 
 eral movement to the southward, through a vast number of 
 years, of the greater portion of the people that on the route 
 of this transition they have left a wonderful record of their 
 works, proving an advancing and increasing intelligence, 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 79 
 
 indicated by the ancient mounds throughout the United 
 States, and the ultimate achievement, in the erection of the 
 massive structures of Mexico and Central America. This 
 advancement is also indicated in the lesser arts, in the grad- 
 ual improvement in the numbers, forms and embellishments 
 of the utensils of the household, and of ornaments for the 
 person. Therefore, treating the subject with the brevity 
 required, the writer will make no excuse for the use of postu- 
 lates, while at the same time feeling confident that sufficient 
 connected proofs exist to warrant the assumptions that may 
 be made. 
 
 On the south shore of Lake Superior the works of the 
 ancient miners extend over a district of country comprising 
 what is known as the Trap range, having a length of one 
 hundred and fifty miles through Keweenaw, Houghton and 
 Ontonagon counties, Michigan, with a varying width of 
 from four to seven miles. They also wrought the copper 
 deposits of the Trap range of Isle Royale, covering an area 
 of about forty miles in length by an average of five miles in 
 width. Their mining operations were crude and primitive. 
 The process was to heat the embedding rocks by building 
 fires on the outcrops of the veins or belts, to partially disin- 
 tegrate the rocks by contraction produced by the sudden 
 throwing on of water, and to complete the removal of the 
 pieces of native copper by mauling off the adhering particles 
 of rock with stone hammers. This is attested by the pres- 
 ence, in all of the ancient pits, of large quantities of char- 
 coal, and of numberless hammers, the latter showing marks 
 of long usage. That the miners had not advanced to any 
 knowledge of the artificial elevation of water, is shown by 
 the fact that apparently, in all cases, the pits have only been 
 sunk to a depth where the limit of man-power in bailing out 
 the water is reached. Between the successive pits are ridges 
 of unremoved rock and soil, rather indicating that they were 
 left as dams to prevent the water from passing from a pit 
 already filled with water into one in process of being wrought. 
 The pits, the charcoal, the stone hammers and the imple- 
 
80 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 ments and tools, made of copper, are the only relics left of 
 the race that wrought these mines. Neither a grave, vestige 
 of a habitation, skeleton or bone has been found. Among 
 the Indians inhabiting the region, from the earliest acquaint- 
 ance of the white man, neither tradition or legend remained 
 of these ancient miners. The Indians themselves had no 
 knowledge of the existence of copper in the veins and belts, 
 so thoroughly had the debris of ages covered them. Their 
 knowledge was confined to the float pieces of copper in the 
 soil. 
 
 When considering the extent of country previously stated r 
 over which this mining work extended, the crude and slow 
 process of the labor and the enormous amount of work per- 
 formed, it becomes evident that the work extended through 
 centuries of time, and was carried on by a vast number of 
 people. The largest aggregation of ancient pits yet discovered 
 is on what is known as the Minong belt on Isle Royale. 
 Here, for a distance of one and three-fourths miles, and for 
 an average width of four hundred feet, the successive pits, 
 indicate the mining out of the belt (solid rock) to an average 
 depth of not less than twenty feet. Scattered over this- 
 ground are battered stone hammers, numberless, but running 
 into the millions. 
 
 It is not to be presumed that these ancient people were 
 unacquainted with the advantages of the division of labor. 
 There were undoubtedly miners, bailers of water, and men 
 whose part it was to manufacture tools and implements out 
 of the pieces of rough native copper produced by the miners. 
 Others were engaged in procuring and transporting food and 
 other necessaries of life, and still others were employed in 
 collecting and transporting from the shores of the lake the 
 rounded, water-worn boulders of diorite and porphyry, which 
 were used by the miners as hammers and sledges. 
 
 Many of these stone hammers have been grooved by 
 manual attrition or impact for the purpose of fastening them 
 into withes or split handles, but by far the greater number 
 are unwrought. rounded boulders which have been held in 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 81 
 
 the hand when in use. Mr. A. C. Davis, now of the Minong 
 mine, informed me that at one place, near the mouth of the 
 Ontonagon river, he had seen quite an area of ground strewn 
 with stone chips and broken and discarded pieces of diorite 
 and porphyry, indicating it to have been a workshop for pre- 
 paring the hammers before being transported inland. 
 
 The ancient miners made few mistakes in the selection of 
 deposits to be wrought. In almost every instance in the 
 places where they had carried on extensive mine work, have 
 been wrought the successful mines of these latter days. This 
 fact is often quoted to advance the idea that those ancient 
 people were gifted with some mysterious knowledge by which 
 they were able to discover and trace out mineral veins or 
 lodes. This day, when the divining rod is lost to faith, and 
 the mysteries of the alchemist have been opened to full 
 light by the science of chemistry, should be too late for such 
 a superstition. The explorers of to-day have, as aids to dis- 
 covery, the dip and the traverse needles, and still the most 
 experienced and observing of them in the reconnoisance of 
 the surface which overlies beds of magnetic iron ore, where 
 the needles develop the most activity, are simply enabled to 
 approximate conclusions, and are only satisfied when a full 
 development has been made by a system of costeaning. It 
 may be considered improbable that the ancient miners pos- 
 sessed any aid approaching to the value of the magnetic 
 needles of the present day. It is far more reasonable to 
 assume that the ancient miners, following comparatively 
 close upon the recession of the glaciers, occupied the country 
 at a period before the action of the elements had disin- 
 tegrated the surface of the rocks, and when the mineral veins 
 and beds or belts were exposed to view. In this connection 
 should be stated the fact that, without exception, the copper 
 deposits of the country are contained between the walls of 
 hard rocks (crystalline trap) that have served the purpose of 
 withstanding, to a great extent, the grinding force of the 
 glaciers. In consequence of this protection, they occupy the 
 high points of the country, and are now covered with a com- 
 
82 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 paratively small depth of soil, the product of the disinte- 
 gration of the rocks themselves; while the valleys of the 
 rivers and the lowlands bordering the lake have a greater 
 depth of drift, probably the deposits of the receding glacial 
 period. At the time the ancient miners were carrying on 
 their work, under a climate milder and far more inviting than 
 now, these high points were destitute of soil or trees, and for 
 timber and fuel for their mining work they resorted to the 
 valleys of the streams and the lowlands bordering the great 
 lake where, also, were carried on their agricultural pursuits. 
 
 The implements and tools into which the pieces of native 
 copper thus won from the rocks were fabricated, were axes, 
 knives, chisels, fleshers, spears, daggers, arrow-heads, awls, 
 needles and bracelets. These tools are found scattered in 
 wonderful profusion, from Lake Superior to Central America, 
 and from eastern Pennsylvania on the east, to Arizona on 
 the west. In 1870 I saw, at Pittston, Pennsylvania, several 
 of these tools, that had been recovered from the soil in that 
 vicinity ; and in a newspaper correspondence from Arizona, 
 in the winter of 1874-5 (Detroit Free Press), I was not in 
 the least surprised to see mentioned the discovery, in that ter- 
 ritory, of what was called by the correspondent, a copper foun- 
 tain. It matters not for what purpose the article may have 
 been used ; the fact of the find is sufficient for the present 
 purpose. These tools, however, have been found in the great- 
 est numbers buried in the works of the mound builders 
 throughout Wisconsin, lower Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
 nois, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentuck}^, 
 Mississippi and Louisiana. 
 
 Bernal Diaz, who accompanied Cortez in his expedition of 
 the Conquest of Mexico, says that upon entering Tuspan they 
 found that u each Indian had, besides his ornaments of gold, 
 a copper axe, which was very highly polished, with handles 
 curiously carved, as if to serve equally for an ornament and 
 for the field of battle. We first thought these axes were 
 made of an inferior kind of gold ; we therefore commenced 
 taking them in exchange, and in the space of ten days had 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 collected more than six hundred, with which we were no less 
 rejoiced, as long as we were ignorant of their real value, than 
 the Indians with our glass beads." 
 
 When Columbus, in his fourth voyage, was visited at the 
 Guanaja islands by a trading canoe of Yucatan, the crew, 
 according to Herrara, had " small hatchets made of copper, 
 small bells and plates. 1 ' 
 
 That the copper from which these tools, scattered over such 
 a vast area of country, were manufactured, came from the 
 ancient mines of Lake Superior, does not admit of doubt. 
 Although large and numerous deposits of copper ore are 
 scattered through Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico, and Central 
 and South America, there is no evidence that. the aborigines 
 of this country had sufficient metellurgical knowledge or 
 skill to reduce the ores to refined copper. On the other 
 hand, the great Creator, for provision to the wants of that 
 ancient race, had planted on the shores of Lake Superior the 
 only known workable deposits of native copper in the world. 
 The term virgin copper is well used to denote its purity. 
 In this latter day it outranks all others in the markets of 
 the world. 
 
 The occurrence of this native metal in segregations of va- 
 rious weights, enabled the ancient miner to easily follow the 
 deposit and to readily separate the pieces of metal from the 
 containing rock. These segregations were peculiarly adapted 
 for the use of the forgers of the tools. The extreme ductil- 
 ity of the metal, due to its purity, was also a provision of 
 great advantage to the ancient artisan. In examining the 
 tools that have been recovered, one is involuntarily amazed 
 at the perfection of workmanship and at their identity in 
 form with the tools made for like purposes and used at the 
 present day, the prototypes of the implements of our present 
 civilization. The sockets of the spears, chisels, arrow-heads, 
 knives and fleshers are, in nearly all instances, formed as sym- 
 metrically and perfectly as could be clone by the best smith of 
 the present day, with all the improved aids to his art. The 
 sockets of these tools, however, are in all instances 
 
84 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 left open on one side, showing no attempt at welding or 
 brazing. While acknowledging that the greater portion 
 of these tools were forged from the native metal, several in- 
 vestigators of the subject assert that many of them were 
 cast. Their position is principally based on the observation 
 of certain raised marks upon the tools, which are claimed to 
 be the marks of the joining of molds. The writer believes 
 that the weight of evidence is against the theory of melting 
 and casting. It is probable that the raised marks are due to 
 unequal oxidation, or to incompleteness of fabrication. Had 
 the tools which are made with sockets been cast, it is rea- 
 sonable to suppose that the sockets would have been cast 
 complete. Without exception the sockets are all open on one 
 side; on the sides of the open part lips are turned sufficient 
 for holding the handles. The presence of spots of native sil- 
 ver in the tools is against the theory of casting. Native 
 silver to a large extent is present with the copper 
 throughout the region, and always as a distinct and separate 
 metal, occurring in macules and strings upon and through 
 the copper. In melting for casting, the two metals would 
 form an alloy, and as the proportion of copper would be the 
 greatest, the silver would not be visible. In all of the relics 
 of the mound builders there is no evidence of any vessels 
 that would serve the purposes of crucibles or melting pots. 
 In excavating the mounds, pieces of galena are frequently re- 
 ported to have been found lying in the immediate vicinity of 
 the copper tools, but there is no record of any lead imple- 
 ments whatever. When it is considered that the melting 
 point of lead is only 594 degrees, Fahrenheit, while that of 
 copper is 2,548 degrees, it would certainly be remarkable if 
 the ancient race had progressed so far in metallurgy as to 
 melt the latter, and had failed to melt and utilize the former. 
 None of the tools are hardened; they are simply pure native 
 copper. Any process of alloying the copper with tin or zinc for 
 the purpose of hardening, was entirely unknown to the race. 
 It is an established fact, that in the Old World ( a gross 
 misnomer as applied to the age of the Eastern hemisphere^ 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 85 
 
 when compared with that of the Western hemisphere ) man 
 in the Stone Age existed contemporaneously with the Sibe- 
 rian elephant, Siberian rhinoceros, mammoth, cave bear, etc., 
 while scientists have been loth to concede the existence of 
 the mound builders as contemporary with the mastodon, 
 mammoth, etc., of the Western hemisphere. The mound 
 builders have been not rightly, assigned to the more recent 
 Age of Bronze. 
 
 Mr. J. W. Foster, in speaking of the discovery in Illinois 
 of a copper knife and the bone of a mastodon in the same 
 geological formation, and separated from each other but a 
 few miles, says: " One of two suppositions is true, either 
 that here has been an intermingling of the relics of two dis- 
 tinct ages, or that if the synchronism is established, man on 
 this continent, as a contemporary with the mastodon, was far 
 in advance in the mechanical arts of man, as the contempo- 
 rary of the fossil elephant on the European continent. 
 
 The existence of copper tools among the relics of the 
 mound builders has been the stumbling block in this matter. 
 In these metal implements of man in the Stone Age in 
 America there was only the advance over the man of the 
 Stone Age in Europe, that was due to the obtaining of native 
 copper that could be hammered and drawn out into the de- 
 sired shapes without any resort to the processes of metallurgy. 
 It was with a view to this point that I have throughout this 
 paper endeavored to constantly impress upon the reader the 
 fact of the purity and ductility of the native copper. It was 
 also for this that I so fully discussed above the reasons that 
 lie against the theory of the melting of the copper and the 
 casting of the tools. The relics of the Stone Age left by the 
 mound builders are the stone hammers used for mining cop- 
 per, and for hammering out copper tools axes, hatchets, 
 fleshers, pestles for pulverizing maize, chisels, knives, arrow- 
 heads, amulets, pendants, pipes, etc. a list of sufficient extent 
 to warrant the claim for the mound builders of the high 
 antiquity of the Stone Age, and at least of a contemporane- 
 ous existence with the pre-historic man of Europe. As 
 
86 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 proof of the contemporaneous existence in this country of 
 man with the mastodon, the following extracts are given 
 from a paper of the late Dr. Koch, of St. Louis, Missouri, 
 communicated to the St. Louis Academy of Sciences: 
 
 u In the year 1839 I discovered and disinterred in Gasconade 
 county, Missouri, at a spot in the bottom of the Bourbeuse river, 
 where there was a spring distant about four hundred yards 
 from the bank of the river, the remains of the above named 
 animals. The bones were sufficiently well preserved to 
 enable me to decide positively that -they belonged to the 
 mastadon giganteus. Some remarkable circumstances were 
 connected with the discovery. The greater portion of these 
 bones had been more or less burned by fire. The fire had 
 extended but a few feet beyond the space occupied by the 
 animal before its destruction, and there was more than suffi- 
 cient evidence on the spot that the fire had not been an acci- 
 dental one, but on the contrary, that it had been kindled by 
 human agency, and, according to all appearance, with the 
 design of killing the huge creature, which had been found 
 mired in the mud and in an entirely helpless condition. 
 This was sufficiently proven by the situation in which I 
 found, as well those parts of the bones untouched by fire as 
 those which were more or less injured by it, or in part con- 
 sumed; for I found the fore legs of the animal in a perpen- 
 dicular position in the clay, with the toes attached to the feet, 
 just in the manner in which they were when life departed 
 from the body. I took particular care in uncovering the 
 bones to ascertain their position beyond any doubt before I 
 removed any part of them, and it appeared during the whole 
 excavation fully evident that at the time when the animal in 
 question found its untimely end the ground in which it had 
 been mired must have been in a plastic condition, being now 
 a grayish colored clay. All the bones which had not been 
 burned-by the fire had kept their original position, standing 
 upright, and apparently quite undisturbed in the clay; 
 whereas those portions which had been extended above the 
 surface had been partially consumed by the fire, and the sur- 
 face of the clay was covered, as far as the fire had extended, 
 by a layer of wood ashes, mingled with larger or smaller 
 pieces of charred wood and burnt bones, together with bones 
 belonging to the spine, ribs and other parts of the body, which 
 had been more or less injured by the fire. 
 
 u The fire appeared to have been most destructive around 
 the head of the animal. Some small remains of the head 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 87 
 
 were left uncons timed, but enough to show that they belong- 
 ed to the mastodon. There were also found, mingled with 
 the ashes and bones, and partly protruding out of them, a 
 large number of broken pieces of rock, which had evidently 
 been carried thither from the shore of the Bourbeuse river, to 
 be hurled at the animal by his destroyers, for the above-men- 
 tioned layer of clay was entirely void even of the smallest 
 pebbles; whereas, on going to the river I found the stratum 
 of clay cropping out of the bank and resting on a layer of 
 shelving rocks of the same kind as the fragments, from which 
 olace it was evident they had been carried to the scene of 
 Action. The layers of ashes, etc., varied in thickness from 
 tvo to six inches, from which it may be inferred that the fire 
 hv\d been kept up for some length of time. It seemed that 
 th> burning of the victim and the hurling of rocks at it had 
 noi satisfied the destroyers, for I found also among the ashes, 
 bones and rocks, several arrow heads, a stone spear head and 
 ston? axes, which were taken out in the presence of a number 
 of witnesses, consisting of the people of the neighborhood, 
 attracted by the novelty of the excavation. The layer of 
 ashes, etc., was covered by a strata of alluvial deposits, con- 
 sisting of clay, sand and soil from eight to nine feet thick." 
 
 The preceding statements and reasonings are, therefore, 
 sufficient for the position that the ancient miners and mound 
 builders were contemporaneous with the mastadon, and were 
 occupying this country at a period corresponding with the 
 Stone Age of Europe. 
 
 The mound builders were not confined to the occupation 
 of the country lying to the South of Lake Superior. Well 
 attested and authenticated statements are made of the exist- 
 ence of the well-known artificial mounds in the valley of the 
 Red River of the North, throughout Dakota, Montana and 
 British Columbia. It is possible that future - explorers may 
 trace their works still further to the northwest than investi- 
 gators of this day dare predict. 
 
 It is generally conceded that during the glacial period North 
 America was covered with ice between the Rocky Mountains 
 and the Atlantic coast, and from the north pole nearly to the 
 tropics. There is sufficient evidence to suggest the belief that 
 man inhabited the tropics as early, at least, as the latter por- 
 tion of the glacial period. On the recession and disappearance 
 
88 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 of the glaciers, probably accompanied with a subsidence, be- 
 neath the ocean, of a large portion of th? northern conti- 
 nent, and followed by a modified, warm and genial climate, 
 man, together with the mastodon, mammoth, etc., moved 
 north and occupied the land to a comparatively high latitude. 
 This movement, of course, occupied many ages. Subsequently 
 there was a gradual elevation of the land above the ocean 
 causing a gradual change, through long time, in the temper- 
 ature of the country until brought finally as it now exists 
 It was during the changes of this period that the copper 
 miners and mound builders flourished. The effect of the fin&l 
 change in temperature, due to the elevation of the continent, 
 was to drive this race further and further southward, iiitil 
 the seat and centre of their power became fixed in the Mis- 
 sissippi and Ohio valleys, and in the region of the great likes. 
 In this southward movement it is possible that the drones 
 were left behind, and the nomadic people of the far /iorth, 
 and some of the tribes of worthless and shift les & Indians that 
 it is impossible to win to industrious lives, have descended 
 from the outcasts of the people who were the miners qf copper 
 and the builders of the mounds. 
 
 The Mexican records, as interpreted by the Abb*/ Brasseur 
 de Bourbourg, are to the effect that the mound bu/lders were 
 finally driven from the Mississippi valley by pro/onged and 
 continuous incursions of fierce, predatory and Warlike tribes 
 which came from the west. Leaving their l<mg occupied 
 homes, they became dwellers in Mexico and Central America, 
 and leading participators in the work of the early civilization 
 that was the glory of those countries. The beginning of this 
 forced migration, according to Abbe Brasseur, was more thaii- 
 a thousand years before the Christian era. Row long prior 
 to this was the first occupation of the Mississippi valley by 
 this ancient people? is a question the writer will not attempt 
 to answer. The writer, however, does believe, that in the 
 height of their power the population of that portion of the 
 United States occupied l>y those ancients, was equal in num- 
 bers to the present population of the same area. As previ- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 ously stated, the mound builders were intelligent ana maus- 
 trious people. They followed peaceful pursuits, and their 
 works bear evidence of the efficiency of their government. 
 Their staple food was maize. Their works do not exist on 
 the Atlantic coast except far to the south. Their pursuits 
 being agricultural, they occupied the Mississippi and Ohio 
 valleys and the Lake region as the country most suitable for 
 those purposes, thus being the precursors of the present race 
 of men who, led by the same instincts, are occupying the 
 same lands, and for the same purposes, but with an advanced 
 civilization which is capable of making the territory once 
 occupied by the mound builders of the Stone Age, the grain 
 producing country for the world, and the centre of govern- 
 mental power. The mound builders being driven out, their 
 territory was occupied by their assailants. Under the sway 
 of a nomadic and warlike people the works of the ancient 
 race were left to decay, and their cultivated fields ran to waste. 
 Thus, through centuries, was rest given to the soil, in order 
 to renew fertility and prepare it for the occupation of our 
 present race. After us is in the future. 
 
IKON. 
 
 The early missionaries, who were the first to announce to 
 the civilized world the existence of copper on Lake Superior, 
 appear not to have discovered the fact that iron ore was also 
 one of the great natural resources of this region. In their 
 kt relacions," they refer to " mines" of copper, silver, tin, lead 
 and antimony, but do not seem to have learned from the sav- 
 ages the fact that there were also mountains of iron ore. It 
 is true that Truchement Brusle assured " Lagarde" that in 
 the country of the Souriquois, (wherever that may have been,) 
 there were u not only mines of copper, but also of steel, v and, 
 " it seems that one might find mines of iron if one would 
 take the trouble of searching, and go to some expense; 1 ' but 
 this seems to have been mere conjecture on his part. It was 
 long afterwards that the Holy Fathers traversed the south 
 shore of the Great Lake, from Sault Ste. Marie to Fond du 
 Lac, and if they found iron ore, or were informed of its exist- 
 ence by the Indians, they certainly did not consider it of 
 sufficient importance to speak of it in connection with their 
 other discoveries. It is more than probable, too, that the In- 
 dians themselves did not, at that time, have any knowledge 
 of the value, or the purposes for which iron was used or if 
 they did, knew nothing of its extraction from the ore, or from 
 whence it came. At all events, it was two hundred years 
 after the missionaries first made known the existence of cop- 
 per in this region, that the whites first learned from the 
 Indians there were also " mines 11 of iron as well as of copoer. 
 It is a noticeable fact that the pioneers in the development of 
 the Lake Superior iron mines came here originally in search 
 for copper, and with no definite knowledge of the existence 
 of iron anywhere on the lake. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 91 
 
 Who were the original discoverers of iron ore on Lake Su- 
 perior (after the Indians) has been to some extent a disputed 
 question. There have been and are still a number of claim- 
 ants, but we believe it is an honor which belongs not exclu- 
 sively to any one person. The person or persons who first 
 made known to the world the existence of workable deposits 
 of iron ore in this region, and those who, acting upon that 
 information, came after them and engaged in the laborious 
 and almost hopeless task of development, are the ones to 
 whom the future historian will give the meed of praise. The 
 first of these was William A. Burt, Deputy Surveyor under 
 Dr. Houghton, in 1844. 
 
 When Dr. Houghton, as previously related in this volume, 
 prevailed upon the General Government to grant an additional 
 allowance for the linear surveys of the upper peninsula, in 
 order that a geological examination of the district might be 
 combined with it, he placed Mr. Burt in charge of the field 
 work, giving him as compensation the whole amount of the 
 government allowance, reserving nothing for himself. 
 
 In the summer of 18*4, Mr. Burt, with a party consisting 
 of William Ives, Jacob Houghton, R. S. Mellen, Harvey 
 Mellen, James King, and two Indians named Taylor and 
 Doner, was engaged in running out the township lines, and 
 making such geological observations as required by the 
 terms of his agreement with Dr. H. All the members of 
 this party, with the exception of Mr. Burt and the two In- 
 dians, are, we believe, still living. 
 
 On the 15th of September the party reached the lake, and 
 established the northeast corner of town 47 north, range 25 
 west, about midway between the deltas of the Carp and 
 Chocolay rivers. From thence they ran the township line 
 between towns 47 and 48, and camped at the east end of 
 Teal Lake on the 18th. The discovery of iron ore the next 
 day, is thus related by Jacob Houghton, Esq. : 
 
 " On the morning of the 19th of September, 1844, we started 
 to run the line south, between ranges 26 and 27. So soon 
 as we reached the hill to the south of the lake, the compass- 
 
92 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 man, (Mr. Ives,) began to notice the fluctuation in the varia- 
 tion of the magnetic needle. We were, of course, using the 
 solar compass, of which Mr. Burt was the inventor, and I 
 shall never forget the excitement of the old gentleman when 
 viewing the changes of the variation the needle not actually 
 traversing alike in any two places. He kept changing his posi- 
 tion to take observations, all the time saying, ' How would 
 theysurvey this country without my compass? What could 
 be done here without my compass?' It was the full and 
 complete realization of what he had foreseen when struggling 
 through the first stages of his invention. At length the com- 
 pass-man called for us all to ' come and see a variation that 
 will beat them all. 1 As we looked at the instrument, to our 
 astonishment the north end of the needle was traversing a 
 few degrees to the south of west. Mr. Burt called out, ' Boys, 
 look around and see what you can find T We all left the line, 
 some going to the east, some going to the west, and all of us 
 returned with specimens of iron ore, mostly gathered from 
 outcrops. This was along the first mile from Teal Lake. 
 We carried out all the specimens we could, conveniently.'' 
 
 Hon. J. N. Mellen, of Eomeo, Michigan, has still in his 
 possession one of the specimens found that day. This, it 
 may safely be asserted, was the first discovery, by white 
 men, of iron ore on Lake Superior. The line referred to, on 
 the first mile of which these discoveries were made, is the 
 east boundary of the section upon which the celebrated Jack- 
 son mine was afterwards found and opened. As, however, 
 the Jackson ore is not magnetic, and does not outcrop on the 
 line in question, it is more than probable it was not seen by 
 the party, but that the specimens were taken from one or 
 more of the flag or soft hematite ranges further east and south. 
 
 In the month of June, 1845, Dr. Houghton and Mr. Burt, 
 while engaged in subdividing town 47 north, range 26 west, 
 made a more particular examination with reference to iron 
 ore, especially at the corner of sections 29, 30, 31 and .32, 
 which sections were afterwards known as the Cascade (now 
 Palmer) mines, and both ventured the assertion to Jacob 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 Hough ton and other members of the party, that the deposits 
 were very valuable, and would some day be made the basis of 
 an active and profitable industry. 
 
 To the government surveyors, therefore, belongs the credit 
 of having first given to the world information of the existence 
 of iron in considerable quantities in the country bordering 
 the south shore of Lake Superior. Such is the fact established 
 not only by the published reports of those who had charge of 
 the surveys, but one which is fully attested by living witnesses, 
 who were themselves members of the party by whom the first 
 discoveries were made. Such being incontestably the case, 
 it is a little singular that Dr. Jackson, in. his report of 1849, 
 should have been in doubt as to the facts, or, as he appears to 
 have done, assumed to give the credit to others. He says 
 that in the summer of 1844, during his first visit to the Lake, 
 he obtained from Peter B. Barbeau, then a trader at Sault 
 Ste. Marie, a fine specimen of specular iron ore which had 
 been given to Mr. B. by an Indian chief. He also learned at 
 the same time that this chief knew of a mountain mass of 
 ore, somewhere between the head of Keweenaw bay and the 
 headwaters of the Menominee river, The next summer he 
 informed Mr. Lyman Pray, of Charlestown, Mass., what he 
 had heard, and suggested to him the propriety of looking up 
 the mountain in question. Mr. Pray immediately proceeded 
 to the Sault, where he employed the son of the Ojibway chief 
 as a guide, and went with him to L'Anse; from thence, guided 
 by the Indian, he traversed the then unbroken forest and 
 found the mountain. On his return he informed Dr. Jackson 
 that he had traveled four miles around the mountain and 
 found only the same kind of ore, and no rocks. To Mr. Pray, 
 therefore, he ascribes the honor of the first practical discov- 
 ery of iron ore in the upper peninsula of Michigan, saying 
 that " no linear surveys had then been made, and it is prob- 
 able no white man had ever before explored that locality." 
 It is barely possible that it may have been the Republic 
 u mountain " which Mr. Pray found and explored; but if so, 
 he must have been a novice, else he would have been able to 
 
94 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 find something more than specular iron ore, and, at least, a 
 few rocks. It is noticeable, however, that Prof. Jackson does 
 not once refer to the discoveries made by Mr. Burt and his 
 party the year previous, although a catalogue of the specimens 
 found by them fills three whole pages of the same volume of 
 " Public Documents " in which his own report was originally 
 published. 
 
 Mr. Barbeau himself (he still resides at the Sault Ste. 
 Marie), informs us that the existence of iron ore in the upper 
 peninsula was known to the white traders as early as 1830. 
 He claims to have known of the iron deposits on the Jackson, 
 Cleveland, and Lake Superior locations, fifteen years before 
 the discoveries made by Mr. Burt, and says that the Indians 
 not only knew at that time of the existence of iron ore, but 
 that he had seen in their possession native lead sufficiently 
 pure to be used in making rifle balls, and that they did so use 
 it. But they never could be persuaded to tell where they 
 found it, and up to this day have refused to give any infor- 
 mation which would lead to its discovery. Mr. Barbeau was 
 an old Indian trader, having entered the employ of the Amer- 
 ican Fur Company in 1827, and no man, perhaps, in the 
 upper peninsula is more familiar with its early history. We 
 can see no reason to doubt his statements ; but it is more 
 than probable that he, had little appreciation of the extent or 
 value of the iron deposits, of the existence of which he claims 
 to have been aware as early as 1830. At all events it does 
 not appear that he ever profited by his knowledge, but allowed 
 others to step in, and by right of discovery, reap the harvest 
 which he might have garnered. According to his farther 
 statement, Achille Cadotte, a French and Indian half-breed, 
 was, in 1845, informed by an old Indian chief, then living at 
 the mouth of Carp river, (now within the corporate limits 
 of the city of Marquette,) that he knew where there was 
 a mountain of iron ore. and went with the chief to see it. 
 The name of this chief was u Man-je-ki-jik," (Moving Day.) 
 Cadotte then communicated his discovery to Mr. John Wes- 
 tren, (?) who went with him to the mountain, and under his 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 95 
 
 direction about a ton of the ore was carried down from what 
 is now the Jackson mine to the mouth of the Carp, taken 
 from there to the Sault in canoes, and thence to Detroit. 
 That Mr. Barbeau is mistaken in at least one particular, is 
 proved by the well substantiated fact that Mr. Westren did 
 not visit Lake Superior until 1846. 
 
 In June, 1845, a company was organized at Jackson, Michi^ 
 gan, for the purpose of exploring the mineral regions on the 
 south shore of Lake Superior. The company consisted of P. 
 M. Everett, James Gauson, S. T. Carr, G. W. Carr, F. W. 
 Carr, E. S. Rockwell, F. W. Kirtland, W. H. Munroe, A. W. 
 Ernst, Fairchild Farrand, Abram V. Berry, John Westren, 
 and S. A. Hastings. The articles of association were filed July 
 23d, 1845, and named Abram V. Berry as President, Freder- 
 ick W. Kirtland as Secretary, Philo M. Everett as Treasurer, 
 and George W. Carr and William A. Ernst Trustees. 
 
 The same day that the articles of association were executed, 
 (July 23d,) a party of explorers, consisting of P. M. Everett, 
 S. T. Carr, W. H. Munroe,, and E. S. Rockwell, started for 
 Lake Superior, and secured what is now the Jackson Mine. 
 This party appears to have been under the leadership of Mr. 
 Everett, who is now one of the oldest and most respected citi- 
 zens of Marquette. While at Sault Ste. Marie, on their way 
 up, Louis Nolan, a half-breed, told Everett and his party, of 
 the existence of iron ore on Lake Superior, (Mr. Burt's dis- 
 coveries of the year previous not being generally known,) 
 and volunteered to go along and show them where it was. 
 He accompanied the party to the mouth of the Carp, and all 
 went as far as Teal Lake in search of the iron, but failed to 
 find it. Returning to the mouth of the Carp, they pro- 
 ceeded on their way to Copper Harbor, the place for which 
 they had originally set out. The enterprise was originally 
 undertaken with a view to exploring for copper, and it is 
 probable that the idea of finding iron was not seriously enter- 
 tained until the exploring party reached the Sault and saw 
 Nolan. 
 
 After leaving the mouth of the Carp, the party coasted up 
 
96 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 the lake to Copper Harbor, where they fell in with the In- 
 dian Chief Man-je-ki-jik, who returned with them to the 
 mouth of the Carp, and guided the party to the Jackson 
 Mountain. That Mr. Everett was really the moving spirit in 
 this, the first iron mining enterprise on the lake, would appear 
 from the following letter written by him to Capt G. D , 
 Johnson, late of the Lake Superior Mine. The letter, the 
 original of which we have seen and read, is dated " Jackson* 
 Mich., Nov. 10th, 1845," and is as follows: 
 
 " Since I have returned from Lake Superior, Charles tells me 
 he promised to let you know all about my excursion, and 
 wishes me to perform the task for him. In compliance with 
 his request, I will therefore try and give you a brief descrip- 
 tion of my trip. I left here on the 23d of July last, and was 
 gone till the 24th of October. I had some idea of going to 
 Lake Superior last winter, but did not think seriously of going 
 until a short time before I left. / had considerable difficulty 
 in getting any one to join me in the enterprise, but I at last 
 succeeded in forming a company of thirteen. I was appointed 
 treasurer and agent, to explore and make locations, for which 
 last purpose we had secured seven permits from the Secretary 
 of War. I took four men with me from Jackson, and hired 
 a guide at the Sault, where 1 bought a boat, and coasted up 
 the lake to Copper Harbor, which is over 300 miles from the 
 Sault Ste. Marie. There are no white men 011 Lake Superior 
 except those who go there for mining purposes. We incurred 
 many dangers and hardships. * * * * We made several 
 locations one of which we called Iron at the time. It is a 
 mountain of solid iron ore, 150 feet high. The ore looks as 
 bright as a bar of iron just broken. Since coming home we 
 have had some of it smelted, and find that it produces iron 
 and something resembling gold some say it is gold and cop- 
 per. Our location is one mile square, and we shall send a 
 company of men up in the spring to begin operations. Our 
 company is called the Jackson Mining Company. 
 * * * * "Yours, etc.; 
 
 P. M. EVERETT." 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 97 
 
 The actual discovery of the Jackson Mountain was made 
 by S. T. Carr and E. S. Rockwell, members of Mr. Everett's 
 party. They were, as stated, guided to the locality by the 
 Indian chief, but the superstition of the savage not allowing 
 him to approach the spot, Carr and Rockwell continued the 
 search alone, Mr. Everett having, for some reason, returned 
 to the mouth of the Carp. The precise spot where this dis- 
 covery was made, was until a year or two ago, and may be 
 yet, distinguished by the remains of a huge pine stump, the 
 upturned roots of which revealed to Carr and Rockwell the 
 first knowledge of an iron range from which nearly ten 
 million tons of ore have since been mined. The trunk of this 
 tree, which at the time of their visit had been freshly up- 
 rooted, was afterwards sawn into lumber and carefully pre- 
 served to be afterwards manufactured into mementoes. 
 
 Eleven members of the Jackson Company, immediately 
 after its organization, procured permits from the War De- 
 partment to locate one square mile each of mineral land on 
 the south shore of Lake Superior. The manner of locating 
 lands with these permits, has already been described in this 
 volume. The townships had not then been sub-divided, and 
 the lands covered by permits could only be described by such 
 permanent boundaries as would admit of their being entered 
 on a map kept for that purpose in the office of the Mineral 
 Land Agent. At the time of Mr. Everett's first visit, the 
 country for twenty-five miles west of Presque Isle had been 
 plastered over with these permits. The first one located was 
 surveyed from a designated point or object near the mouth of 
 Dead river, and being entered on the map, formed the east- 
 ern, southern or northern boundary of the next location. 
 The " square mile " on which the Jackson is situated, had 
 been located with permit No. 158, granted to D. Hamilton, 
 of Watervliet, New York, who appears to have been wholly 
 ignorant of its immense undeveloped wealth. Everett and 
 his party, in their effort to secure their discovery, were unable 
 to describe the land accurately, and made Teal Lake (not then 
 marked on the agency map) its northern boundary. The 
 
98 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 mineral agent, not knowing the exact locality of the lake, 
 entered the location so that it appeared on the map about 
 twelve miles southeast of where it should have been. In a 
 little book published by Mr. Jacob Houghton, in 1846, we 
 find a reference to the Jackson location, in which the prop- 
 erty is described as having been located by i; Permit No. 593, 
 somewhere in town 46 north, range 27 or 28 west, 11 the Ham- 
 ilton permit being marked on section 1 of town 47, range 27. 
 The locations made under these permits were entered on the 
 map at the Mineral Land Office in pencil tracings, so they 
 could be lifted and transferred at the option of the owners. 
 When Everett and his party announced their discovery of 
 iron ore and exhibited their specimens the owners of adjacent 
 locations began to examine their lands, and failing to make 
 similar discoveries, lifted their permits and transferred them 
 elsewhere. As soon as Hamilton abandoned his, the Jackson 
 company managed to find the township lines, secured a trans- 
 fer of their permit, and when the township was subdivided, 
 bought the land, section 1, town 47 north, range 27 west, at 
 $2.50 per acre. 
 
 In the spring of 1846, another expedition was fitted out, 
 consisting of A. V. Berry, F. W. Kirtland, E. S. Rockwell 
 and W. H. Munroe, members of the Jackson Company, and 
 several others. The object of this visit, as stated by Mr. Berry, 
 was to make further explorations and to use the remaining 
 permits on other locations. He says : 
 
 " I found our location much beyond what I had anticipated. 
 After spending twelve days in the woods, exploring the sur- 
 rounding country, including what was afterwards known as 
 the Cleveland location, and building what we called a house, 
 we returned to the mouth of the Carp with 300 pounds of ore 
 on our backs. We there divided; one party was left to keep 
 possession of the location, another went farther up the lake 
 to use the remaining permits, while I returned to the Sault 
 with the ore. It was my intention at this time to use another 
 permit on the Cleveland location, but on arriving at the 
 Sault I met Dr. Cassels, of Cleveland, agent of a Cleveland 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 99 
 
 Company, and having arranged with him that iiis company 
 should pay a portion of the expense of keeping possession, 
 making roads, &c., I discovered to him the whereabouts of the 
 Cleveland location. He took my canoe, visited the location, 
 and secured it by a permit. On arriving at Jackson we en- 
 deavored on two occasions to smelt the ore which I had 
 brought down, in our common cupola furnaces, but failed 
 entirely. In August of the same year, Mr. Olds, of Cucush 
 Prairie, who owned a forge (in which he was making iron 
 fV;-in bog ore,) then undergoing repairs, succeeded in making 
 
 tine bar of iron from our ore in a blacksmith's fire the first 
 iron ever made from Lake Superior ore. In the winter of 
 1846- ? 47, we began to get up at Jackson a bellows and other 
 "machinery for constructing a forge on the Carp ; and in the 
 summer of 1847 a company of men commenced building the 
 same, and continued until March, 1848, when a freshet carried 
 away the dam. The association was then, 
 
 (1848) merged into an incorporated company, and by some 
 means the pioneers in the enterprise are now all out/ 1 * 
 
 One end of this first bar of iron Mr. Everett had drawn out 
 into a knife blade the better to exhibit the superior qualities 
 of the metal. 
 
 The first comparatively thorough exploration of the Jack- 
 son location was made by Fairchild Farrand, in 1846, in the 
 summer of which year some ore was mined. The oLl Jack- 
 son or Carp Eiver forge, to which Mr. Berry alludes in his 
 letter, was built under the supervision -of William McNair, 
 and was begun in 1847. It was located on the Carp River, 
 about three miles east of Negaunee, and a short distance north 
 of the old county road. It was finished early in 1848, the 
 first iron being made on the 10th of February, 1848, by forge- 
 man Ariel N. Barney, who now resides at Huron. Ohio. Mr. 
 Barney, in additon to having been the pioneer iron maker on 
 Lake Superior, established the first hotel at Marquette, was 
 one of the first justices of the peace, an office which he held 
 many years, and was afterwards Clerk and Register, as well 
 
 *Brooks 1 Geological Report, 1873. 
 
100 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 as Judge of Probate. He was one of the hardiest among the 
 early pioneers, and though upwards of sixty years of age, 
 served as a private soldier in the war of the rebellion. 
 
 The Jackson forge was a primitive affair. The power was 
 supplied by the Carp, across which a dam eighteen feet high 
 was constructed. There were eight fires, from each of which 
 a lump was taken every six hours, placed under the hammer, 
 and forged into blooms four inches square and two feet long 
 the daily product being about three tons. It required two 
 six-horse teams to draw this product to the mouth of the 
 Carp, over ten miles of the most horrible road imaginable. 
 
 Soon after starting up, a freshet carried away the dam, and 
 the forge remained idle until some time in the summer of 
 1848, wlien Mr. Everett came up as the agent of the company, 
 had the dam repaired, and resumed the manufacture of blooms. 
 The first blooms made at this forge the first iron made on 
 Lake Superior, and the first from Lake Superior ores, (except 
 the small bar made by Mr. Olds,) was sold to the late E. B. 
 Ward, and from it was made the walking-beam of the side- 
 wheel steamer u Ocean." This forge was kept in operation 
 till 1854, when it was finally abandoned, having proved any- 
 thing but a profitable investment for the owners, or indeed 
 any of the lessees b}' whom it was carried on the last four 
 years of its existence. . These lessees were first. B. F. Eaton, 
 of Columbus, Ohio, who was ruined by it, financially, in less 
 than six months. He was succeeded by the Clinton Iron Com- 
 pany, an association of forgemen from Clinton County, New 
 York. The corporators of this Company were Azel Lathrop, 
 H. Butler, Charles Parish and Daniel Brittell. Mr. Lathrop 
 now resides at Centerville, on the Peninsula Division of the 
 Chicago and Northwestern Railway, and Mr. Brittell is a res- 
 ident of Marque tte. These four gentlemen had previously 
 been employed at the forge, and the company was formed for 
 the special purpose of leasing and operating the works. The 
 market price of blooms being at that time much below the 
 cost of production, the company lost money, and after a brief 
 period, suspended work. Hon. Peter White next tried his 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 101 
 
 hand as lessee, with no better ^eeults;' iksfrly, J. P. : Pe'idrll, 
 Esq., took hold of the concern, but did not meet with the 
 success his pluck and energy merited. Altogether, the forge 
 made little iron and no money. 
 
 On the 6th of June, 1848, a meeting of the " Jackson 
 
 Mining Company " was held, and an act of incorporation, 
 
 passed by the legislature the preceding winter, was accepted, 
 
 and the company re-incorporated under a special charter. 
 
 The officers elected were Fairchild Farrand, President; W. 
 
 A. Ernst, Secretary; George Foot, Treasurer; F. W. Carr, F. 
 
 W. Kirtland, Lewis Bascom, and John Westren, Directors. 
 
 The capital stock of the company was fixed at $300,000, in 
 
 shares of the par value of $100, the object of the company 
 
 being the mining of copper, as well as iron. An amendment 
 
 to the charter was obtained in 1849, by which the title of the 
 
 corporation was changed to the " Jackson Iron Company," of 
 
 which Ezra Jones was President; W. A. Ernst Secretary; 
 
 John Watson, Treasurer; S. H. Kimball, James A. Dyer and 
 
 James Day, Directors. 
 
 The first shipment of ore from the region was made in 1850, 
 -and consisted of about five tons, which was taken away by Mr. 
 A. L. Crawford, of Newcastle, Pa. Mr. Crawford was then, as 
 now, the proprietor of large iron works, and a part of this 
 ore was made into blooms and rolled into merchant bars, to 
 test its qualities. The iron was found to be most excellent, 
 and served to attract the attention of Pennsylvania iron mas- 
 ters to this new field of supply for their furnaces and rolling 
 mills. The same summer, Gen. Curtis, proprietor of large 
 iron works at Sharon, Pa., came up to inspect the Jackson 
 and Cleveland mines, his object being to obtain an interest in 
 one or both, with a view of obtaining for his furnaces, a sup- 
 ply of ore of a better quality than he was then using. He 
 succeeding in buying up enough of the Jackson stock to give 
 him the control of its affairs, and for several years afterwards 
 the location was generally known as " Sharon." In 1852, 
 about seventy tons of Jackson ore was taken to Sharon and 
 ihere made into pig iron in the " Old Clay " furnace. 
 
102 lXRAL RESOURCES 
 
 ; Tjprijo Nl8SD v :t&e u htetofy" ( of tke Jackson Company was sim- 
 ply a record of disappointments and financial embarrassment ; 
 there were frequent changes of management, until in 1881, 
 the present board of directors, or a majority of them, were 
 chosen. The breaking out of the war of the Rebellion 
 occasioned a great demand for iron, and gave a new impetus 
 to the development of the Lake Superior mines. In 1862 the 
 Jackson Company declared its first dividend, and since then 
 there has not been a time when its stock could be purchased 
 for less than five times its par value. The managers are very 
 reticent in regard to its affairs, and we are unable even to ap- 
 proximate its total net earnings since 1861, but feel safe in say- 
 ing that they have been sufficiently large to be partitioned into 
 handsome individual fortunes among the shareholders. 
 
 The first regular exportation of ore from the Jackson mine 
 began in 1856, in which year about 5,000 tons were shipped 
 to lower lake ports. Previous to that year, there , had been 
 mined about 25,000 tons, which had been converted into blooms 
 at the Carp River and Marquette forges. 
 
 THE MARQUETTE IKON" COMPANY. 
 
 In the summer of 1848, Edward Clark, of Worcester, Mass., 
 came to Lake Superior in the interest of Boston parties, to 
 explore for copper. While at Sault Ste. Marie he met Robert 
 J. Grraveraet, who persuaded him to stop at Carp River and 
 examine the iron deposits. The Jackson company's forge 
 was at work at the time, and Clark was so favorably impressed 
 with what he saw that he returned home without visiting 
 the copper region, taking with him one of the blooms, and 
 specimens of ore from the Jackson location. The bloom 
 being drawn into wire at a factory, proved the excellence of 
 the iron, and Clark proceeded to form an association for the 
 purpose of building a forge on Lake Superior, assisted by 
 Grraveraet. The latter went to Worcester that winter, (trav- 
 eling to Saginaw from Mackinaw on snow shoes,) and together 
 with Clark succeeded in enlisting a number of gentlemen in 
 the enterprise, among them Amos R. Hariow, Esq., now one 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 103 
 
 of the wealthiest and most respected citizens of Marquette. 
 Against the capital of the others Clark and Graveraet were to 
 put in leases of iron lands of which they claimed to be the 
 owners, and accordingly Mr. Harlow, who was the owner of 
 a small machine shop, constructed and purchased the neces- 
 sary machinery for the projected works, and in the spring of 
 1849 shipped it to Lake Superior, following, with his family, 
 a month or two later. Graveraet had preceded him, with a 
 party of men, among whom was Hon.. Peter White, then a 
 mere lad, but who has since become one of the wealthiest 
 and most honored citizens of the region. Where now stands 
 the beautiful and flourishing city of Marquette, there was 
 then no sign of a human habitation, save one or two Indian 
 huts, and a small log warehouse^ belonging to the Jackson 
 Mining Company. 
 
 From a paper prepared and read by Mr. White, before a 
 Marquette audience, in April, 1870, the following extracts 
 are taken:* 
 
 " It was from this island, (Mackinaw,) twenty-one years ago 
 this month that the little, (and, I might say almost worthless) 
 steamer 'Tecumseh' took her departure for Sault Ste. Marie. 
 It was a tempestuous April morning; the seas rolled moun- 
 tain high, and before she had accomplished many miles a 
 huge wave took off the yawl boat, swept through the steam- 
 er's gangways, washed overboard much of the freight from 
 the decks, alarmed the passengers, and brought Captain 
 Pratt to the conclusion that he had better turn his craft and 
 run her for the haven of safety he had left only a few hours 
 before. This steamer was not as fleet as the famous chief 
 whose name she bore. He could probably have beaten her best 
 speed, on foot and through a " thicket." Still, she did reach her 
 starting point, and after a delay of twenty-four hours for re- 
 pairs, she again started on her trip. There were many more 
 passengers on board than the boat had either eating or 
 
 *Thc editor runs the risk of incurring Mr. White's displeasure in making these ex- 
 tracts, having tiualifiedly promised not to make such use of his paper; but they are 
 f-o important as a part of the early history of the region that he has concluded to 
 publish it almost in full and brave the consequences. 
 
104 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 sleeping accommodations for; but it was not intended that 
 she should be more than twelve hours making the trip. * * 
 
 " On board were a party specially bound to settle and start 
 the city of Marquette, and to claim and undertake to develop 
 all the iron mountains that had then been, or should subse- 
 quently be discovered. The head and leader of this party was 
 the lamented Robert J. Graveraet. At that time he was a fit 
 leader for any great enterprise that required the exercise of 
 pluck, energy and perseverance. He had an indomitable will, 
 a commendable ambition and a splendid physical organization, 
 capable of enduring an untold amount of fatigue, a disposi- 
 tion firm, yet gentle and generous to a fault, a figure that for 
 grace, beauty, noble bearing and symmetrical proportions, I 
 have never seen equaled. He had many virtues, but his end 
 was sad indeed. Many a man without a tithe of the noble 
 qualities he possessed, holds a place in history as a great hero. 
 
 u There were ten in our party, all but three of whom are 
 now dead. The survivors are, Dr. E. C. Rogers, now a prac- 
 ticing physician of some note in Chicago, (a brother of Ran- 
 dolph Rogers, the sculptor,) James Chapman, for many years 
 past a resident of Bayfield, Wisconsin, and myself. I have 
 resided here continuously ever since. 
 
 u But I have digressed and got ahead of my story. The 
 lively little steamer, (lively with bed bugs,) after threshing 
 around several hours, finally got inside of the Detour, and 
 there met with solid ice, two to three feet thick, and there 
 were no indications of a speedy thaw. The boat was run 
 about half her length into the ice, when some of the pas- 
 sengers debarked and ran up it in all directions. Some 
 essayed the cutting of a canal with saws and axes, but soon 
 gave it up as a slow job. The next day we backed out and 
 tried another passage by way of the Bruce mines, and thus 
 succeeded in hammering our way through to the Sault in just 
 ten days from the time we left Mackinaw. In the meantime 
 we had a bread riot, an insurrection, and once the boat sunk 
 to her de3k full of water. She would have remained there 
 perhaps forever, but for the aid of an old fellow, we had named 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 105 
 
 *' Old Saleratus,' 1 and at whom we had poked all manner of 
 fun. He proved to be a ship carpenter, and after we had un- 
 loaded the boat and pumped her up, he found the leak, put 
 in a new plank, and we proceeded on our way. 
 
 u We succeeded in 'crowding our large Mackinaw barge up 
 the rapids or falls, at Sault Ste. Marie, and embarking our- 
 selves and provisions, set sail on Lake Superior for the Carp 
 River Iron Region. After eight days of rowing, towing, 
 poling and sailing, we landed on the spot immediately in front 
 of where Mr. George Craig's dwelling now stands. That was 
 then called Indian town, and was the landing place of the 
 Jackson Company. We put up that night at the " Cedar 
 House, 1 ' of Charley Bawgam. It is true his rooms were not 
 many, but he gave us plentj^ to eat, clean and well cooked. I 
 remember that he had fresh venison, wild ducks and geese, 
 fresh fish, good bread and butter, coffee and tea, and splendid 
 potatoes. 
 
 " The next morning we started for the much talked of iron 
 hills; each one had a pack-strap and blanket, and was di- 
 rected to exercise his own discretion in putting into a pack 
 what he thought he could carry. I put up forty pounds and 
 marched bravely up the hills with it for a distance of two 
 miles, by which time 1 was about as good as used up. Grave- 
 raet came up, and taking my pack on top of his, a much 
 heavier one, inarched on with both, as if mine was only the 
 addition of a feather, while I trudged on behind, and had hard 
 work to keep up. Graveraet seeing how fatigued I was, in- 
 vited me to get on top of his load, saying he would carry me 
 too, and he could have done it, I believe; but I had too much 
 pride to accept his offer. When we arrived at the little brook 
 which runs by George Rubleiii's old brewery, we made some 
 tea and lunched, after which I felt so much refreshed that I 
 took my pack and carried it without much difficulty to what 
 is now known as the Cleveland mine, then known as Moody 's 
 location. On our way we had stopped a few minutes at the 
 Jackson forge, where we met Mr. Everett, Charles Johnson, 
 Alexander McKerchie, A. N. Barney, N. E. Eddy, Nahum 
 
106 IIINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Keyes, and some others. At the Cleveland, we found CapL 
 Sam. Moody and John H. Mann, who had spent the previous 
 summer and winter there. I well remember how astonished 
 I was the next morning, when Captain Moody asked me to 
 go with him to dig some potatoes for breakfast. He took 
 a hoe and an old tin pail, and we ascended the high hill now 
 known as the Marquette Iron Co.'s Mountain, and on its pin- 
 acle, found half an acre partially cleared and planted to po- 
 tatoes. He opened but one or two hills when his pail was 
 filled with large and perfectly sound potatoes and then said, 
 4 1 may as well pull a few parsnips and carrots for dinner to 
 save coming up again 1 and sure enough, he had them there 
 in abundance. This was in the month of May. 
 
 "From this time till the lOfch of July, we kept possession of 
 all the iron mountains then known, west of the Jackson, em- 
 ploying our time fighting mosquitoes at night, and the black 
 flies through the day; perhaps a small portion of it was given 
 to denuding the iron hills of extraneous matter, preparing 
 the way for the immense products that have since followed. 
 On the 10th of July, we came away from the mountains, bag 
 and baggage, arriving at the lake shore, as we then termed it r 
 before noon. Mr. Harlow had arrived with quite a number of 
 mechanics, some goods, lots of money, and what was bet- 
 ter than all, we got a glimpse of some female faces. We 
 were all much excited, and buoyant with the hope of a bright 
 and dazzling future before us. 
 
 " At one o'clock of that day we commenced clearing the 
 site of the present city of Marquette, though we called it 
 Worcester in honor of Mr. Harlow's native city. We began 
 by chopping off the trees and brush, at the point of rocks 
 near the brick blacksmith shop, just south of the shore end 
 of the Cleveland ore docks. We cut the trees close to the 
 ground and then threw them bodily over the bank on to the 
 lake shore; then, under the direction of Capt. Moody, we 
 began the construction of a dock, which was to stand like the 
 ancient pyramids, for future ages to wonder at and admire ! 
 We did this by carrying these whole trees into the water and 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 107 
 
 piling them in tiers, crosswise, until the pile was even with 
 the surface of the water. Then we v/heeled sand and gravel 
 upon it, and by the end of the second day we had completed 
 a structure which we looked upon with no little pride. Its 
 eastward, or outer end was solid rock, and all inside of that 
 was solid dirt, brush and leaves. We could not see why it 
 should not stand as firm and as long as the adjacent beach 
 itself ! A vessel was expected in a few days, with a large lot 
 of machinery and supplies, and we rejoiced in the fact that we 
 had a dock upon which they could be landed. On the third 
 day we continued to improve it by corduroying the surface, 
 and by night of that day it was, in our eyes, a thing of beauty 
 to behold. Our chagrin may be imagined, when on rising 
 the next morning we found that a gentle sea had come in 
 during the night and wafted our dock to some unknown 
 point. Not a trace of it remained; not even a poplar leaf 
 was left to mark the spot. The sand of the beach was as 
 clean and smooth as if it had never been disturbed by the hand 
 of man. I wrote in the smooth sand, with a stick; 4 this is the 
 spot where Captain Moody built his dock.' The Captain 
 trod upon the record, and said I would get my discharge at 
 the end of the month, but he either forgot or forgave the 
 affront. It was a long time before any one had the hardihood 
 to attempt the building of another dock. 
 
 " The propellers would come to anchor, sometimes as far as 
 two miles from the shore, and the freight and passengers had 
 to be landed in small boats. Our large boilers, when they 
 arrived, were plugged, thrown overboard, and floated ashore, 
 find the other machinery was landed with our Mackinaw boat, 
 or a scow which we had constructed. Cattle and horses were 
 always pitched overboard and made to swim ashore. 
 
 " Under the lead of James Kelly, the boss carpenter, who 
 was from Boston, we improved our time after six o'clock, 
 each evening, in erecting a log house for sleeping quarters 
 for our particular party. When finished we called it the 
 Revere House, after the hotel of that name in Boston. This 
 building stood on its original site as late as 1860. * * * 
 
108 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 About this time we realized the necessity of procuring hay 
 for our stock. A man called Jim Presque Isle informed Cap- 
 tain Moody that he knew of a large meadow a short distance 
 above Presque Isle, covered with superb blue-joint grass; the 
 only trouble was that it was flooded with water too deep to 
 admit of mowing, but he thought we could, with shovels, in 
 a few hours, cut a drain out to the lake which would carry 
 the water off. So off we started in our boat, armed with 
 shovels, axes, scythes, rakes and pitchforks. Capt. Moody 
 nervously staked out the ground for the canal, and we dug 
 each way from the centre for four or five hours, and at last 
 opened both ends, simultaneously, when to our consternation 
 the waters of the lake rushed in and raised that on the 
 meadow three or four inches! We were not more than five 
 minutes embarking all our tools and getting off. We tried 
 to keep still about the matter, but it leaked out some way, 
 and was the source of a great deal of sport. 
 
 " We continued clearing up the land south of Superior 
 street, preparing the ground for a forge, machine shop, saw- 
 mill and coal house. Sometime in August, the schooner Fur 
 Trader arrived, bringing a large number of Germans, some 
 Irish, and a few French. Among this party were August 
 Machts. George Rublein, Francis Dolf, and Patrick, James 
 and Michael Atfield. All these have resided here continu- 
 ously up to the present time, have been and are good citizens, 
 and have become men of property. Graveraet and Clark had 
 been to Milwaukee and hired and shipped them on a vessel. 
 It was the great cholera year; Clark died at the Sault on his 
 way back; several others had died on the vessel, and many 
 were landed very sick. We were all frightened; but the In- 
 dians, who lived here to the number of about one hundred, 
 had everything embarked in their boats and canoes within 
 sixty minutes, and started over the waters to escape a disease 
 to them more fearful than the small pox. Now, the medical 
 talent of Dr. Rogers was called into requisition. He laid 
 aside the hoe and axe he had learned to handle so dexterously, 
 and took up the practice of his profession. It was found, on 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 109 
 
 examination, that there were 110 real cases of cholera, but 
 many of the new comers had the typhoid or ship fever, and 
 that it was contagious was soon evident, for the doctor, and 
 perhaps a dozen of our young men who had never known 
 sickness before, were soon stricken down with it. Each one 
 of my companions had, in succession, taken the position of 
 nurse in the hospital, (a rude building called a hospital had 
 been erected,) and had in regular order been taken down with 
 the malignant fever. It was my turn, next; I looked upon 
 it as a new promotion, abandoned my oxen, glad of a change, 
 having no fear that I would catch the fever, and I did not. 
 About the time I went in, Dr. Rogers was very low, indeed, 
 unable to lisp a word, and to this fact I attribute the recov- 
 ery of himself and associates; for, as I knew nothing of med- 
 icines, I discarded them altogether, and by advice of a Mr. 
 Harding, Mr. Emmoiis and Mrs. Wheelock, I commenced rub- 
 bing and bathing them, and Mrs. W. furnishing suitable 
 food, the result was that in two weeks they were all con- 
 valescent. Dr. Rogers often said afterward, L if I could have 
 told the fool what medicine to give, he would have killed us 
 all.' 
 
 " At this time the first steam boiler ever se.t up in this 
 county was ready to be filled with water, and it must be done 
 the first time by hand. It was a locomotive boiler, and was 
 afterwards put into the side-wheel steamer, " Fogy," which 
 plied between Marquette and Chocolay so many years. A 
 dollar and a half was offered for the job, and I took it; work- 
 ing three days and a night or two, I succeeded in filling it. 
 Steam was got up, and then I was installed as engineer and 
 fireman. 
 
 " That summer there were but few boats of any kind on 
 the lake. The propeller Independence was generally broken 
 down, and the little propeller Napoleon, only came three or 
 four times during the season. The reliable mail, freight and 
 passenger craft was the schooner Fur Trader, commanded by 
 the veteran Captain Calvin Ripley, from whom the pictur- 
 esque rock in Marquette bay took its name. The Fur Trader 
 
110 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 was a small sail vessel, and usually made a trip in three or 
 four weeks ; but it was towards the last of October and neither 
 she or any other craffc had put in an appearance for nine or 
 ten weeks. The stock of provisions was quite low; the but- 
 ter and luxuries of all kind were wholly exhausted, only a 
 few barrels of pork and flour remained, and the danger of 
 being put on very short rations was imminent. Then Mr. 
 Harding discovered, or pretended to discover, a conspiracy 
 among the Germans to seize the warehouse and confiscate 
 what provisions were left. He volunteered to command a 
 guard to watch the warehouse, day and night. The pro- 
 visions were doled Out sparingly, the Germans became very 
 much dissatisfied, and a short time after, (in November,) they 
 " struck," and a large number of them started out of the 
 country, intending to follow the lake shore to Grand Island, 
 and go from there overland to Little Bay de Noquette. 
 Only a few reached Grand Island; the weaker ones, foot sore, 
 weary and hungry, lagged at different points along the beach, 
 and probably many of them would have .perished but for the 
 return of those of the party who had reached Grand Island, 
 and there learned that a propeller, loaded with provisions 
 had arrived here the next day after they left. So they re- 
 turned, and the cheering news revived the drooping spirits of 
 their comrades, as they came up to them here and there along 
 the beach, and they finally all got back wiser and better men. 
 None of the Germans named as still residing here, went off 
 with the party. * * * * * On the 27th of Novem- 
 ber our boat was started for Sault Ste. Marie, in charge of 
 James Hilliard, (sometimes called Jim Presque Isle.) John 
 H. Mann, Mr. Emmons and a German boy named Kellogg 
 accompanied him; they were all drowned, the boat being af- 
 terwards found with two bodies in it, while the body of Mr. 
 Emmons was not recovered till the following spring. % 
 
 u As I have told two stories that militate against Capt, 
 Moody's skill as an engineer, it is only fair that I should re- 
 late one which redounds to his credit as a navigator. We 
 had by some means been apprized of the fact that the schoon- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. Ill 
 
 ers Swallow and Siskiwit which had been loaded with grain and 
 supplies for us at Sault Ste. Marie, had run by and laid up for 
 the winter at L'Anse. The grain was absolutely necessary 
 to keep the horses from starving. Capt. Moody promptly 
 started for L'Anse, accompanied by James Broadbent, an old 
 salt water sailor. On their arrival there, they found both 
 the vessels stripped and laid up, and what was worse, frozen 
 in the ice. But Moody had pluck enough to undertake any 
 task, no matter how difficult or dangerous. He and his man 
 went to work at once to refit one of the vessels the Siski- 
 wit on the principle that might makes right. They paid no 
 attention whatever to the urgent protests of her owner, Capt. 
 James Bendr}'. They filled her with corn and oats from the 
 Swallow, and employed a large number of Indians to cut a 
 passage between two and three miles long, through the ice, so 
 as to float the vessel out into the open water. They got her 
 out on Christmas eve, and arrived here on Christmas day, the 
 sails frozen stiff and immovable, and the ice a foot thick on 
 her deck. They had not seen land from the time they left 
 L'Anse until they reached Marquette bay, a heavy northwest 
 gale and snow storm prevailing all the time. The vessel was 
 unloaded and run into Chocolate River, where she lay until 
 spring, when, in coming out, she ran on the beach and went 
 to pieces. 
 
 %t During that winter we had three or four mails only. Mr. 
 Harlow was the first postmaster, and hired the Indian Jim- 
 meca to go to L'Anse after the mail at a cost of $10 per trip. 
 I believe the cost was made up by subscription. 
 
 u The Jackson Company had about suspended operations; 
 their credit was at a low ebb; their agent had left in the fall, 
 and was succeeded by u Czar" Jones, the president, but nearly 
 all work was stopped, and the men talked seriously of hang- 
 ing and quartering Mr. Jones, who soon after left the coun- 
 try. * * * In the spring, (1850) the Jackson Company 
 " bust 7 ' all up, and all work at their mine and forge was sus- 
 pended. By this time, the Marquette Iron Co.'s forge was 
 nearly completed and ready for making blooms. Many dwel- 
 
112 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 lings, shops, &c., had been erected, together with a small dock 
 at which steamers could land. This dock still forms the .shore 
 end of the Cleveland Company's merchandize pier. * * 
 
 " In the fall of 1850, B. F. Eaton, and his brother, Watt 
 Eaton, arrived from Columbus, Ohio. They had leased the 
 old Jackson forge and mine, and brought with them an im- 
 mense number of men and horses, and a large quantity of 
 supplies. They commenced operations with a grand flourish 
 of trumpets and high sounding words that bid fair to eclipse 
 and crush everybody else out of existence in short order. 
 They burst all to pieces within a year, and never paid their 
 men a dollar in money those who took goods for pay were 
 wise. Ben. Eaton was so disgusted with the country that he 
 finally left the United States and went to Australia, arid as 
 far as I know has never returned. 
 
 u In the summer of 1851, we had pretty hard times, gene- 
 rally; no money, and not much of anything else. I think it 
 was in September of that year, the county was organized. I 
 was absent up the lake shore, fishing, at the time, and on my 
 return was informed that I had been elected County Clerk 
 and Register of Deeds. I told my informant (Amos Parish) 
 that I was not of age; to which he replied, that the impres- 
 sion generally prevailed that I was over thirty, that no one 
 would say anything if I did not, and that it was very desi- 
 rable to have some one hold those offices who could write. I 
 was flattered, and consented. Up to this time, we had been 
 attached to Houghton county, the county seat being at Eagle 
 River. 
 
 " On one occasion I was sent, in the dead of winter, on 
 foot and alone, up to Eagle River to get the county clerk's 
 certificate to a lot of legal documents. I went to L'Anse, 
 thence across the ice to Portage entry, up the river, over 
 Portage lake and across the Portage to Eagle River. 1 called 
 on Mr. Kelsey, the county clerk, and attended to the business 
 I had in hand. He inquired, 'When do you return?' 'To- 
 morrow.' ' Oh, no,' said he; 'we never allow a winter visitor 
 to depart under two weeks, and as you are the first man who- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 113 
 
 has ever come from Marquette or Carp River up here, by land, 
 we must give you a good time.' Mr. S. W. Hill and Henry 
 Parke came in, and between the three they agreed that I 
 should have a big party the next night. The thought oc- 
 curred to me whether I had not better cut and run for home, 
 but I concluded if I should, and they caught me, it would go 
 hard with me; so I resolved to stay, and if necessary run the 
 gauntlet, or fight for my liberty, if cornered. The next day 
 Dr. L. W. Clarke, John Senter, Geo. Senter, William Morri- 
 son, William Webb, Joe Thatcher, and others called, paid 
 their respects and tendered various civilities. I watched 
 them all closely, but could not discover that my suspicions 
 of a conspiracy against me were well founded. The gay 
 party came off the next evening, and all my fears were dis- 
 pelled. I was invited the next night to a party at Eagle 
 River, and when I argued that my apparel was not suited for 
 parties, I was forcibly taken into Senter's store, and there 
 compelled to put on an elegant suit of clothes; and for the 
 next eight or ten days I was put through such a round of 
 pleasures and hospitable attentions never before nor since wit- 
 nessed by me. I could not have been more civilly feasted and 
 toasted nad I been the Prince of Wales. Such was the hos- 
 pitality of the early settlers of the copper region. 
 
 " At last, when I was about to leave, I was offered silver 
 specimens, agates, or anything else they had. My wants 
 were, however, few and simple, and I said, 'give me two cans 
 of those elegant cove oysters, to take to my Carp River 
 friends, and I will be delighted. 1 I worked my way back as 
 far as Portage entry, and found the ice in L'Anse bay all 
 broken up. Mr. Ransom Shelden then lived at the entry, 
 buying fish and furs from the Indians. At that day, copper 
 mining on Portage Lake had not been dreamt of. After my 
 arrival at the Entry I was laid up for three days with 'Le mat 
 de Racket,' or snow shoe sickness. As soon as I could travel, 
 I set out through the woods for the catholic mission. I knew 
 nothing of the route except to keep in sight of the bay, and 
 that I soon found was impracticable owing to the impenetrable 
 
114 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 nature of the underbrush. so I struck back for better walk- 
 ing. The distance I had to go to reach the mission was six- 
 teen miles, and it seemed to me I had traveled thirty. I had 
 no dinner; it was very cold 22 degrees below zero the 18th 
 of January night was close at hand. I crossed a little 
 valley, and as I mounted the hill, I looked back of me and 
 caught the only glance of the sun I had that day. I knew 
 that to reach the mission I ought to be going toward the set- 
 ting sun! I turned my course in that direction, and in a 
 short time came across a single snow shoe track, and was 
 much pleased to think I was getting where some one else had 
 so recently been; before long I crossed another track similar 
 to the first, and soon a third. A little closer examination 
 convinced me that they were all my own tracks, and that for 
 hours I had been traveling on a circle, only enlarging it a little 
 each time. It was now rapidly growing dark. Fortunately I 
 had matches, but I had no axe, nor any provisions, except the 
 two cans of cove oysters. I succeeded in starting a fire at the 
 foot of a dead cedar that leaned over into the forks of a hem- 
 lock, and as fast as it burned to a coal it would slide down a 
 little, and thus my fire was replenished all night. I was too 
 much excited to be either hungry or tired that night. I slept 
 some in an upright or sitting posture, before the fire ; the snow 
 was about five feet deep, and I had shaped an indentation of my 
 own figure like a chair into the snow, and lined it with balsam 
 boughs, so that it was quite comfortable. In the morning, after 
 breaking all the blades of my congress knife in opening one 
 of the cans of ' elegant cove oysters,' I boiled them in the 
 can, -and tried to eat them; but it was hard work; they 
 wouldn't stay down. Through the kindness of the good 
 Bishop Baraga, who knew that I was either hurt or lost, (he 
 had left the Entry after I did) an Indian was sent out and 
 found me about three o'clock, and before dark I was safely 
 housed at the mission. After many more hardships, I suc- 
 ceeded in reaching home. 
 
 u I have in this paper merely touched upon some of the inci- 
 dents of the first two or three years of the history of Mar- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 115 
 
 quette and the iron region. A few houses, a stumpy road 
 winding along the lake shore ; a forge which burnt up after 
 impoverishing its first owners ; a trail westward, just passa- 
 ble for wagons, leading to another forge, (still more unfortu- 
 nate in that it did not burn up,) and to the undeveloped iron 
 hills beyond ; a few hundred people uncertain of the future, 
 these were all there was of Marquette in 1851 '2. 
 
 " Lit tie did we think that the region we came to settle 
 would, in so short a time, be known and felt everywhere ; 
 that its mineral products would be borne by hundreds of ves- 
 sels to the ports of all the great lakes. The Sault canal was 
 then a project the consummation of which was devoutly 
 wished, but not realized; and the boldest of us had not 
 dreamed of a railroad from our little hamlet to the iron hillsi 
 We were ' building better than we knew.' We had fallen into 
 the march of the century, not knowing whither it would lead 
 *is. We were like the fishermen of the Arabian Nights, 
 who ignorantly opened a small sealed casket, which they had 
 drawn out of the sea in their nets. It held an imprisoned 
 - euii, who emerged at first like a little vapor, which, while 
 they wondered spread and ascended until it towered up like a 
 vast column toward heaven." 
 
 The forge referred to in the foregoing paper, was completed 
 and made the first bloom in just one year from the day Mr- 
 Harlow landed with his men. It started with four fires, using 
 ores from what are now the Cleveland and Lake Superior 
 mines. It continued in operation, rather irregularly, until 
 1853, when the Marquette company was merged into the 
 Cleveland, under the auspices of which latter company, the 
 works were operated until destroyed by fire in the winter of 
 1853. 
 
 In 1852, John Downey, Samuel Barney and others, began 
 the construction of a forge on the Little Carp, but after build- 
 ing a few houses, a wheel, etc., abandoned the enterprise. 
 
 The first opening at the 
 
 CLEVELAND MINE 
 
 was made in 1849 by the old Marquette Iron Company. 
 
116 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 During the summer of that year, several log houses, a large 
 log barn, and a log boarding house were built, but the actual 
 quarrying of ore did not commence till fall. During the win- 
 ter of 1849-'50, twenty or more double teams were kept 
 employed hauling ore from the mine to the forge on the lake 
 shore, which was then being built and expected to be com- 
 pleted the following summer. It was not necessary at that 
 time to use powder in quarrying the ore, as thousands of tons 
 had rolled down and lay in huge u stock piles " at the base 
 and up the sides of the various iron hills in the district. The 
 Marquette Company continued to work an opening on section 
 11, and one on section 10, daring the years 1S50-'51, and in 
 the winter of 1851-'52, the ore being hauled to Marquette by 
 teams during the winteh seasons only. In the winter of 1852 
 this association sold out to the Cleveland Iron Company. 
 The Marquette Iron Company was only an association of dis- 
 cordant elements, a mere partnership, in which each member 
 denied that the others were partners. The Cleveland Iron 
 Company was organized under a special charter, granted by 
 the legislature previous to the adoption of the new constitu- 
 tion in 1850, which last prohibited the legislature from 
 granting special charters to corporations. In the spring 
 of 1853 the company abandoned its special charter and 
 organized under the general mining law of the State, as the 
 
 CLEVELAND IRON MINING CO. 
 
 The articles of association, which were filed in April, 1853 
 were signed by John Outhwaite, Morgan L. Hewitt, Selah 
 Chamberlain, Samuel L. Mather, Isaac L. Hewitt, Henry F. 
 Bray ton, and E. M. Clark, capital stock, $500,000; shares 20,- 
 000. The title to, and possession of, the Cleveland, was, at an 
 early day a " bone of contention" between various claimants. 
 The first occupant was a Dr. J. L. Cassells, of Cleveland, who 
 came up from the Sault, in 1846, and took possession of one 
 square mile of territory for the " Dead River Silver and 
 Copper Mining Company.". The Cleveland Company's 
 mines were included within this territory. Cassells left 
 the country the next year, and his claim was taken posses- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. . 117 
 
 sion of by Capt. Samuel Moody, John H. Mann, and Edmund 
 C. Rogers, the first two claiming what afterwards became the 
 property of the Cleveland Company, and the last named 
 41 squatting" on the lands in sections 10 and 11, upon which 
 the Lake Superior Company originally organized. Previously 
 the Marquette Iron Company had been organized, and 'took a 
 lease of these lands from Clark and Robert J. Graveraet, who 
 claimed to have possession as the representatives of Moody, 
 Mann, and Rogers, with power to sell or lease. A long and 
 bitter controversy over the title followed; the Cleveland Com- 
 pany and Graveraet the latter representing Mann and Moody 
 claimed priority. These conflicting claims were finally set- 
 tled by a decision of the Interior department, which accorded 
 the right of purchase to Lorenzo Dow Burnell, from whom 
 the Cleveland Company purchased. The Company did not 
 enter all the land in dispute, and what is now the Lake Supe- 
 rior mine proper was claimed by Graveraet, under the Rogers' 
 pre-emption, in behalf of the Marquette Company. Rogers 
 had lost his interest by failing to reach the land office at the 
 Sault, in November 1850, to attend a Government sale of 
 lands, being detained by a storm on the lake. The location 
 was then purchased by one Isaiah Briggs, in the interest of 
 John Burt, Esq., under an agreement to lease an undivided 
 one-half interest to Graveraet for a term of ninety-nine 
 years, which agreement was carried out. Graveraet assigned 
 his lease to the Marquette Company, and that, together with 
 the other assets of the Marquette Company, including 64 
 acres of land within the present limits of the city of Mar- 
 quette, was purchased by the Cleveland Iron Mining Com- 
 pany in 1853. Subsequently, the Graveraet lease of an un- 
 divided one-half of what is now the Lake Superior mine was 
 sold to the Lake Superior Iron Company. Out of these com 
 plications grows the present litigation between A. R. Har- 
 low and the Lake Superior Iron Company, the former, one of 
 the partners of the Marquette Company, now claiming that 
 he never sold his interest, and bringing a suit to recover it, 
 together with sufficient damages to cover what would have 
 
118 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 been his share of the profits since earned. This suit is now 
 pending in the Marquette County Circuit Court. 
 
 The New England Mining Company was incorporated by 
 special act of the Legislature, passed in 1848. The purpose 
 for which the Company was formed was declared to be, the 
 mining and smelting of ores and minerals in the state of 
 Michigan, and the capital stock was placed at $300,000. 
 The Company never accomplished anything in the way of 
 mining, however, and in 1855 the charter passed into the 
 hands of Capt. E. B. Ward, under whose auspices the New 
 England mine was opened in the spring of 1864. 
 
 THE LAKE SUPERIOR IRON COMPANY. 
 
 One of the three oldest companies in the district, filed articles 
 of association March 13th, 1853, capital stock $300,000, divi- 
 ded into 12,000 shares of $25 each. The incorporators were 
 Heman B. Ely, Anson Gorton, Samuel P. Ely, George H^ 
 Ely, and Alvah Strong. The early history of this mine is 
 given in connection with that of the Cleveland. 
 
 THE EUREKA IRON COMPANY 
 
 was organized in 1853, with a capital stock of 1500,000, the 
 corporators being E. B. Ward, Harmon DeGraife, Silas M.. 
 Kendrick, M. T. Howe, P. Thurber, Thomas W. Lockwood, 
 and Francis Choate. The company was formed for the pur- 
 pose of mining Lake Superior ores, and manufacturing char- 
 coal pig iron. A start was made to build a furnace near Mar- 
 quette, but the location was changed to Wyandotte, where 
 a furnace was completed and became the nucleus of the ex- 
 tensive iron works now in operation there. The company 
 purchased of Mr. Harlow one hundred and sixty acres of land 
 just west of Marquette, where they undertook to develop a 
 mine. Considerable money was spent and a few hundred tons 
 of ore mined, when the location was abandoned, the company 
 becoming convinced that the ore did not exist in sufficient 
 quantity to warrant further expenditure. The land was sub- 
 sequently sold back to Mr. Harlow, who is still the owner 
 A lease of the property was taken by some Marquette parties, 
 a year or two since, and a feeble effort has been made to open 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 119 
 
 a mine in or near the old Eureka Company's opening, but 
 thus far without success. It is believed by many that a work-; 
 able deposit of good ore will ultimately be found on the prop- 
 erty. 
 
 THE COLLINS IRON" COMPANY 
 
 was organized in 1853, and filed articles of association Novem- 
 ber 8th. The original members of the company were, 
 Edward K. Collins, of steamship fame, New York, Solon 
 Farnsworth. Edwin H. Thomson, Robert J. Graveraet and 
 Charles A. Trowbridge ; capital stock $500,000. This com- 
 pany built a forge in 1854, and began to make blooms in the 
 fall of the following year. In 1858, Stephen R. Gay, under 
 whose supervision the Pioneer furnace at Negaunee had been 
 built the previous year, leased the forge, and put up a cupola, 
 in which he made some pig iron. The company then erected 
 a blast furnace, the work being done under Mr. Gay's super- 
 vision. It was completed and went into blast on the 13th of 
 December, 1858. The Collins Company also purchased a tract 
 of land near the New York and Cleveland mines, where a 
 very considerable sum of money was expended in explora- 
 tions, without, however, developing anything of value. 
 
 THE PENINSULAR IRON COMPNAY 
 
 filed articles of association August 28th, 1854:, capital stock 
 $500,000. The corporators were William A. Burt, Austin 
 Burt, Wells Burt, John Burt, Heman B. Ely, Samuel P. Ely, 
 and George H. Ely. The company acquired the title to 800 
 acres of land, wnich was subsequently sold to the Lake Su- 
 perior Iron Company. A blast furnace was built by the Pen- 
 insular Company at Hamtrainok, Detroit, in 1863, and in 
 1874 became the owners of the Carp River furnace, Mar- 
 quette. 
 
 THE FOREST IRON COMPANY 
 
 filed articles of association September 22d, 1855, with a cap- 
 ital stock of $25,000. The corporators were Mathew McCon- 
 nell, Wm. G. Butler, .Wm. G. McComber, M. L. Hewitt and J. 
 G. Butler. McComber, McConnell and Butler had built a forge 
 on Dead River, where the Bancroft furnace now stands, and be- 
 
120 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 coming embarrassed they sought relief through the organiza- 
 tion of a company with sufficient capital to continue the works 
 in operation. The company failed, however, after a brief 
 career, and the property passed into the hands of Stephen R. 
 Gay, who in 1860 erected a blast furnace on the site of the old 
 forge. 
 
 THE PIONEER IRON" COMPANY, 
 
 to the original projectors of which belongs the honor of hav- 
 ing erected and put into operation the first blast furnace on 
 Lake Superior, was the conception of Mr. Chas. T. Harvey, 
 its first manager. Having induced some New York capital- 
 ists to embark in the enterprise of building a blast furnace 
 on Lake Superior, work was commenced in June, 1857, though 
 it is noticeable that the company's articles of association were 
 not filed until the 20th of July following. The corporators 
 were Moses A. Hoppock, Win. Pearsoll and Charles T. Har- 
 vey. .The builders were Stephen R. Gay and Lorenzo D. 
 Harvey, the furnace being completed so as to make her first 
 iron in February; 1858. It was a double stack furnace, and is 
 still known as the Pioneer, although the property of another 
 company. It is located in the city of Negaunee, convenient 
 to the Jackson mine, from which its principal supply of , ore 
 is obtained, under the terms of a mining contract the fur- 
 nace owners mining- their own ore. and paying to the Jackson 
 Company a royalty of one dollar per ton of iron made. The 
 furnace made no money in the first few }*ears of its existence. 
 In 1860 it was leased to I. B. B. Case for a, term of four years, he 
 agreeing to pay all the expenses, including royalty on the ore, 
 and deliver the iron on board vessel at Marquette, for $17.50 
 per ton. This was less than the iron could be made for, and 
 as a consequence, Mr. Case lost money, though the advance 
 in prices occasioned by the war materially increased the reve- 
 nues of the company. The furnace was destroyed by fire in 
 August, 1864, but number two stack was immediately rebuilt. 
 In 1856, the furnace passed into the hands of the Iron Cliff 
 Company, by whom it is still owned and operated. 
 
 The foregoing are about all the companies that were organ- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 121 
 
 ized previous to 1859, which are still at work, or which de- 
 veloped properties that have since passed into other hands. 
 
 RAILROADS. 
 
 When the first opening was made in the iron deposit on 
 the Jackson location, there were, perhaps, not to exceed 50 ' 
 white inhabitants within the present limits of Marquette 
 county. There was then nothing but an Indian trail from the 
 " Mouth of the Carp 1 ' to the u Iron Mountain." Upon the 
 erection of the Jackson forge a wagon road was constructed 
 from thence to the mine, and when, a few years afterward it 
 was concluded that our iron deposits would pay for working, 
 the road was completed from the lake to the mountain. Then 
 n plank road was projected, commenced in 1853 or 1854, and 
 completed in 1856. It was subsequently converted into a 
 tram railway, on which mules were used as locomotives, and 
 answered the purpose for which it was designed, until, in 
 185 7, what is now the 
 
 MARQUETTE, HOUGHTOST, AND ONTONAGON R. R., 
 
 was completed between Marquette and the Lake Superior 
 mine. The question of transportation of the rich ores of 
 Marquette county to the furnaces of Ohio and Pennsylvania, 
 was one which came to be seriously considered at an early 
 day. A canal around the St. Mary's Falls was scarcely more 
 to be desired, so far as the iron region was concerned, than 
 was the construction of a railroad for the transportation of 
 the ores to the lake side. Accordingly, in 1851, a year before 
 the grant of lands for the construction of a canal around the 
 Falls was made by the general government, Messrs. Heman 
 B. Ely and John Burt began to agitate the question of a 
 railroad, and the next year Mr. Ely caused a survey to be 
 made. There being no general railroad law in the State at 
 that time, Mr. Ely, assisted by his brothers, Samuel P. and 
 Geo. H. Ely, undertook the work as an individual enterprise, 
 having previously made a contract with the Jackson and 
 
122 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Cleveland Companies, and with Mr. John. Burt as the repre- 
 sentative of other companies, for the transportation of all 
 their ores. This contract the two first-named iron compa- 
 nies subsequently attempted to break, and sought to defeat 
 the railroad by constructing a plank- road in opposition to it, 
 thus instituting a serious and embarrassing controversy, 
 which continued until 1855, when all matters of dispute then 
 pending between the Railroad Company, under charge of Mr. 
 Ely, and the Plank-road Company, under charge of Mr. S. 
 H. Kimball, were submitted to arbitration, and settled to the 
 satisfaction of both parties Messrs. C. T. Harvey and Aus- 
 tin Burt being arbitrators. Immediately after the pas- 
 sage of the General Railroad Law of this State, in 1855, the 
 Messrs. Ely incorporated the railroad under the title of the 
 Iron Mountain Railroad, and John Burt was first President. 
 A year later the company was strengthened by the addition of 
 Jos. S. Fay, Edwin Parsons, Lewis H. Morgan, and other cap- 
 italists; and in 1857, the road was completed and put in 
 operation. Mr. H. B. Ely, to whose foresight and energy the 
 origin and success of the enterprise was largely due, and to 
 whom the interests of Lake Superior became otherwise 
 greatly indebted, died in Marque tie, in 1856, before the work 
 upon which he had labored so intently was completed. 
 
 The death of his brother, and his own connection with the 
 road, was the occasion of bringing to Marquette Mr. S. P. 
 Ely, who has since been more largely identified with the bus- 
 iness management of many of the leading enterprises in the 
 Iron Region than any person resident on " Lake Superior/' 
 The Iron Mountain Railroad became, subsequently, a part of 
 the Bay de Noquette and Marquette Railroad, this becoming 
 afterwards, by consolidation, the Marquette and Ontonagoii 
 Road, and still later, by further consolidation, a part of the 
 through line of the Marquette, Houghton, and Ontonagoii 
 Railroad. The plank-road, to which reference has been made, 
 was built by the Jackson and Cleveland Companies jointly, 
 but was never used as a plank-road; longitudinal sleepers 
 were laid down, and covered with strap-rail, on which horse- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 123 
 
 cars were run. The road was used for two seasons, and cost 
 $120,000, which amount was practically sunk. 
 
 c. & ". w. "KAILWAY. 
 
 In the year 1857 a negotiation was completed between the 
 Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad Company, through 
 the Hon. Win. B. Ogden, its President, and the railroad and 
 plank-road proprietors, by whicji that company became the 
 owners of both roads (the Iron Mountain Railroad and the 
 plank-road,) and of the charter of the Marquette & Wiscon- 
 sin State Line Railroad, to which the grant of public lands 
 had been made by Congress. In virtue of these transfers it 
 was expected that a railroad line would be immediately built 
 from Fond du Lac to a point on the Menominee river, in 
 township -1 north, range 30 west, from whence it was to 
 diverge in two branches one to Marquette, and the other to 
 Ontonagon. But the panic and financial crisis of that year 
 prevented the negotiation of the proposed loans in Europe 
 upon the basis of the land grants; the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond 
 du Lac Company retained, however, the Marquette & State 
 Line Railroad charter. In the course of time the Chicago & 
 Northwestern Railway Company succeeded to the property 
 and effects of its predecessor, including the Marquette & State 
 Line land grant. It seemed impracticable then to build a line 
 of railroad on the route first surveyed in 1857, and accord- 
 ingly the Chicago & Northwestern Company obtained from 
 Congress the privilege of a change in the line of the Mar- 
 quette & State Line road to the Green Bay shore and the 
 present line of the Peninsula division. This line was so 
 nearly identical with that of the Bay de Noquette and Mar- 
 quette grant, that the latter company determined not to con- 
 tinue the line to Bay de Noquette. The land grants, as to their 
 interfering provisions, were adjusted by mutual consent be- 
 tween the Chicago & Northwestern and the Bay de Noquette 
 Companies, and the latter company became merged in inter- 
 est with the Marquette & Ontonagon Railroad. 
 
 The preliminary survey of the Peninsula Division line was 
 made in 1865, it being then the intention of the company to run 
 
124 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 their road from the head of Little Bay de Noquette to Chocolay, 
 four miles below Marquette. The next spring, however, the 
 present line was selected, and work commenced on the 4th of 
 July. In a little less than eighteen months, the track was 
 laid into Negaunee, and in less than two years after 
 ground was broken at Escanaba, the cars were carrying ore 
 and passengers over the line. The main line is 62^ miles in 
 length, with about twenty miles of track branching off from 
 Negaunee to the mines. The business of the road has more 
 than answered the expectations of the company. 
 
 In 1872 connection was made between the Wisconsin and 
 Peninsula Divisions of the C. & N. W. Railway by the com- 
 pletion of the company's main line, from Fort Howard to 
 Escanaba. In the same year the Marquette, Houghton & 
 Ontonagon Railroad was opened to I/Anse, thus making 
 complete railway communication from the head of Keweemiw, 
 or L'Anse Bay to Chicago, a distance of nearly 500 miles. 
 
 The legislature of 1875 passed an act granting a most 
 liberal subsidy of State lands to aid in the construction of a 
 railroad from Marquette to the Straits of Mackinaw ; also, for 
 the building of the Menoniinee Range Railroad from some 
 point on the Chicago & Northwestern, below Escanaba, to the 
 new and promising iron mines on the Menominee river. This 
 last road will be completed to the Quinesaik mine in town 
 40 north, range 30 west, Menominee county, the present year. 
 The line from Marquette to Mackinaw will, doubtless, be com- 
 pleted in the near future, when with an extension of the M. 
 H. & 0. to Ontonagon, a line from L'Anse to Houghton, and 
 a branch from the Marquette & Mackinaw to Sault Ste. Marie, 
 the railway system will be complete. It is confidently hoped 
 and believed, however, that when the Northern Pacific Com- 
 pany shall have completed its line between the head of Lake 
 Superior and Puget's Sound, it will seek an eastern connec- 
 tion along the south, shore of Lake Superior with the Cana- 
 dian Pacific at Sault Ste. Marie, and thus constitute itself a 
 grand trans-continental line between the Atlantic and Pacific. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 125 
 
 GEE DOCKS. 
 
 In addition to complete and ample equipment for the trans- 
 portation of ore over their lines, the M. H. and 0. R. R. and 
 N. W. Railway companies have extensive ore docks at Mar- 
 que tte, L'Anse and Escanaba. At the latter point there are 
 two of these docks, one of which is 1,300 feet in length, 
 32 feet in height, and 37 feet wide, with a sufficient number 
 of pockets to hold 20,000 tons. The other is nearly, if not 
 quite, as extensive, the two costing something near half a 
 million dollars. 
 
 The M. H. and 0. R. R. Company's dock at Marquette has 
 a total length of 1,2224- feet, is 38 feet high above the water, 
 and 53 feet wide. It is supplied with four railway tracks 
 upon which the ore cars are run over the pockets. There are 
 136 pockets, situated on both sides, of which 120 have a 
 capacity of 55 tons each, and 16 (steamboat pockets,) of 100 
 tons each. Eight vessels can receive cargoes at the same 
 time, and a vessel of average tonnage can be loaded in one 
 hour and thirty minutes. It is estimated that the dock has a 
 capacity for handling, with ease, 500,000 tons during a single 
 season of navigation. A partial view of this dock may be 
 seen in our illustration of Marquette in 1875. 
 
 The Cleveland Iron Mining Company's ore dock at Mar- 
 quette is so exactly similar to the one last referred to, that it 
 is not necessary to enter into a detailed statement of its size 
 and capacity. Both are elaborate and costly structures, and 
 together have a sufficient capacity to meet all the requirements 
 of the ore trade for years to come. 
 
 The Railroad Company's dock at L'Anse, has a total length 
 of 546 feet, is 36 feet wide and 38 feet high, and contains 80 
 vessel pockets, 40 on each side, with four steamboat pockets 
 at the outer end. The pockets will hold about 75 tons each, 
 and four vessels and one steamer can be loaded at the same 
 time. It is not nearly so large as the other docks referred to, 
 but can be extended whenever it may be necessary to provide 
 for increased transportation facilities at that point. 
 
126 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Both railway companies have, in addition to their ore docks, 
 extensive merchandise piers at their lake termini. 
 ST. MART'S FALLS SHIP CANAL. 
 
 From the time of the first attempt to develop the mineral 
 resources of Lake Superior, till the summer of 1857, a period 
 of twelve years, the Falls of the St. Mary's river formed an 
 insuperable barrier to communication between Superior and 
 the lower lakes. These falls or rapids are nearly opposite the 
 village of Sault Ste. Marie and about one mile in length, the 
 fall being about seventeen feet. As has been stated, a number 
 of steamers had been drawn over the portage between the 
 years ISIS-'SO, but until the completion of the canal, in 1857, 
 all articles of commerce, the products of the copper and iron 
 mines, merchandise, etc., had to be transhipped at the Sault. 
 To facilitate this transhipment, a fiat bar railroad was con- 
 structed, and remained in use until the rapidly growing inter- 
 ests of the Lake Superior region demanded that the barrier 
 should be wholly removed. The necessity for the improve- 
 ment being brought to the attention of Congress, a grant of 
 land amounting to 750,000 acres was secured to aid in the 
 construction of a ship canal around the falls. These lands 
 were given in trust to the State of Michigan, and on the 5th 
 of February, 1853, the State, by act of the legislature, accepted 
 the grant, and authorized the Governor to appoint commis- 
 sioners to let a contract for the construction of the canal, and 
 to 'select the lands. 
 
 These commissioners made a contract with Joseph P. Fair- 
 banks, Erastus Corning and others, who agreed to build and 
 complete the canal within two years, the consideration being 
 the lands granted by the general government. This contract 
 was soon after assigned to the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal 
 Company, which had been organized in New York on the 
 14th of May, 1853, under an Act of the Legislature of that 
 State. Immediately after the passage of the act granting the 
 lands, a survey for the canal was made by Mr. Charles T. 
 Harvey, who, on the organization of the company was made 
 general agent and superintendent of construction. This 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOE. 127 
 
 survey, in which Mr. Harvey was assisted by Mr. L. L. N. 
 Davis, an experienced engineer from the Erie canal, was made 
 late in the fall of 1852. 
 
 Early in the season of 1853, Mr. Harvey, with 400 men, 
 proceeded to the Sault, and on the 4th of June broke ground 
 for the canal. The remoteness of the locality, and many 
 other unfavorable circumstances, rendered the construction of 
 a work of such magnitude exceedingly difficult, and necessi- 
 tated at every step of the operations unusual care and energy 
 in the management as well as heavy pecuniary expenditures. 
 Mr. Harvey remained in control of the construction for one 
 year, when he was relieved and placed in charge of the finance, 
 and also appointed agent for the State to select lands under 
 the grant, in the Upper Peninsula. Mr. Harvey selected 
 about 200,000 acres of land, 39,000 of which were taken in 
 Marquette county, and were subsequently sold for $500,000 
 cash, to the Iron Cliff Company. Among the copper lands 
 selected was the quarter section on which the Calumet and 
 Hecla Company's mine is situated, and which was sold by the 
 canal company for 60,000, now worth not less than $20,- 
 000,000. The 750,000 acres granted by the general govern- 
 ment were entered by the company as follows: on the Upper 
 Peninsula, 262,283 acres of iron, copper, and timber land, and 
 487,717 acres of pine land in the Lower Peninsula. 
 
 During the summer of 1854 the difficulties necessarily 
 attendant upon building the canal were very much enhanced 
 by disease among the workmen, some 200 of whom died of 
 the cholera, and among them was Mr. Ward, who had charge 
 of the construction. Mr. Harvey was then again placed in 
 charge of the work, which, owing to the panic among the 
 workmen, had become nearly suspended; but by the exercise 
 of much skill and energy he succeeded in reorganizing the 
 force, and pushing the work vigorously forward to final com- 
 pletion. On the 19th of April, 1855, the water was let into 
 the canal, and in the following June the work was opened for 
 public use, under the superintendence of Mr. John Burt. 
 
128 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 The total cost of the original construction of the canal, 
 which includes also the expense attendant upon the selection 
 of lands, as contained in the report of the company under 
 date of January 1st, 1858, was $999,802.46. 
 
 The Michigan Legislature, by joint resolution, adopted in 
 1869, ceded the canal to the General Government but it has 
 never been formally accepted; nevertheless, under its system 
 of internal improvement, the National Government has made 
 the most liberal appropriations for its enlargement, and also 
 for the construction of a new one, which last is designed, 
 when completed, to be adequate to all the requirements of com- 
 merce. Considerably over one million dollars have been ex- 
 pended on the improvement of the canal, the total cost of 
 which, it is expected, will exceed $2,000,000. 
 
 It is to be hoped that Congress may yet be prevailed upon 
 to accept the ownership of this great improvement. It is a 
 public work in which the people of the State of Michigan 
 not only, but all the Lake States, if not the country at large, 
 feel, or should feel, an interest. It was originally constructed, 
 as has been seen, wholly at the expense of the General 
 Government, and has never cost the State of Michigan one 
 dollar that was not repaid in tolls imposed by the State 
 Board of Control. The General Government, while leaving 
 the canal to the ownership and control of the State, is ex- 
 pending large sums of money in its enlargement. It should 
 assume the ownership and control as well, and then make it 
 absolutely free, and no longer permit one State to manage, 
 control, and impose a tax upon a great public work, which 
 was built at the expense of all the States. What Lake 
 Superior wants is free and unrestricted water communication 
 with the other lakes that will never be obtained until the 
 canal passes into the hands and under the obsolute control 
 of the General Government. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 129 
 
 The following table showing the amount of receipts for 
 tolls, etc., taken from the annual report of Superintendent 
 Gorton, indicates, to some extent, the rapid development of 
 the Lake Superior mineral interests. It must be remembered 
 that, since the opening of the canal, other mean^ of transport- 
 ation have been provided, and a very considerable part of 
 the annual product of the mines and furnaces finds an outlet 
 at Escanaba and through Lake Michigan: 
 
 STATEMENT SHOWING THE AMOUNT OF RECEIPTS FOR TOLLS, 
 AMOUNT OP TONNAGE, AND NUMBER OF PASSAGES OF BOTH STEAM 
 AND SAIL VESSELS, AND DATES OF OPENING AND CLOSING THE CANAL. 
 
 
 | 
 
 
 aj 
 
 JB 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 p 
 
 S 
 
 g| 
 
 1 
 
 c ^ 
 
 *W 
 
 1 
 
 w 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 I* 
 
 02 
 =0 
 
 p 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 
 
 1855... 
 
 S 4,374 (16 
 
 106,299.00 
 
 
 
 
 June 18. 
 
 November 23. 
 
 18o6... 
 
 7,575 78 
 
 101.4:^8.00 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 May 4. 
 
 November '28. 
 
 1857.. 
 
 9,406 74 
 
 180 820.00 
 
 
 
 
 
 May 9. 
 
 November 30. 
 
 1858.. 
 
 10,848 80 
 
 219.8-900 
 
 
 
 
 April 18. 
 
 November20. 
 
 1859.. 
 
 16,941 84 
 
 352,612.00 
 
 
 
 
 May 3. 
 
 November 28. 
 
 I860.. 
 
 24,777 82 
 
 403.65". 00 
 
 
 
 
 May 11. 
 
 November 26. 
 
 
 16.672 16 
 
 276.639 00 
 
 
 
 
 May 3. 
 
 November 14. 
 
 18ri2'. 
 
 21,607 17 
 
 359,612.00 
 
 
 
 
 April 27. 
 
 November 27. 
 
 1863. . 
 
 30,574 44 
 
 507,^34.00 
 
 
 
 
 April 28. 
 
 November 24. 
 
 1864. . 
 
 34,287 31 
 
 571,438.00 
 
 1,04? 
 
 366 
 
 1,411 
 
 May 2. 
 
 December 4. 
 
 1865. . 
 
 22,339 64 
 
 409,062.00 
 
 602 
 
 395 
 
 997 
 
 May 1. 
 
 December 3. 
 
 1866. .. 
 
 23.069 54 
 
 458,530.00 
 
 555 
 
 453 
 
 
 May 5. 
 
 December 2. 
 
 1867. .. 
 
 33.515 54 
 
 556,898.76 
 
 H39 
 
 466 
 
 L30r> 
 
 May 4. 
 
 December 3. 
 
 1868.... 
 
 25.977 A 
 
 432,463.47 
 
 817 
 
 338 
 
 1,155 
 
 May 2. 
 
 December 3. 
 
 1869.... 
 
 31,579 96 
 
 524,884.72 
 
 939 
 
 399 
 
 1,33S 
 
 May 4. 
 
 November 29. 
 
 1870.... 
 
 41,896 43 
 
 690,82591 
 
 1,397 
 
 431 
 
 1,828 
 
 April 29. 
 
 December 1. 
 
 1871 .... 
 
 33,865 45 
 
 752.100.54 
 
 1,064 
 
 573 
 
 1.637 
 
 May 8. 
 
 November 29. 
 
 1872.... 
 
 41.232 44 
 
 914,735.03 
 
 1,212 
 
 792 
 
 2.004 
 
 May 11. 
 
 November 26. 
 
 1873.... 
 
 44.943 18 
 
 1,204,445.25 
 
 1,549 
 
 968 
 
 2,517 
 
 May 5. 
 
 .November 18. 
 
 3874 
 
 38.922 97 
 
 1,070,857.18 
 
 833 
 
 901 
 
 1.734 
 
 May 12 
 
 
 1875!"! 
 
 41J99 04 
 
 1,259,'533!53 
 
 493 
 
 1,462 
 
 2^033 
 
 May 12. 
 
 
 Includes steam barges and consorts. 
 
 From the same report we take the following tables, show- 
 ing the amount of freight carried to and from Lake Superior 
 ports, through the canal, between May 12 and September 30, 
 1875: 
 
130 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 NATURE AND AMOUNT OF FREIGHT CARRIED TO LAKE SUPERIOR 
 
 PORTS DURING THE SEASON OF 1875. 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 NAME OF LINE. 
 
 1 
 - 
 
 Buffalo Boats. 
 
 Chicago Boats. 
 
 Canadian Boats. 
 
 Steam Barges 
 and Consorts. 
 
 Sailing Vessels. 
 
 Pork, bbls 
 Flour, bbls. 
 
 1,585 
 7,245 
 1,142 
 11,571 
 61,339 
 171,069 
 73,143 
 8.130 
 70,635 
 8,179 
 17,282 
 15,439 
 2,365 
 4,452 
 39,282 
 425 
 71,241 
 12,85? 
 29.573 
 19,053 
 12,431 
 12,178 
 5,845 
 93 
 
 4835 
 9,074 
 4.129 
 369,660 
 383,487 
 407^930 
 126,395 
 82,020 
 6.912 
 10.244 
 1,029 
 4,014 
 382 
 435 
 581 
 2U3 
 109,531 
 681 
 5,620 
 11,470 
 839 
 2 777 
 ' 12 
 8 
 
 2.482 
 6,881 
 8,431 
 95.161 
 12.760 
 48,4*3 
 23,530 
 4, -00 
 4 670 
 1,240 
 637 
 685 
 906 
 13 1 
 3,526 
 
 24,2 i 9 
 1.420 
 4,870 
 4.0-14 
 426 
 7,240 
 66 
 81U 
 
 """ 
 
 '- 
 
 8.902 
 28,200 
 13,702 
 476,392 
 457.586 
 625.4 .'2 
 233.068 
 94 350 
 Si !.2 17 
 19,663 
 18 948 
 20.138 
 3.655 
 5,021 
 43.989 
 '100 
 205.021 
 14,963 
 40.063 
 34,567 
 16,345 
 23.800 
 101,260 
 1,018 
 
 Beef, bhls 
 
 Bacon, Ibs 
 
 Lard, Ibs.. 
 
 Butter, Ibs 
 Cheese, Ibs 
 Tallow, Ibs 
 
 Candles, boxes 
 
 Soap, boxes 
 
 "'6u6 
 
 l',799 
 
 b'i',528 
 
 Apples, bbls 
 
 Sugar, bbls 
 
 Tea, chests.. 
 
 Coffee, bags . . . 
 
 Salt, bbls 
 
 Vine far, bbls 
 
 ""850 
 1 605 
 2d,8u9 
 707 
 
 Tobacco, Uos... 
 
 Hails, kegs 
 Dried fruit, ft>s 
 Vegetables, bush 
 Lime, bbls 
 
 Merciiaridis- , tons 
 Coal, tons .... 
 
 Lumber, M 
 
 Shingles, M. . . 
 
 Lath, M 
 
 
 
 Window glass, boxes 
 Hay, tons 
 
 1,230 
 809 
 162 
 33 
 147 
 4 
 1,029 
 7,627 
 1,053 
 12 
 42 
 
 2.184 
 265,633 
 422 
 866 
 6,265 
 20 
 1,25S 
 5 
 3,031 
 654 
 40 
 1,829 
 6 
 123 
 200 
 
 4fcO 
 809 
 923 
 
 1421 
 526 
 
 11 1*4 
 
 30,292 
 106 
 1 
 33 
 46 
 1,515 
 591,600 
 1,101 
 190 
 231,701 
 1.823 
 59 
 
 ""122 
 229 
 
 237 
 6-9 
 606 
 347 
 0<>3 
 338 
 14 
 1.589 
 255 
 1 
 2 
 97 
 819 ' 
 6,000 
 56 
 8,703 
 12,114 
 232 
 42 
 26 
 124 
 42 
 
 '"m 
 
 '"iis 
 
 1.953 
 2.:5 o 
 1.601 
 
 4J7 
 2.171 
 
 MS 
 
 2.7131/3 
 39,478 
 1.414 
 
 U 
 
 160 
 4,518 
 863.233 
 
 i..y,y 
 
 11,817 
 250. OSU 
 2.075 
 1.359 
 31 
 3.277 - 
 926 
 40 
 2,829 
 6 
 123 
 200 
 3.639 
 60 
 45 
 185 
 150 
 13.495 
 11.6661/2 
 
 Cattle, head 
 
 Horses and mules, head. 
 Sheep, head 
 
 653 
 
 Hogs, head. .. 
 
 Brick, M. 
 
 Furniture, pieces 
 Machinery, ions 
 Engines.* 
 
 '2.176 
 
 ":::: 
 
 Boi crs 
 
 Wagons 
 
 Liquors, bbls 
 
 Malt, ibs 
 Es;gs, bbls.. . 
 
 ""498 
 
 Railroad iroji, tons 
 Coarse grain, bus-h 
 
 Ground feed, tons 
 Bar iron, tons 
 
 Powder, tons 
 Kerosene oil, bbls. 
 
 
 Lard oil, bbls 
 
 
 Moulding sand, tons 
 Uement, bbls. 
 
 500 
 
 
 
 
 Stoves 
 
 Syrup, bbls 
 
 
 
 ' V.525 
 
 il',970 
 
 Empty bbls. 
 Beer, half-bbls. 
 
 ' 3,039 
 60 
 
 '"45 
 125 
 150 
 
 Crockery, bbls 
 
 
 Telegraph wire. 
 
 
 Road scrapers 
 
 
 
 Wheelbarrows . . 
 
 
 
 Limestone, tons 
 
 
 
 Passengers 
 
 3,669Mi 
 
 777 
 
 8.220 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 131 
 
 NATURE AND AMOUNT OF FREIGHT CARRIED FROM LAKE SUPERIOR 
 
 PORTS DURING THE SEASON OF 1875. 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 NAME OF LINE. 
 
 1 
 c5 
 \i>- 
 
 bJO 
 
 p 
 '3 
 
 02 
 
 13 
 
 I 
 
 Buffalo Boats. 
 
 g 
 o 
 M 
 
 1 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 Canadian Boats. 
 
 Steam Barges 
 and Consorts- 
 
 Maps copper, tons 
 Ingot copper, tons 
 btanip works, tons 
 Iron ore, tons 
 Pi^ iron, tons 
 
 2,060 
 12,534 
 8,636% 
 1,970 
 
 17,354 l ,4 
 
 '"ios 
 
 " 7,67*8 
 13,774 
 98 
 3,255 
 
 81 
 28,600 
 4, ( Ju7 
 175 
 
 ""378 
 
 65 
 
 
 
 2,125 
 12,632 
 S,6382 
 493,408 
 40, 556 Hi 
 847 
 10005 
 4,504 
 41,181 
 13,887 
 3,473 
 
 I,2i3,'788 
 286,791 
 1,672 
 758 
 299 
 770 
 218 
 54 
 540 
 93 
 28 
 565 
 2.9T8V4 
 123 
 
 b4 
 79rf 
 8 
 2,978 
 8 
 25 
 27 
 
 8.019 
 
 
 
 
 339,856 
 7,019 
 
 143.910 
 
 2,409 
 
 suvcr ore, tons 
 
 500 
 4.549 
 4,423 
 
 8,700 
 
 4,131 
 57 
 
 489*015 
 
 228,349 
 573 
 
 758 
 
 2<9 
 2,201 
 
 Hides . . 
 
 Knrs and pelts, bundles. 
 Tallow, Ibs 
 
 5,881 
 4,849 
 
 " i",397 
 
 250,466 
 4,000 
 40 
 
 ' i'.sii 
 115,666 
 
 Fish, hall'-bbls 
 
 Lumber, M 
 Shingles, M 
 Wheat, bush 
 Flour, bbls 
 Feed, tons 
 
 359,373 
 51.064 
 1,059 
 
 
 Potash, casks 
 
 
 CU cake, tons 
 Merchandise, tons 
 Fresu fish, cars... . 
 
 299 
 561 
 
 218 
 
 '"ittH 
 
 '"3714 
 
 
 
 
 Itags, tons 
 
 54 
 540 
 
 
 
 liariev, tons 
 
 
 
 
 
 J torses 
 
 10 
 5 
 500 
 69 
 123 
 1U 
 84 
 85 
 8 
 2,978 
 8 
 
 24 
 8 
 65 
 629 X 
 
 59 
 20 
 
 
 
 Wagons 
 
 Railroad iron, ions 
 Building stone, tons 
 Potatoes, bbls 
 Bones, ions 
 
 
 20 
 
 2,2t>0 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 Scrap iron, tons 
 
 Slate, tons 
 Wool, tons 
 
 71- i 
 
 
 
 
 Empty beer kegs 
 Household goods, boxes. 
 Whisky, bbls 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 27 
 75 
 4.008 "4 
 
 
 Do^s 
 
 
 
 Lead ore, tons 
 
 
 
 Passengers 
 
 3,424^ 
 
 586 
 
132 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 GEOLOGY OF THE LAKE SUPERIOR IRON REGION. 
 
 BY CHAS. E. WRIGHT, M. E. 
 
 The rock formations of our iron district are embraced un- 
 der two grand divisions, the Archean and Silurian. The 
 former is divided into two periods, the Laurentian and Huro- 
 nian. These are usually tilted at high angles, their inclina- 
 tion or dip being more frequently greater than forty-five 
 degrees (45) than less. The Silurian age, the Upper and 
 Lower groups, is represented on the Upper Peninsula of Mich- 
 igan by the Potsdam, Calciferous, Trenton, Niagara, Onon- 
 daga and Helderberg periods. They are nearly all horizon- 
 tally bedded or dipping only slightly to southward* The 
 Silurian rocks, and the overlying drift, include, with the ex- 
 ception of a narrow neck of the Huronian, all the country of 
 the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, south and east of Mar- 
 quette. To the casual observer, the Archean rocks, in their 
 broken and contorted beds, appear to have had no system in 
 their formation in texture and structure, irequeiitly resem- 
 bling the igneous rocks rather than the sedimentary, and even 
 to-day are spoken of by some geologists, as being in a " fluid 
 state,"f or are referred to a deep-seated Volcanic (Plutonic) 
 origin. By other geologists their probable equivalents are 
 considered^ as highly metamorphosed sedimentary strata. 
 The latter theory we have accepted as best explaining the nu- 
 merous facts we have observed, not only in the field but those 
 recently brought to light by the application of the micro- 
 scope. Before beginning with the older period, the Lauren- 
 
 *See Michigan Geological Report, 1873, Part III. 
 tMichigan Geological Report, 1873, Part III. 
 JGeology of Canada, 1863, Page 22. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 133 
 
 tian, which underlies all of our other rocks, without it be, 
 perhaps, an occasional primitive island arising above the 
 former level of the Laurentian sea, we will review briefly the 
 architecture of the rocks of this section, which may enable us 
 to understand more clearly the ideas we wish to present. Let 
 us imagine, if you please, the primitive earth's crust, com- 
 posed chiefly of granitic rocks, which have formed and par- 
 tially crystalized out of the amorphic magma, constituting 
 the outer zones of the earth's shell. After their formation 
 and even during its process, began the abrading forces of na- 
 ture, no doubt largely assisted by the corroding influence of 
 a dense and acid atmosphere, gradually wearing away the more 
 prominent features of the earth's rocky face, depositing the 
 loosened particles in the primitive and barren valleys of early 
 time. When the sediment had attained considerable thick- 
 ness, commenced the metamorphism of the strata, affording 
 us the metaniorphic granites and other crystaline rocks of the 
 Laurentian period. Then followed a disturbance and tilting 
 up of the strata, caused in a measure by the crystallization of 
 the sediments and consequent enlargement of the mass, due 
 to the fact that the crystallized material occupies more space 
 than the amorphic, and by the contraction of the entire earth 
 or globe, aided largely, no doubt, by the expansion of the 
 outer shell, from the heat generated by this shrinking and 
 consequent motion, and to many other causes, which even 
 their simple enumeration would require more space than we 
 can spare. Our Laurentian rocks are formed; and now fol- 
 lows another period, not of rest, however, for nature never 
 ceases her labors, but coupled with time is constantly pro- 
 ducing something new. Sne has already begun with her rude 
 tools the gigantic task before her. The lofty mountain ranges 
 and noble peaks of granite, slowly but surely disappear be- 
 fore her persistent energy, until nothing remains of their 
 grandeur save the low, insignificant rounded knobs of the 
 Laurentian. As nothing goes to waste, so do we find again 
 the material of the Laurentian mainly re-deposited in the 
 valleys of what is known as the Huronian sea. The question 
 
134 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 ab once arises in our minds, how account for the different 
 kinds of rocks? The simplest explanation we can offer for 
 this is to advise our questioner to examine any exposure of 
 coarsely crystalline rocks, where can be best observed the 
 effects of weathering, and satisfy himself of the decomposi- 
 tion and dissolving out of some of the chemical elements of 
 the minerals, of which the rock is composed, and then to 
 consider that these chemical ingredients, combining with 
 others are carried away and deposited directly, or by some in- 
 termediate agent, elsewhere. On the other hand, if he be of 
 a mechanical turn of mind, let him watch closely a muddy 
 stream made turbid by some local cause, and notice that the 
 water gradually becomes clearer the farther it recedes from 
 the disturbing force the coarser particles are precipitated 
 first, but many of the finer ones are held in the current 
 until they reach the still waters where they slowly sub- 
 side to the bottom of the lake or sea. The result of this 
 chemical or mechanical action is, that the sedimentary strata 
 they form are usually different in composition from the parent 
 rock. Then again, thermal waters impregnated with solvent 
 agencies may percolate the sedimentary beds and carry away 
 in solution some of the ingredients, thereby changing the 
 chemical nature of the material and affording a new mineral 
 constituent. The many theories advanced to account for the 
 formation of rocks, suggest an exhaustless subject; so for fear 
 of exceeding our limits we will turn again to examine another 
 era in that wonderful plan of creation. We will suppose the 
 deposition of the Huroriian period to have ceased, and the 
 metamorphism and upheaval of the beds, wrought no doubt, 
 by agencies similar to those of the Laurentian, to have ended. 
 Nature again commences her work of levelling the mighty 
 monuments she has constructed, as evidence of her great 
 power, and as before she gathers up the ruins of the previous 
 ages and reconstructs from them the lower beds of the Silu- 
 rian. In this age, however, she has left behind unmistakable 
 evidences of the presence of life. To the existence of this inter- 
 mediate agent is largely due the formation of the Paleozic and 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR, 135 
 
 more recent limestones. The Silurian sea, teeming at intervals 
 with organic life, has supplied the carbonate of lime and mag- 
 nesia it held in solution, to construct the shells and frames of 
 the fauna, which thrived in that period, and their remains, 
 when erratic, have settled to the bottom of the sea and formed 
 immense calcareous beds, which subsequent metamorphism has 
 changed into magnesian limestone. To consider these mem- 
 bers in detail, or continue upwards through the succeeding 
 ages to the present time, would oblige us to go outside of the 
 Iron District we purpose to describe, and therefore would be 
 foreign to our subject. 
 
 There now remains the comparatively recent Grlacial period, 
 which has had much to do with forming the present features 
 of the country. Nearly everywhere in our iron district on 
 the exposed surfaces of the granite and the quartzy ones of 
 the Huronian may be seen groovings and stria3 ploughed out 
 or engraven by the glaciers. These markings have nearly a 
 common trend, and from them we learn that the glaciers have 
 traveled from northeast to southwest, scattering the boulders 
 held within their icy embrace often hundreds of miles . from 
 their native ledge. As a singular instance may be cited an 
 immense boulder of lean magnetic iron ore lying on the south 
 bank of the Menominee river, just above the mouth of Pine 
 river, Wisconsin. This boulder was originally partially ex- 
 posed, but owing to the fact that it was left directly over a 
 long line of magnetic attraction, and to its huge size, parties 
 have completely undermined it, to satisfy themselves that it 
 was not an outcrop of a solid ledge. These erratics of mag- 
 netic iron ore are strewn promiscuously through the drift 
 south and southeast of the iron ranges, and frequently play 
 strange freaks with the explorer's compass. Sometimes so 
 strong is this local attraction that the north or south end of 
 the needle will continue to point to one place when traveling 
 around it, even when the circle is a hundred yards or more in 
 diameter. Farther south, in northern Wisconsin, where the 
 drift is often very deep, the boulders, apparently deposited in a 
 morraine, have dammed the streams, ;i backing up" the water 
 
136 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 for miles above, while below these irregular dams are often 
 dangerous rapids. With the Glacial period closes our hasty 
 review of the architecture of the rocks of the iron district 
 and those in the eastern portion of the upper peninsula of 
 Michigan. 
 
 We will now examine, stratigraphically, the members of 
 the periods we have been considering. 
 
 In the Laurentian fields are probably isolated islands of 
 primitive rocks, but as yet, they have never been discovered, 
 owing to the difficulty of distinguishing between igneous 
 and metamorphic granites, and to the fact that the Lau- 
 rentian on Lake Superior is comparatively an unexplored dis- 
 trict. The Laurentian formation of our iron region is com- 
 posed chiefly of granites and gneissoid rocks. The granites 
 are medium to coarse grained. The essential minerals are 
 generally plainly visible. The granites are usually massive 
 and strongly jointed. The jointing planes are veiy promi- 
 nent, and along the sides of cliffs present, sometimes, bold 
 and very even faces, which frequently are mistaken by ex- 
 plorers for stratification. The bedding planes are ordinarily 
 very obscure and difficult to distinguish, but with sufficient 
 care, they may, in most cases, be made out. 
 
 Many of our granites would be valuable as building stone, 
 and, no doubt, could be used for all purposes to which these 
 rocks are applied. In all the thin, transparent sections of the 
 Laurentian granites that we have examined under the micro- 
 scope can be easily recognized the feldspar,quartz and mica, and 
 as accessory minerals may be counted magnetite, hematite, 
 amphibole, etc. The feldspars (monoclinic and triclinic) are 
 generally slightly altered, and the mica sometimes wanting, 
 (pegmatite) while the quartz is apparently unchanged. It is 
 interesting to note the various stages of decomposition of the 
 feldspar, commencing along the cleavage planes and producing 
 at first only a slight fogginess, then a mossy like appearance, 
 mottled with limpid spots, and finally, in the latter stages, a 
 micro-granular mass, indistinct^ outlined. In the quartz 
 may be seen numerous very small liquid filled cavities, aver- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 137 
 
 aging say one four thousandth of an inch across, and which 
 contain, an extremely minute vacuum or gas bubble. 
 These tiny bubbles are usually in constant motion, dashing 
 merrily about in their narrow confines. The presence of 
 these fluid inclusions and the absence of any glass or stone 
 filled cavities, so common to known igneous rocks, has had 
 much to do in convincing us of the sedimentary origin of 
 the Laurentian rocks. Under the microscope, in the polar- 
 ized light, the sections present a very interesting field, and it 
 is apoarently evident from their structure and texture that 
 these granites have crystallized " in situ." Passing from the 
 Laurentian to the Huronian, we enter the home of our iron 
 ores. 
 
 Beginning at the foot of the Huronian ladder, which we 
 will suppose has nineteen steps, we venture upwards. These 
 steps, we will assume, correspond to Major T. B. Brooks' di- 
 vision of the Huronian series. The first four steps are repre- 
 sented by mica schist, quartzite, magnesian schist, small quan- 
 tities of specular ore, and locally large deposits of lean flag 
 iron ores.* From the west end of Cascade mine has been 
 taken considerable first-class ore. The other mines situated 
 on this range are now idle. Leaving this unclassified field 
 we arrive at No. V. In this member we find Massive Quartz- 
 ites, which often graduate into Dolmitic Marbles. 
 
 An analysis of the Morgan furnace limestone from this 
 formation, afforded: 
 
 arb. of lime 49.10 
 
 darb. of magnesia 41.00 
 
 Oxide of iron .43 
 
 Silica 8.00 
 
 Undetermined 1.47 
 
 100.00 
 
 The novaculites, which have furnished excellent hones, be- 
 long to this formation ; also some of the talcose schists. 
 Taking another step, we reach No. VI., which is an Actinolo- 
 
 *See Brooks' report. 1873, page 147. 
 
138 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 magnetic Quartz Schist, banded with purplish, brownish and 
 grayish slaty layers that are from one-sixteenth to two inches 
 in thickness. On weathered surface it appears somewhat 
 arenaceous. Under the microscope the actinolite (fibrous 
 hornblende), quartz and magnetite are easily recognized. 
 Ascending still higher to No. VII. we find a Hornblende 
 Rock. It is usually medium grained, and dark greenish black 
 in color, finely sprinkled with gray. Massive and jointed, 
 rarely ever showing any signs of bedding, and were it not 
 that these rocks are associated with other plainly stratified 
 members, it would be quite impossible to define their original 
 structure. Under the microscope a section of the rock is seen 
 to consist chiefly of amphibole and quartz, with plain and 
 striated fragments of feldspar, brownish scales of mica, and 
 magnetite. These rocks are commonly known in the iron 
 district as " greenstones," or u trap, 1 ' and have been fre- 
 quently mistaken by geologists for diorites. 
 
 No. VIII. of our series is a Banded Magnetic Quartz Schist, 
 differing from VI. in containing less actinolite, while many of 
 the layers on their polished edges present a graphic appear- 
 ance, from small and dendritic fragments of brownish jasper. 
 Formation No. IX. is a Hornblende Rock, similar to VII. It 
 contains, however, more quartz and less mica and feldspar. 
 No. X. Banded Magnetic Quartz Schist, very similar to the 
 previous magnetic schist. It is much harder and jasperyi 
 and there is less distinction in the texture and color of the 
 stripes. Under the microscope the base of the rock appears 
 composed of small angular quartz grains averaging about one 
 six hundredth of an inch across. Scattered through this base 
 are numerous still smaller particles of magnetite, also fra-g- 
 ments of actinolite. This formation in some localities in- 
 cludes the so-called soft hematite ores. It is possible that 
 these soft ore deposits are the result of the decomposition of 
 the richer and less quartzy portions of this belt, caused, 
 probably, from the dissolving out of the finely divided silica, 
 by thermal alkaline waters. This appears all the more plausi- 
 ble, since in formation V. the marbles are traversed by irregular 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 139 
 
 veins of quartz, which are evidently due to the infiltration 
 of water holding silica in solution ; and further, these dolo- 
 mitic beds are often altered into silicious marbles or even 
 quartzites apparently from the replacement of the carbonates 
 by silica. Advancing another step up our imaginary ladder, 
 we encounter a massive Hornblende Rock, No. XL, apparently 
 identical with No. IX. Under the microscope may be seen in 
 the thin sections large fragments of orthoclase feldspar, and 
 fiorous ones of amphibole. The former often enclose the lat- 
 ter. No. XII. is a Specular Quartzose or jaspery Schist ; it is 
 often finely banded, and on the smooth surface across the bed- 
 ding presents a very laminated structure. Where a bending 
 in the formation has taken place, as at the Republic mine, 
 may be seen some very interesting instances of folding and 
 miniature faulting. Each stripe or group of them is so well 
 characterized that they may be recognized at a glance, even 
 where the throw has been several inches, or even feet, to the 
 right or left. In this formation, as in X., are found valuable 
 deposits of soft hematite ores. 
 
 One more step we climb, and the true iron belt is before 
 us. In this member, No. XIII., are represented all the known 
 varieties of the magnetic and red oxides of iron. The mag- 
 netic ores vary from a fine steely-grained to a coarse granu- 
 lar texture. The specular ores are sometimes granular to 
 steely-grained, or are more or less micaceous. The magnetic 
 ores are usually massive and jointed, while the specular 
 ores are massive to slaty. The steely varieties are very hard 
 to drill, and when massive and without joints require an end- 
 less amount of sledging to reduce them to the proper size for 
 handling. On the other hand, some coarse granular magnetic 
 ores and micaceous specular slate ores may be easily crumbled 
 in the fingers. The first-class ores are very rich, and when 
 carefully selected, average above 65 per cent, of metallic iron, 
 though lumps weighing several tons can be had that are within 
 one-half per cent, of absolute purity. The beds are from a few 
 feet to one hundred or more in thickness. The deposit of ore 
 often appears to be in lenticular shaped masses, one lense over- 
 
140 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 lapping the other. The transition from the red to the black 
 oxides is usually quite abrupt,* and small hand specimens 
 may be obtained^ where one side is nearly pure magnetite and 
 the other portion composed of specular ore. Nearly all the 
 specular ores have minute particles of magnetite disseminated 
 through them. On the foot and hanging walls are often nar- 
 row beds of chlorite and talcose schists. Imbedded in some 
 of these chloritic rocks overlying the magnetic ores are gar- 
 net crystals altered into chlorite, though some of them are 
 partially unchanged. 
 
 Reluctantly we leave the ore formation to examine the 
 next member of the Huronian series, No. XIV. It is a Gray 
 Quartzite, of an even and somewhat arenaceous texture. 
 Sometimes it is slightly micaceous; it differs from the Lower 
 Quartzite in being less vitreous, and is apparently not so highly 
 metamorphosed. The quartzite at some of the mines passes 
 into a jaspery Quartz-Conglomerate or Breccia. Continuing 
 our ascent, we find No. XV., usually represented by a Black 
 Slate. It is frequently pyritiferous, and contains a small per- 
 centage of graphite; in some places it is quite plumba- 
 ginous. 
 
 We have not seen, as yet, in Marquette county any slate 
 beds suitable for roofing purposes, though in the Huron Bay 
 district are inexhaustible quantities of first-class roofing 
 slates. 
 
 Next in order is a Limonitic Schist, No. XVI. It is possible 
 that this is only a decomposition of the more pyritiferous 
 lenses of the slate, or is derived in the same manner from the 
 anthopyllitic schist No. XVII. immediately above. The 
 so-called anthophyllitic schist is composed of anthophyllite 
 and actinolite, with an admixture of oxide of manganese and 
 of iron, also graphite. The anthophyllite is easily recognized 
 by its radiated form. It is highly probable that portions of 
 this belt are sufficiently rich in manganese to make them val- 
 uable for Bessemer iron ores. No. XVIII. is supposed to be 
 
 *Champion, Republic, and other mines. 
 tEdwards Mine. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 141 
 
 a Quartzite. One more effort and we reach what we suppose 
 to be the upper member of the lower Huronian, No. XIX. 
 This is a Mica Schist, holding crystals of staurolite and an- 
 dalusite; the staurolite is very prone to form crystals that 
 are crossed either at right angles, or at a very oblique one. 
 Having now very imperfectly considered the character of the 
 different strata of the Huronian, we will sketch as briefly as 
 may be, from our own observations, aided largely by the pub- 
 lished results of others,! the outlines of the different periods 
 of our Iron District. Beginning with the Lower Silurian, 
 we find in the. southeastern portion of the city limits of Mar- 
 quette, isolated patches and bays of brown sandstone, 
 nearly horizontally bedded, and resting unconformably on 
 and against the Huronian. The Lower Silurian member has 
 an irregular shore line as we proceed southward from this lo- 
 cality. The first six miles its course is southwesterly, the 
 sandstone resting on the Huronian. We continue south about 
 fifteen miles, along a very crooked shore composed of granite; 
 when following this dividing line we travel westward some 
 twelve miles further; then in a gentle curve we re turn to our 
 southward course, and in town 42, range 27 west, we cross a 
 neck of Huronian nearly six miles wide. Leaving this we 
 skirt along the granite beach for fifteen miles more, when 
 we meet again the Huronian, which forms the coast of the 
 Potsdam for twenty miles or more, where it intersects 
 the Meiiominee river and enters Wisconsin. Returnino- 
 
 O 
 
 again to Marquette, we find the Potsdam sandstone skirting the 
 south shore of Lake Superior nearly all the way to Keweenaw 
 Bay, and from thence southwest ward, there appears to have 
 been an extensive Lower Silurian bay, having for its north- 
 west shore, the Copper Range, or upper Huronian. The 
 formation before us has furnished very excellent brown sand- 
 stone for building purposes, and many of the variegated va- 
 rieties obtained from the Marquette quarries cannot be sur- 
 passed for beauty or durability. In the Huronian period it 
 would be practically impossible to define the shore lines of the 
 
 SSee Michigan Geological Report, 1873. 
 
142 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Huronian sea, owing, as we have seen, to the bending and 
 upheaval of the strata, and the subsequent erosion. Our pur- 
 pose, then, is not to describe original boundaries, but rather 
 to trace out the upturned edges of the strata. Glancing over 
 this section of the country we find the Huronian fields, lim- 
 ited by granite, or covered by the overlying Silurian and drift. 
 The general trend of the formation in the Marquette district is 
 nearly east and west, and as we proceed westward from Mar- 
 quette it gradually widens, until at Negaunee it appears to 
 have attained its maximum width of about thirteen miles. 
 The upper members of the Huronian are apparently wanting 
 between Marquette and just east of Negaunee. The strata 
 form a broad synclinal trough, resting on granite. The 
 synclinal is corrugated in the direction of its axis with sev- 
 eral minor folds. West and south of Negaunee and about 
 Ishpeming, these minor corrugations are contorted and their 
 upturned edges have a serpentine-like course. Nature here, 
 apparently, in one of her uneasy moods, has, by disturbing 
 the strata, brought to light her buried treasures, and ren- 
 dered easy of development the several first-class specular iron 
 ore mines about Negaunee and Ishpeming. 
 
 The Jackson mine at Negaunee, is the oldest iron mine of 
 the district, and its products are largely sought for. At Ish- 
 peming we have the Lake Superior, Barnuni, Cleveland, New 
 York, Lake Angeline, and other mines. Their ores are of the 
 best quality and cannot be excelled. 
 
 About Negaunee are located a number of soft hematite 
 mines. These ores are in good demand by Bessemer pig iron 
 makers, owing to their low percentage of phosphoric acid. 
 Southward of Ishpeming are the Saginaw, Winthrop, and 
 other mines. The Saginaw ores are the first-class specular 
 varieties, while those of the Winthrop are being used for the 
 manufacture of Bessemer iron. 
 
 As we continue westward from Ishpeming the formation 
 again becomes more regular, though here, as east of Negau- 
 nee. may be observed the inferior folds. On the south rim of 
 our broad synclinal are located the Washington, Edwards, 
 
01T LAKE SUPERIOR. 143 
 
 Keystone and Champion mines. In the Washington and 
 Edwards mines the ore a fine quality of magnetic occurs 
 in pockets or irregular shaped lenses, while at the Keystone 
 and Champion the ore belt is more uniform. At the Cham- 
 pion the vein or bed is nearly vertical, and on the lower level 
 of the mine it is about one hundred feet wide. The ores, the 
 magnetic and specular, are of a very superior quality, and in 
 their present workings are very low in phosphorus and sul- 
 phur. 
 
 The Huronian, westward from Ishpeming, gradually nar- 
 rows until it reaches Michigamme Lake, where it is only two 
 miles wide. The northern edge of the trough maintains its 
 course along the nortli shore of the lake, and includes within 
 its iron belt the Michigamme and Spurr iron mines; also 
 other and undeveloped mines. The ores of the Michigamme 
 and Spurr mines are of the highest standard, and the former 
 promises soon to lead the iron mines of Lake Superior in the 
 amount of production. 
 
 After we leave the Spurr mine the course of the formation ap- 
 pears to be west-northwest, and when we arrive at a point about 
 eight miles south of L'Anse the formation takes a short turn 
 to the northeast, but before reaching Lake Superior it dips 
 under the Potsdam, sandstone, and we return about five miles 
 further to the northwest, in nearly a parallel direction, on 
 the northwest side of the Huron Mountains, along the Lower 
 Silurian shore line to L'Anse. Coming back to the east end of 
 Michigamme Lake, and tracing the southern rim of the syn- 
 clinal, we find it makes a gradual southwesterly turn and in 
 an easy curve comes round to a southeasterly direction, con- 
 forming in a measure to the east side of Michigamme Lake 
 and its outlet. We continue on our course, passing the Klo- 
 man mine, and finally reach the Republic mine. The ores of 
 these mines are mostly specular. In the Republic has been 
 found a deposit of very pure magnetite. The specular ores 
 are very rich in iron oxides and are favorably known to our 
 iron men. 
 
 The formation has here made a horse shoe-like bend, twist- 
 
144 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 ing and contorting the strata, and returned in a north westly 
 direction along the southwest bank of the river. The strata 
 are tilted at high angles, and in some instances are over- 
 turned. The dip, however, is usually away from the under- 
 lying granite, so that on each side of the river we find the 
 strata inclining toward each other, thereby forming a narrow 
 trough of less than one mile wide and six or seven miles long. 
 On this range are located the Metropolis, Windsor, Canon, 
 Erie and Magnetic mines. These mines are all on one of the 
 lower iron belts. The Erie mine is reported to have mined 
 out several hundred tones of magnetic ore. At the Mag- 
 netic mine has been done considerable work, and they are 
 now exploring to find the upper iron belt. Immediately after 
 we leave these mines the upturned edges of the Huronian 
 begin to curve to the left, and in about one-half mile they 
 have a direction of nearly due south, which continues for three 
 or four miles, when it makes a little more easting, and finally 
 we come to a point some eighteen miles south of the Republic 
 mine ; then we proceed southeasterly and easterly for about 
 thirteen miles, when we meet the Potsdam, formation men- 
 tioned above, in town 42, range 27 west. Following our pre- 
 vious trail southward for five or six miles, across this Huro- 
 nian neck, we arrive on its southern edge. Proceeding now 
 westward on the dividing line of the Huronian and Lauren- 
 tian for thirteen or fourteen miles, we turn to the southwest, 
 then to the east and north east for a short distance, and ulti- 
 mately in a more uniform course to the southeast. We are 
 now in the Menominee region. The formations are more 
 regular and have a trend west by north. On the " Menomi- 
 nee range" are some first-class specular and hematite iron ore 
 deposits, well adapted to the manufacture of t; Bessemer pig 
 iron," and the day cannot be far -distant when their value for 
 this purpose will be recognized. The following is an analysis 
 of ore from the Quiniiesaik mine: 
 
 Peroxide of iron 93.85 
 
 Alumina 34: 
 
 Lime 1.05- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 145 
 
 Magnesia 15 
 
 Phosphoric acid 11 
 
 Sulphur Trace. 
 
 Silica 4.00 
 
 Water 50 
 
 Total 100.00 
 
 Metallic iron 65.695 
 
 Phosphorus , 048 
 
 We have several analyses of ores from this region, and the 
 average percentage of phosphorus is even less than the above, 
 which cannot fail to be appreciated by those endeavoring to 
 furnish pig iron suitable for the present demand in the steel 
 trade. 
 
 Having in a superficial manner considered the region best 
 known to us, and in which we are most interested, we will 
 tarry a moment on the borders of the geologically unexplored 
 Laurentian. In the Menominee region is a small Laurentian 
 island, bounded on the north, west and south by the Hiiro- 
 nian, and on the east by the Silurian. Immediately north of 
 this and separated only by a narrow Huronian bay is a much 
 larger granite island belonging to the same period, limited on 
 the north by the Marquette iron district (Huronian) and on 
 the west and south by Huronian, and to the east by Silurian. 
 Still further north is another Laurentian island, even larger 
 than the preceding. It is hemmed in on the north and east 
 by Lake Superior and Potsdam Sandstone, to the west by the 
 Huron Mountains, and on the south by the Marquette iron 
 region. The first island has an area of about one hundred 
 and fifty square miles. The second island of, say six hundred 
 square miles, and the upper, or northern Laurentian island, 
 probably numbers seven hundred square miles. With the 
 Laurentian closes our very incomplete chapter on the geology 
 of the Lake Superior iron region, and we hand our pen to the 
 historian that he may finish the task we have only begun. 
 
 On the nsxt two pages will be found a complete list of all 
 the iron mines which have been opened in the district, to- 
 gether with their location, names of owners, general agents 
 and their post office address, and character of ore 
 
.146 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
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148 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF ORES. 
 
 The Lake Superior mines yield five varieties of iron ore. 
 The most valuable, so far as developed, is the specular hema- 
 tite, which is a very pure anhydrous sesqui-oxide, giving a 
 red powder, and yielding in the blast furnace from 60 to 68 
 per cent, of metallic iron, which is slightly red short. The 
 ore occurs both slaty and granular, or massive. It is 
 often banded or interlaminated with a bright red quartz or 
 jasper, and is then called u mixed ore." 
 
 The next in order of importance is the magnetic, or black 
 oxide, which, until recently, has only been found at a consid- 
 erable distance west of the specular and soft hematite depos- 
 its, at the Washington, Edwards, Champion, Republic group, 
 Keystone, Michigamme and Spurr, in which none of the other 
 varieties have been found, except the specular hematite, com- 
 monly called "slate," into which the magnetic sometimes 
 passes, the powder being from black to purple, then red. Re- 
 cently a vein of very fine magnetic ore was struck at the 
 New York mine, which, though not fully tested, promises to 
 become a very important feature of the mine. It is not im- 
 probable that the specular and magnetic ores are varieties of 
 the same ore, as they are much alike in richness, character of 
 iron, and geological structure. This view is much strength- 
 ened by the fact that the specular ore is often found in octa- 
 hedral crystals, which form is well known to belong exclu- 
 sively to the magnetic oxide ; hence it is probable that the 
 specular deposits were once magnetic, and by some metamor- 
 phic action have been robbed of one-ninth their oxygen, 
 which would make them chemically hematites. 
 
 Scarcely less important than the magnetic is the soft hem- 
 atite of the district, which very much resembles the brown 
 hematite (Limonite) of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. This 
 ore is generally found associated with the harder ores, from 
 which many suppose it is formed by partial decomposition or 
 disintegration of the latter. It contains some water, chemi- 
 cally combined is porous in structure yields about 55 per 
 cent, in the furnace, and is more easily reduced than any other 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 149 
 
 ore of the district. It forms an excellent mixture with the 
 speculars. There are, probably, several varieties of this ore 
 which have not been well made out. That found at the Jack- 
 son and Lake Superior is associated with the specular, while 
 the Foster bed is several miles removed from any known de- 
 posit of that ore, and has probably a different origin. 
 
 The flag ore is a slaty or schistose silicious hematite, con- 
 taining rather less metallic iron, and of more difficult reduc- 
 tion than either of the varieties above named. It is often 
 magnetic, and sometimes banded with a dull red or white 
 quartz. The iron is cold short, which is one of the best qualities 
 of this ore the other ores of the district being red short. 
 This ore varies much in richness, and comparatively little has 
 been shipped. It is, however, probably the most abundant 
 ore in the district. 
 
 A silicious ore, containing a variable amount of oxide of 
 manganese, is found at several points, accompanying the flag 
 ore, which will in time, unquestionably be found of great 
 value as a mixture. 
 
 The iron ores of the district are generally found in hills, 
 rising from one to five hundred feet above the level of the sur- 
 rounding country. These hills (those given to exaggeration 
 call them mountains) are simply immense deposits of iron 
 ore, though partially or wholly covered by layers of earth and 
 rock. It is true the ores are also found in the valleys, but 
 where so found are usually covered with a deep drift, and con- 
 sequently cannot be so easily mined. 
 
 That part of the Lake Superior Iron Region in which the 
 most gratifying results have been obtained, is nearly all in- 
 cluded within the limits of Marquette county, west of Ne- 
 gaunee, within a range of six miles wide, running in a north- 
 westerly course from Lake Fairbanks, in town 47 north, of 
 range 26 west, to Keweenaw Bay, in town 49 north, of range 
 33 west a distance of nearly one hundred miles. The mines 
 now opened and being worked are all situated on the east end 
 of this range, the most remote being the Spurr Mountain, 
 near the west end of Lake Michigamme. 
 
150 -MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Another extensive district or range is that known as the 
 Menominee, extending so far as known, from town 39, north 
 range 28 west, north to the south shore of Lake Michigamme. 
 The deposits on the south end of this range, to which more 
 extensive reference will be made later on, are not only quite 
 numerous, "but are believed to be very extensive and valuable, 
 though as yet little has been done in the way of development. 
 The celebrated Republic mine is situated on the northern end 
 of this range. * 
 
 The iron range again crops out some thirty miles south of 
 Bayfield, where ore of a tolerably pure quality has been found. 
 By reference to a geological map, it will be seen that the 
 Marquette and Menominee iron ranges cross or form a junc- 
 tion with each other on the south side of Lake Michigamme, 
 the one continuing to the west and northwest, and the other 
 south and south-east. 
 
 We will now briefly review the mines in present operation,, 
 giving such facts and figures as will enable the reader to com- 
 prehend the progress which has been made, and form some 
 estimate of the importance of the iron resources of the Lake 
 Superior region. As we have stated, the first opening in the 
 iron deposits was made at 
 
 THE JACKSON MI^"E 
 
 in 1846; but very little progress was made in the way of de- 
 velopment until after the opening of the St. Mary's Falls 7 
 ship canal, ten years subsequent. The first shipments from 
 the Jackson were made in 1856, all the ore mined previous to 
 that time (about 25,000 tons) having been for the use of the 
 Company's forge, of which full mention has already been 
 made. 
 
 The Jackson Company's mines are situated within the cor- 
 porate limits of the city of Negaunee, on section 1, of town 
 47, range 27, the whole of the section belonging to the com- 
 pany, and comprising the original entry made in 1845. The 
 mines consist of a dozen or more cuts or openings, on as 
 many different deposits of ore, though it is believed that 
 some of them are continuous. The ore is a hematite-^ 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 151 
 
 including both the hard and soft varieties classified into 
 specular, granular, slate and hematite the latter referring 
 solely to the soft ores. The beds are very irregular in their 
 formation, but, generally, have a very perceptible dip to the 
 north. 
 
 The production of the Jackson mine, for each year, is cor- 
 rectly given in the following table: 
 
 YEAR. GEO3S TONS. 
 
 ] 856, and previous 30,000 
 
 1857 14,000 
 
 1858 12,500 
 
 1859 10,500 
 
 1860 41,000 
 
 1861 13,000 
 
 1862 43,000 
 
 1863 61,000 
 
 1864 69,000 
 
 1865 55,000 
 
 1866 87,934 
 
 1867 126,390 
 
 1868 131,707 
 
 1869 128,245 
 
 1870 122,710 
 
 1871 132,297 
 
 1872 112,060 
 
 1873 116,336 
 
 1874 105,600 
 
 1875 90,568 
 
 Total 1,502,847 
 
 The following analyses of the Jackson ore is given to show 
 its great purity, and freedom from all injurious substances : 
 
 NUMBER ONE A MIXTURE OP THE GRANULAR PEROXYDE AND 
 THE MAGNETIC OXYDE : 
 
 Oxygen 29.46 
 
 Iron 68 . 07 
 
 Insoluble 2 . 89 
 
 100.42 
 
 No trace of manganese, phosphorus or sulphur, the in- 
 soluble portion consisting entirely of pure silicia. 
 
 NUMBER TWO SLATE. 
 
 Oxygen 29 . 09 
 
 Iron 69.09 
 
 Insoluble 1 . 64 
 
 99.82 
 
152 'MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 We do not deem it necessary to enter into a detailed de- 
 scription of the Jackson. It is, perhaps, more generally 
 known abroad than any other mine in the district, its ores 
 always commanding the most favorable consideration of 
 furnace-men. Mining operations are conducted in the most 
 thoroughly systematic manner, and though economy is the 
 rule, no necessary expense has been spared in the purchase of 
 the best and most improved machinery and appliances. The 
 mine affords employment to an average of about 250 men, 
 and the pay roll will approximate $125,000 annualty, though, 
 of course, it was much larger previous to the panic. 
 
 The officers of the company are as follows: President, 
 DAVID STEWART, New York; Secretary and Treasurer, Gr. P. 
 LLOYD, New York; General Agent. FAYETTE BROWN, Cleve- 
 land; Local Agent and Mining Supt., HENRY MERRY, 
 Negaunee. 
 
 Captain Merry took charge of mining operations in 1858, 
 and has held the position ever since. His long service with 
 the company, and the constantly increasing product of the 
 mine, attest his practical worth and ability. 
 
 THE CLEVELAND IRON MINING COMPANY 
 
 mined the first year (1852) 3,000 tons, which was made 
 into blooms, at their forge, in Marquette, which continued 
 in operation about two years after its purchase from the 
 Marquette Company. This forge stood just south of the 
 shore end of the Cleveland Cornpairj^s ore pier, and was 
 destroyed by fire December 15th, 1853. In 1855, the 
 first shipments, 1,447 tons, were made to lower lake ports, 
 and in 1856 the shipments amounted to 6,343 tons. The 
 Jackson, though first wrought, did not make any shipments 
 of ore till 1856, and the Cleveland, therefore, ranks as the 
 pioneer in that respect. The following table shows the 
 product of the mine from 1852 to 1875, inclusive, a period 
 of twenty-four years: 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 153 
 
 TEAK GROSS TONS. 
 
 1852-4 3,000 
 
 1855 1,447 
 
 1856 6,343 
 
 1857 , 13,204 
 
 1858 7,909 
 
 1859 15,787 
 
 1860 40,091 
 
 1861 11,795 
 
 1862 , 37,009 
 
 1863 46,842 
 
 1864 45,927 
 
 1865 : 33,957 
 
 1866 42,125 
 
 1867 75,864 
 
 1868 102,213 
 
 1869 , 111,897 
 
 1870 132,984 
 
 1871 158,047 
 
 1872 151,585 
 
 1873 130,600 
 
 1874 108,580 
 
 1875 140,239 
 
 Total 1,417,445 
 
 The present operations at the mine are confined to pits 
 No. 2 and 3 originally separate openings, but now one 
 Nos. 1, 4 and 5, the " Incline " and the School-house mines, 
 the exact condition of each of which we shall describe as 
 accurately as possible. In No. 2 and 3, which is, in the 
 main, a large open cut, the 90 foot level has been reached, 
 with the hoisting shaft sunk to a considerable depth below it. 
 To the west of this open cut there are openings througl 
 to the New York, where the vein has been worked out to 
 below the 60 foot level, pillars of ore being left to support 
 the hanging wall. At this point the vein, which was only 
 about eight feet thick at the outcrop, widened out to 15C 
 feet, at the 60 foot level, but at some distance below, tapers 
 down to about 90 feet. The dip of the deposit is, at this 
 point, to the south, the foot wall being nearly perpendicular. 
 The New York vein, which is identical with this deposit, 
 lias been worked down to the Cleveland line for a distance 
 of 230 feet west, thus insuring, without further explora- 
 tion, a run of over 400 feet of ore at this point. There is 
 here a vast body of pure ore which cannot be exhausted for 
 
154 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 many years. The ore is raised through a shaft supplied with 
 a double skip road, operated by the engine and drums in the 
 main engine house, situated between No. 2 and 3 and the 
 Incline mine. The same engine was formerly used for hoist- 
 ing from the Incline mine, but is now employed exclusively 
 in raising the ore and water from No. 2 and 3. 
 
 No. 4 is situated about 400 feet east of the last men- 
 tioned opening. The vein, which was about 14 feet thick at 
 the start, dips to the west at about the same angle as the 
 deposit in 2 and 3, and at a depth of 125 feet attains, in some 
 places, a thickness of 45 feet. Here it has been ascertained 
 that what was considered the foot wall is only a thin strata 
 of rock, under which there is another bed of ore, the extenb 
 of which has not yet been determined; the same feature 
 characterizes the hanging, above which there is another 
 vein of ore ten feet thick. These veins evidently run under 
 the east slope of No. 2 and 3, and cut out what was supposed 
 to be a right angle or curve in the foot wall. This is an un- 
 derground opening, and connected by a drift with the In- 
 cline mine. The ore is hoisted out by engine and drums, 
 stationed on the hill at the east of the mine, which also do 
 the hoisting for Nos. 1 and 5. 
 
 No. 5 is an open cut in which the vein has been opened 
 about 150 feet lengthwise, the vein holding a uniform thick- 
 ness of about 20 feet, 120 feet below the surface, to which 
 depth the ore has been worked out. 
 
 No. 1 is where the first opening was made in 1854. and 
 presents a vein of ore about 14 feet thick, dipping to the 
 south-west, and which has been worked down to a uniform 
 depth of 30 feet. This vein has been traced to the New York 
 line, a distance of over 400 feet, and lies immediately under 
 the deposit in No. 2 and 3, with about ten feet of diorite 
 between them. 
 
 By far the largest body of ore to be seen in any one opening 
 in the district, is at the so-called u Incline mine." This is a 
 large open cut, 100 feet deep, and embracing a superficial 
 area 200x400 feet. The length indicates the extent of vein 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 155 
 
 oi deposit which has been opened, though it varies in width 
 or thickness from 13 feet at the east end to 162 feet near 
 the middle, tapering down again to about 30 feet at the 
 west end. This deposit presents some peculiarities which 
 are puzzling to the geologist. Originally, an inclined tram- 
 road was put down, from the engine-house, at the north- 
 west end of the opening, under the impression that the ore 
 dipped to the south and east. Afterwards it was found that 
 the ore dipped under the supposed foot wall on the north side 
 of the pit; the incline was taken up, and three skip roads on 
 the south wall substituted for hoisting purposes. The south 
 wall is nearly perpendicular, and when the ore was found 
 to be dipping to the north, it was but natural to suppose that 
 a correct understanding of the formation had been reached. 
 Later, however, it was found that the ore, 75 feet below 
 the surface, extends under this supposed foot wall on the 
 south side, and excavations for blacksmith shop and boiler 
 room have been made, 20 feet south, in ore, without encoun- 
 tering anything which looks like a foot or hanging wall. 
 Certain it is that the ore in the bottom dips under the op- 
 posing bodies of rock, and, as yet, neither foot nor hanging 
 wall has been reached. Above this huge ore deposit there 
 is a vein fourteen feet thick, dipping at an angle of 45 
 degrees to the north, which has been worked to some extent 
 by driving in "breasts," leaving arches to support the over 
 hanging rock. This vein, however, has not been found very 
 reliable, in some places narrowing down to less than three 
 feet. Some idea of the extent of the u Incline mine " may 
 be gathered from the fact that nearly 70,000 tons of ore have 
 been mined from it alone in a single year, and that it can 
 be made to yield a larger product if necessary. An open 
 cut, thirty feet deep, is now being made across the bottom, 
 at the widest part, by which two underhand stopes with faces 
 30x160 feet will be obtained, on each side. From these stopes 
 not less than 100,000 tons of ore can be mined. The ore is 
 raised by means of four skip roads, three on the south side 
 of the cut and one at the northwest side, all operated by the 
 
156 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 new machinery furnished last year by the Iron Bay foundry, 
 and which is located at the southwest end of the cut. 
 
 The School-house mine is west and south of the other 
 openings, and has been opened on a vein which has a north 
 and south course, with dip to the west. About 350 feet of 
 vein, which carries an average thickness of fourteen feet, has 
 been opened to a depth of 130 feet. It is an underground 
 mine, with four incline shafts, which are supplied with skips 
 for hoisting. These skips are operated by machinery of the 
 most approved pattern, and which, owing to its distance from 
 other openings, is not applied to any other purpose. This 
 mine contributes about 30,000 tons of ore annually to the 
 company's product. 
 
 The average number of men employed at the Cleveland is 
 350. The ore generally, is a very hard, compact red specular, 
 and for that reason the cost of mining is, perhaps, greater 
 than at any other mine in the district. In No. 2 and 3 pit 
 there is ground so exceedingly hard that frequently from five 
 to six hundred freshly sharpened drills are required to drill an 
 inch and a half hole one foot deep. The ore, however, is of 
 the best quality, a fact which is attested by the eagerness 
 with which it is sought after by furnacemen all over the 
 country. More than this, the deposits are not likely to show 
 any signs of exhaustion for years to come certainly not 
 within the remaining years of any of the present stock- 
 holders. 
 
 The officers of the company are: President and Treasurer, 
 SAMUEL L. MATHER; Secretary, FEED. A. MORSE; General 
 Agent, JAY C. MORSE; Superintendent, F. P. MILLS. 
 
 Mr. Mills has had local charge during the past sixteen 
 years a fact which tells the whole story of his ability as a 
 practical miner. 
 
 THE LAKE SUPERIOR HIXE. 
 
 The Lake Superior Iron company filed its articles of associ- 
 ation in March 1853, the capital stock being 1300,000, repre- 
 sented by 12,000 shares of the par value of $25 each. Mining 
 operations were not commenced, however, until sometime in the 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 157 
 
 summer of 1857, and the first shipments (4,658 tons) were made 
 the following year. The estate originally purchased consisted 
 of 120 acres in sections 9 and 10, town 47, range 27. Subse- 
 quent purchases enlarged the company's estate to something 
 over 2,000 acres, and it now has mines opened and in opera- 
 tion in sections 16, 19, 20 and 21, in addition to those opened 
 on the tract originally purchased. With the purchase of 
 additional lands the capital stock was increased to $500,000, 
 all of which was returned to the stockholders in dividends 
 previous to the panic of 1873, up to the close of which year the 
 company had mined and sold 1,433,097 tons of ore, of the 
 aggregate value of about ten millions of dollars. 
 
 We shall not attempt any description of the geological 
 formation at the Lake Superior openings in sections 9 and 10, 
 the peculiarities of which are a puzzle to those who have made 
 the geology of the district a study. Major Brooks, who 
 made a most thorough and careful examination of the mine 
 while engaged in the state geological survey of 1869, referring 
 to the eastern portion of the mine, says in his report " I con- 
 fess myself unable to give any intelligent hypothesis of its 
 structure." Were he to visit the mine now, we very much 
 fear that he would find it a harder conundrum to solve than 
 it was at the time he made his survey. The formation is un- 
 like anything else in the district. Instead of a comparatively 
 narrow vein or belt of ore, enclosed by nearly vertical walls, 
 we find here a huge basin or trough, the rims of which form 
 a foot wall on either side, from 400 to 500 feet apart at the 
 upper edges. There are, in fact, two foot walls of talcose 
 schist, one dipping to the north at an angle of 69 deg., and 
 the other sloping at the same angle to the south, while there 
 is no such thing as a hanging wall to be seen. Along the 
 sloping walls of this basin there is a vein or stratification of 
 pure ore that lying next to the south wall varying from 
 twenty to ninety feet in width, and gradually widening out 
 as depth is attained. Along the north wall, in No. 2 cut, a 
 vein of pure ore ten or twelve feet thick was mined out down 
 to the first level, one hundred feet from the surface, at which 
 
158 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 point there appears to have been a break in the formation, by 
 which the ore belt was shoved over to the south a few feet, as 
 is evidenced by the fact that though the miners lost track of 
 the ore at the bottom of the level as stated, it has again been 
 found in a lower drift, and running parallel with the vein 
 which was supposed to have been exhausted. The same break 
 occurs at the Barnum, a short distance west, where the vein 
 was lost and found again in the same way, and has been 
 worked out to a considerable depth below the break. Between 
 these foot walls and the overlying veins or stratifications of 
 pure ore, the basin appears to have been filled in with a 
 jumbled mass of rock and ore a chloritic schist with strati- 
 fications of pure specular ore, which appear to have no con- 
 nection with the main deposits on either side. There is but 
 one acceptable theory in regard to this formation, and that is 
 that the vein or deposit lying against the north and south 
 foot walls are identical and connect underground though 
 some affect the belief that the formation will be found differ- 
 ent at a greater depth, and that the ore overlying the north 
 and south walls are but branches of or feeders to the main 
 deposit, which will be found confined within regular foot and 
 hanging walls below, the smaller lenticular masses in the 
 chloritic schist, with which the bowl of the trough or basin 
 is filled, having the same structural connection. There is 
 little doubt, at all events, but that the ore will be found to 
 connect beneath the mass of rock lying between the upturned 
 edges of the basin, cutting it out altogether. This rock will, 
 therefore, necessarily have to be taken down and removed; 
 and it is more than probable that it will be found to contain 
 enough pure ore to pay the cost of its removal. 
 
 The principal work being done at present is in Nos. 1 and 
 2. No. 1 is a large open cut which has been worked out to 
 a depth of 105 feet, the floor constituting what is known as 
 the first level. This cut is about 400 feet in length, on the 
 south side of the basin, the ore widening out from about 
 twenty feet at the east end to ninety feet near the middle, 
 from which point it again gradually narrows down to forty 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 159 
 
 feet at the west end. This refers to the body of ore which 
 constitutes the floor of the first level, the deposit at the 
 west end being only one foot thick at the outcrop, and 
 though not fully informed we infer that the same general 
 features characterize the whole of the deposit so far as 
 opened. It would appear that the belt of the ore lying 
 along the southern foot wall does not maintain the same 
 proportions, but dips under the mass of rock with which the 
 basin is filled, so that at a depth of 100 feet from the surface 
 it has attained a thickness nearly, if not quite, three times 
 as great as the measurement of the outcrop. This fact 
 strengthens the belief that the ore will ultimately be found 
 to underlie the whole of the mixed ore and rock between 'the 
 upturned edges, and should the same general features be 
 found in the ore belt which lines the slope of the north wall 
 in No. 2, it will not be many years before the peculiarities of 
 the formation, which have puzzled the wits of the ablest 
 geologists, will be satisfactorily determined. 
 
 The ore from No. 1 cut is raised through a main shaft, 
 which is down to the second level all the way in rock, ajid 
 125 feet distant from the ore deposit. From the bottom of 
 this shaft there are two drifts into the cut on the second 
 level, in which there are four stopes with faces of sixty feet 
 each. A shaft has been sunk to the third level, at the east 
 end of v>.c cut, around which the ore has been taken out so 
 as to give an open under-hand stope of forty-eight feet. A 
 new skip road is being constructed to this third level, the ore 
 from which has hitherto been raised in buckets to the second 
 level, and thence out through the main shaft. This new skip 
 road will be operated by one of the drums in No. 1 engine 
 house, it being the intention to abandon the old shaft as soon 
 as all the ore above the second level has been taken out. The 
 distance from surface to the third level is 232 feet. The 
 new shaft referred to, together with the skip road, will be 
 continued down to a fourth level, sixty feet below the 
 third, which will give a sufficient number of stopes to enable 
 the management to fill any demand that is likely to be made 
 upon the mine. 
 
160 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 On the south side of J3o. 1 cut there are two skip roads to 
 the second level, which are operated by the engine and drums 
 on the hill. These will likewise be carried down to the third 
 and fourth levels, and the ore taken out in that direction 
 will pass down a tram-road to a dock near the hematite mine, 
 where it will be transferred into the railway cars. 
 
 In No. 2 cut, which is along the north slope of the basin 
 north and west of No. 1, there are three skip roads down to 
 the first level, all operated by the engine and drums in No. 1 
 engine house. One of these skips will be transferred to No. 
 1, and the others continued down to the third and fourth 
 levels. 
 
 In tne west end of No. 1 a drift has been made fifteen 
 feet into the vein, about thirty feet below the surface, from 
 the end of which a winze is being sunk to the second level, 
 leaving the whole body of ore between the winze and open 
 cut to support the walls. At the bottom of this winze a 
 drift will connect with the open cut, through which the ore 
 will be trammed to the skip road on the south side. West of 
 this some 500 feet is another opening not now being worked, 
 where the vein is found to be ten feet in width, and still 
 further west, 500 feet, a shaft has been sunk twenty-two feet, 
 all the way in ore. The shaft, which follows the foot wall, is 
 10x12, but as yet no hanging wall lias been found, and con- 
 sequently the width of the vein at this point is unde- 
 termined. 
 
 Our observations thus far have been confined to the hard 
 ore deposits on sections 9 and 10 now we come to the hema- 
 tite mine, which is situated a short distance southeast of No, 
 1 cut, an opening known as the "Trebilcock pit" lying be- 
 tween. The latter is a large open cut fifty feet square, 
 worked out to a depth of 100 feet or more, The walls are of 
 mixed hard ore, and almost perpendicular. Were it not for 
 a vein some eighteen or twenty feet in width which extends 
 easterly from this cut and appears to be a part of the same 
 deposit, there would be strong reason to regard this as merely 
 a pocket of hematite ore, having no connection with other 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 161 
 
 parts of the mine; it is probable, however, that it is a part 
 of and connected with the main hematite deposit which lies 
 to the south and east. The hematite mine is almost, if not 
 quite, as great a puzzle as the formation in Nos. 1 and 2. 
 There is here a very large body of the best soft hematite, inta 
 which a shaft has been sunk 230 feet to the second level. There 
 is, perhaps, nothing in the formation which cannot easily be 
 understood; but how to successfully work so large a deposit 
 is a more perplexing conundrum than the geological pecu- 
 liarities in Nos. 1 and 2. Some idea of the extent of this 
 deposit may be gathered from the fact that 36,000 tons were 
 raised last year. The great breadth of ore between the walls 
 from eighty to "one hundred feet renders underground 
 work on the plan or system usually employed in hard ore 
 mines next to impossible. For this reason but a small pro- 
 portion of the deposit has thus far been mined, and the as yet 
 unsolved problem, is how to obtain with safety the greatest 
 amount of ore at the least cost. So far, operations have 
 been confined to the sinking of a main shaft, as before stated, 
 to a depth of 230 feet, from the bottom of which, on each 
 level, drifts have been run in various directions, and several 
 large chambers excavated in different parts of the deposit, 
 generally on the side next to the foot wall. One of these 
 drifts extends from the bottom of the shaft on the first level, 
 southeasterly to the foot wall, and from thence northerly to 
 a point 50 feet below the present level of the Trebilcock pit. 
 The first half of this drift has been partially filled up by a. 
 fall of rock, and another is now being driven from the main 
 shaft in a westerly direction, and will intersect it at a point 
 about half way between the foot wall and its northern ter- 
 minus. The intention is to then sink a shaft in the Trebil- 
 cock pit to connect with this drift, and thus open a new out- 
 let for the ore mined in that cut, and also facilitate mining 
 operations by opening an underhand stope with a face of fifty 
 feet. The two cuts will thus be connected and thereafter 
 constitute one mine. There are similar drifts and lofty 
 chambers, from which last the ore has been worked out as- 
 
162 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 far as it could be done with safety, on the lower level. The 
 shaft, which was supposed to be on the hanging wall side of 
 the deposit, (and is, should there be such a thing as a hanging 
 wall), is down to within a few feet of the foot wall, and cannot 
 be carried down to another level in ore. Sooner or later a 
 new shaft, one or two hundred feet in the rear of the present 
 one, will have to be sunk through the rock so as to strike the 
 ore at a lower level. This will be necessary to the carrying 
 out of the only feasible plan upon which the mine can be 
 worked which is to sink to the lowest level ever intended to 
 be reached, and then excavate chambers of a certain width, 
 leaving alternate bodies of ore to support the roof and walls, 
 and as fast as these chambers are mined out filling them up 
 with rock and waste material. In this way it is believed at 
 least nine-tenths of the ore can be taken out; and such is 
 the plan which must ultimately be adopted. There is in this 
 hematite mine an immense body of ore, and it will be many 
 years before it will be exhausted by the most thorough and 
 practical system of mining which can be brought into prac- 
 tice. Although drifts have been made across the formation 
 eighty feet from the foot wall towards the hanging, the 
 latter has not yet been encountered, and the real extent of 
 this most remarkable deposit is. therefore, not yet fully 
 determined. 
 
 Capt. John Oliver, one of the most experienced miners in 
 the district, is foreman in the hematite mine, which position 
 he has held for the past seven years. 
 
 The company's mine on section 16, known as the " Par- 
 sous, 11 has not been worked the past two or three years, 
 though a deposit of good ore has been developed. On section 
 21, the company has a hematite mine, which, however, has 
 never been worked extensively, though the ore is of good 
 quality, and the mine one that could be made very productive. 
 Near by is the old New England mine, now the property of 
 the Lake Superior company, and from which over 100,000 
 tons of ore have been mined. These two openings are 
 divided only by the section line between 20 and 21, and when 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 163 
 
 operations are resumed will doubtless constitute one mine. 
 In the hill just north a shaft is now going down in a narrow 
 vein of very fine slate ore. This is doubtless a part of the 
 Saginaw range, which has been traced across the whole of 
 sections 19, 20 and 21. 
 
 On section 19 the company has another mining location, 
 upon which considerable work has been done, and which is 
 familiarly known at Ishpeming as the " New Burt." The 
 location adjoins the Saginaw, which lies to the west of it, 
 and is a continuation of the same range. Here is found a 
 belt of hard granular and slate ore, in which several open- 
 ings have been made, but only three of which are at present 
 being worked. These cuts are numbered respectively 1, 2 
 and 3, commencing at the Saginaw line. No. 1, is a large 
 open cut, worked out to a depth of 100 feet, the width being, 
 perhaps, seventy feet. It is supplied with a skip road oper- 
 ated by steam power. There appears to be a body of pure 
 ore about 55 feet in thickness at the bottom, and lying next 
 to the hanging wall. The formation is somewhat peculiar, 
 there being no well defined foot wall; lying under the belt of 
 pure ore is a body of mixed ore, 25 feet thick, and under that 
 an extensive deposit of soft hematite of inferior quality. 
 This peculiar formation is noticeable wherever the ore belt 
 has been opened on the section. Nos. 2 and 3, have also 
 been worked out to a depth of 100 feet; these two pits will 
 lie connected by the sinking of a winze in No. 3, and a drift 
 from thence to the hoisting shaft in No. 2. In No. 1, the 
 shaft will be carried down fifty feet during the winter, and 
 connected with a winze in the west end. A winze will also 
 be put down in No. 2, and connected with the main shaft. 
 These winzes will give several underhand stopes, and greatly 
 facilitate the taking out of the ore. The ore is raised from 
 Nos. 1 and 2, en skip roads operated by engine and drums 
 manufactured by S. F. Hodge, of Detroit. Two steam drills, 
 of the Wood and Waring patents, are to be employed, and it 
 is believed they will not only facilitate operations but very 
 materially curtail the cost of mining. 
 
164 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 East of No. 3, several openings have been made in about 
 the same quality of ore, one of which is very promising. 
 They are not now being worked, but can at any time be made 
 to add largely to the product of the mine. 
 
 There was mined and shipped at the u New Burt," in 1875, 
 about 12,000 tons of first-class ore, and if necessary, the pro- 
 duct can be doubled this year. Capt. P. T. Tracy, one of the 
 pioneer miners of the copper district, and who has likewise 
 had much experience in iron mining, is the local super- 
 intendent. 
 
 We append herewith a statement of the total product of 
 the Lake Superior mine during the eighteen years past: 
 
 TEAK. GROSS TONP. 
 
 1858 4,658 
 
 1859 24,668 
 
 1860 33,015 
 
 1861 25,195 
 
 1862 37,709 
 
 1863 78,976 
 
 1864 86,773 
 
 1865 50,201 
 
 1866 68,002 
 
 1867 119,935 
 
 1868 105,745 
 
 1869 131,343 
 
 1870 166,582 
 
 1871 158,047 
 
 1872 185.070 
 
 1873 158,078 
 
 1874 114,074 
 
 1875 129,339 
 
 Total 1,677,410 
 
 The company gives employment to about 300 men. 
 The following are the officers of the company: 
 President, JOSEPH S. FAY; Treasurer, RICHARD S. FAY; 
 Secretary, A. C. TEHKEY. 
 
 Hon. S. P. Ely, who had filled the position of general 
 agent from the inception of the company, resigned in 1874, 
 and was succeeded by Chas. H. Hall, Esq., the present effi- 
 cient general manager. Mr. Hall is ably assisted by Jeff. 
 D. Day, Esq., who has been in the employ of the company for 
 a number of years. Capt. G. D. Johnson, whose name was at 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 165 
 
 one time inseparable from that of the Lake Superior mine, 
 resigned last fall, after eighteen years of continuous service as 
 superintendent. He is now engaged in silver mining, in the 
 Tintic district, Utah. 
 
 THE NEW YORK MINE 
 
 is located in Section 3, Town 47, Range 27 a leasehold of 
 fort} r acres, adjoining the Cleveland on the north. The fee is 
 owned by A. R. Harlow, Esq., of Marquette, from whom it 
 was leased for a term of years by a corporation styled the 
 New York Iron Mining Company, organized in 1865, with 
 Samuel J. Tilden, J. P. Sinnett and J. Rankin, of New York, 
 as corporators. This company is a consolidation of the 
 New York and Boston Iron Mining Company, and the New 
 York Iron Mine, incorporated March 31st, 1865. The stock 
 is now all held by S. J. Tilden and W. L. Wetmore. 
 
 Mining operations were commenced in 1864, in which year 
 8,000 tons were mined and sold to other companies. 
 
 At one time there appeared to be two well defined veins 
 crossing the tract diagonally, lying one above the other, and 
 separated from each other by a thin wall of rock. More re- 
 cent developments, however, show that these veins run to- 
 gether at a lower depth, or else that the lower one pinches out 
 altogether. This lower vein has been worked to some extent 
 on the east half of the tract, but at one or two points has 
 been exhausted, and the cuts made in taking out the ore have 
 been partially filled up with waste rock from the upper vein. 
 There is still, however, a good face of ore in the east end of 
 this lower vein, and it is being worked to good advantage. 
 
 The upper vein referred to above, is the one from which the 
 bulk of the product for the past ten years has been mined. 
 This has been opened an entire length of about 800 feet. 
 The dip of the vein is to the south at an angle of about 38 
 from the perpendicular, and it has been worked out for most 
 of the distance to an average depth of about 200 feet on the 
 incline. The ore belt averages about 18 feet of pure red spec- 
 ular an ore that has acquired great popularity among fur- 
 nacernen. This vein was originally worked as an open cut, 
 
166 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 with an incline tram-way from the west end of the opening 
 down to the bottom, the deposit then appearing to be a pock- 
 et rather than a well defined vein. When it was found that 
 the ore dipped under the overlying mass of rock, a new sys- 
 tem was inaugurated. The tram-road in the west end was 
 taken up, skip roads properly located on the floor of the in- 
 cline were substituted, as much of the overhanging rock as 
 was considered dangerous or liable to fall was taken down, 
 and the vein was then attacked by cutting out chambers ten 
 or fifteen feet deep, leaving strong pillars of ore to support 
 the hanging wall. This plan has been followed since 1872, 
 and works most successfully. A row of these pillars extend 
 along the whole open front of the mine, and as mining pro- 
 gresses others are left here and there, so that it would be im- 
 possible for any considerable portion of the wall to cave in. 
 At the east of the mine about 250 feet of this vein has been 
 worked down to the Cleveland line, but what has been lost at 
 this point has been regained by the extension of the vein far- 
 ther west. At a point some distance west of the open cuts 
 referred to, a shaft was sunk 140 feet striking a body of very 
 fine magnetic ore. From the bottom of this shaft adrift has 
 been made, apparently across the formation, 12 feet south, and 
 another a few feet north, showing 20 feet of pure clean ore, 
 though neither the foot nor hanging wall has been reached. 
 At this point the ore belt appears to swing around to the 
 north, and the developments show that this magnetic deposit 
 lies immediately under the red specular. From the bottom of 
 this shaft a drift has been made through into the main mine, 
 which is supplied with a tram-road to connect with No. 1 
 skip, and can if necessary be continued to others, so that 
 there will be no difficulty in hoisting out all the ore that can 
 be mined from the new deposit, which appears to be of great 
 extent. The strange feature of this new discovery is that the 
 ore is a very pure magnetic the first ore of the kind yet 
 found in the district east of the Washington and Edwards 
 mines. 
 
 The machinery in use consists of three engines one of 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 167 
 
 which operates two drums for hoisting from the incline 
 referred to. and which engine and drums are made to do all 
 the work of no less than seven skip roads. This is accom- 
 plished by changing the ropes as required. When No. 1 
 skip is filled, and the signal is given, the rope on one of the 
 drums is unhooked, and that belonging to No. 1 skip is 
 attached in its stead, and so on, among. the whole seven. 
 The men in the engine house find very little time to indulge 
 in dime novels, as they might, were each skip supplied with a 
 separate drum. Another engine is, or was, used for hois ring 
 from No. 5, a cut near the Northwestern railway track, 
 where there is a twenty foot vein of good ore. This opening 
 is not now being worked, as is also the case with the cur, west 
 cf the store 011 the north side of the creek. There are eleven 
 skip roads in ail, and it requires no less than eleven steam 
 pumps, including one 8 inch plunger, to drain the mine of 
 surplus water. 
 
 About 150 men are employed all miners, except thirty or 
 forty teamsters, landers and laborers. Nearly all work in 
 and about the mine is done by contract. The men get a 
 certain price per ton for mining the ore, and others a certain 
 price for filling and landing, etc. ; only a few general utility 
 men being employed by the month or day. A general and 
 most rigid system of economy prevails, and' is noticeable in 
 every department. Capt. W. E. Dickenson, who is an old 
 copper miner, has been superintendent for the past six years, 
 and is likely to continue as long as he will consent to serve 
 in that position. 
 
 The following is a statement of the product of the New 
 York mine each year since the commencement of mining 
 operations : 
 
 YEAH. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1864 8,000 
 
 1865 12214 
 
 1866 33 J61 
 
 1867 43,302 
 
 1868 45,665 
 
 1869 67,698 
 
 1870 
 
168 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 1871 76.381 
 
 1872 68,1)50 
 
 1873 70,882 
 
 1874 77,010 
 
 1875 70,754 
 
 Total 669,426 
 
 On another page will be found an engraving showing a 
 section of this mine, as it appears at a depth of 200 feet from 
 the surface. 
 
 THE REPUBLIC MIKE. 
 
 In our review of the iron district, published in 1871. under 
 the sub-title of u undeveloped iron lands'" we referred lo 
 what was then known as Smith mountain, as being, perhaps, 
 u the most extensive body of iron ore yet discovered on Lake 
 Superior." At that time, aside from the owners of the prop- 
 erty, but few persons had ever visited what is now the site of 
 one of the most active and prosperous mining industries in 
 the region. In the summer of 1870, the writer, together 
 with several of the owners, visited the location, going from 
 the east end of Lake Michigamme and down the river, in a 
 small boat, with the celebrated woodsman. Jack Armstrong, 
 for a pilot over and around the rapids. That was then the 
 most feasible route, unless the visitor preferred to ride a horse 
 through swamps and over the most abominable trail it was 
 ever our fortune to traverse. We found at the foot of the 
 " mountain " a little log hut, the only habitation, which was 
 occupied at the time by Maj. Brooks, who was then engaged 
 on the state geological survey. The extract above quoted 
 was based upon the observations made at that time, and it is 
 interesting to note how nearly the prediction that the inine- 
 could be '" made to yield a hundred thousand tons the iirst 
 year after the commencement of operations," has been veri- 
 fied. We find now a ''location" with a population of at 
 least a thousand people, all of whom are dependent upon the 
 business of the company for subsistence. The little old log- 
 cabin has given way to an array of sixty-seven neat and sub- 
 stantial frame tenement and boarding houses, office, store, 
 warehouse, saw mill, blacksmith and carpenter shops, slaugh- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 169 
 
 ter house, glycerine and powder magazines, engine and boiler 
 houses, stables, ore docks, and pockets, etc., all the property 
 of the company, and erected at a cost of not much, if any, 
 less than $200,000. There is also a commodious school build- 
 ing, hotel and railway depot, aside from the new town of 
 Iron Git} 71 , where there are a number of stores, boarding 
 houses, etc. To a person who visited " Smith mountain" in 
 1870, or even a year later, the change appears almost mi- 
 raculous. 
 
 The articles of association of the Republic Iron company 
 were executed April 15th, 1870, Samuel P. Ely, Edward Brei- 
 tung, Jonathan Warner, Edwin Parsons and John C. McKen- 
 zie being the original incorporators. The company being 
 organized, the first important step was to secure the construc- 
 tion of a branch railway from some point on the Marquette, 
 Houghton & Ontonagon railroad, to the mine. An arrange- 
 ment was effected with the Marquette, Houghton & Ontona- 
 gon railroad company, and work on the branch road was com- 
 menced late in 1871, and completed the following autumn, 
 the first train of loaded ore cars leaving the mine on the sec- 
 ond of October, 1872. The mine was opened in that year, 
 the work being commenced before the completion of the 
 branch, the shipments from the second of October to the close 
 of navigation being 11,025 gross tons. The product of the 
 mine since it was first opened is given as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1872 11,025 
 
 1873 105,453 
 
 1874 126,956 
 
 1875 119,768 
 
 Total 363,202. 
 
 The Republic is situated in section 7, township 46, N., 
 range 29, W., on the easterly shore of Smith's bay, a widen- 
 ing of the Michigamme river, about thirty-six miles from 
 Marquette, by rail. The ore, thus far, has all found an outlet 
 through this port, the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon 
 railroad having no competitor in the transportation of the 
 
170 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 product of the mine to the lake side. An attempt to describe 
 the mine without the aid of an engraving would be futile. The 
 vein is very irregular, and has so many crooks and turns that 
 a well engraved sketch is actually necessary in order to give 
 the reader anything like an intelligent idea of the formation. 
 The ore deposit lies under or behind a belt of quartzite, which 
 last seems to form the bed of the bay. The quartzite forms 
 the margin and apparently the basin of the bay, around the 
 south end of which it curves in the form of a crescent. Be- 
 hind and beneath this quartzite lies the ore vein, and under- 
 neath the ore a ferruginous jasper, backed by diorite (green- 
 stone). The vein, as we have said, is very irregular in its 
 course, and at one or two points narrows down to only a few 
 feet in width, while at others it is so wide as to have the ap- 
 pearance of an immense bed deposit rather than that of a 
 vein or mere stratification. The outcrop of the ore belt is from 
 one to two hundred feet above the level of the bay, and from' 
 four to eight hundred feet from the water's edge, the inter- 
 vening ground being occupied by the company's buildings, 
 docks, pockets, railway tracks, etc., these being near the foot 
 of the hill or bluff. The vein of pure ore, thus far developed, 
 has been opened for a distance of about 3,500 feet, of which 
 2,000 feet is continuous and without a break. The average 
 width of the vein is from 20 to 50 feet, though in No. 4 pit 
 there is a body of ore fully 120 feet in width. The vein is 
 nearly perpendicular, and thirteen openings have been made 
 upon it. These are known as Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 
 11, and the "Gibson" and "Ely" pits. Nos. 3, 8, 10, 11 and 
 Gibson are not now being worked. At many places where 
 the vein has been opened the ore is found projecting itself 
 into the foot wall in the shape of a letter V. From some of 
 these spurs and projections thousands of tons of pure ore 
 have been taken, and the great apparent width of the vein in 
 No. 4 is partially the result of one of them, and in one of the 
 cuts No. 2, we believe, the vein itself assumes a letter Y 
 shape around a projection of the foot wall. In fact, the form- 
 ation presents many peculiarities difficult, if not wholly ini- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 171 
 
 possible, to describe and we shall not at present attempt 
 further details in that direction. 
 
 The work now in progress, together with the new engine- 
 house and machinery, now in operation, contemplates 
 a marked improvement in the .future working of the 
 mine. The vein, for a length of nearly 2,000 feet, has been 
 mined out from a depth of from 50 to 75 feet below the out- 
 crop, in open cuts. It is the intention now to adopt a 
 thorough system of underground mining, and with this view 
 shafts have been sunk from the floors of No. 5, 2 and 7, from 
 which the ore will be hoisted by the new machinery. 
 
 The shaft in No. 5, is down 100 feet, and is designed 
 for a double or alternate lift, that is to say that it will be 
 supplied with two cages, one of which rises to the top as the 
 other descends to the bottom. This shaft, as also the other 
 two, incline from the perpendicular so as to conform to the 
 dip of the vein, and will be protected by solid arches or pil- 
 lars, in the rear of which winzes have been sunk to a level 
 with the bottom of the shaft, and from which stopes of 50 
 feet, the whole width of the vein, are thus secured. No. 5 
 shaft is a most perfect piece of mine work, being substan- 
 tially timbered and having two separate compartments, leav- 
 ing, on the side next to the engine-house, sufficient room for 
 the pump, and also space for hoisting whenever it shall be 
 found necessary to sink the shaft to a lower level when it 
 can be done without interrupting the operation of the 
 cages. The shafts in two and seven are for single cages, 
 which will also be operated by drums in the engine-house. 
 These three shafts will furnish the outlet for all the ore 
 raised from 1,200 feet of the vein. The cages, as will more 
 clearly appear from a description of the machinery given 
 below, receive the loaded cars at the bottom of the shafts, 
 which, when hoisted to the top, are run off upon the tram- 
 roads and thence to the pockets. The lift in No. 5 shaft will 
 be 100 feet, and in Nos. 2 and 7, 50 feet. The ore from Nos. 
 5, and 2, shafts will be raised to the surface proper, and from 
 thence pass down the incline tram-roads to the railway; that 
 
172 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 taken out through the shaft in No. 7, will be hoisted to the 
 floor of the present open cut and pass out through the tunnel 
 which was completed a year or two ago, and is supplied with 
 a tram-road. 
 
 The new hoisting machinery, which is of the most massive 
 and powerful kind, was manufactured at the Iron Bay foun- 
 dry, Marquette, and is something new in this region. 
 The plan or system is similar to that in vogue in the anthra- 
 cite coal regions of Pennsylvania, though differing from it 
 somewhat in construction and minor details. Instead of the 
 skip now in general use at our mines, cages are substi- 
 tuted, each large enough to accommodate a car holding three 
 tons of ore. In the principal shaft, nearest the engine house, 
 (No. 5 pit) there are two of these cages, which when 
 empty or when containing an enipt} r car each, suspended by 
 means of a wire rope three by one-half inches in size, and 
 wound upon a cylinder or winze, counterbalance each other 
 in such a manner that when one rises to the top of the shaft 
 the other descends to the bottom. Immediately that a loaded 
 car appears at the surface it is run off upon a dump track, 
 and an empty one rolled into its place in the cage. This 
 change, at the same time, takes place at the bottom of the 
 shaft, with the difference that the car rolled out is empty and 
 'the one supplying its place is filled with ore. Signals are in- 
 terchanged, and the engine makes the necessary revolutions 
 for the ascending and descending cages. As the cages and 
 cars thus suspended exactly neutralize, by counterpoise, the 
 weight of each other, the only resistance to be overcome is 
 that of the ore itself. At the top of the shaft the loaded cars 
 are run off upon a track, dumped, and returned by a switch 
 to a position directly in the rear of the cage, all ready to be 
 pushed into the place of the one coming from the shaft. At 
 the bottom, the empty cars are run directly to the 
 face of the wall and filled by the miners immediately 
 from the stope, thence returned and take a similar position to 
 the cage as at the top of the shaft. The shafts in Nos. 2 and 
 7 are supplied with single cages, operated by two single 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 173 
 
 winding drums, each five feet in diameter, and capable of 
 holding 600 feet of one and a half inch round wire rope. 
 The alternating cages in the main shaft are operated from 
 a double drum, friction gear, and eight feet in diameter, with 
 a capacity for 750 feet of flat wire rope. This double drum 
 operates in such a manner as to unwind the rope of one cage 
 Vviiile the other is being taken up, so that though both cages 
 are in motion at once, much time is saved by reason of the 
 fact that while one is discharging its load the other is receiv- 
 ing it. 
 
 The new engine house is a substantial brick structure, 40x 
 72 feet, with a boiler room 20x45, and machine shop 25x40. 
 The boilers are two in number, each 48 inches in diameter, 
 and 25 feet one inch long. Two engines, 18x24, connected, 
 supply the power for the drums and pump. The foun- 
 dation for the engines and drums is of the most substantial 
 kind, being a net work of heavy timbers filled in with solid 
 masonry, being additionally secured by no less than 70 inch 
 and a half round iron bolts. There were forty-five sticks of 
 timber, 18 inches square and from 24 to 38 feet in length, 
 used in the foundation. Some idea of the machinery referred 
 to may be gathered from the fact that its weight is upwards 
 of sixty tons. 
 
 In addition to the length of vein above referred to, a new 
 opening is now being made southwesterly from the Ely pit, 
 on the curve of the formation, where a vein of pure slate ore, 
 from two to seven feet wide on the surface, can be traced a 
 distance of 600 feet. 
 
 One important feature about this extraordinary mine is the 
 fact that between the walls very little rock or impure ore is 
 found the rock where found at all, away from the walls, 
 being in the shape of small islands, or, as the miners call 
 them, " horses," which need not necessarily be removed, and 
 in underground mining may possibly be utilized as pillars to 
 support the. roof of the mine. However, there are but few 
 of these, and aside from them, the vein is all pure ore how 
 
174 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 pure the following analyses, which have been furnished us, 
 tell most conclusively: 
 
 An abstract of fourteen analyses taken by various parties in the interest of the 
 manufacturers. Apart being only for specific i)ropertits. 
 
 BY WHOM PROCURED. 
 
 c 
 y 
 
 "S 
 
 c 
 
 ^i 
 
 .i 
 c/i 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 Cambria Iron Works, surface specimens in 1871 
 
 65.11 
 67.75 
 
 68.01 
 6988 
 
 051] 
 t'co 
 .018 
 
 I'.OS 
 .84 
 .86 
 
 &02 
 2.58 
 
 
 ,.3.'3 
 
 do do do 
 do do do 
 
 do do M agnetic 
 
 Brown, Bonuell & Co., for iron and silica .. 
 
 do do Magnetic 
 
 71 8 
 
 
 E . R. Taylor, chemis t 
 
 (>U<> 
 68.23 
 
 Go.si; 
 
 (Jlt.S'i 
 67.55 
 68.10 
 (18 -10 
 
 .080 
 .150 
 .073 
 .060 
 
 !osb 
 
 Luc v Furnace Company 
 
 do do 
 
 do do .... 
 
 
 1111 
 
 do do 
 
 Cambria Iron Company, in 1872 
 
 do do in 1874 
 
 do do in Ib75 
 
 7060 
 
 1.10!.... 
 
 .'.07'.... 
 
 Average M. Iron 14 anal. Phos. 10 anal.: Silica. 8 anal 
 
 68.48 
 
 .053 
 
 The mine gives employment to about 230 men, and 
 commenced shipments this spring from stock piles aggregat- 
 ing at least 50,000 tons. 
 
 Capt. Peter Pascoe, who has been the superintendent in 
 charge ever since the first blow was struck, is justly proud of 
 his mine, and the work he has accomplished gives conclusive 
 proof of his rare ability as a miner. 
 
 The following are the present officers of the company: 
 
 President, DAVID MORGAN, Irondale, Ohio; Vice-President^ 
 EDWARD BREITUKG, Negaunee, Mich. ; Secretary, T. DWIGHT 
 EELLS, ^Cleveland, Ohio; Treasurer. JOSEPH PERKIXS, Cleve- 
 land, Ohio; General Agent, POWELL STACKHOUSE, Marquette, 
 Mich. 
 
 THE MICHIGAMME MINE. 
 
 On the north shore of Lake Michigarnme, in town 48, 
 range 30, is situated the Michigamme mine, owned and 
 wrought by a company of the same name. It is in what is 
 generally denominated the Michigamme range, which ap- 
 parently begins at a point near the head, or east end of the 
 
 *Since deceased, leaving a vacancy. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 175 
 
 lake, and extends west a distance of eight miles or more, 
 jtnd embraces the Empire, Hoskins, Michigainme, Spurr 
 Mountain, Stewart, Iron King and Harney locations, of 
 ivliieh, however, only the Michigamme and Spurr Mountain 
 Lave attained prominence as successful mines. The Michi- 
 gamme company own, including the 200 acres embraced in 
 the town site, an estate of 1,400 acres, lying in a compact 
 body. Upon this property the vein has been opened in seven 
 places, the openings being numbered from east to west, suc- 
 cessively. At present, operations are confined to that por- 
 tion of the vein lying between No. 3, and a point about 200 
 feet west of No. 7, a run of about 1,600 feet. From the west 
 end of this run the line of ore deposit has been traced by 
 needle attractions, outcrop and test pits, a distance of 3.500 
 feet. East from No. 3, through Nos. 2 and 1, the line of de- 
 posit continues on the company's property half a mile, and 
 for still another half mile under Lake Michigamme, of which 
 last the company owns the mining right. The total length 
 of vein owned by the company, is about two miles. Work 
 was originally commenced by running an adit level along the 
 vein, a few feet above drainage, tapping the ore at the most 
 convenient points, by open cuts through the drift and hang- 
 ing wall on the south. This system was continued until the 
 ore above the adit level, between Nos. 3 and 7, was nearly 
 worked out, and the employment of machinery was found to 
 be necessary. It was found that the line of deposit between 
 Nos. 3 and 7 was of sufficient extent to constitute in itself a 
 mine of good proportions, and a thorough examination and 
 study of the vein, as far as developed, led the board of direct- 
 ors, acting upon the advice and suggestions of Mr. Hough- 
 ton, the general agent, to determine upon a system of under- 
 ground mining, exclusively. Work was therefore abandoned 
 in Nos. 1 and 2, from which about 10,000 tons had been 
 mined. This portion of the deposit lies in alternate layers of 
 ore and rock, while that west of No. 3, to and beyond No. 7, 
 is nearly all pure ore; the width or thickness of the vein 
 averaging not less than twenty feet. It is thought, how- 
 
176 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 ever, that in the east portion of the vein the ore cuts the 
 rock out, or vice versa; and that the most economical way of 
 determining the question would be by a gradual extension of 
 underground work, east from No. 3, at some time hereafter. 
 The same policy will be adopted in future operations on the 
 vein west of No. 7. The plan is a most conservative one, 
 inasmuch as it simply comprehends the opening of an under- 
 ground mine on the most prolific part of the vein, (as far as 
 developments show) and the gradual and economical ex- 
 tension of underground work east and west, until the whole 
 of the workable deposit is developed and made productive. 
 
 With this end in view, shafts have been, or are being, sunk 
 in Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7, to a depth of 100 feet below the adit 
 level. Twenty-five feet below the adit level, a drift is being 
 made on the vein, the whole length of the proposed under- 
 ground mine, leaving twenty-five feet of solid ore as a roof. 
 This roof is cut only by the four shafts, 8x14 feet each. 
 These shafts are in the ore next to the hanging wall, the 
 whole body of ore in the rear being left intact; at each 
 side of these shafts winzes will be sunk from the drift above r 
 leaving a sufficient body of ore to protect the shaft and sup- 
 port the walls. At the bottom these winzes will be con- 
 nected with the shafts by drifts through the intervening 
 walls or screens, and thus will be obtained stopes of from 60 
 to 75 feet on both sides of each shaft. The ground will then 
 be broken from the top with an underhand stope, and the ore 
 falling to the bottom will be hoisted out in skips through 
 the shafts. As we have said, this plan contemplates the 
 opening of an underground mine, embracing 1,600 feet of 
 vein, and the sinking of the shafts, and winzes referred to, 
 will open enough ground for two years' steady work. It will 
 be readily perceived that the plan thus outlined differs ma- 
 terially from the common system of underground mining, in 
 that the cost of tunneling on each separate level is saved; 
 there will be no drifting or tunneling on any of the levels 
 except to connect the shafts and winzes at the bottom by a 
 drift through a few feet of ore, if we exclude all mention of 
 

 UNDERGROUND SECTION NEW YORK 1ROK MJN& 
 
 
I 
 
 176 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 ever, that in the east portion of the vein the ore cuts thl? 
 rock out, or vice versa; and that the most economical way 
 determining the question would be by a gradual extension 01 
 underground work, east from No. 3, at some time hereai 
 The same policy will be adopted in future operations on 
 vein west of No. 7. The plan is a most conservative 011. 
 inasmuch as it simply comprehends the opening of an muU 
 ground mine on the most prolific part of the vein, (as far 
 developments show) and the gradual and economical *JF 
 tension of underground work east and west, until the wlic 
 of the workable deposit is developed and made productive. 
 With this end in view, shafts have been, or are being, sin 
 in Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7, to a depth of 100 feet below the ; 
 level. Twenty-five feet below the adit level, a drift is b 
 made on the vein, the whole length of the proposed und 
 ground mine, leaving twenty-five feet of solid ore as a root. 
 This roof is cut only by the four shafts, 8x14 feet e|i: 
 These shafts are in the ore next to the hanging wall, ^ 
 whole body of ore in the rear being left intact; at ep" 
 side of these shafts winzes will be sunk from the drift abo < 
 leaving a sufficient body of ore to protect the shaft and sui 
 port the wails. At the bottom these winzes will be co. 
 nected with the shafts by drifts through the intervening 
 walls or screens, and thus will be obtained stopes of from 6( 
 to 75 feet on both sides of each shaft. The ground will then 
 be broken from the top with an underhand stope, and the ore 
 falling to the bottom will be hoisted out in skips throupr 1 
 the shafts. As we have said, this plan contemplates ' 
 opening of an underground mine, embracing 1,600 fee'- 
 vein, and the sinking of the shafts, and winzes referrec 
 will open enough ground for two years' steady work. It 
 be readily perceived that the plan thus outlined differ? 
 terially from the common system of underground miiiir 
 that the cost of tunneling on each separate level is sa 
 there will be no drifting or tunneling on any of the L 
 except to connect the shafts and winzes at the bottom 
 drift through a few feet of ore, if we exclude all mentij 
 
UNDERGROUND SECTION NEW YORK IRO^ ; -MIN&; ;%;'; /,\ 
 

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 177 
 
 the drift immediately under the roof, without which, it would 
 have been impossible to carry the underground plan into 
 execution. The shafts and winzes down and connected, the 
 stoping parties will work' both ways until the whole 
 body of ore down to the first level is worked oat; in the 
 meantime the shafts and winzes have been sunk to the second 
 level without in any way interfering with or retarding opera- 
 tions in the level above, and thus a uniform product for each 
 and every month in the year is secured. We regard this 
 plan one of the best that could possibly be devised, as being 
 calculated to secure the largest product at the least expense. 
 As might naturally be inferred, the most powerful and 
 elaborate machinery is necessary to the successful working 
 of a mine on the plan adopted by the Michigamme company. 
 The water from the mine will be raised by a steam pump 
 placed in each shaft, instead of from one main pumping shaft, 
 as is the case in most of the mines in the district. By this 
 means the necessity of drifts or tunnels on each and every 
 level to drain the mine, is obviated. But the machinery for 
 hoisting the ore must necessarily be of the most powerful 
 kind, and the new engine and hoisting drums at the Michi- 
 gamme answer full}' to that description. The engine is 
 28x36, and the drums, of which there are four one for each 
 shaft are eight feet in diameter, with six feet face, each 
 capable of holding enough 1^-inch wire rope to hoist the 
 skip from a depth of 1,300 feet. They are worked by V 
 friction gear, with steam brakes; there are four steam brake 
 cylinders, 12x12, one to each drum. The machinery is all 
 placed on a solid foundation of stone masonry, in the bottom 
 of which are iron bed plates, to which are secured the numer- 
 ous heavy iron bolts, by means of which the timbers upon 
 which the engine and drums rest are held firmly and securely 
 in their places. This machinery was constructed at the Mich- 
 igan Iron Works, S. F. Hodge, Detroit, and is first class in 
 every particular. The building in which this machinery is 
 placed is a most substantially built stone structure, 50x70 
 feet in size, with a wing 28x38 feet, in which are the boilers. 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 The building is situated on the summit of the hill, between 
 shafts Nos. 5 and 6, about midway of the line of deposit 
 embraced within the limits of the underground system 
 described above. The machinery is capable of raising, with 
 moderate ease, from 800 to 1,200 tons of ore per day, a daily 
 production which it is possible, even probable, the mine may 
 attain, should the demand for ore ever again warrant a vigor- 
 ous prosecution of work. 
 
 The product of the mine, since it was first opened in 1872, 
 has been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TOSS. 
 
 1872 141 
 
 1873 29,107 
 
 1874 45,294 
 
 1875 : 44,763 
 
 Total 119,305 
 
 The following named gentlemen constitute the Board of 
 directors: Hon. W. H. Barnum, Lime Rock, Conn.; Ralph 
 Crocker, Boston, Mass.; Charles J. Canda, New York City; 
 Charles B. Hebbard, Detroit, and Jacob Houghton, Michi- 
 gamme. Mich. 
 
 The officers are: 
 
 President, HON. W. H. BARNUM; Secretary and Treasurer, 
 JAMES ROOD, Chicago; Superintendent, JACOB HOUGHTOX. 
 
 The business office of the company is at No. 9, Metropoli- 
 tan block, Chicago. 
 
 SPURR MOUNTAIN MINE. 
 
 This property embraces the north half of the southwest 
 quarter and south half of the northwest quarter of section 
 24, township 43, range 31, Baraga county. Work at this 
 mine was commenced on the 23d day of September, 1872; 
 but little was done that year. Railway communication had 
 not been completed, and active operations were not com- 
 menced until late in the seasofi, just as winter set in, when 
 provisions had to be packed in from Champion, a distance of 
 ten miles, on the backs of the pioneers, through as rough 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 179 
 
 swamps as can be found anj- where in the district. During 
 the winter, however, the Marquette, Houghtoii and Ontona- 
 gon railway was completed to L'Anse, a switch laid down to 
 the mine, a station house, and several boarding and dwelling 
 houses erected, and in the spring the company was ready to 
 commence shipments from a very considerable stock-pile, 
 the mine having been sufficiently opened to afford a yield of 
 about 2,500 tons in February and March, 1873. In the 
 month following, the product reached 3,200 tons, and in May 
 6,100 tons were mined. In June a conflagration occurred 
 from fire communicated by the railway engines to the 
 dry wood 011 both sides of the track, which swept the loca- 
 tion of all its buildings, except the station house and the com- 
 pany's office, and operations at the mine were suspended for 
 two weeks. 
 
 The mine now embraces about 900 feet of the vein, about 
 the center of the company's tract on an east and west line, 
 leaving over five hundred feet on either side to be opened at 
 such time or times as the demand for an increased product 
 may warrant enlarged operations. The vein lies against the 
 bluff, which seems to form the foot wall the whole length of 
 the range, and dips at an angle of about twenty degrees 
 south. The average width of the vein is about twenty feet, 
 almost pinching out at one or two points, and at others 
 swelling to a thickness of nearly forty feet. There are four 
 shafts or openings Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. Nos. 1 and 2 are skip 
 shafts, through which the ore is raised by steam power from 
 a depth of 150 feet. From Nos. 3 and 4 the ore is raised by 
 horse power, but it is the intention to discard the whim and 
 derrick at no distant day, and put in skip roads and cars, to 
 be operated by drums the same as Nos. 1 and 2. The mine 
 is at present drained by two steam pumps, one in each of 
 the main shafts. The plan of mining is similar in some re- 
 spects to that adopted at the Michigamme. There will be no 
 sinking farther than is necessary to accommodate the skip 
 roads, and provide the proper underhand stopes, of which 
 there will be eight in all. During the winter the skip shafts, so- 
 
180 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 called, were sunk sixty feet below the present working level, 
 so as to open enough ground to insure a large product during 
 the present season. There is very little if any dead work to 
 be done, the ore raised from the skip shafts being sufficient 
 to pay the expense of sinking. A sufficient number of 
 arches are left to support the walls, and though at the time 
 of our visit the mine presented anything rather than its 
 most favorable aspect, we could readily perceive that opera- 
 tions were being skillfully conducted, and that the plan 
 adopted was, perhaps, the only one that could be employed 
 to secure the largest product at the smallest cost. 
 
 The machinery employed in hoisting from Nos. 1 and -2 
 consists of a powerful engine and two drums, the latter four 
 feet diameter and four feet face, large enough to hold sufficient 
 wire rope to hoist from a depth of 800 feet. These drums 
 will be duplicated in the spring, and the new set applied to 
 the operation of Nos. 3 and 4. The machinery was manufac- 
 tured at the Iron Bay foundry, in this city, and works most 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 No explorations of the vein west of the mine proper have 
 yet been made, but there seems to be no good reason why the 
 line of deposit may not be found to continue unbroken to the 
 western line of the company's tract. Immediately west, at 
 the Stewart mine, a good show of ore has been found, and the 
 magnetic needle indicates almost conclusively that the deposit 
 extends all the way through the north half of section 23,. 
 west of the Stewart. To the east of that part of the vein 
 which has been opened, there appears to be a break or de- 
 pression caused by a small creek which flows through the 
 tract, but east of this stream an opening has been made, and 
 from it about 3,000 tons of ore have been mined. Near the 
 surface, however, the ore is considerably mixed, and great care 
 is necessary in its selection. 
 
 The mine gives regular employment to about 125 men. 
 Since the commencement of operations the shipments of ore 
 have been as follows: 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 181 
 
 TEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1873 31,933 
 
 1874 42,068 
 
 1875 23,094 
 
 Total 97,095 
 
 Colonel Freeman Norvell, one of the early pioneers of the 
 copper district, is the general manager, and Captain William 
 Morrison, an experienced miner, mining captain. 
 
 THE SAGLSTAW MIN"E 
 
 is in section 19, town 47, range 27, about two miles southwest 
 of the city of Ishpeming. The mine was originally opened 
 by Messrs. Maas, Lonstori & Mitchell, in the winter of 
 1871-'72, under the terms of a fifteen years 1 lease. In 1872 
 these gentlemen sold their lease to a party of Cleveland gen- 
 tlemen, connected with the Cleveland Rolling Mill company, 
 who afterwards organized the Saginaw Mining company, 
 The lessors of the property reside in East Saginaw hence 
 the name of the mine and company. The mine produced the 
 first year after being opened 18,503 gross tons, a product 
 which has increased with each succeeding year, as will be 
 .shown by the table below. 
 
 Mining was originally prosecuted in open cuts, or quarries, 
 by removing the overlying rock and lean ore. It was soon 
 found, however, that the underground system was the only 
 plan upon which the mine could be successfully worked, and 
 in the summer of 1872, a shaft was sunk in the soft hematite, 
 which underlies the hard ore, its direction corresponding with 
 the dip of the vein. Other shafts were subsequently sunk to 
 the sixty foot level, at such convenient distances apart as to 
 provide for the successful prosecution of work along the 
 whole length of the vein on the company's property. These 
 shafts are numbered respectively, 1, 2, 3 and 4, from west to 
 east. The leasehold consists of a tract of five-forties, four of 
 them being the center of the section, and the fifth being the 
 northwest quarter of the northeast quarter. The vein or belt 
 of ore crosses this last mentioned tract from east to west, be- 
 ing continuous with the ore belt of the Superior on the east, 
 the Albion and Goodrich on the west. The same general 
 
182 MINERAL RESOURCES . 
 
 geological features described in our article on the ik New 
 Burt," are noticeable at the Saginaw, and the character of 
 the ore is about the same. There are two varieties of hard 
 ore slate, and an exceedingly rich granular, the latter con- 
 taining an unusually large percentage of magnesia. 
 
 About 900 feet of the vein has been opened. Shafts 2, 3 
 and 4 are down to the second level, 160 feet, and arc now 
 sinking to the third, sixty feet below the second. At several 
 places the vein is cut by cross-courses of rock, through which 
 drifts have been made on the first and second levels, allowing 
 the main bodies to stand as supports to the hanging wall. 
 From No. 4 shaft there is a run of TO feet of ore to the Su- 
 perior line, where one of these rock crossings is encountered, 
 dipping into the Saginaw. West of this shaft there is a con- 
 tinuous run of pure ore for a distance of 180 feet to another 
 rock crossing, through which a drift leads into No. 3. It 
 will be seen, therefore, that in No. 4 the ore belt has a length 
 of 250 feet the width of the vein being on the average about 
 25 feet. The ore in No. 4, is of the variety known as " slate." 
 West of the crossing between Nos. 3 and 4, there is another 
 run of pure ore 100 feet, to a heave in the formation, which 
 throws the vein to the north about twenty-five feet, west of 
 which the vein continues unbroken another 100 feet to an- 
 other of the rock crossings referred to ; which makes a break 
 of twenty-five feet in the ore. West of this break the vein 
 holds a width or thickness of from twenty to thirty feet ta 
 No. 2 shaft. From the crossing between Nos. 2 and 3 to the 
 shaft, the ore is a very rich granular, wholly unlike the de- 
 posit in No. 4. West of No. 2 shaft, the vein has been 
 opened 120 feet, at which point another wall of rock has been 
 encountered, but beyond which ore has been found in No. 1 
 shaft. No. 1 shaft is down 75 feet in " slate and steel" ore, 
 but, owing to the great flow of water, had to be abandoned 
 until such time as the water could be drained into No. 2, the 
 main pumping shaft. Indeed, much trouble is experienced 
 from the great flow of water, in all the openings, three pumps- 
 being required to prevent the mine from being flooded. These 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 183 
 
 pumps are kept in constant operation, day and night, and the 
 expense of maintaining them is a very prominent item in 
 the cost of mining. 
 
 The general dip of the vein east of No. 2 shaft, is about 
 fifty degrees north; west of No. 2 the strike is only about 
 fifteen degrees in the same direction. The width or thick- 
 ness of the ore deposit, is given as it appears on the second 
 level; it is proper, however, to add that the width gradually 
 increases as greater depth is attained, the general average at 
 the outcrop having been but little more than ten feet. 
 
 The hoisting machinery employed at present consists of 
 three drums, operated by one of Merritt's 18x21 engines, the 
 boilers for which also furnish the steam for all the pumps. 
 The power is hardly equal to the requirements of the mine, 
 and another engine for hoisting and pumping has been pur- 
 chased, and is now on the ground, and will probably be set 
 up and put in operation early in the summer. This engine 
 and machinery, which is of the most approved pattern, was 
 manufactured for the company at Cleveland, and when put 
 in motion will furnish all the facilities for hoisting and 
 pumping that are likely to be required in many years to 
 come. 
 
 The following table exhibits the product of this mine each 
 year since it was first opened : 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. ' 
 
 1872 18,503 
 
 1873 '"37,138 
 
 1874 45.486 
 
 1875 55,318 
 
 Total 156,445 
 
 The mine gives employment to about 175 men. Capt. 
 Sam. Mitchell, an active, intelligent, practical miner, is the 
 superintendent. Everything about the mine gives promi- 
 nent indication that he is thoroughly competent for the 
 position he holds. He has taken all necessary precautions, 
 from the beginning, to secure the mine with timbers and the 
 necessary arches and pillars of ore, and an accident involv- 
 ing the loss of life, at the Saginaw, is scarcely possible, 
 
184 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 except it be the result of carelessness on the part of the em- 
 ployes. One noticeable feature, is the fact that but very 
 little rock is removed from the mine only that which is 
 taken from the drifts through the rock crossings referred to, 
 being taken out. It is safe to estimate that not to exceed 
 1,000 tons of rock have been raised during the past year, 
 and were it not for the unusual flow of water, the cost sheet 
 would, we think, exhibit a less amount of cost per ton of t>re 
 mined, than that of any other hard ore mine in the district. 
 
 The officers of the company are: President,^. B. STONE, 
 Cleveland, 0.; Vice President, H. CHISHOLM, Cleveland, 0.; 
 Secretary and Treasurer, A. G. STOKE, Cleveland, 0. 
 
 The entire product of this mine is shipped over the North- 
 western line to Escanaba, though it possesses the facilities of 
 a branch connecting with the M., H. & 0. R, R. These 
 tracks run immediately under the docks connected with the 
 various shaft houses, and in the season of navigation the ore 
 is transferred directly from the skips to the railway cars, thus 
 avoiding the cost of re-handling. But few horses are em- 
 ployed, and there is no carting of ore as at many other mines 
 in the district. Altogether, the Saginaw is in the best 
 possible condition for future production, and it is safe to say 
 that the annual product can be very largely increased, when- 
 ever the demand for ore shall warrant the prosecution of 
 'mining operations on a larger scale than has been the order 
 at all die mines during the past two years. 
 
 THE MARQUETTE MINE 
 
 is contiguous to the Cleveland, and is owned by the stock- 
 holders of the latter company, though under a separate or- 
 ganization. The following is a list of the officers: 
 
 President, JOHN OUTHWAITE; Secretary, FRED. A. MORSE; 
 Treasurer, SAMUEL L. MATHER; Agent, JAY C. MORSE; 
 Superintendent, F. P. MILLS. 
 
 The first shipments were made in 1864, though it appears 
 that work was commenced much earlier. We append a state- 
 ment of the product of the mine for the past twelve years: 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 185 
 
 YEARS. CROSS TOXS. 
 
 1864 3,922 
 
 1865 6,652 
 
 1866 7,907 
 
 1867 7,862 
 
 1868 7,977 
 
 1869 2,798 
 
 1870 3,702 
 
 1871 
 
 1872 11,924 
 
 1873 2,148 
 
 1874 
 
 1875 . 3,088 
 
 Total 57,980 
 
 THE EDWABDS MIKE 
 
 is situated in section 2, town 47 north, range 29 west the 
 workings being confined to the southwest quarter of the 
 southeast quarter. The first opening was made in the fall of 
 1865, but nothing more was done that year than to sink a few 
 test pits by way of exploration. Active operations were 
 commenced the following spring, by the Pittsburgh & Lake 
 Angeline company, under a lease from J. W. Edwards, the 
 owner of the land. The company continued operations till 
 the tall or winter of 1873, when owing to the depressed state 
 of the ore market, operations were wholly suspended. In the 
 spring of 1875, the company sold its mining equipment to 
 Mr. Edwards and surrendered the lease. Mr. Edwards at 
 once made arrangements for a renewal of operations, but had 
 scarcely got fairly to work, when a fire destroyed his engine 
 house and pumping and hoisting machinery, occasioning a 
 partial suspension of work of several weeks' duration. The 
 machinery was replaced by that formerly employed at the 
 Kloman, a new engine and boiler house was erected, and op- 
 erations resumed within six weeks after the suspension caused 
 by the fire. Soon after, Mr. Edwards sold the forty acre tract 
 upon which the mine is situated, together with 400 acres ad- 
 joining, to W. W. Wheaton, Esq., who at once took posses- 
 sion and assumed the general management. The mine ad- 
 joins the Washington, is about 28 miles distant from Mar- 
 quette, on the Republic branch of the M., H. & 0. railroad 
 near its junction with the main line. The bluff or hill in 
 
186 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 which the Edwards is located crosses the tract from northeast 
 to southwest, the ledge being generally covered with sand, 
 gravel and iron boulders. On the north side of the ore the 
 rocks are quartz, either compact, fibrous or slaty, the latter 
 form externally resembling talcose slate. On the south is a 
 range of green stone. The vein, to which operations have 
 been principally confined, is about forty-five feet in width, 
 widening out at some places to fifty. The ore is of two kinds 
 one of a dark bluish black color, highly crystalline, very 
 heavy, and when free of quartz, almost a pure magnetic or 
 black oxyde, yielding by analysis 71.87 of metallic iron. The 
 other is a red oxyde, very heavy, and of the quality desig- 
 nated as "slate"' ore. 
 
 It must not be inferred from what we have said that the 
 deposit is confined to a single vein; on the contrary, there 
 are no less than four regular veins, separated by walls of tal- 
 cose slate varying from 16 to 40 feet in thickness. These 
 veins all cross the tract from northeast to southwest, as shown 
 in the following diagram: 
 
 XOKTH. 
 
 SOUTH. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 187 
 
 At present operations are confined to the two middle veins, 
 from which it will be very easy to reach the others by drifts 
 through the intervening walls of rock. The north vein is 
 fifty feet in width, and the ore is believed to be equally as 
 rich as those now being worked. 
 
 The work in the Edwards is all underground, the ore being 
 raised through two main shafts, which are now down to the 
 fifth level, 300 feet from the surface. These shafts are 380 
 feet apart, and are now being carried down to the sixth level, 
 through ore. They are both on the incline of the foot wall, 
 and are supplied with four skips two for hoisting the ore to 
 the surface, and two that are employed in hoisting to the 
 poekebs at the lower end of the skip roads, underground, the 
 latter not being completed down to the lower levels. The 
 vein in No. 3 pit is 50 feet thick, and has been opened out 
 340 feet lengthwise. In No. 2, the vein is smaller, though 
 large enough for all practical purposes. A large deposit has 
 been found west of No. 3, on the fourth level, and is being 
 mined and brought out to No. 3 shaft. 
 
 The mine is now in excellent condition, and there is no 
 reason why, with careful management, it may not be made 
 to yield a handsome profit to the owner. The product for 
 1876 is estimated at about 40,000 tons 30,000 tons magnetic 
 and the balance first-class specular, or "slate.' 1 The Edwards 
 ore has always maintained a good reputation, and furnace- 
 men are fully acquainted with its merits. Since the mine 
 came into the hands of Mr. Wheaton he has been using the 
 ore as a mixture with his Rolling Mill hematite, and red spec- 
 lar ores, with the most satisfactory results, making the best 
 grade of Bessemer pig. 
 
 About 80 underground miners are employed at present, 
 but- enough ground has been broken to afford room for double 
 that number, should the demand for the ore warrant increased 
 production. The ore can be mined and placed on the cars 
 as cheaply as at any other hard ore mine in the district. 
 
 The product of the Edwards since since the commence- 
 ment of operations has been as follows: 
 
188 . MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 TEAKS. TONS. 
 
 1866 2,843 
 
 1867 4,928 
 
 1868 17,360 
 
 1869 19,151 
 
 1870 24,232 
 
 1871 26,437 
 
 1872 28,380 
 
 1873 38.968 
 
 1874 2,849 
 
 1875 12,800 
 
 Total 177,948 
 
 Jas. Bale, an experienced miner, is superintendent, assisted 
 by Gordon Murray, mining captain. 
 
 THE NEGAUNEE HEMATITE RANGE. 
 In 1872 there seemed to be the best of reasons for the belief 
 that the then newly developed hematite mines, near Negaunee, 
 would assume majestic proportions, and become a distinct 
 and most important feature of the Lake Superior iron trade. 
 All the properties on this range were in demand. Whilst 
 being owned and controlled by proprietors in the neighbor- 
 hood, who could have given their neighbors all the advantages 
 which might come of favorable bargains, the inquiries from 
 abroad and the numerous attempts which were made to buy 
 interests in these properties, by foreign as well as by local 
 operators, caused the owners to put their "forties" and 
 " eighties" at enormous values. One "forty," for instance, 
 where a mine was partially developed, was held at $200,000. 
 a price which no one, unless demented, would think of paying 
 for a hematite mine, especially with the royalties added. 
 The panic came, and the lease of the same u forty " has been 
 forfeited, as have also the leases of a number of other proper- 
 ties, then considered valuable and held at a high valuation, 
 
 The characteristics of this range are brown and red hema- 
 tites, varying in quality from, forty-five to sixty per cent, in 
 Metallic iron, in the blast. The brown ore exists in the 
 largest quantity, and some of it is sufficiently hard and com- 
 pact to compare favorably with the specular ores. It lies 
 in small pockets, and in large masses or deposits, the smaller 
 deposits being usually mixed with more or less jasper. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 189 
 
 The most important and prolific of the mines opened on 
 this range is the 
 
 KOLLISTG MILL MINE, 
 
 which is situated in section 7, town 47 north, range 26 west, 
 where the company owns a forty acre tract the southwest 
 quarter of the northeast quarter of the section and also an 
 undivided half of the forty acres adjoining it on the east; Mr. 
 A. L. Crawford, of Newcastle, Pa., owning the other undivided 
 half, which, however, he has leased for a term of years to the 
 company. The first opening was made in the fall of 1871, in 
 which year only 236 tons were taken out and shipped to the 
 furnace in Marquette. The ore was found to be most excel- 
 lent as a mixture with the specular and magnetic ores, and 
 preparations were at once made for permanent work; since 
 then operations have been continued uninterruptedly, and 
 with the most gratifying results. The mine is justly regarded 
 as the best soft hematite mine in the district, the bed or 
 deposit being of unusual extent, and the ore carrying not 
 only a high percentage of metallic iron, but being possessed 
 likewise of peculiar properties which render it easy of 
 reduction, and very desirable for Bessemer pig. 
 
 Four pits have been opened Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. Work is 
 at present confined to Nos. 2 and 3, which are virtually one, 
 showing a solid bed of ore 400 feet in length, and believed to 
 be not less than 200 feet wide. These pits have been opened 
 out to a width of over 100 feet from the foot wall, and a care- 
 ful examination encourages the belief that there is a breast of 
 ore nearly as wide lying between the open pit and the hang- 
 ing wall, which last has not yet been reached by drift or other- 
 wise. The ore in this pit has been worked out to a depth 
 of 70 feet, and the floor appears to be a body of solid ore. 
 A main hoisting shaft is being put down from the foot of 
 No. 2 skip, which will give an open stope from which it is 
 estimated that at least 30,000 tons of ore can be mined. The 
 estimated production of the mine for 1876, is from 40,000 to 
 80,000 tons, the amount depending to a great extent on the 
 state of the market. 
 
190 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 The location of the mine is especially favorable, being sit- 
 uated only one mile from the city of Negaunee, at which 
 place it is connected by a side track with both railways, and 
 is thus afforded the advantage of competing routes for the 
 transportation of its product. Thus far, by much the larger 
 bulk of its product has been shipped to Marquette, a part 
 being used at the company's furnace, and the balance shipped 
 to lower lake ports. 
 
 The improvements at the mine consist of a large engine, 
 agent's dwelling, a sufficient number of comfortable houses 
 for employes, carpenter shops, barn, etc. The ore is raised 
 from the mine in skips operated by a reversible 12x18 engine 
 and four drums. Two of these drums are five feet in diame- 
 ter, arid the others three feet, all V friction gear, and of suffi- 
 cient capacity to do all the work required of them with ease 
 and facility. They were made at the Ii#n Bay foundry, Mar- 
 quette; the engine is from the Detroit Bridge works. 
 
 The mine gives employment to an average force of 100 
 men. The shipments the past five years have been as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 1871 
 
 GROSS TONS. 
 
 230 
 
 1872. 
 
 G 772 
 
 1873 
 
 11 310 
 
 1874 . . 
 
 10 043 
 
 1875 
 
 .37 800 
 
 Total . 
 
 ..72.776 
 
 W. W. Wheatou, Esq., is the general manager, and the 
 increased production of the mine since he assumed control of 
 the company's affairs, is the best possible evidence of the 
 energy and ability which characterizes his management. 
 Captain James Bale is superintendent. 
 
 THE M' COMBER MIKE 
 
 Which is also on this range, was opened by Wm. C. 
 McComber in 1870. In 1872 the leasehold was sold to the 
 McComber Iron Company, of which S. L. Mather, Cleveland, 
 Ohio, is president and treasurer, and Fred A. Morse, of the 
 same city, secretary. Jay C. Morse, of Marquette, is the 
 general agent. This mine is situated on the hill just south 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 191 
 
 of Negaunee, on lands owned by James P. Pendill, Esq.. who 
 receives a royalty of fifty cents per ton on all the ore mined. 
 The land was once the property of the Detroit Iron Mining 
 Company, which filed its articles of association in 1857. This 
 coiupmy having made some unsuccessful explorations, 
 sold the land to Mr. Pendill, by whom further unsatisfactory 
 explorations were made. Mr. McComber having secured a 
 lease, went diligently -to work, and in the first year developed 
 a mine which has since added very materially to the produc- 
 tion of the district. 
 
 The improvements at the mine consist of a number of 
 substantial buildings for the accommodation of employes, 
 engine and hoisting machinery, etc. There are four hoisting 
 shafts, and one central pumping shaft, the necessary pockets, 
 side tracks, etc., to facilitate shipments, and altogether the 
 mine may be considered one of the best hematite properties 
 in the district. 
 
 The production of the McComber has been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1870 4,866 
 
 1871 15,942 
 
 1872 24,153 
 
 1878 38,969 
 
 1874 2,641 
 
 1875 10,407 
 
 Total 96,978 
 
 THE GRAND CENTRAL MINE 
 
 was opened in 1870, by S. S. Burt and I. S. Waterman. It 
 is a leasehold, paying a royalty of 75 cents per ton, under 
 the terms of a sub-lease from Hon. E. Breitung. It was 
 worked till the close of 1873, with fair results, when, owing 
 to the panic, work was suspended, and the sub-lease forfeited. 
 In 1875, Mr. M. T. Gaffney, of Negaunee, obtained the lease, 
 and re-opened the mine, working a small force a part of the 
 summer. The mine has produced ore as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1870 1,809 
 
 1871. 2,921 
 
 1872 9,925 
 
192 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 1873 6,62^ 
 
 1874 
 
 1875 987 
 
 Total 22,27 1 
 
 The other mines opened on this range are: The Green 
 Bay, the Negaunee, the Allen, the Ada, Himrod, Hematite, 
 and Spurr & Calhoun. Some other leases were given, but 
 these are the only mines that have been wholly or even 
 partially developed. 
 
 The Green Bay mine was opened by a company of that 
 name in 1871, and mined and shipped up to the close of the year 
 8,582 tons, when work was suspended. Last summer the 
 lease passed into the hands of the Mitchell Bros., practical 
 miners, who have renewed operations, and propose to work 
 the mine for all it is worth. The Negaunee mine is the 
 leasehold property of Maas & Lonstorf, and has mined and 
 shipped 11,684 tons. The mine has not been wrought since 
 1873. The Allen was opened by Messrs. Allen, Crocker and 
 Shelden, who mined and shipped 9,34:7 tons in 1872-'73, since 
 which the mine has been dormant. The Himrod mined and 
 shipped 2,074 tons, and then suspended. The other so-called 
 mines on the range never made any shipments. 
 
 THE CASCADE DISTRICT. 
 
 Tli ere are embraced in this range or district the mines of 
 the Palmer Iron company, (formerly Cascade Iron- Co. ^Pitts- 
 burgh and Lake Superior, Gribben, Carr and Home. 
 
 . THE PALMER IRON COMPANY 
 
 has an estate of 3,120 acres, located on sections 19, 20, 29, 
 30, 26 and 27, in ranges 26 and 27, towns 46 and 47. The 
 ore is of the granular, slate and hematite orders, or the mi- 
 caceous specular and magnetic oxides, ranging from 60 to 
 66f per cent, in richness, some of it yielding as high as 68 
 per cent. The deposit of granular ores, as shown by the 
 openings already made, and the test-pits which have been put 
 down on the property, lies in crescent shape from west to 
 east, with the center of the curve lying south. For the most 
 part the elevations and outcrops are from fifty to two hun- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 193 
 
 drecl feet above the base of mining and shipping levels, giv- 
 ing working faces in some instances two hundred feet in 
 height, while the depressions show no variation in quantity 
 or quality of the ore. At one point in the course of the 
 crescent, a depression occurs where a branch of the Escanaba 
 river falls some forty feet over an iron ledge, showing that 
 the depth of the iron in the bluffs on either side of the stream 
 is in all probability not less than two hundred and fifty feet, 
 including the elevation, and possibly considerably more. To 
 the south of the ridge of this crescent another bluff of iron 
 is located, like a bulwark in front of the main wall of a line 
 of military fortifications. 
 
 The openings 011 the Palmer property consists of Nos. 1, 2, 
 3, 4, 5, 6, and the West End mine. The first opening was 
 made at No. 4, on the east, in the summer of 1864, but not 
 until a branch road was brought in, a distance of six miles, 
 from the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, in 1871, was 
 there any effort made to take out ore. In September of that 
 year operations were commenced at No. 4 for shipment, and 
 some 4,100 tons were taken out and sent to market before the 
 close of the season. In addition to the openings referred to, 
 may be mentioned the Emma and Bagaley mines, which had 
 been leased to other parties, and the leases of which have 
 been forfeited. 
 
 The product of the Palmer mine, including the Emma 
 and Bagaley has been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1871 4,171 
 
 1872 39,495 
 
 1873 28,920 
 
 1874 18,198 
 
 1875 4,071 
 
 94,855 
 
 It is proper to add that operations were suspended at this 
 mine from the fall of 1874 till some time in the following- 
 summer, the old Cascade Company having met with finan- 
 cial reverses by which it was forced into bankruptcy. The 
 new company commenced operations last summer, its busi- 
 
194 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 ness affairs being under the general management of Joseph 
 Kirkpatrick, Esq. 
 
 THE PITTSBURGH AND LAKE SUPERIOR 
 
 adjoins the Palmer, and was energetically worked in 1872, 
 and during a part of 1873, the shipments having been as 
 follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1872 1,160 
 
 1873 21,498 
 
 1874 1,302 
 
 Total 24,020 
 
 The mine is now idle, and the quality of the ore is such 
 that a renewal of operations at any time in the future is 
 questionable. 
 
 THE GRIBBEN MINE 
 
 was opened by the Gribben Iron Company in the summer of 
 1872. The ore is a red specular, though scarcely up to the 
 standard of first class shipping ores. The only shipments 
 (4,517 tons,) were made in 1873. Is now idle. 
 
 THE CARR MINE 
 
 was opened in the summer of 1872, and after mining 2,603 
 tons, suspended operations. 
 
 THE HOME 
 
 is also a new mine, not now being wrought. Its product 
 in 1873-'4 was 3,229 tons. 
 
 Of this Cascade range, aside from the West End, of the 
 Palmer, very little can be said of a commendatory character. 
 The deposits are, it is true, very extensive, but with the 
 exception named, the ore cannot be considered first class. 
 There is, notwithstanding, a large amount of good ore to be 
 found at all the mines on the range; but it is generally so 
 closely associated and intermixed with the leaner ores as to 
 render separation well nigh impossible. Until the demand 
 for the ores of the district is such as to call for those of a 
 second or inferior quality, it is not probable that operations 
 at these mines will be resumed. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 195 
 
 THE SMITH MIKE. 
 
 The property of this company is located on sections 18 
 and 20, range 25, town 45, consisting of 412 acres, in the 
 former section, and 386 in the latter, all being located west 
 of the west branch of the Escanaba river. The company 
 was organized on the 1st of November, 1871, through the 
 purchase of an interest in the property by the late Gen. 
 James Pierce, of Sharpsville, Pa., and Henry Fassett, of 
 Ashtabula, Ohio. The original tract was the property of 
 Silas C. Smith, and consisted also of section 28, in the same 
 range; but this section still remains the property of Mr. 
 Smith. The first opening was made on section 20 some two 
 years previous to the organization of the present company, 
 and sufficient ore taken out to render satisfaction regarding 
 its character and quality. Subsequently the south-east quar- 
 ter of section 18, was found to present better advantages for 
 mining, and this was adopted by the new company as the 
 principal point for working. 
 
 The ore is mainly a hard brown and red oxyde, with strong 
 indications, as the deposit is worked, of running into a hard 
 specular ore. The mine is supplied with shipping facilities 
 by a branch railroad, five miles in length, connecting with 
 the main line of the Chicago & Northwestern railway, about 
 eighteen miles below Negaunee. Operations at the mine 
 were entirely suspended in the summer of 1873, owing to 
 the general blow out among the Shenango Valley furnaces, 
 and particularly those at Sharpsville, of which Gen. Pierce 
 was the principal owner. It is more than probable that 
 operations will be resumed the present season. Shipments 
 have been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1872 13,445 
 
 1873 9,328 
 
 Total 22,773 
 
 WINTHROP AND SAGINAW RANGE. 
 
 This range is opened at intervals for a distance of two 
 miles, from the Shenango mine, about two miles south-west 
 
196 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 of Ishpeming, in a westerly direction, to what is known as 
 the Goodrich mine. 
 
 While the formation at either opening does not corres- 
 pond entirely with that of the others, and while the ores are 
 specular, slate and brown hematite, sometimes in separate 
 pockets and sometimes juxtaposed, there is good reason for 
 believing that the deposit is continuous, dipping north and 
 west, with the hematite on the foot wall, the slate under 
 the hanging wall, and the specular between. 
 
 THE GOODRICH MIIfE. 
 
 This mine is the most westerly one opened on the range. 
 It is the property of Capt. Goodrich, Chicago, and was 
 opened in 1873. It had been explored a few years ago, by the 
 St. Glairs, of the Washington, but after a tunnel was driven 
 into an elevation for some distance, without satisfactory 
 results, the work was abandoned. Subsequently, some Ne- 
 gaunee and Green Bay parties came into possession of the 
 lease, the largest interest of which afterwards went into the 
 hands of Capt. Goodrich. 
 
 The geological formation here is very irregular. The 
 alluvial, mineral and rock, are thrown together in the utmost 
 confusion. The work is located on an upheaval, three sides 
 of which are accessible for cut and breast mining. Each of 
 these sides yield ore, and enough has been taken out to 
 satisfy the owners that they have a good mine. The ores are 
 banded hard hematite, of but little value, bird's eye in large 
 quantities, maganeseous slate, and a granulated specular ore. 
 It has a branch connection with the Chicago & Northwestern, 
 and the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon railroads. The 
 product of the mine thus far is reported as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1873 3,258 
 
 1874 3,100 
 
 1875 1,780 
 
 Total 8,138 
 
 The Goodrich will ultimately develop into a first class 
 mine. That the Saginaw vein extends through the property. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 197 
 
 there is little room to doubt, and the existence of a deposit of 
 fine slate ore 011 the property is known to those who explored 
 the land before it came into the possession of the present 
 owners. All that is required to bring the Goodrich into 
 prominence is a reasonable expenditure through the medium 
 of an intelligent, competent management. 
 
 THE ALBION MItfE 
 
 was opened in 1872.. It is situated between the Saginaw and 
 Groodrich; was worked for nearly two years, but did not 
 re-imburse the owners for the money expended. It is, per- 
 haps, a good property, but its successful development will 
 require more capital than was anticipated. It was conse- 
 quently abandoned, the lessees forfeiting their lease. The 
 total shipments were 2.228 tons. 
 
 THE KEW ENGLAND 
 
 formerly owned by Capt. E. B. Ward, is now the property of 
 the Lake Superior Company, and has been fully described in 
 connection with the other mines of that company. The 
 mine was opened in 1866, and up to the time it passed into 
 the hands of the present owners, the shipments were: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1866 3,150 
 
 1867 9,075 
 
 1868 8,257 
 
 1869 12,632 
 
 1870 24,871 
 
 1871... 33,359 
 
 1872 17,465 
 
 1873 181 
 
 Total 108,990 
 
 The Saginaw forms the subject of a sub-division elsewhere 
 in this work, and the "New Burt" is fully described in 
 connection with the Lake Superior company's mines. 
 
 THE WIJ* THROP 
 
 adjoins the old New England on the east, and is the prop- 
 erty of the Winthrop Iron company, though now under 
 lease to Messrs. A. B. Meeker and H. J. Colwell. Work was 
 commenced in the summer of 1870, since which time the 
 shipments have been as follows: 
 
198 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1870 3,4<J9 
 
 1871 11,088 
 
 1872 1*,239 
 
 1873 33,456 
 
 1874 7,5*9 
 
 1875 7,502 
 
 Total 77,303 
 
 The ore is an excellent brown hematite, quite popular with 
 furnacemen, and yields by analysis from sixty to sixty-five 
 per cent. 
 
 The workings at the mine embrace an excavation some 
 three or four hundred feet in length, with an average width 
 of perhaps fifty feet, worked down to a depth of about sixty 
 feet at the deepest point. The deposit from which the bulk 
 of the product is taken is about forty feet wide, but the length 
 has not yet been determined being continuous with the 
 Shenango on the east, and extending west, it is believed, 
 across the entire tract. This deposit was, until lately, sup- 
 posed to be all there was of the mine, but recently what was 
 believed to be the foot wall of the mine was ascertained to be 
 nothing but a thin layer or stratification of soapstone, behind 
 which lies another large deposit of clean ore, the extent of 
 which has not, however, been fully determined. It is found 
 also that another deposit lies back of the present hanging 
 wall, and it looks to us as if it might eventually be found to 
 cut out both walls, and that what now appears to be three 
 separate deposits are really one, the foot and hanging walls 
 of which have not yet been reached. Let this be as it may, 
 there is certainly a large body of fine ore in sight from which 
 it will not be diffienlt to mine 50,000 tons the coming year, 
 should that amount be called for. 
 
 The ore is hoisted by means of an incline from the railway 
 pockets to the bottom of the mine, the cars upon which are 
 operated by a wire rope so arranged that an empty car de- 
 scends the incline whenever a loaded one is drawn up. The 
 hoisting machinery was made by Crane Bros., Chicago, and 
 is of sufficient capacity to meet all the requirements of the 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR, 199 
 
 mine at present, and, by adding additional drums, for years to 
 come. 
 
 THE SHENANGO MIKE. 
 
 This mine lies immediately east of the Winthrop in short, 
 the two are working in the same opening the Shenango 
 being only 011 a lower level and are practically the same 
 body of ore. 
 
 Shipments have been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1872 197 
 
 1873 8,658 
 
 1874 7,549 
 
 Total 16,404 
 
 The mine has not been worked the past year, bat mining 
 will probably be resumed the present season. The officers of 
 the company are: President, C. DONKERSLEY, Marquette; 
 'Vice President, GEO. C. REIS, New Castle, Pa.; Secretary 
 and Treasurer, HENRY D. SMITH, Appleton, Wis. 
 
 THE HOWELL HOPPOCK 
 
 is a partially developed mine, located about half a mile south 
 of the Winthrop. The ore is lean and silicious, for which it 
 is not probable a market can ever be found. After mining 
 2,205 tons, the company abandoned the mine. 
 
 MICHIGAN MINE. 
 
 About one mile south of Clarksburgh Station, a mine was 
 opened in 1872, with fair promise of success, by the Michigan 
 Iron Company. Some 3,000 tons were mined and used at the 
 company's furnace, but the mine was finally abandoned, 
 owing to the financial embarrassment of the company. A 
 separate joint stock company was afterwards organized for 
 the purpose of working the property, but have never done 
 anything. The vein carries an average width of about ten 
 feet, the ore being a rich granular. 
 
 THE EMPIRE MINE 
 
 is situated on the line of the M. H. & 0. R. R., between 
 Champion and Michigan! me, on the south-west quarter of 
 
200 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 section 22, town 48, range 30, but lias never been sufficiently 
 worked to prove that it has any particular merit. 
 
 THE IRON KING AND HARNEY 
 
 are new undeveloped .properties lying between the Michi- 
 gamme and Spurr, upon which considerable money has been 
 expended, but without developing anything of particular 
 value. 
 
 THE STEWART MIKE 
 
 is in section 23, west of the Spurr. A fair deposit of ore has 
 been found, but very little work has been done since the 
 beginning of the panic. The mine is the property of the 
 Stewart Mining Company, and the prospects are fair for the 
 development of a first class mine, whenever work is resumed 
 and continued. 
 
 In the Republic group, properly speaking, are situated the 
 Kloman, Cannon, Metropolis, Erie, Berea, Chippevva and 
 Magnetic mines. 
 
 THE KLOMAN MINE 
 
 is situated on the Michigarnnie River, opposite the. Republic. 
 It is owned by Pittsburgh parties, and was opened in the in- 
 terest of the Lucy furnace. Work was commenced in the 
 fall of 1872 and continued till the spring of 1875, 
 when the mine was abandoned and allowed to fill with water. 
 The vein was opened along a distance of 1,000 feet, to a 
 depth of 30 feet below drainage, and the abandonment of the 
 mine by the owners was a matter of astonishment to the 
 people of the district. The shipments were as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1873 21,005 
 
 1874 85,088 
 
 1875 8,059 
 
 Total 64,212 
 
 The machinery was sold to W. W. Wheaton, by whom it 
 is now employed at the Edwards mine. It is hardly to be 
 expected that a mine which yielded so well in the early stages 
 of development, will be permanently abandoned; we look 
 
. 
 OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 201 
 
 for a renewal of operations at the Kloman, either by the 
 present owners, or by others, whenever a revival of the iron 
 trade shall seem to warrant increased production by the 
 district at large. 
 
 THE METROPOLIS 
 
 was, a year or two ago, heralded abroad as a new property of 
 great value, and one which would ultimately rival the Re- 
 public in the quantity and quality of its product. A com- 
 pany was formed in Pittsburgh, to whom the stock was sold 
 at fancy figures, and work was commenced with a grand 
 flourish of trumpets. After the expenditure of a very con- 
 siderable sum in opening the newly discovered deposit, the 
 property was abandoned as worthless, very little if any 
 shipping ore being found. . 
 
 THE ERIE 
 
 is a new mine, belonging to Rawle, Noble & Co., together 
 with some Chicago parties, and promises to develop into a 
 valuable property. In. the work of exploration, some 3,000 
 tons of first class ore has been taken out and hauled a distance 
 of six miles to the railway. Capt. James F. Trowell is 
 Superintendent. 
 
 THE CANNON MINE 
 
 is the property of the Cannon Iron Company. Consider- 
 able exploration work has been done, with a fair prospect for 
 the developeinent of a good mine, as soon as railway commu- 
 nication is secured. Samuel Peck is the General agent. 
 
 THE MAGNETIC 
 
 is another promising new mine, though remote from rail- 
 way communication. A shaft has been sunk in what appears 
 to be a large deposit of good ore, and further explorations are 
 in progress with a view to determining its extent. Mr. Peck 
 is also agent for the Magnetic. 
 
 THE CHIPPEWA AND BEREA 
 
 are new properties, upon which large deposits of lean ore 
 have been found, but so far very little, if any, first class ore 
 has been uncovered. 
 
202 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 THE IRON CLIFFS COMPANY, 
 
 owns the Foster, Barnum, Salisbury, Excelsior and Row- 
 land mines, and also work the Pioneer mine under a lease 
 from the Jackson Iron Company. 
 
 THE FOSTER MINE. 
 
 The old Foster openings at the Cliffs location were largely 
 extended during 1873, and two new openings made on the 
 highest elevation of the property, which have yielded large 
 quantities of good ore. The ore at all the openings varies 
 considerably in quality, some of it being strongly manganes- 
 eous, some red oxide, and some hard brown. 
 
 Near the mine is the new Cliffs furnace, of which more 
 will be said further along. Another opening, known as the 
 Salisbury, is on the south side of Lake Angeline ridge, adjoin- 
 ing the Pittsburg and Lake Angeline Company's property. 
 A large area of dark hematite has been worked out here. In 
 short, the bed is regarded as among the best in the region, 
 extending across the boundaries of the Cliffs and the Pitts- 
 burg and Lake Angeline Company. 
 
 The product of the Foster has been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1866-'7-'8 6 000 
 
 1869 14.000 
 
 1870 23,458 
 
 1871 13,203 
 
 1872 '18.139 
 
 1873 27,372 
 
 1874 3,318 
 
 1875 '. . . 067 
 
 Total 106,157 
 
 THE BARNUM MINE 
 
 is on section 9, town 47, range 27, and but a short distance 
 from the Lake Superior Company's principal openings. It 
 was first opened in the summer of 1867, but shipments did 
 not commence till some time in June, 1868, in which year 
 14,380 gross tons were mined and shipped. The ore is a very 
 fine specular, fully up to the shipping standard. 
 
 A branch of the C. & N. W. R'y was laid to the mine in 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 203 
 
 June, 1868, and all the shipments have been made over that 
 road, though the opening is within a stone's throw of the 
 side tracks of the M. & 0. R. R., at the Lake Superior mine. 
 
 The mine is supplied with pumping and hoisting machin- 
 ery, of the most substantial kind, capable of raising 500 tons 
 every 24 hours. 
 
 The following table of shipments will give an adequate idea 
 of the value and capacity of the mine. 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1863 14,380 
 
 1869 33484 
 
 1870 44.793 
 
 1871 45,939 
 
 1872 38.381 
 
 1873 48,076 
 
 1874 41,403 
 
 1875 43,209 
 
 Total 309,665 
 
 Wm. Sedgwick, an experienced miner, who served his ap- 
 prenticeship with Capt. Merry, at the Jackson, is superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 The shipments from the other mines owned by the Iron 
 Cliffs Company have been as follows: 
 
 EXCELSIOR. 
 
 YE\R. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1872 7o6 
 
 1874 1,065 
 
 1875 2,860 
 
 Total 4,681 
 
 SALISBURY. 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1872 545 
 
 1874 7,480 
 
 1875 4,330 
 
 Total 12,355 
 
 There has been shipped from the Rowland mine 2,288 
 gross tons, making a total product for all the Iron Cliffs Go's 
 mines, of 432,858 gross tons, not including the Pioneer, 
 which has been placed to the credit of the Jackson. 
 
204 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 THE IRON MOUNTAIN MINE 
 
 is on the south half of section 14, Town 47, Range 27. the 
 estate comprising 320 acres. The mine was opened in the 
 fall of 1864, and the first shipments made in 1865. in which 
 year the C. & N. W. R'y Company supplied the mine with a 
 branch railroad. The following table exhibits the product of 
 the mine since being opened : 
 
 YEAR. GHOSS TONS. 
 
 1865 898 
 
 18o6 6,860 
 
 1867 5,000 
 
 1868 3,836 
 
 1873 112 
 
 1875 1,635 
 
 Total 18,341 
 
 The Iron Mountain ore is of the specular or sesqui-oxyde 
 variety, the deposit being an immense well-stratified bed, at 
 such an elevation above drainage as to give a face of from 40 
 to 100 feet for over a quarter of a mile. The layers are of 
 such thickness as to break readily by blasting into slabs of 
 convenient size for shipment. A trap uplift, running from 
 north-west to south-east, divides the ore bed, and inclines the 
 same about 30 degrees. The first opening was made on the 
 south-west shore of Foster Lake, in the ore bluff on the 
 north slope of the trap uplift the deposit being .nearly a 
 quarter of a mile in length, and from 900 to 1,500 feet in 
 width. A working face of 30 feet was obtained in driving 
 an open cut of 150 feet through the ore, which gradually 
 improved in quality, till what is thought to be the best ore 
 on the location, in any considerable quantity, at least, Avas 
 reached. From this cut has been taken all the ore shipped 
 from the mine. The ore makes iron of an excellent quality, 
 being perfectly free from anything of an injurious nature, 
 but it is rather lean for the present market, yielding only 
 from 50 to 55 per cent, in the furnace, against 67 per cent, 
 of other Lake Superior ores. The ore was found, however, 
 to possess one quality which encouraged the company to 
 persevere in their efforts to introduce it to the favorable con- 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 205 
 
 sideration of iron makers, and that is, its decidedly cold- 
 short properties. The Lake Superior ores produce, invariably, 
 red-short iron, if we except the magnetic ores which are 
 sometimes neutral. The Iron Mountain ore neutralizes the 
 red-shortness of the other Lake Superior hematites, and 
 when mixed with them, makes a quality of iron which is 
 highly prized and the most useful. 
 
 As will he noticed, the mine has been wrought very irreg- 
 ularly, and at present it is dormant. 
 
 THE WASHINGTON MINE 
 
 comprises a valuable estate of 1,000 acres in town 47, range 
 29. The company was organized in 1864, and commenced 
 mining the same year, the first shipments being made in 
 1865. The following is a statement of the product: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1865 4,782 
 
 1866 15,150 
 
 1867 25,440 
 
 1868 35,757 
 
 1869 58,462 
 
 1870 79,762 
 
 1871 48,725 
 
 1872 38,381 
 
 1873 . 38,014 
 
 1874 28,390 
 
 1875 : . 9,641 
 
 Total 382,504 
 
 The company, becoming embarrassed 'financially, suspended 
 operations in the spring of 1875, since which time the mine 
 has not been worked. A large amount of money was ex- 
 pended in improvements, the driving of a tunnel into and 
 through the main deposits, and the mine was just in good 
 shape for a large and economic production, when the panic 
 occurred, and the company found it impossible to continue 
 mining operations. . The mine, which we regard as one of 
 the best in the district, is for sale or lease, on favorable terms. 
 
 THE BESSEMER MINE 
 
 is in section 35, Town 48, Range 27, on the south shore of 
 Teal Lake, and but a short distance from the City of Negau- 
 
206 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 nee. The land upon which the mine is situated is owned by 
 the Teal Lake Iron Company, by whom it was leased to the 
 Bessemer Iron Company. Work was commenced in the fall 
 of 1875, on a large body of soft hematite, similar in appear- 
 ance to the Jackson hematite. About 3000 tons nave been 
 mined, and will be shipped the present season. The princi- 
 pal stockholders are Wm. C. McComber, Alex. Bengley and 
 Delon E. Patterson. 
 
 THE CAMBRIA MINE 
 
 adjoins the Bessemer on the east, and is also a part of the es- 
 tate of the Teal Lake Iron Company. It was leased last spring 
 by the Cambria Iron Company, in which J. H. McDonald and 
 R. P. Harriman are the principal shareholders, the property 
 having been previously partially developed by Mr. Harriman. 
 The indications are most favorable to the development of a 
 good mine, the ore being, apparently of excellent quality, and 
 comprising both the hard and soft hematites. There was 
 mined and sold in 1874, 2,610 tons, and the new company 
 has now several thousand tons ready for shipment. 
 
 THE LAKE ANGELINE MINE 
 
 is situated on the south side of Lake Angeline, on the line of 
 the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon railroad, about 
 seventeen miles west of Marquette. It is the property of 
 the Pittsburgh & Lake Angeline Iron company, which was 
 incorporated in 1865. The company owns 1,376 acres of 
 land, (originally purchased by George E. Hall, who opened 
 the mine,) and formerly worked the Edwards mine under 
 lease. 
 
 The Lake Angeline mine has been opened on a stretch of 
 the deposit 1,700 feet in length, in which four openings are 
 being worked. From near the water's edge, along which the 
 railway track extends, the hill running parallel with the 
 shore rises rapidly to the base of a vertical bluff of crystalline 
 trap, 200 feet in 'height. Along the base of this bluff is the 
 ore deposit. Along the front of the deposit, near the sur- 
 face, there was a strip of mixed ore and jasper, but this was 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. , 207 
 
 worked out, giving place to a much better and more uniform 
 quality of ore. 
 
 The working pits are four in number, and though not 
 designated on the company's maps by numbers, for the sake 
 of convenience we will refer to them as 1, 2, 3 and 4, com- 
 mencing at the west end. No. Ipit, is an open cut one hun- 
 dred feet in length, and varying from thirty to fifty feet in 
 width. The present work is being done on a level thirty 
 feet below the surface of the lake; the ore is a soft red hema- 
 tite, of a good quality. The extent of the deposit is not 
 known, as it has not been deemed safe to approach the hang- 
 ing wall for fear of seams which would admit the water from 
 the lake and flood the mine. It is believed, however, that in 
 sinking deeper this danger will be overcome, and the hang- 
 ing wall safely reached on a lower level. 
 
 Between Nos. 1 and 2, is the pump shaft, from the bottom 
 of which drifts for drainage extend into both openings. No. 2 
 pit is six hundred feet long, the main level being about forty 
 feet below the lake. Another level forty feet deeper gives a 
 working face of forty feet. The ore is raised by derricks, 
 operated by steam power. 
 
 East of No. 2, three hundred feet, is another open cut 
 working on the main level, with stopes of thirty feet. The 
 ore is raised from this cut on a skip-road, operated by steam. 
 Still further east is No. 4, also an open cut, with a working 
 face of thirty feet. The ore in all these pits is of the red 
 specular variety, and of good quality. 
 
 On the south side of the bluff is the brown hematite mine, 
 which is an opening 40x150 feet, and which yields as fine a 
 quality of hematite as can be found in the region. The pit 
 is supplied with pumping and hoisting machinery, and is 
 most favorably situated for profitable mining. 
 
 The product of the Lake Angeline has been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1864 19,500 
 
 1865 20,151 
 
 1866 24,073 
 
 1867 46,607 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 1868 27,631 
 
 1869 85,433 
 
 1870 53,407 
 
 1871 83.045 
 
 1872 35,52 1 
 
 1873 43,9*3 
 
 1874 31,526 
 
 1875 26,370 
 
 Total 397,576 
 
 The company employs regularly about sixty men. Tiie 
 officers are: President, JOHN OUTHWAITE; Secretary and 
 Treasurer, L. E. HOLDER; General Agent, A. KIDDER; 
 Superintendent, HARVEY DIMOND. 
 
 THE CHAMPION" MINE 
 
 is in the south half of section 31, town 48, range 29. The 
 mine was opened on a deposit of magnetic and slate ore of 
 remarkable extent and uniform purity, and though little 
 was done previous to 1868, it has developed into one of the 
 standard mines of the district. The first opening was made 
 in 1867, though very little was done except in the way of 
 exploration until the following spring, when just as the first 
 shipments began, the destruction of the docks at Marquette 
 caused a suspension of operations till October. In that month 
 the first shipments were made, the season closing with a total 
 of 6,255 tons. Since then the shipments have been as follows : 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1868 6,255 
 
 1869 19,458 
 
 1870 73,161 
 
 1871 67,588 
 
 1872 68,405 
 
 1873 72,782 
 
 1874 46,769- 
 
 1875 57,979 
 
 Total 412,397 
 
 At the inception the property belonged to the Marquette 
 & Ontonagon Railroad company, the land upon which the 
 mine is located -being a part of its government subsidy; but 
 in 1869, the Champion Iron company was organized and 
 purchased the mine. 
 There are two main deposits of ore, one known as the 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 209 
 
 north and the other as the south deposit. These deposits 
 are lens-shaped, lapping each other so that the hanging wall 
 of the south deposit runs into and helps to form the foot 
 wall of the other. There are three working shafts, num- 
 bered respectively 1, 2 and 3. No. 1 shaft is in the north 
 deposit; No. 2 is 212 feet west on the same deposit, and No. 
 3 is in the south deposit 250 feet west of No. 2. These 
 deposits lap each other about midway between shafts Nos. 2 
 and 3, the north deposit here making a bend and forming a 
 junction with the other near No. 3 shaft. Nos. 2 and 3 
 shafts are down to the fifth level, 300 feet from the surface, 
 and No. 1 to the fourth level 240 feet. The mining system 
 is similar to that adopted at the Michigamme; winzes are 
 sunk on either side of each shaft, leaving pillars to protect 
 the shafts and support the walls. The winzes and shafts are 
 then connected by a drift, and the ore mined from underhand 
 stopes of 60 feet. There is, consequently, no drifting except 
 the few feet necessary to connect the shafts and winzes. 
 
 It was determined in the beginning to adopt the under- 
 ground system of mining, but after a few years, for some 
 reason, the roof was removed from a part of the workings. 
 Now it has been determined to secure the mine by leaving 
 twenty feet of the floor of the third level, properly arched, 
 for a new roof. This is accordingly being done, the ore on 
 the length of deposit opened having all been mined out down 
 to that level. The north deposit has been opened over a 
 length of 644 feet. East and west of No. 1 shaft there are 
 considerable bodies of ore remaining above the fourth level, 
 as also east and west of No. 3. In No. 2, there is very little 
 ore remaining above the fourth level, and the principal 
 mining work is being done on the fifth. In the north belt 
 the deposit carries a width of from twenty to thirty-five feet 
 on the fourth level; in the south deposit, which has been 
 opened over a length of 370 feet, the breadth of ore is from 
 forty-five to sixty feet, except at the junction of the two de- 
 posits, where there is a body of pure ore fully one hundred 
 feet wide. About 170 feet west of No. 3 shaft, the south de- 
 
210 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 posit pinches out entirely, but a drift through a narrow wall 
 of rock struck another body of ore which has been worked 
 into fifty feet, and found to be thirty-four feet wide on the 
 fourth level. 
 
 About one thousand feet west of No. 3 shaft, explorations 
 have brought to light a vein or deposit of very pure red 
 specular ore, wholly unlike anything found in the other 
 deposits. This deposit, which was only four feet on the sur- 
 face, widened out to thirteen and a half feet in going down 
 twelve feet, and it is believed will prove a very material 
 addition to the hitherto known value of the mine. 
 
 The mine affords employment to about two hundred men, 
 mostly practical miners. The ore is all hoisted in skips 
 operated by drums, the engine and machinery being of 
 sufficient capacity to raise 1,000 tons per day from the 
 lowest level. 
 
 The officers of the company are: 
 
 President, JOSEPH S. FAT, Boston; Treasurer, W. P. FAY, 
 Boston; Secretary, WM. E. STONE, Boston; General Agent, 
 A. KIDDEE, Marquette; Superintendent, JAS. PASCOE. 
 
 THE KEYSTONE MINE 
 
 is in section 32, town 48, range 29, just east of the Cham- 
 pion, and is owned by a company of the same name, which 
 filed its articles of association late in the fall of 1872. Work 
 was commenced in November, 1872, and the first shipment 
 of ore made on the 4th of June following. The develop- 
 ments since made show a deposit of ore 600 feet in length, 
 the width of which is, as yet, undetermined. It is probably 
 one among the best of the small hard ore mines in the dis- 
 trict, the ore being substantially of the same character as 
 that of the Champion magnetic and slate. 
 
 The company met with a good many discouragements in 
 the beginning, it being found necessary to erect a consider- 
 able number of buildings for the accommodation of the 
 miners, involving a large expenditure in addition to the 
 actual cost of opening the mine. When the financial crash 
 came, the bottom dropped out of the ore market, and a sus 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 211 
 
 pension of operations followed. Work was resumed, how- 
 ever, late in the summer of 1875, and a small force has been 
 kept at work ever since, with the best of indications for a 
 large yield whenever the state of the ore market shall war- 
 rant active mining work. 
 
 The product of the mine has been as follows: 
 
 YEAB. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1873 10/26 
 
 1874 5.227 
 
 1875 3,346 
 
 Total 18,999 
 
 The officers of the company are: 
 
 President, GEO. C. REIS, Newcastle, Pa.; Secretary and 
 Treasurer, ROBERT McCuRDY, Youngstown, Ohio; General 
 Agent, C. M. WHEELER, Negaunee, Mich. 
 
 THE BUCKEYE 
 
 Iron Company was organized in 1873, with a view to opera- 
 tions on the south half of section 36, town 48, range 30, 
 which adjoins the Champion half section, on the west. Best 
 judges of the geology of the situation decide that the Buck- 
 eye Company have good reason to believe that they will 
 sooner or later develop a good mine, but as yet their labor 
 has not been crowned with success, present or prospective. 
 That they are on the Champion range, there is not a doubt, 
 but to strike the range at exactly the right point is what the 
 Buckeye people tried to do during the summer of 1873. 
 A little more patience, and a little more expenditure of 
 money will, more than likely, place them just where they 
 want to be placed ON THE RANGE for the doubt about a 
 good deposit of ore on this property is greatly preponderated 
 by the facts in geology, which makes faith. No work has been 
 done on the property since the fall of 1873, though the develop- 
 ments made by the Champion Company near the line, would 
 appear to render the discovery of the same belt an easy task 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 BLAST-FURNACES. 
 
 As mignt readily be inferred, the most important manufao 
 turing interest oil Lake Superior is the smelting of iron 
 ore in the blast furnace. The attempt to establish iron 
 manufactures on Lake Superior was made under many disad- 
 vantages, and at a time when, if successful, these engaged in 
 the enterprise could not hope for large returns on the amount 
 of capital and labor invested. It was made, in fact, before 
 anything had been done toward the develoqment of the mines, 
 and when it would have been next to impossible to get the 
 iron to market, except at an immense expense for transport- 
 ation. And, in fact, the first effort at iron making on these 
 shores succeeded only in so far that it served to show the 
 sterling qualities of the ores, and the readiness with which 
 they could be converted into blooms or pig metal. 
 
 In the summer or fall of 1846, one year after the discovery 
 of the Jackson Mountain by Mr. Everett and his party, the 
 Jackson Company undertook the erection of a forge on the 
 Carp river, about three miles east of Negaunee. The building 
 of the forge was intrusted to Wm. McNair, who was sent 
 here as agent for the company. He had never seen a forge, 
 and did not succeed in accomplishing anything toward its 
 erection till the following year. In July 1847, Ariel N. 
 Barney and his brother-in-law, Aaron K. Olds, arrived at the 
 mouth of the Carp, having been sent up by the company. 
 They were both practical iron makers, and expected to find 
 the forge nearly ready for work. In this they were disap- 
 pointed, as nothing had been done save that a few timbers 
 had been hauled upon the ground; they soon discovered that 
 McNair knew absolutely nothing about the business he had 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 213 
 
 undertaken, and it was not long until Mr. Barney was em- 
 powered to go on and build the forge, and to him really 
 belongs the credit of having built and put into operation the 
 first iron manufacturing establishment on Lake Superior. 
 
 The first bloom was made on the 10th day of February, 
 184:8, by Mr. Olds, and was hammered into bar iron by Mr. 
 Barney. This is the correct date of the first manufacture of 
 iron on Lake Superior. 
 
 In May, of the same year, Messrs. Barney, Olds, and one or 
 two others, started in a small boat for the Sault, taking with 
 them about 300 fcs. of bar iron, among it the first bar made 
 at the forge. This iron was taken to Jackson, and there 
 exhibited as a specimen of what could be done on Lake 
 Superior. 
 
 The forge continued in ^operation till sometime in 1852, 
 when it was abandoned. It never paid the interest on 
 the money invested, but, having served the purpose of a 
 thorough test of the Jackson ore, the company very wisely 
 concluded to abandon it, and devote the whole of their capi- 
 tal and energy to the development of their mines. 
 
 Another forge was built at Marque tte, just south of 
 the shore end of the Cleveland dock, by a Worcester (Mass.) 
 company, in 1849, under the direction and superintendence of 
 A. E. Harlow, Esq. It was destroyed by fire in 1853, and 
 was never rebuilt. Two other forges were subsequently 
 built at Forestville.and Collinsville. 
 
 The first pig iron from Lake Superior ore was made by S. 
 R. Gay, at the Collins forge. It was made as an experiment, 
 in the forge chimney, which had been converted into a tem- 
 porary stack. The result confirmed Mr. Gay in his determi- 
 nation to build a blast furnace, which he afterwards did. 
 
 There are now in the district twenty-one blast furnaces, 
 and one rolling mill. On another page will be found a table, 
 exhibiting the name and condition of these furnaces, together 
 with their location, name of general agents, and their post - 
 office address. 
 
214 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
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 fc 02 
 
 - H 
 02 g 
 S <j 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 B 
 fa 
 
 g 
 
 Ililllll 
 
 ' Q ' fl.2^.9' Q 'g' ::5rt fl' 
 ^.r- 
 
 I ^ 1 ^ a 
 
 'f T T I ^ f -^ f f f i X T "? 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 I & i 3 
 
 3 s 2 I 
 
 1 
 
 
 I. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 215 
 
 These are all charcoal furnaces, except the Grace (anthracite) 
 and Marquette & Pacific (bituminous). They are all hot blast 
 and propelled by steam, except the Collins, Bancroft and 
 Deer Lake, which have water power. The last named, to- 
 gether with the Morgan, Greenwood and Champion, have 
 banks level with the furnace mouth the others hoist their 
 stock. The blast is heated in ovens, containing from 18 to 
 30 ox bow pipes, to from 450 to 650 , averaging above the 
 melting of lead. The air at this temperature is forced into 
 the furnace through two three or four inch tuyeres, under 
 pressure of from 1-J- to 21 fbs. per square inch. The furnace 
 linings are 40 feet high, 91 feet at bosh, or greatest diameter 
 which is about 13 feet bottom. The hearth is about one- 
 third the greatest diameter, and the mouth about one-half. 
 The boshes are very steep, being one run to from three to 
 four rise. All these dimensions vary at different furnaces. 
 
 The prevailing charcoal wood, and that which furnishes 
 four-fifths of the fuel of this district, is the hard maple next, 
 yellow birch. At present one- third of the furnaces are using 
 considerable hemlock, pine, and other soft woods, which are 
 far less valuable for coal. The coal consumed per ton of iron 
 varies widely, depending on the nature of the fuel and ore; 
 it may be set down at 110 bushels for best stock and work, 
 and 140 bushels for inferior stock. This at 10 cents per 
 bushel, which may be called the average for 1875, gives an 
 average of $12.00 for fuel, or one-half the cost of the iron. 
 The ore would average one-fourth the cost, or $6.50. The 
 largest item of the remaining fourth would be furnace labor 
 and superintendence producing a total of about $24 as the 
 cost of iron at the furnace. The freight, commission, and 
 interest account will increase the cost of the iron to, perhaps, 
 not less than $30, sold. 
 
 THE PIOKEEE, 
 
 as its name implies, was the first furnace built in the district. 
 Both stacks were built under contract, by S. R. Gay, for the 
 Pioneer Iron Company, by whom it was owned and operated 
 until the spring of 1866, when it was leased to the Iron Cliffs 
 
216 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Company. The property thus leased consisted of the two 
 furnace stacks, about 4,000 acres of land, including a part of 
 the village plat of Negaunee, and an ore lease from the Jack- 
 son Company. Subsequently, the whole property was pur- 
 chased by the Iron Cliffs Company. 
 
 The furnace has two stacks Nos. 1 and 2. No. 1 was 
 first started in April, 1858, and made, in three blasts, 6,688, 
 tons of iron, blowing out on January 20th, 1860. No. 2 was 
 blown in May 20, 1859, and continued in successful operation 
 until destroyed by fire in August, 1861. It was immediately 
 re-built, and again put in operation January 15th, 1865, 
 blowing out on the 2d of June of the same year, after having 
 made 13,574 tons, in thirteen blasts. 
 
 The total amount of iron made by the Pioneer since first 
 blown in is stated as follows: 
 
 YEAH. GROSS TONS * 
 
 1870 and previous 49,419 
 
 1871 8,193 
 
 1872 6.985 
 
 1873 7,098 
 
 1874 1 ] .080 
 
 1875 . . 17 006 
 
 Total 100,381 
 
 THE CLIFFS FURNACE 
 
 is also the property of the Iron Cliffs Company. It is loca- 
 ted in Tilden township, about six miles from Negaunee, and 
 was completed and put in blast in the early part of 1871. 
 Since then it has turned out 6,830 tons, having been in blast 
 onl} T a part of the time during the past two years. 
 
 THE NORTHERN IRON" COMPANY'S 
 
 furnace at Harvey, three miles below Marquette, on the lake 
 shore, was completed in 1860. The following table exhibits 
 the product each year since the furnace went into blast: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TOXS. 
 
 1860 600 
 
 1861 400 
 
 1862 2,060 
 
 1863 1,897 
 
 1864 3,006 
 
 *2,268 pounds; 2,249 pounds constitute one gross ton of iron ore. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 217 
 
 1865 3,046 
 
 1806 2,687 
 
 1867 1,363 
 
 Total 15,059 
 
 This furnace has not been in blast since 1867. In 1873 the 
 furnace was remodeled, and changed into a bituminous stack, 
 a large amount of fuel was secured, but for some reason, best 
 known to the owners, was not blown in. 
 
 THE COLLINS FURNACE 
 
 was built originally by S. R. Gay, Esq., in 1858, and made 
 her first iron on the 13th day of December, in that year. 
 Charles Lovelace, Esq., now superintendent of the Fox 
 River furnaces, at Depere, Wis., was the iron maker until 
 1863, when he was succeeded by Patrick Dundon, now with 
 Mr. L. at Depere. During the first four or five years the 
 yield of pig iron was about eight tons a day, and an old 
 paper before us notes, as a marked improvement, the fact that 
 on the 17th of June, 1863, the furnace " turned out 10 tons 
 of handsome metal.'" The following table shows the product 
 of the Collins for the fifteen years she has been in operation: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1859 2,575 
 
 1860 1,950 
 
 1861 2,060 
 
 1862 2,207 
 
 1863 1,141 
 
 1864 800 
 
 1865 1,709 
 
 1866 4,114 
 
 1867 4,052 
 
 1868 4,268 
 
 1869 3,416 
 
 1870 4,100 
 
 1871 4,174 
 
 1872 3,431 
 
 1873 2,000 
 
 Total 41,997 
 
 The furnace was blown out and abandoned in the fall of 
 1873, having exhausted her fuel supply. 
 
 THE MICHIGAN FURNACE, 
 
 located at Clarksburgh, on the line of the M., H. & 0. R. R., 
 
218 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 twenty-six miles west of Marquette, was built by the Michi- 
 gan Iron Company, in 1866, and went into blast February 
 10th, 1867. She has made iron as follows: 
 
 TEAK. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1867 3,930 
 
 1868 4,383 
 
 1869 5,713 
 
 1870 4,858 
 
 1871 4,460 
 
 1872 4,001 
 
 1873 4,467 
 
 1874 , 6,621 
 
 1875 3,098 
 
 Total...' 41,531 
 
 THE GREENWOOD FURHACE 
 
 was erected by the M. & 0. R. R. Company, and made her 
 first iron in June, 1865. She had a most successful run till 
 near the close of 1867, when, after a very large years' 
 work, the stack was found to be defective, and had to be taken 
 down and re-built. This was accomplished the next sum- 
 mer, but before again going into blast the owners sold the 
 property to the Michigan Iron Company, who took formal 
 possession about the middle of August, 1868. 
 
 The product of the Greenwood for each year is quoted as 
 follows: 
 
 YEAR. GBOSS TONS. 
 
 1865 1,948 
 
 1866 3,505 
 
 1867 4,959 
 
 1868 1,806 
 
 1869 4,480 
 
 1870 3 992 
 
 1871 4.450 
 
 1872 4,2 12 
 
 1873 4,416 
 
 1874 4.839 
 
 1875 1,595 
 
 Total 40,202 
 
 The Company being unable to meet its liabilities was, in 
 1875, thrown into bankruptcy, and both its furnaces, together 
 with its real and personal estate, passed into the hands of an 
 assignee. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 219 
 
 THE MORGAN FURNACE, 
 
 built and owned by the Morgan Iron Company, went into 
 blast November 27th, 1863, making in the first year 337 tons 
 of iron. The Morgan has been, perhaps, the most successful 
 enterprise of the kind in the district, having made, in the 
 first ten months, a clear net profit of 220 per cent, thus en- 
 abling the company to pay back all the original outlay for 
 land and machinery, leaving a dividend of 100 per cent, to be 
 divided among the stockholders. The Morgan is situated on 
 the line of the M., H. 0. R. R., eight miles west of Marquette. 
 It was built under the immediate supervision of C. Don- 
 kersly, Esq., one of our most practical and efficient iron mas- 
 ters, who now operates the furnace under a lease from the 
 company. 
 The product of the Morgan has been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1863 337 
 
 1864 4,023 
 
 1865 3,489 
 
 1866 3,749 
 
 1867 '. 5,057 
 
 1868 4,203 
 
 1870 5,952 
 
 1871 4,792 
 
 1872 4,356 
 
 1873 6,324 
 
 1874 5,973 
 
 1875 . 5,377 
 
 Total 53,632 
 
 In 1868-'9 the fuel immediately adjacent to the furnace was 
 exhausted, and a tram-road was built a distance of nine 
 miles to lands owned by the company, new kilns were built 
 and a steady supply of fuel secured. 
 
 THE BANCROFT FURNACE, 
 
 now owned by the Bancroft Iron Company, is situated on 
 Dead River, about four miles from Marquette, and was built 
 in 1860 by S. R. Gay, Esq. The first account we have of it 
 is in 1861, in which year the shipments were reported at 2,430 
 tons. We are able to give a statement of the product of the 
 furnace for every year except 1864-'5, of which the records 
 
220 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 were destroyed in the fire of 1868. The following is the 
 table estimating the years referred to: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1861 2,430 
 
 1862 2,802 
 
 1863 2,626 
 
 1864 (estimated) 3,000 
 
 1865 (estimated) 2,700 
 
 1866 , . 2,451 
 
 1867 : 3,245 
 
 1868 3,800 
 
 1869 3,407 
 
 1870 3,710 
 
 1871 3,850 
 
 1872 4,250 
 
 1873 4,100 
 
 1874 3,688 
 
 1875 5,277 
 
 Total 51,336 
 
 THE CHAMPION FURNACE, 
 
 now one of the things of the past, was located near the 
 east end of Lake Michigan! me, and was built by the Morgan 
 Iron Company in 1867. She made in her first run of ten 
 months 4,282 tons. The product of this furnace is given as 
 follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1868 4,282 
 
 1869 5,560 
 
 1870 5,576 
 
 1871 5,094 
 
 1872 5 006 
 
 1873 3,949 
 
 1874 1,581 
 
 Total 31,048 
 
 The furnace was destroyed by fire in the summer of 1874, 
 and will probably never be rebuilt. 
 
 DEER LAKE FURNACE. 
 
 In the summer of 1867, a company was organized at Nor- 
 wich, Connecticut, for the purpose of building a furnace at 
 Deer Lake, and Messrs. E. C. Hungerford and John B. Ward, 
 were sent out to take charge of the work of construction. 
 The company . had previously secured a most valuable tract 
 of contiguous hard wood lands, including the present site of 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 
 
 the furnace. The first desideratum was to secure an abun- 
 dance of fuel with a sufficient water power that could be 
 utilized at the smallest possible expense, and this the com- 
 pany found in the purchase of the Deer Lake tract. The 
 Carp, which at that point is a stream of considerable volume, 
 has a perpendicular fall of fifteen or twenty feet, and fur- 
 nishes a never failing power, which was utilized at a cost 
 comparatively insignificant. It was decided to locate the 
 furnace immediately at the foot of the falls, and work was 
 accordingly commenced about the first of September, 1867. 
 The stones for the stack were quarried so near its base that a 
 derrick was all the appliance necessarily used in transferring 
 them from the quarry to their places in the wall. Though 
 well and substantially built, it was, perhaps, the most cheaply 
 constructed of any furnace in the district. The stack, as 
 originally built, was 38 feet high, with 7 feet diameter of 
 boshes. It was first blown in about the first of September, 
 1868. In the summer of 1872 the iron' broke out through 
 
 O 
 
 the arch under the tuyere, setting fire to the buildings, which 
 were totally consumed, leaving nothing but the stack and 
 hot blast oven standing. With characteristic energy, Mr. C. 
 H. Hall, then the managing agent, commenced clearing 
 away the debris before the flames had ceased to act upon the 
 larger timbers, and having succeeded in drawing the charge 
 without permitting a salamander, he had the buildings re- 
 constructed and the furnace again at work before the expira- 
 tion of five weeks. Subsequently the stack was raised to a 
 height of 47 feet, and the diameter of the boshes increased 
 to 8 feet. As it now stands, it is what might be termed a 
 hermaphrodite stack, the lower half or two-thirds being of 
 stone, and the upper half or one-third an iron shell. It has 
 a closed top, with bell and hopper. 
 
 In 1873, a second stack was built, which went into blast 
 February the 1st, 1874, and continued blowing until the 1st 
 of April last. This stack is 9x47 feet, an iron shell, and 
 while in blast did excellent work, making in a run of four- 
 teen months, on one hearth, 7,863 tons of iron, of which 
 
222 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 only 311 tons were high grade, and all of which was sold to 
 the North Chicago rolling mill Co., for Bessemer purposes. 
 The blowing cylinders which furnish the blast for both 
 stacks are two in number, 32x60 inches, with five feet stroke. 
 The crusher and hoist are run by power transmitted by com- 
 mon manilla ropes over shieve pulleys. 
 
 The landed estate of the company comprises a solid, compact 
 tract of 8,000 acres, upon which there is a large amount of 
 valuable pine, in addition to the hard wood. So far, the con- 
 sumption of pine has been confined to the lands cut over for 
 furnace purposes, the u pinery " not having been reached. 
 
 A wooden tram-road from the furnace to Ishpeming, with 
 T rail on the grades, furnishes cheap transportation of ore 
 to the furnace, and for the pig metal to the railway depot. 
 This tram-road is about one mile and a half in length, and 
 most admirably serves the purpose for which it is intended. 
 
 The following is a statement of the product: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TOKS. 
 
 1869-'70 5,524 
 
 1871 2 809 
 
 1872 2,730 
 
 1873 3,447 
 
 1874 6,524 
 
 1875 4,615 
 
 Total 25,130 
 
 The furnace " location " consists of about 50 buildings of 
 all kinds, the dwellings being particularly neat and comfort- 
 able looking. E. R. Hall, the Company's agent, though the 
 youngest furnace manager in the district, has proved himself 
 one of the most competent. 
 
 THE FAYETTE FURNACE 
 
 is situated on the east shore of Big Bay de Noc, about 25 
 miles east of Escanaba, in the midst of an immense forest of 
 hard wood, the furnace lands consisting of 16,000 acres. It is 
 owned by the Jackson Iron Company, and runs exclusively 
 on ore from the Company's mine at Negar.nee. 
 
 The construction of this furnace was commenced in May, 
 1867, under the direction and management of J. H. Harris, 
 Esq., and the first iron was made on Christmas day of the 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 223 
 
 same year. The furnace is most eligibly located on a small 
 bay named, by the early explorers, Snail Shell Harbor. Aside 
 from being an excellent harbor, it is not far out of the way 
 of vessels plying in the ore trade from Escanaba to lower 
 lake ports, and possesses the best advantages for receiving 
 the ore and shipping the iron after it is smelted. 
 
 The furnace commenced operations with a single stack, but 
 a second one, known as "No 2," was completed and put into 
 operation previous to 1870. It was the original design of 
 the company to build two stacks, and with this view the 
 necessary machinery was put in in the beginning. 
 
 The following are the figures showing the product since 
 the furnace went into blast. 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1868 4,546 
 
 1869 4,470 
 
 1870 6,450 
 
 1871 8,696 
 
 1872 10,080 
 
 1873 10,696 
 
 1874 11,079 
 
 1875 14,075 
 
 Total ' . . 70,092 
 
 THE MUNISmG FUKNACE 
 
 was built by the old Schoolcroft Iron Company, making her 
 first iron on the 28th of June, 1868. She was run spasmod- 
 ically by the original owners till some time in 1870, when the 
 company became an involuntary bankrupt, and the furnace, 
 together with an estate of over 40,000 acres of choice timber 
 lands, passed into the hands of the Munising Iron Company, 
 a new corporation. She was put in blast by the present own- 
 ers, in June, 1873, but her operations have been irregular, 
 though she has accomplished good work while in blast. Her 
 product since built is given as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1868 1,735 
 
 1869 3,013 
 
 1870 2,809 
 
 1872 2,500 
 
 1873 2,237 
 
 1874 6 092 
 
 1875 4,239 
 
 Total 22,625 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 No. 2 STACK, BAY FURNACE, AUGUST, 1875. 
 
 
 00 
 
 d 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 Product of Iron. 
 
 
 
 bfl 
 
 & 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 Gross Tons. 
 
 
 
 
 "3 rt 
 
 o 
 
 "oS * 
 
 "eS aa 
 
 
 TOTAL. 
 
 
 1 
 
 ft 
 
 jgg 
 
 "o'"' 
 EH 
 
 P 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 
 1.. 
 
 117 
 
 1,100 
 
 128,700 
 
 3,510 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 2.. 
 
 118 
 
 1,100 
 
 129,800 
 
 3,540 
 
 35% 
 
 
 
 35% 
 
 3.. 
 
 116 
 
 1,100 
 
 127,600 
 
 3,480 
 
 
 
 
 33% 
 
 4.. 
 
 116 
 
 1,100 
 
 127,600 
 
 3,480 
 
 2634 
 
 '8J4 
 
 
 34^4 
 
 5.. 
 
 116 
 
 1,100 
 
 127,600 
 
 3,480 
 
 35 
 
 
 \ 
 
 35 
 
 6.. 
 
 109 
 
 1,100 
 
 119,900 
 
 3,270 
 
 15% 
 
 17/4 
 
 
 33 
 
 7.. 
 
 110 
 
 1,100 
 
 121,000 
 
 3,300 
 
 31 
 
 
 ... 
 
 31 
 
 8.. 
 
 118 
 
 1,150 
 
 135,700 
 
 3,540 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 9.. 
 
 118 
 
 1.150 
 
 135,700 
 
 3,540 
 
 35% 
 
 
 
 35% 
 
 10.. 
 
 118 
 
 1,100 
 
 129,800 
 
 3,540 
 
 24^ 
 
 ii" 
 
 
 35^2 
 
 11.. 
 
 115 
 
 1,150 
 
 132,250 
 
 3,450 
 
 24 
 
 11/4 
 
 
 35 J4 
 
 12.. 
 
 113 
 
 1,100 
 
 124,300 
 
 3,390 
 
 23i/2 
 
 8 
 
 
 81 H 
 
 13.. 
 
 118 
 
 1,100 
 
 129,800 
 
 3,540 
 
 25% 
 
 9 
 
 
 34% 
 
 14.. 
 
 117 
 
 1,100 
 
 128,700 
 
 3,510 
 
 22i/2 
 
 9% 
 
 
 3214 
 
 15.. 
 
 115 
 
 1,100 
 
 126,500 
 
 3,450 
 
 32k 
 
 
 
 32*4 
 
 16.. 
 
 118 
 
 1,100 
 
 129,800 
 
 3,540 
 
 26 
 
 g 
 
 
 32' 
 
 17.. 
 
 124 
 
 1,050 
 
 130,200 
 
 3,720 
 
 31 
 
 4/2 
 
 '. '.'. 
 
 351/2 
 
 18.. 
 
 126 
 
 1,100 
 
 138,600 
 
 3.780 
 
 37 
 
 
 
 37 
 
 19.. 
 
 132 
 
 1,100 
 
 145,200 
 
 3,960 
 
 38 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 20.. 
 
 134 
 
 1,100 
 
 147,400 
 
 4.020 
 
 411/2 
 
 
 
 41/4 
 
 21.. 
 
 134 
 
 1,100 
 
 147,400 
 
 4,020 
 
 29 
 
 "9" 
 
 '2 " 
 
 40 
 
 22.. 
 
 130 
 
 1,100 
 
 143,000 
 
 3,900 
 
 22 
 
 16*4 
 
 2} 
 
 40/2 
 
 23.. 
 
 130 
 
 1,100 
 
 143,000 
 
 3,900 
 
 24/4 
 
 13i4 
 
 ! 
 
 37 
 
 24.. 
 
 129 
 
 1.100 
 
 141,900 
 
 3,870 
 
 10 }4 
 
 24/4 
 
 '41/2 
 
 39 
 
 25.. 
 
 127 
 
 1,100 
 
 189,700 
 
 3,810 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 26.. 
 
 124 
 
 1,100 
 
 136,400 
 
 3,720 
 
 38 Yz 
 
 
 
 38 Vz 
 
 27.. 
 
 125 
 
 1.000 
 
 125,000 
 
 3,750 
 
 27 
 
 'Si/2 
 
 
 351/2 
 
 28.. 
 
 126 
 
 1.000 
 
 126,000 
 
 3,780 
 
 21% 
 
 13% 
 
 
 35i/2 
 
 29.. 
 
 127 
 
 1.000 
 
 127.000 
 
 3.810 
 
 36 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 30.. 
 
 127 
 
 1,100 
 
 139.700 
 
 3,810 
 
 29% 
 
 6% 
 
 
 8614 
 
 31.. 
 
 123 
 
 1,100 
 
 13o,300 
 
 3,690 
 
 
 BH 
 
 
 36 
 
 1 3770 
 
 33,900 
 
 4,120,550 
 
 113.100 
 
 915V4 
 
 13514 
 
 8% 
 
 1,10914 
 
 Average yield ore 60.31 
 
 Bushels of coal per ton of iron 101 . 98 
 
 Average make per day 35.78 
 
 Proportion of ore used 64 per cent, specular and 36 per cent. McComber hema- 
 tite. 
 
 THE BAY FUB^ACE 
 
 is situated on the main shore opposite Grand Island, six miles 
 west of the Munising, and was first put into blast in the 
 spring of 1870. A second stack was built in 1872, and blown 
 in in December of that year. These stacks worked very un- 
 satisfactorily until the summer of 1873, when the company 
 secured the services of Maj. H. S. Pickards as superintendent, 
 who has since achieved for himself a national reputation as 
 an iron maker. What the Bay has accomplished is shown in 
 the following figures: 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1870 3,498 
 
 1871 3,597 
 
 1872 4,900 
 
 1873 8.760 
 
 1874 8,359 
 
 1875 9,223 
 
 Total 38,337 
 
 It is proper to add that the product during the last two 
 years was the work of only one stack (No. 2.), the state of the 
 market not warranting the company in keeping both stacks 
 in blast. The table on the foregoing page is a statement 
 of work done by this stack in the month of August, 1875. 
 
 The stack is 45 feet high and 9^- feet diameter of boshes. 
 On the last blast, which commenced May 25th, 1875, and con- 
 tinued till April 8th, 1876, when the furnace was banked for 
 want of ore, the following official report is given: 
 
 Blast of No. 2 stack commenced May 25, 1875. 
 
 Furnace banked for want of or^ April 8th, 1876. 
 
 Number of days stopped, 4. 
 
 Total number of days run, 316. 
 
 Coal consumed, 1,045,440 bushels, % hemlock and % hard wood. 
 
 Tons of ore used, 15,847. 
 
 Gross tons of iron made, 9,695. 
 
 GRADE OF IRON MADE. TONS. 
 
 No. 1 7,666^ 
 
 No. 2 1,796 
 
 No. 3 182 
 
 No. 4 36% 
 
 No. 5 14 
 
 Bushels of ore per ton of iron, 107.83. 
 
 Average yield of ore, 61.18 per cent. 
 
 Average make per day, 30.67 tons. 
 
 THE MARQUETTE AND PACIFIC ROLLING MILL 
 
 commenced operation on the 1st of September, 1868. The 
 company under whose auspices this important addition to the 
 manufacturing interest of Marquette was made, was organized 
 under the general law of the State, in October, 1866, with a 
 nominal capital of $500,000. The scheme contemplated the 
 erection of a blast furnace with a capacity of 40 tons per day, 
 and a rolling mill capable of producing from 3,000 to 5,000 
 tons of merchant iron per annum. 
 
228 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 the waste chimney is carried up twelve feet above the top. 
 The gas exit is an iron jacket lined with fire brick, and hav- 
 ing an internal diameter of six feet. Its base rests upon a 
 reservoir from which flues lead off to the hot blasts and to 
 the boilers, the flues being provided with valves to regulate 
 the supply of gas, arjd registers to regulate the supply of air. 
 In this particular the appliances of the furnace are very com- 
 plete to secure the most perfect combustion. 
 
 The hot blast is put up in two compartments, each com- 
 partment provided with a combustion chamber twenty-one 
 feet long by five feet wide, and six feet and six inches high, 
 over which are laid in open space, with an arched wall and 
 flame flues intervening, 720 feet of pipe of eight inches in- 
 ternal diameter and one and a half inches thick. The prem- 
 ises occupied by the stack and hot blast and as a casting house, 
 are 50 by 130 feet, the casting floor being 50 by 68 feet. The 
 boilers are located parallel with the casting house. They 
 are three in number, each 26 feet long by 42 inches in diame- 
 ter, with two 16-inch return flues. They are placed in and 
 surrounded by mason work, but the entire heating surface is 
 exposed in one common chamber. Grate bars are provided 
 for the temporary use of wood or coal, but the space in the 
 rear of the bridge wall is left unfilled, thus affording all the 
 space possible for the combustion of gas. The stack of the 
 boiler furnace is 100 feet 6 inches high so well elevated a& 
 to be above the influence of any wind that may surge over the 
 bluff in the rear of the furnace. Heaters are provided, with 
 180 feet of 2-inch pipe, and the water is passed into the boil- 
 ers at almost a steam temperature. 
 
 Blast is furnished by a direct acting vertical blowing en- 
 gine, with a blowing cylinder 7 feet in diameter and 4j- feet 
 stroke, and a steam cylinder 34 inches in diameter and 4^ 
 feet stroke. It is a massive yet compact and powerful piece 
 of machinery. In the same apartment is the blast receiver, 
 the water feeding tank, the heater and two steam pumps 
 one of the latter to serve the boilers and the other to serve 
 the coolers around the tuyeres, but both fitted so as to be in- 
 

 OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 229 
 
 terchangeable and one to do the work of the other, or work 
 together or separately. 
 
 The stock house is 76x100 feet, with posts 28 feet high. A 
 railway trestle passes through it, with a turn table, from the 
 bank in the rear of the furnace, where the ore is brought in 
 from the M., H. & 0, railroad. The fuel is received on the 
 dock in front of the furnace and moved to the stock house in 
 carts. 
 
 There are two calcining kilns each 20 tons capacity, in 
 the rear of the stock house, where their contents are readily 
 accessible with the other stock used. Space has been left for 
 two others, should they be required. 
 
 The buildings, except the stock house, are constructed of 
 Marquette sandstone and covered with iron roofing. The 
 stock house is a wood and iron frame with iron roofing. 
 
 The furnace went into blast under the most cheering 
 auspices, but was obliged to blow out owing to the bad qual- 
 ity of the fire brick, or a faulty construction of the boshes. A 
 new lining was put in and a most successful run followed, 
 the furnace making from 40 to 45 tons per day, running ex- 
 clusively on second-class ores from the Lake Superior Mine. 
 The furnace made while in operation, iron as follows : 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1873 7,800 
 
 1874 3,546 
 
 Total 11,346 
 
 The Grace went out of blast early in the season of 1874, 
 and has not since blown in. 
 
 THE ESCANABA FURNACE 
 
 is the largest charcoal "furnace in the district. It is situated 
 on a forty acre plant on the bay shore, about one mile and a 
 half north of Escanaba. It was built by the Escanaba Fur- 
 nace Company, of which Joseph Kirkpatrick, Andrew Klo- 
 man, Wm. Bagaley, and other prominent Pittsburgh men, 
 were the corporators. Work was commenced on the buildings 
 early in the spring of 1872, and the furnace was blown in the 
 following spring. The stack is an iron shell, lined with fire 
 
230 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 brick. It is 56 feet high, 12 feet across the boshes, and four- 
 foot hearth, set on columns, and surmounted by a bell and 
 hopper top, with an exit chimney. The funnel of the bosh 
 is encased in an iron jacket and pierced with three tuyere 
 chambers, in which are fitted Ta\ys & Hartman's Philadelphia 
 cooling boxes and water coils. The base is surrounded by a 
 water jacket, and within the foundation are damp chambers 
 and air cells. The gas exit is two feet below the top of the 
 stack, leading down an iron column lined with fire brick of 
 six feet six inches internal diameter, to a reservoir from where 
 gas is distributed to the hot blasts and boilers, and regulated 
 by valves. The blast pipes and tuyeres are to be hung in 
 stirrups, the tuyeres being provided with ball and socket L 
 joint, to avoid the derangement of contraction and expansion. 
 Water is to be supplied to the coolers by gravity from a 
 tank at an elevation on the side of the stack. 
 
 The work of this entire structure is of the best character,, 
 substantial and complete in every particular. The stack is 
 located in a casting house 71x78i feet, the space given to it 
 occupying one-half of the narrowest dimensions, the other 
 half being set apart for a second stack to be erected hereafter, 
 and for which the foundation is already constructed. It is a 
 fine building of white brick, on broad foundation walls provi- 
 ded with water sheds, and surmounted by an iron roof of the 
 most approved construction. 
 
 The fuel supply is obtained from lands along the line of the 
 Chicago & Northwestern Railway, above and below Escanaba, 
 upon which a sufficient number of kilns for charring pur- 
 poses have been constructed. 
 
 The furnace has not met with the success anticipated. It 
 made an unfortunate commencement, met with a chill, and 
 soon after entering upon a successful run, financial embarrass- 
 ment compelled a suspension of operations. Its product has 
 been as follows: 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1873 2,175- 
 
 1874 6,335 
 
 1875 70 
 
 Total.. 8,580 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 231 
 
 THE PEAT EUK:NACE 
 
 was built by the Lake Superior Iron Company, for the pur- 
 pose of experimenting with peat fuel in the smelting of iron 
 ores. It is located at Ishpeming, near the company's mines, 
 and was completed and started up in 1872, but did not prove 
 a success. Some changes were then made, the furnace started 
 again and made some two tons of grey iron; but it was found 
 that the furnace was too small to work effectually, and it was 
 blown out. The next summer, the furnace having been en- 
 larged in height and boshes, and furnished with a larger hot 
 blast, ran very well for some weeks, with a mixed fuel of 80 
 per cent, peat and 20 per cent, soft wood charcoal. The 
 panic caused a suspension of work, and the furnace has been 
 idle ever since. It made in all 1,150 tons of metal of a very 
 superior quality, and though not wholly successful as an experi- 
 ment, demonstrated to a certainty the fact that the immense 
 peat beds of the Lake Superior iron region can be utilized for 
 blast furnace purposes. 
 
 THE CAEP RIYEB PURKACE 
 
 is the property of the Peninsular Iron Company, and was 
 built in 1873, making her first blast in the spring of 1874. 
 It is situated on the bay shore, at the mouth of Carp River, 
 within the limits of the city of Marquette. It is a stone stack 
 with nine-foot boshes, with kilns convenient, though the 
 wood has to be brought from a considerable distance. After 
 making 1,445 tons, operations were suspended. 
 
 THE MEKOMIKEE FURNACE. 
 
 This furnace was built with a view of utilizing, as material 
 for charcoal, the slabs and edgings which are made at the 
 saw mills at Menominee. The furnace is an iron stack, well 
 equipped in every particular, and went into blast about the 
 middle of July, 1873, the first cast being made on the 20th. 
 The experiment of making iron with coal from pine slabs and 
 soft wood, so far as quality and quantity is concerned, has 
 been a decided success, as the following table of products will 
 show: 
 
232 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 YEAR. GROSS TONS. 
 
 1873 2,400 
 
 1874 4 942 
 
 1875.. ..3510 
 
 Total. 
 
 10,852 
 
 It is proper to remark that the furnace was out of blast 
 nearly, if not quite, half the time during the years named, 
 and the figures given do not by any means indicate her 
 actual capacity. This furnace is the property of the Menomi- 
 nee Iron Company, of which M. R. Hunt, Esq., is general 
 manager, with office at Depere, Wis. 
 
 TABULAR STATEMENTS. 
 
 The following table shows the total shipments of iron ore 
 
 from the Lake Superior mines in 1875, together with the 
 value at the mines: 
 
 NAME OP MINE. GROSS TONS. VALUE. 
 
 Jackson 90,508 $384,914 
 
 New York 70,754 2*3,016 
 
 Cleveland 140,239 560,956 
 
 Lake Superior 129,339 463,821 
 
 Champion 57,979 231.916 
 
 Washington 9 641 38.564 
 
 Republic :../.. 119,768 509,014 
 
 Kloinan 8.059 82.236 
 
 Palmer (Old Cascade) 4,071 15,267 
 
 Barnum 43,209 172,836 
 
 Foster 667 1,668 
 
 Salisbury 4,330 10,b35 
 
 Lake Angeline '. 26,370 98,887 
 
 Edwards 12,800 51,200 
 
 Spurr Mountain 23,09^1 92.376 
 
 Michigamme 44.763 179,052 
 
 Keystone 3,846 13.374 
 
 McComber 10,407 26,018 
 
 Winthrop 7,502 20,631 
 
 Saginaw 55,318 221,272 
 
 Goodrich 1,780 7,120 
 
 Rolling Mill 37,806 98,295 
 
 Excelsior 2,860 7,150 
 
 Marquetie.. 3,088 12,352 
 
 Grand Central 987 2,468 
 
 Iron Mountain 1,635 4,088 
 
 Donkersley 282 705 
 
 Smith 187 468 
 
 Total 910,840 $3,540,499 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 The following table exhibits the aggregate product of each 
 mine from 1856 to 1875 inclusive: 
 
 NAME OF MINE. GROSS TONS. 
 
 Jackson 1,507,285 
 
 New York 669,426 
 
 Cleveland 1,406,162 
 
 Lake Superior 1,690,320 
 
 Champion 412,397 
 
 Washington 382,504 
 
 Republic 363,201 
 
 Kioman 64,212 
 
 Palmer (Old Cascade) 80,749 
 
 Barnurn 309,665 
 
 Foster 106,157 
 
 Salisbury 12,355 
 
 Lake Aiigeline 397,576 
 
 Edwards 177,948 
 
 Spurr Mountain 97,095 
 
 Michigamine 119 164 
 
 Keystone 18,999 
 
 McComber 96,978 
 
 Winthrop 77,303 
 
 Sagimuv 156,445 
 
 Goodrich 8,138 
 
 Rolling Mill 72,576 
 
 Excelsior 4,681 
 
 Marquette 57,980 
 
 Grand Central 22,271 
 
 Iron Mountain 18,341 
 
 Smith 22,960 
 
 Pittsburgh & Lake Superior 24,020 
 
 Sheuaugo 16,404 
 
 Albion 2,228 
 
 Carr 2,603 
 
 Bagaley 6,243 
 
 Howell Hoppock 2,205 
 
 Emma 7,863 
 
 Home 3,229 
 
 Cambria (Old Teal Lake) 2,610 
 
 Williams. 1,040 
 
 Rowland 2,278 
 
 Himrod 2,074 
 
 Green Bay 8,582 
 
 Gribben T 4,517 
 
 New England (now Superior) 108,990 
 
 Allen 9,347 
 
 Magnetic 78 
 
 Hungerford 145 
 
 Parsons 1,896 
 
 Negaunee 11,684 
 
 Mather 2,228 
 
 Franklin 2,007 
 
 Michigan 4,439 
 
234 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Quartz 3,108 
 
 Stewart 305 
 
 Other small and abandoned mines 36,508 
 
 Total 8,619,519 
 
 The following table shows the shipments of pig iron from 
 Lake Superior furnaces during the year 1875, together with 
 its value: 
 
 NAME OF FURNACE. GROSS TONS. VALUE. 
 
 Pioneer 17,606 $ 484,165 
 
 Michigan 3,098 85,195 
 
 Bancroft 5,277 145,177 
 
 Morgan 5,377 147,867 
 
 Deer Lake 4,615 126,912 
 
 Fayette 14,075 387,062 
 
 Bay 9,223 253,632 
 
 Munising 4,239 116,572 
 
 Marquette & Pacific 10,940 300,850 
 
 Escanaba 70 1,925 
 
 Carp River 70 1,925 
 
 Menominee 3,510 96,525 
 
 Cliff 2,058 56,595 
 
 Greeenwood 1,595 43,862 
 
 Total 81,753 $2,248,264 
 
 This table shows the aggregate shipments of pig iron from 
 the Lake Superior furnaces up to the close of navigation in 
 1875: 
 
 NAME OF*FURNACE. GROSS TONS. 
 
 Pioneer 100,381 
 
 Northern 15,059 
 
 Collins 41,997 
 
 Michigan 41,531 
 
 Greenwood 40,202 
 
 Bancroft 51,336 
 
 Morgan 53,632 
 
 Champion 31,048 
 
 Deer Lake 25,139 
 
 Fayette 70,092 
 
 Bay 38,337 
 
 Munising '. 22,625 
 
 Grace , 11,346 
 
 Marquette & Pacific 21,880 
 
 Escanaba 8,580 
 
 Peat Furnace 1,150 
 
 Carp River 1 , 145 
 
 Menominee 10,582 
 
 Cliff 6,830 
 
 Total 592,892 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 235 
 
 The following is a statement in gross tons of the aggre- 
 gate yield of the mines and furnaces of this district from 
 1856 to 1875, inclusive, together with the value of the same: 
 
 YEAK. 
 
 IKON ORB. 
 
 PIG IKON. 
 
 ORE AND PIG 
 IRON. 
 
 VALUE. 
 
 1856 
 
 7,000 
 
 
 7,GOO 
 
 $ 28.000 00 
 
 1857 
 
 21.000 
 
 
 
 21,000 
 
 63,000 00 
 
 1858 
 
 31,035 
 
 ' 1,629 
 
 32.664 
 
 249,202 00 
 
 1859 
 
 65.679 
 
 7,25S 
 
 72.937 
 
 575,529 00 
 
 1860 
 
 116,908 
 
 5,660 
 
 122,568 
 
 736.496 00 
 
 1861 
 
 45,430 
 
 7,970 
 
 53,400 
 
 419,501 00 
 
 1862 
 
 115,721 
 
 8,590 
 
 124,311 
 
 984,977 00 
 
 1863 
 
 185,257 
 
 9,813 
 
 195,070 
 
 1,416,935 00 
 
 1864 
 
 235.123 
 
 13,832 
 
 248,955 
 
 1,867,215 00 
 
 1865 
 
 196,258 
 
 12,283 
 
 208,539 
 
 1,590.43000 
 
 1866 ' 
 
 296,972 
 
 18,437 
 
 315.409 
 
 2,405,960 00 
 
 1867 
 
 466,076 
 
 30,911 
 
 496,987 
 
 3,475.820 00 
 
 1868 
 
 507.813 
 
 38,246 
 
 546,059 
 
 3,992.413 00 
 
 1869 
 
 633.238 
 
 39.003 
 
 672.241 
 
 4,968,435 00 
 
 1870 
 
 850.471 
 
 49,298 
 
 905,769 
 
 6,300,170 00 
 
 1871 
 
 813,379 
 
 51.225 
 
 864,604 
 
 6,115.895 00 
 
 1872 
 
 952,055 
 
 63,195 
 
 1,015.250 
 
 9,188,055 00 
 
 1873 
 
 1,167,379 
 
 71.507 
 
 1,238.886 
 
 11,395,887 00 
 
 1874 
 
 935,488 
 
 90.494 
 
 1,025.982 
 
 7,592,811 00 
 
 1875 
 
 910,840 
 
 81,753 
 
 992,593 
 
 5,788,763 00 
 
 Total.... 
 
 8.559,120 
 
 601.104 
 
 9,160.224 
 
 $69,155,494 00 
 
MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 THE MENOMINEE IRON REGION. 
 
 The center of this region is about fifty miles north of 
 west from Escanaba; fifty to sixty miles south-west of Mar- 
 quette, and about fifty miles north of Menoniinee, in direct 
 air lines. It lies in the northern part of Menoniinee, and 
 extreme southern portion of Marquette counties, extending 
 across the Menoniinee river into Wisconsin. It is, as yet, a 
 comparatively new mining field, but the explorations and 
 discoveries made leave no cause to doubt that it will ulti- 
 mately acquire a value and importance only surpassed, if at 
 all, by the Marquette ranges, which now produce nearly one- 
 third of all the iron made in the United States. 
 
 The mines of this region lie apparently not far from the 
 base of the great iron formation of which the mines in Mar- 
 quette county form a part, and which appears to reach its 
 southern boundary about sixty-five miles north of Menoni- 
 inee village, or the mouth of the river. The geology of the 
 ridges containing the ore is somewhat different from that in 
 Marquette county, in the absence of a limonite rock behind 
 the ore veins, which is here supplied by an iron slate or ore- 
 bearing schist, and the approach to the veins, both hematite 
 and specular, is a clay slate instead of a quartzite. Yet the 
 general features of the formation lead to the belief that the 
 deposits are parts of the same fields in which the mines of 
 Marquette county are located. 
 
 Whether these deposits will open with regularity and con- 
 tinue without interruption for some distance, cannot be told, 
 as explorations have not been carried forward to an extent 
 sufficient to determine this point. But the work done at the 
 
. OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 237 
 
 Quinesaik mine, through test-pits aiicl a drift across the 
 series of veins composing the ore deposit, shows that consid- 
 erable dependence can be placed upon an uninterrupted lead 
 of the ores. The soft hematites prevail so far, and their 
 quality is of superior character. Some of the explorations 
 reveal an inferior quality of red specular, and further work 
 will undoubtedly open rich mines of this ore. Very fine 
 specimens are picked up at various points, and are broken 
 from ledges which outcrop north of the present base of 
 operations. 
 
 THE BBEEN MINE. 
 
 This property is located on section 22, town 39, range 28, 
 and the tract consists of 120 acres. It is owned by Messrs. 
 Saxton, Ingalls, B. and T. Breen, and others, of Menominee. 
 Work was commenced upon it some five years since, but at 
 first not enough was done to make the development valuable 
 or the prospect promising. In 1872 work was resumed by 
 the Milwaukee Iron Company, by an agreement which would 
 make that company lessees and proprietors if certain condi- 
 tions were complied with by both parties to the arrangement. 
 It has since been abandoned temporarily, the Milwaukee Iron 
 Company having changed their base of operations to another 
 quarter. 
 
 The deposit outcrops on the south side of a ridge, which 
 has an elevation of nearly eighty feet above a meadow at 
 its base. Into this elevation on the south side, a drift has 
 been driven a distance of about forty feet, through a vein of 
 rich, hard blue hematite, and into a deposit of banded jas- 
 pery ore, of little value. Test-pits have also been sunk at 
 various places east and north of this drift, in some of which 
 rich ore has been found: still further west a trench across 
 the formation has exposed a deposit of hard ore seventy-five 
 feet in width, specimens from which have been analyzed and 
 found to contain 68 per cent, of metallic iron. This mine 
 is about fifteen miles distant from the nearest point on the 
 Chicago & Northwestern Railway. 
 
238 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 THE BREITUKG MLN"E. 
 
 This mine consists of section 10, town 39, range 29, five 
 and a half miles west and north of the Breen. Its name is 
 derived from the owner of the land, Hon. Edward Breitung, 
 of Negaunee, and all the explorations thus far, have been 
 made by the Milwaukee Iron Company. On the east end of 
 the property a drift has been carried back under the face of 
 the hill, for a distance of over one hundred feet, through a 
 lean specular ore. The rear end of the drift is eighty feet 
 below the surface, and it was expected that here, or before 
 reaching a point so far in the side of the hill, a good deposit 
 of ore would be struck, in the usual way of expecting that 
 a vein will get better as it is worked into. The management 
 was disappointed, however, and the miners were driven out 
 by water and insufficient ventilation. 
 
 Several shafts have been sunk on other parts of the prop- 
 erty, drifts from the bottom of which across the formation 
 cut a vein of hard ore carrying a width of from 45 to 50 feet, 
 analyses of which show an average of about 55 per cent. 
 of metallic iron. In another place, one of the drifts referred 
 to, revealed a regularly stratified deposit of rich brown hema- 
 tite ninety feet in width, and which has since been traced a 
 distance of half a mile or more in length. This hematite 
 carries an average of 61 per cent, metallic iron, and lies in 
 such position that it can be mined at a trifling cost. Its dis- 
 covery fixes an indisputable value upon the mine. 
 
 THE QUINESAIK 
 
 This property consists of the southeast quarter of section 
 34, town 40, range 30, and is five miles north and west of the 
 Breitung mine. It is owned by W. L. Wetmore, of Mar- 
 quette, Fred L. Easier, of Detroit, T. W. Edwards and Richard 
 Uren, of Houghton, and J. L. Buell, of Menominee Messrs. 
 Wetmore and Lasier each owning one-quarter. Operations 
 were commenced early in the summer of 1873, and a valuable 
 mine was opened. The ore is supposed to be in the same 
 range with that of the Breen and Breitung, running from 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 239 
 
 south of east to north of west, along elevations which have 
 been raised in regular succession across the face of the coun- 
 try. Between this and the Breitung mine a heavy ledge of 
 limestone, extending for more than two miles, has been 
 thrown up, but whether it intercepts the ore has not been 
 determined. 
 
 The work at the mine is embraced in a cut across a good 
 vein of specular ore, and a series of shafts, drifts and test-pits 
 across the formation at right angles, which reveals the 
 character of the ores very completely. The whole work 
 extends across the formation for a distance of over 500 feet. 
 The veins have a dip to the north, with a hanging wall of 
 lean ore and Potsdam sandstone. Under this wall is a vein of 
 fine-grained, flinty and specular ore, which carries over 50 
 per cent, of iron in the outcrop, and grows rapidly better as 
 it is worked into. Adjoining this is a thirty-foot vein of soft 
 slate ore, of a blue tinge when first taken out, but a deep 
 brown color when exposed. It powders red, and is in scintil- 
 lating crystals, assays 63 per cent, of metallic iron, and is as 
 clean and fine a hematite as the Upper Peninsula has yet 
 produced. Next is a vein of specular of some four feet, and 
 then a smaller vein of slate ore, with a foot wall of pesheka 
 schist. Further along are the slates, brown and red, a vein 
 of lean specular and one of brown hematite the latter being 
 similar to that taken from the Negaunee range and still 
 further beyond a very strong magnetic attraction. Altogether 
 this mine has great promise, and can be worked to good 
 advantage. 
 
 The ore at this mine is a blue hematite, unlike any of the 
 ores found in the Marquette region. It can hardly be called 
 a soft hematite, and yet is not a hard ore, in the common 
 acceptation of the term. It is rather an intermediate between 
 the hard and soft varities of hematite; has been tested in the 
 furnace, yields well, and is pronounced most excellent for 
 Bessemer iron, having scarcely a trace of sulphur or phos- 
 phorus. The mine has been leased for a long term of years 
 by the Milwaukee Iron Company, after a long and careful 
 
240 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 examination, and will be wrought to supply their Milwaukee 
 furnaces as soon as railway communication is secured by the 
 building of the Menominee Range Railroad. This road is 
 almost certain to be completed to the mine on or before the 
 1st of May, 1877. Escanaba is the natural lake shipping port 
 for the product of these mines. 
 
 On the north half of section 32, town 40, range 30, is the 
 
 VERMILLION MIKE, 
 
 owned and opened by Captain Welcome Hyde, of Appleton, 
 Wis. The work done thus far consists of several shafts and 
 a trench across the formation, which show a deposit of soft 
 hematite about 20 feet in width, and in length, so far as 
 opened, about 300 feet. The ore is an unusually rich hema- 
 tite, the average of several analyses being 60 per cent, of 
 metallic iron. Capt. Hyde has expended about 85,000 on the 
 property, and is now satisfied to await the building of a rail- 
 road, when he will be ready to commence active mining 
 operations. 
 
 Crossing the Menominee river into Wisconsin, the range 
 has again been opened on sections 20 and 21, township 40, 
 range 18, East, near the dividing line of which sections is 
 located what has been named the 
 
 EAGLE IRON MINE, 
 
 which was explored and discovered by Fisher & Keyes, of 
 Menasha, Wis. The deposit is in a ridge about eighty feet 
 above the level of Fisher Lake, which lies near its base, and 
 has been opened by the sinking of numerous test-pits, by 
 which a body of hard blue hematite was revealed. This de- 
 posit is found to be not less than 125 feet in width, and has 
 been found along a distance of 300 feet on* the range. There 
 is certainly every reason to believe that the deposit is a very 
 large one, and the assays which have been made show the ore 
 to contain an average of 56.72 per cent, of metallic iron. Of 
 five assays a trace of phosphorus was found in one only, 
 showing that it will be a very desirable ore for Bessemer pig. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 241 
 
 THE ELWOOD MINE 
 
 is situated about two miles north of the Eagle, in sections 15 
 and 16, of the same town and range 011 the banks of the 
 Brule River. This location is owned by Elwood Brothers, 
 Decatur, 111. The outcrop is about seventy-five feet above 
 the river, where may be seen small veins of ore, of apparent 
 good quality. Test-pits have also been sunk at different 
 points, but so far, nothing like ore in paying quantity has 
 been developed. 
 
 Still further west, on the range in section 25, town 40, 
 range 17, east, a heavy outcrop of magnetic ore may be seen, 
 and a few test-pits encourage the belief that the deposit is 
 not only very extensive, but the ore of a superior quality. 
 
 Numerous other outcrops have been found on the range 
 east and west of the river, but as yet nothing has been done 
 to prove the extent or value of the deposits, except at the 
 localities mentioned. Of the future of the Menominee Iron 
 Region, all depends upon the quality of the ore when its 
 mines shall be more fully developed. That the deposits rival 
 those of the Marquette region in quality, there is no longer 
 a question nor is it to be disputed that the blue hematites of 
 the Quinesaik, Breitung and Breen Mines, are fully equal, if 
 not superior, to the best hematites of the Marquette district. 
 These alone will be sufficient to give the district prominence 
 in the future; but it is by no means improbable that most 
 valuable deposits of specular and magnetic ores will also 
 be found in the natural course of development which is sure 
 to follow close upon the building of the Menominee Range 
 railroad. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE. 
 
 The development of the Lake Superior iron interest really 
 began in 1856-' 7. Like all other enterprises in a new country, 
 the development of the iron mining interest was attended by 
 many difficulties which, at times, seemed almost insurmount- 
 able. The first discovery in 1845 was met with many 
 expressions of doubt and unbelief, and when at last it was 
 definitely known that our hills contained an inexhaustible 
 
242 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 quantity of the richest iron ores, lying in solid masses, the 
 greatest obstacles still remained in the way of their develop- 
 ment. The iron hills lay in an unbroken forest, fourteen 
 miles distant from the lake, and means of transportation to 
 the lake side must be provided. This accomplished, the diffi- 
 culties in the way were by no means entirely overcome. 
 Communication between the Lake Superior country and the 
 cities on the lower lakes was precarious and very expensive. 
 To get the ore to market, it must be shipped at high rates on 
 the few craft that had been brought to Lake Superior over 
 the portage. At the foot of the lake the ore. was discharged 
 and hauled over the portage and around the St. Mary's Falls, 
 when it was "again loaded in vessels for ports below. This 
 was a tedious process, and its expense made the experiment 
 rather dubious as a remunerative enterprise. 
 
 Then, too, the iron had to be introduced into the market 
 and its merits made known; and iron-workers, reluctant to 
 experiment on a material of such different quality from that 
 which they had been accustomed to work, must be induced 
 to try the merits cf the new iron. Two objects were neces- 
 sary to be accomplished before the venture could be success- 
 ful: the iron must be properly brought before the public, 
 and the facilities for getting it to market must be increased 
 and cheapened. -The energetic men who led the forlorn 
 hope went to work in earnest. A road was opened from the 
 lake to the mines, and a tram-way of planks, with strap rails, 
 constructed. A full equipment of tram wagons, mules, and 
 other necessaries, were procured. Docks were built at Mar- 
 quette, and the greatest part of the paid in capital of the 
 two pioneer companies was expended in making preparations 
 for extensive mining, and the transportation of the ore to 
 market. 
 
 In the meantime a large grant of lands had been made to 
 a company to aid in the construction of a canal around the 
 Falls, which would give direct communication between the 
 upper and lower lakes. This project, of such vital importance 
 to the mining interests of Lake Superior, was allowed to lag, 
 
OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 243 
 
 and there was well-grounded fears of embarrassing delays, if 
 not ultimate abandonment of the work. Owing in a great 
 measure to the persistent efforts of those interested in the 
 Iron Mining Companies, the work was pushed through to 
 completion, and on the 18th of June, 1855, the canal was 
 opened. 
 
 The next thing was to test the value of the ore, and bring 
 it to the favorable attention of iron workers. Rigid tests 
 were made, and proved that while the tenacity of the best 
 Swedish iron was 59 tons to the square inch, English cable 
 bolt 59 tons, and Russian 76 tons, iron manufactured from 
 Lake Superior ore stood at 89J. Its freedom from admixture 
 with sulphur, phosphorus or arsenic, was found to give it a 
 tenacity unequalled by any other iron known to commerce. 
 Quantities of the new iron were introduced into the rolling- 
 mills, car axle factories, boiler plate factories, and other iron 
 works, and the unanimous testimony of all who tried it was 
 that it was preferable to the best iron previously known, both 
 for strength and ease with which it could be worked. Those 
 who tried it were eager to obtain more, and from this time 
 the demand more than kept pace wi^h the facilities for in- 
 creasing the supply. 
 
 The building of the tram-road to the mines, and the sub- 
 sequent construction of the M. & 0. R. R. and afterwards the 
 Peninsula Division C. &. N. W. has already been referred to. 
 The first of these railways was completed in 1857, and the 
 other in 1865. 
 
 It is but thirteen years since the first shipments, made from 
 the Cleveland mine, immediately after the opening of the 
 canal, brought the iron district into, communication with a 
 market. In that time the mines have been developed into an 
 inexhaustible source of wealth, the neighborhood of the mines 
 improved and built upon, railroad tracks constructed, 
 extensive docks with trestle works, "shoots," "pockets," 
 and other improved conveniences for loading vessels erected, 
 and Marquette itself expanded from a few lonely houses into 
 a large and flourishing town, with an extensive business 
 
244 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 to which tourists come in crowds, as a delightful summer 
 resort. The total shipment of ore from the two ports of 
 Marquette and Escanaba have increased from less than 1,500 
 tons in 1855, to over a million of tons in 1873, and but for the 
 panic, which has probably had a more depressing effect upon 
 the iron interest, than any other of our great industries, it 
 is fair to assume that the same ratio of increase in the pro- 
 duction of the Lake Superior mines would have been main- 
 tained until now. 
 
 The larger portion of our ores go to Cleveland, whence 
 they are re-shipped to the coal fields of the Mahoning and 
 Shenango valleys, by railroad. About one hundred furnaces 
 in Ohio and Pennsylvania use Lake Superior ore, while nearly 
 all the charcoal furnaces in the Northwest are supplied from 
 our mines. But the market for our ores is not' confined to 
 the furnaces of Ohio and Pennsylvania, though they have 
 hitherto taken the great bulk of the product of our mines. 
 Our market place includes likewise the whole of the great 
 Northwest. 
 
 The day is forever past when iron manufacturers east of 
 the Alleghenies will furnish the West with iron. They have 
 ceased to do so. Henceforth 75,000 out of every 100,000 
 tons of iron ore that goes to the coal fields west of the Alle- 
 ghenies for manufacture will be from Lake Superior, while 
 90,000 out of every 100,000 tons of iron used in the West 
 will have been produced west of them. Then consider the 
 present population of the West some 15,000,000 the rate 
 at which it is being augmented the commercial facilities 
 which exist to foster and encourage manufactures and the 
 mechanical arts the numerous railroads that must still be 
 constructed, and the ten thousand other improvements that 
 will ultimately require vast amounts of iron. When we 
 look at these facts, the question of market is forever settled. 
 Then, in the course of human events, Lake Superior iron is 
 going to Europe. With some this may excite a smile, but 
 ere long the fact will be realized, since, for certain important 
 uses, it has no equal in the world. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 245 
 
 Though now depressed, we doubt whether, in view of all 
 the facts, there is a business interest in the United States 
 which promises better and surer returns for a long series of 
 years, than the mining and smelting of the iron ores of Lake 
 Superior. The panic has been productive of at least one good 
 result; it has brought us down to hard pan; there will be 
 no more speculative iron mining on Lake Superior; the devel- 
 opment of our mines will be conducted on legitimate business 
 principles ; we have learned a lesson in economy, and though 
 the profits may not be so large in the aggregate, there will be 
 more stability, more real progress, more wealth, and conse- 
 quently a more enduring prosperity than ever before. And 
 it may safely be said, considering the magnitude of its min- 
 eral wealth, that the time is not far distant when the Upper 
 Peninsula of Michigan will take a front rank in the sublime 
 destiny of the great and growing West if not as a sover- 
 eign state, then as a community to which other states must 
 of necessity look for their supply of at least one of the great 
 staple products of the country. 
 
246 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 UNDEVELOPED IRON LANDS. 
 
 For a few years prior to the panic of 1873 excitement in 
 the Lake Superior Iron District ran high, and the forests of 
 Marquette and Menominee counties were thronged with eager 
 and expectant explorers, armed with compass and needle, and 
 all certain of securing for themselves comfortable, if not 
 enormous, fortunes. A great number of entries were made 
 at the government land office, embracing all the lands in the 
 counties named upon which the existence of iron ore was 
 even suspected. Pools were formed in the east, the services 
 of veteran explorers secured on the co-operative plan, and 
 the excitement continued until the panic came and cast a 
 cloud of gloom and despondency over the entire region. 
 Since then very little has been done in the way of explora- 
 tion, and the anticipated fortunes of the greedy land lookers 
 are held in abeyance. Lands known to possess great mineral 
 value are still undeveloped, and many of them can, to-day, be 
 purchased for the amount originally paid to the government, 
 adding interest and cost of exploration. Many persons who 
 were impelled by the well-grounded belief that there could be 
 no interruption in the work of development that Lake 
 Superior ores, instead of going begging in the market, would 
 always be eagerly sought after by the large number of new 
 furnaces then building, and numerous others to follow to 
 invest all their capital in new mining properties, now find 
 themselves so cramped, financially, that they would be glad to 
 part with their interests for a consideration equal to that 
 originally paid for them. Not because they are less valuable, 
 intrinsically, but because their necessities are such as to 
 compel them to sacrifice properties from which large fortunes 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 247 
 
 will ultimately be realized. This being the case, there never 
 has been, in the history of the region, a more favorable time 
 for the investment of capital in iron mining properties than 
 the present. Fortunes, to be realized when u the good times 
 come again, 1 ' in many cases are begging for takers from those 
 who are unable to weather the storm and await in patience 
 the lifting of the financial cloud which must sooner or later 
 be dispelled, revealing the clear sky beyond. But there 
 are many others more fortunate, who are able to hold on to 
 their purchases, who know the value of their lands, and who 
 will not sell except at a very large advance on the original 
 cost. 
 
 Some of the heaviest investments, made in 1871-'2, were in 
 the Menominee Range, to which reference has already been 
 made. Among the purchases of lands in that region were 
 those made by a party of gentlemen of Eastern Ohio and 
 Western Pennsylvania, represented by Geo. C. Reis, trustee. 
 The lands entered by this pool were all cl6sely examined and 
 explored previously to entry, and are known to be among the 
 most valuable undeveloped lands in the district. Some of 
 them are situated near the Quinesaik Mine, and are believed 
 to be equally as valuable; upon other of their lands, in Mar- 
 quette county, have been found large deposits of first-class 
 red specular ores, and there can be no question that, taken as 
 a whole, the property of this pool will ultimately prove of 
 incalculable value and a source of great profit to the owners. 
 
 THE M., H. & O. R. R. COMPANY 
 
 own an estate of many thousands of acres, extending along 
 the line of its road from Marquette to L'Anse, embracing in 
 all about 400,000 acres. Some of the best mines in the 
 region, (notably the Champion) are on lands originally 
 owned by this company. The line runs through the heart of 
 the Marquette iron region, there being few mines that are 
 not reached by the main line or its branches, and it is believed 
 that developments yet to be made on the Michigamme and 
 Republic ranges will add a score or more to the paying mines 
 of the district. 
 
248 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Many of the Company's lands are valuable for the timber 
 alone, and in an estate so extensive, extending for more than 
 fifty miles along the great iron range, it would be strange, 
 indeed, if thej 7 were not found, ultimately, to embrace 
 hidden deposits of mineral wealth equal to any and all that 
 have heretofore been discovered in the region. 
 
 The Company has concluded to place these lands in the 
 market, and, to the capitalist seeking a safe investment, they 
 will be found, on examination, to present many inducements. 
 Notwithstanding the gratifying progress which has marked 
 the history of development in the past, the iron region is yet 
 in its infancy, and it is almost certain that the future will 
 reveal on lands that can now be bought for a song, compara- 
 tively, deposits of ore that will rival the famous Republic, or 
 any of the older and most successful mines. 
 
 THE TOLEDO IRON, LAND AND LUMBER COMPANY 
 
 is possessed of a valuable estate contiguous to the Republic, 
 together with lauds in Oatonagou county. Near the Re- 
 public, what appears to be a rich deposit of slate ore has 
 been found, but as yet, nothing has been done towards its 
 development. The Company was not organized until after 
 the panic, the continuance of which put an effectual damper 
 on all new enterprises. With a revival of the iron trade, 
 however, will come a renewal of operations in various 
 quarters, and then, it is confidently believed, the earlier antici- 
 pations of this company will be fully realized. 
 
 MAAS. LONSTORF & MITCHELL, 
 
 guided by an outcrop of lean ore, a short distance east of 
 Negaunee, have sunk a shaft to a depth of nearly 100 feet, 
 from the bottom of which they are cross-cutting in the hope 
 of striking the Jackson vein. Some lean ore was en- 
 countered in the shaft, but though the indications are favor- 
 able nothing of value has yet been found. It is not impos- 
 sible that the Jackson belt may be found to extend that far 
 east; indeed, the developments at the old Eureka mine, only 
 two miles west of Marquette, would seem to indicate that.. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. * 249 
 
 the ore belt extends to the lake shore and under the lake 
 itself. It is not improbable, therefore, that new mines may 
 ultimately be discovered at various points between the 
 Jackson mine and Marquette, though it is possible that the 
 deposit may be covered with a greater depth of drift than at 
 either of the places where it has already been opened, and the 
 ore, as at the Eureka mine, may not be fully up to the 
 standard. 
 
 There are many other valuable properties in the region 
 which only await the return of prosperous times for their 
 development. To enumerate them would only be tiresome to 
 the reader. 
 
 THE PESTOKA IRON KAKGE. 
 
 That the Marquette Iron Range extends westward into 
 Wisconsin is proved by the discovery of iron ore in 
 Ontouagon county, at various points, and the more recent 
 developments on what is known as the Penoka Iron Range, 
 in Ashland county. From the 4th principal meridian this 
 range has been traced south of west to where it crosses the 
 St. Croix river into Minnesota. It first appears in township 
 45, south, at an elevation of 1,000 feet above Lake Superior, 
 and bearing south 25 west, holds the same general form 
 and course for a distance of twenty miles, when it becomes 
 broken into knobs, and finally, as a mere ri$ge, crosses the 
 St. Croix, beyond which it has not been traced. 
 
 The first discovery and examination of the Penoka Range 
 was made by Col. Charles Whittlesey, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
 who was the assistant of Owen when he made his survey in 
 1848-'9. Others, not experts, had previously visited the range 
 and found iron, but could not afterwards locate it. These 
 discoveries were made before the territory was surveyed, and 
 numerous parties "squatted" on the lands; but everything 
 supposed to be valuable for iron was entered at the gov- 
 ernment land office, as fast as surveyed, by Washington 
 rings. 
 
 Nothing was done in the way of development until after 
 the completion of the Wisconsin Central Railroad to Penoka 
 
250 % MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 Gap, in 1873, although several companies had been organized 
 prior to 1860. These companies are as follows: The Mag- 
 netic Iron Company, organized under the general mining 
 laws of the State of Michigan; capital stock, $500,000, 
 divided into 20,000 shares. This company, cf which Col. 
 Whittlesey is President, owns 1,500 acres east of the Gap, but 
 has never done any work worthy of mention. The Wis- 
 consin and Lake Superior Company was organized under a 
 special charter, granted by the Wisconsin legislature, on a 
 basis of 1,000 shares, owns 2,000 acres of land; Angus Smith, 
 Esq., of Milwaukee, President; has never done anything. 
 The Lapointe Iron Company was organized in 1859, under a 
 special charter; owns 6,000 acres of land, just west of the 
 Gap, including that upon which the first discovery was made 
 by Col. Whittlesey; Hon. H. B. Payne, now member of Con- 
 gress for the Cleveland, Ohio, district, President. In 1873 the 
 Company caused a shaft to be sunk to a depth of nearly 100 
 feet, in a body of apparently very rich magnetic ore. The 
 panic, however, caused a suspension of operations, and since 
 then nothing has been done. The following analyses will 
 give the reader some idea of the character and value of the 
 ore: 
 
 ANALYSIS BY PROF. OWEJT, 1850. 
 
 Peroxyde and protoxyde of iron 78 . 6 
 
 Silica 18.6 
 
 Magnesia 8 
 
 Metallic iron 58.13 
 
 BY CHILTON. 
 
 Peroxyde and Protoxyde 89 .46 
 
 Silica. 9.65 
 
 Magnesia -85 
 
 Metallic iron 68.08 
 
 An analysis of a lot of specimens, from the leanest to the 
 richest, ground together so as to procure an average, made by 
 Prof. Irving, of the Wisconsin State University, in 1874, 
 gave 56.9 of metallic iron. It will be observed that the per 
 centage of silica is unusually large as compared with the 
 ores of the Marquette district; but it is not improbable that 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 251 
 
 further explorations will reveal deposits not open to this 
 objection. The work done thus far, if not wholly sufficient 
 to prove the value of the range, is at least sufficient to en- 
 courage a renewal of operations at the earliest day practi- 
 cable. The running of a drift into the mountain at its base, 
 from the north side, will reveal all there is of value, or other- 
 wise, at a depth of 600 feet from the bottom of the shaft 
 alluded to; and that plan will probably be adopted when the 
 company decide upon a renewal of operations. At present, 
 the writer, who has been on the ground, prefers not to ex- 
 press a decided opinion as to the merits of the Penoka Range. 
 He can only hope as he has reason to believe, that the future 
 will bring to the owners a realization of their most sanguine 
 expectations. 
 
 The Penoka Range is distant from Ashland, the northern 
 terminus of 'the Wisconsin Central Railroad, about thirty 
 miles. The road was completed to the Gap in the expecta- 
 tion that the iron companies would proceed at once with the 
 work of development, but. as has been stated, the panic ren- 
 dere<J such action impossible, and no ore has ever been 
 shipped over the line. At present, however, the Central 
 Company is engaged in the completion of its line from 
 Penoka south to the northern terminus of the Steven's Point 
 division. This will give a through line from Ashland to 
 Milwaukee, when the ore from the range can be shipped by 
 rail to the latter city, or via Ashland to the lower lake ports. 
 
 Ashland is, (or was before the panic) a village of about 
 2,000 inhabitants, which sprang into existence with the 
 building of the railroad to the range. It is at the head of 
 Ashland (or Chegwamegon) Bay, enjoys the advantages of a 
 good harbor, and will ultimately become the chief lake port 
 west of the Montreal river. 
 
.252 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 SILVER. 
 
 That silver existed in the Iron River region, Ontonagon 
 county, has been known for many years.* A reference to it was 
 made in the Relacions of the early missionaries, and was 
 spoken of by Henry in his history of the first mining enterprise 
 on Lake Superior. Some forty or fifty years ago, when John 
 Jacob Astor and the American Fur Company had a station, 
 or trading post, at the mouth of Iron River, the Indians 
 were known to have constantly in their possession silver in 
 its native state in considerable quantities, and the men are 
 now living who have seen them with large chunks as " big 
 as a man's fist; 1 ' but no one ever succeeded in inducing them 
 to tell or show where the hidden treasure lay. A super- 
 stitious fear always clung to them, and does even to this day, 
 that if they showed to any white man a deposit of mineral, 
 the great Manitou would punish them with death. Two 
 instances of this kind, proving the superstitious fears of the 
 Indians in this regard, are of comparatively recent date. 
 Several years since, a half-bred Indian brought to Ontonagon 
 some very fine samples of vein rock, carrying considerable 
 quanties of native silver. His report was that his wife had 
 found it on the south range where they were trapping, and 
 to test his story he was sent back for more. In a few days 
 he returned, bringing with him quite a chunk, from which 
 was obtained eleven and one-half ounces of native silver. He 
 returned home, went among the Flambeaux Indians and was 
 killed. His wife, to this day, refuses to listen to any pro- 
 posals from friend or foe to show the location of the vein, 
 
 * The author is indebted to Mr. A. Meads, of Ontonagon, for a large part of the 
 information given in this sub-division. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOK. 
 
 clinging with religious tenacity to the superstitions of her 
 tribe. 
 
 The present Nonesuch copper vein was discovered by an 
 Iron River half-breed, and shown to some white men. The 
 poor fellow soon sickened and died. His relatives and friends 
 shook their heads and said they knew it would be so. These 
 instances are mentioned to show the superstition of the red 
 man on the discovery of mineral veins, and to account in 
 some measure for the long delay and failure in tracing up the 
 rich deposits of minerals which have so long been known to 
 exist in the Iron River district. 
 
 In 1846 or '47 quite a distinguished party then on the 
 lake exploring, surveying, and examining the wonderful 
 mineral discoveries of Lake Superior, were induced by an 
 Indian to go up Iron River to see a big rock of native 
 silver. They started eager to find the great riches before 
 them. The Indian led them a fearful and useless hunt of 
 several days, but at last the party became tired and disgusted 
 and told the Indian before starting (from their camp in the 
 morning) that if he did not bring them to the silver rock 
 before night they would shoot him. After traveling till 
 noon the Indian brought them to the bank of a small stream 
 and told them to sit down and he would find it. In a short 
 time he returned and told them that the great Manitou had 
 become displeased with him and had turned the great silver 
 rock into a rock of stone. This h^ showed them and the 
 whole party returned disgusted, weary and ragged, but the 
 Indian was seen no more. From that time to 1855 persistent 
 efforts were made by the early settlers to discover the deposits 
 from which this native silver came, but without success. 
 Vein rock was found in the river bed and on the beach, con- 
 taining native silver, but its hiding place was not discovered 
 till that year, when Mr. Austin Corser found an outcropping 
 of a vein carrying native silver in Little Iron River, about 
 one mile west of Big Iron River. He continued his examin- 
 ation till he found the vein in place, traced it across the river 
 
254 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 and became satisfied it was a valuable discovery. The land, 
 however, at that time, could not be obtained, it being one 
 of the odd-numbered sections and reserved in a grant for the 
 Ontonagon and State Line Railroad Company. Nothing 
 daunted, however, Mr. Corser erected a log shanty, and in the 
 fall of the same year removed his family into it, and for 
 many years endured all the hardships and privations of a 
 backwoods life, confident the time would come when the 
 discovery would be valuable. Fortunately for him, and 
 indeed the whole district, the company failed to build 
 the road, the land reverted to the United States, and came 
 into market. Mr. Corser was then able to file a homestead 
 claim upon it, and began at once to prove up the property 
 and make further explorations. His trials, privations, and 
 long waiting were at last rewarded. His homestead, the 
 scene of his first discovery, he sold to a party of eastern 
 capitalists for a large sum, ample to reward him for his trou- 
 ble and make him and his family comfortable for life. The 
 land is that on which the Scrariton Mining Company was or- 
 ganized, being the west half of the west half of section thirteen, 
 town fifty-one, range forty-two west. After long and care- 
 full explorations Mr. Corser found a vein outcropping on Big 
 Iron River similar in appearance to that on Little Iron 
 River, and upon close examinations he found it to be rich in 
 native silver. Being on Government land, he presented the 
 facts to some parties who immediately purchased it. This 
 was the southeast quarter of section thirteen, town fifty-one, 
 north, of range fifty-two west. This was tne commencement 
 of the land excitement. All the government land within 
 several miles was quickly purchased, but winter set in soon 
 after and prevented any very thorough examination of the 
 country. Examinations were, however, made by a few min- 
 ing men, of the vein that outcropped on Iron River, at the 
 point above mentioned. It was found to be partly on the 
 southeast quarter of section thirteen, and partly on the 
 northeast quarter of section twenty-four, by the government 
 survey lines. Its course, to an ordinary observer was due 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 255 
 
 east and west, but further and more accurate examinations 
 proved its actual course at this point to be a few degrees 
 north of west and south of east. 
 
 At this time excitement began to run high. Every fortu- 
 nate owner of land in the district penciled out in his own 
 imagination the course of the vein through his property, and 
 considerable land was entered wild, without any reference to 
 its mineral value. Companies were organized and stock sold 
 in several instances at good figures (for the seller), and it is 
 only charitable to suppose that all these transactions were in 
 good faith. Specimens were eagerly sought for, and assays 
 made by parties in various parts of the country, and with- 
 out a single exception, found to be rich in silver. One of the 
 first assays made after the discovery of the vein was made 
 by Prof. Jenney, of Marquette, the assayer attached to the 
 State geological surveying party, and yielded $206,40 of silver 
 per ton of rock. Another assay was made at the United States 
 mint, at Philadelphia, and yielded $185 silver per ton of rock, 
 with traces of gold and lead. Three assays were also made 
 by Mr. Ropes, analytical chemist of Ishpeming, Marquette 
 county, the first of which yielded $296.86, the second $116.69, 
 and the third $57.38 silver per ton of rock. Another assay 
 was made from thirteen pounds of vein rock and yielded 
 $1,702.45 of silver per ton. This was certainly a very large 
 yield, and encouraged the owners of property. Of course, 
 there were plenty that doubted the value and even existence 
 of the vein, but the facts were too plain even for the most 
 stubborn. Its friends rightly claimed that these assays were 
 the only criterion they had to go by of the actual value of 
 the vein, and these certainly could not be doubted or gain- 
 said. The next important assay was from a shipment of sev- 
 eral tons of rock from the vein on the Superior mining com- 
 pany's property, on the northeast quarter of section twenty- 
 four, town 51, range 42, to the Wyandotte silver works, at 
 Wyandotte, near Detroit, in this State, The following is the 
 
256 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 OFFICIAL CERTIFICATE: 
 
 ASSAY OFFICE OF WYANDOTTE SILVER ) 
 
 SMELTING AND REFINING COMPANY, x 
 
 WYANDOTTE, Mich., Aug. 9, 1873. ) 
 
 We hereby certify that the ore said to be taken from the Superior 
 mine, assayed for Mr. Moore, yields: 
 
 No. 1, silver 159 oz. fine, $206.72 coin value per ton of 2,000 pounds. 
 No. 2, silver 9 oz. fine, $11.70 coin value per ton of 2,000 pounds. 
 No. 3, silver 458.8 oz. fine, $596.44 coin value per ton of 2,000 pounds. 
 No. 4, silver 1,320 oz. fine, $1,716 coin value per ton of 2,000 pounds- 
 REMARKS. No gold in Nos. 1 and 2; others not examined for gold. 
 J. B. CLEVELAND, Assayer. W. M. CURTIS, Supt. 
 
 These results were most gratifying and attracted the atten- 
 tion of capitalists and mining men from all parts of the 
 country. Since then the vein has been examined by miners 
 and experts who have had considerable experience with silver 
 veins in the west, in South America, Mexico and Germany, 
 and all agree that it is a true silver vein or stratification, and are 
 unanimous in the opinion that it will increase in richness as 
 greater depth is attained. This opinion so far has been verified 
 by the work done on the vein at the several mines. 
 
 The location of this silver discovery is 011 Iron River, one 
 of whose branches is an outlet for Lake A-go-ge-bic; its gen- 
 eral course is northeast and southwest, and its waters rapid. 
 The stream passes through some wild and picturesque scenery, 
 its waters running over the different stratification of rocks 
 which are exposed in several parts of the river. It empties 
 into Lake Superior in section 12, township 51, north range 
 52 west. At the mouth the water is deep, allowing boats 
 drawing five feet of water to enter. Above this the river is 
 not navigable even for canoes. The slate formation near its 
 mouth takes a serpentine course, and has given rise to many 
 theories and queries. To the east and west of the river the 
 formations all seem to be regular; the sandstone, conglom- 
 erate, slates and trap all follow the formation in regular order. 
 The land near the mouth where the silver mines are located 
 is heavily timbered with birch, maple, hemlock, pine and fir, 
 and the soil good, capable of producing all the necessaries of 
 

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 257 
 
 life. To the west of Iron River rises the Porcupine Moun- 
 tains, attaining an elevation of one thousand three hundred 
 and eighty feet. The district is rich in copper veins, and 
 was the scene of some of the earliest mining on Lake Supe- 
 rior; but all discoveries of copper veins were discarded, as 
 the work was carried on exclusively for silver. Several large 
 spar veins were discovered and worked, but as far as known 
 have yielded no metal. The copper veins, however, discov- 
 ered and worked by the early miners, and by those of more 
 recent date, are among the most valuable discovered on the 
 Upper Peninsula, and are only waiting the advent of capital 
 and a more easy, certain and cheaper mode of ingress and 
 egress to the district to be developed. This day, from present 
 appearances, is now close at hand. The remarkable severity 
 of the fall of 1872, and the early setting in of winter, pre- 
 vented the commencement of work on any of the properties. 
 Nothing daunted, however, a few capitalists of Marquette 
 concluded to venture the commencement of work in the 
 month of March, 1873, on the north half of the northwest 
 quarter of section 19, town 51, range 41, on which a com- 
 pany was organized, styled the 
 
 ONTONAGON SILVER MINING COMPANY. 
 
 Work was commenced on the ground when it was covered 
 with four feet of snow, in a section of country perfectly iso- 
 lated, no roads to reach it, and not a single person living 
 there. All their supplies, provisions, tools and camping ma- 
 terial had to be hauled from Ontonagon on dog trains, or 
 packed up on men's backs. The men were made as comfort- 
 able as circumstances would admit, in a brush camp. The 
 point selected for their operations was the extreme northwest 
 corner of the property, near the dividing line of sections 18, 
 19, 13 and 24. Three test-pits were sunk to the slate, which 
 proved that they were too far north. At length, however, in 
 four weeks from the time they commenced work, they struck 
 the vein about twenty rods south from the east and west line 
 and near the north and south line of their property. It oc- 
 
258 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 cupied the same geological position as at the outcrop on Iron 
 River, at the junction of the slate and sandstone, having the 
 slate for the north wall and the sandstone for the south or 
 foot wall. Its dip, apparently, was about the same, being 
 about 28 to the north and a little east of north. The width 
 of the vein was the same, being about eighteen inches wide, 
 and fully as rich in native silver as the specimens obtained in 
 Iron River. The fact of the vein being found some fifteen 
 rods to the east of its outcropping in Iron River, seemed to 
 prove conclusively that it was a continuous one. 
 
 In that year land was cleared, roads made and buildings 
 erected for the accommodation of the miners. Capt. Thos. 
 Hooper was placed in charge of the mine, and under his di- 
 rection a working shaft was sunk to a depth of about 125 feet on 
 the vein. From the bottom of this shaft drifts were made 
 east and west on the vein, and some .two or three hundred 
 tons of silver bearing rock taken out. In 1873 the company 
 believing that they had sufficiently proved the value of their 
 property, abandoned work until such time as they might be 
 able to secure the erection of a mill for the treatment of the 
 vein rock. A small stamp mill was erected in 1874-'5 and a 
 practical test was made in June or July of that year, result- 
 ing most satisfactorily to all concerned. About 22 tons of 
 rock mined in 1873 was treated, from which a brick weighing 
 36 pounds was obtained, equal to $33 per ton of rock. The 
 following is the official report of Prof. Crosby, the gentleman 
 who put the mill in operation and made the first tests : 
 
 ONTONAGON SILVER WORKS, ) 
 IRON RIVER, July 22, 1875 j" 
 TERRENCE MOORE, ESQ., Pres't Ontonagon Silver Co. : 
 
 Dear Sir: I respectfully submit the following brief report of the 
 trial run just finished at the company's mill. The mill was put in 
 motion on the 5th inst., but owing to difficulties incident to the start- 
 ing of new machinery, the run was not completed till the 20th. The 
 rock treated was a lot of twentj^-two tons taken as it came from the 
 mine. The result was 523 ounces of fine bullion, nearly 24 ounces 
 per ton. Not having proper assay fixtures I could not determine its 
 fineness and coin value, but I estimate it at 950 fine, and its currency 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 259 
 
 value at $7o4.00. The mill is now in good condition, the only draw- 
 back to its efficiency being its small capacity. A twenty-stamp mill 
 could reduce the ore at less than half the cost per ton that this five- 
 stamp mill can treat it for. Respectfully yours, F. W. CROSBY. 
 
 Mr. Crosby is a gentleman of rare experience and ability, 
 having been engaged for many years in the treatment of the 
 silver ores of Colorado and other western districts. 
 
 Mr. Crosby has also furnished the following detailed esti- 
 mate of the " cost of treating such ores as those of the On- 
 tonagoii district," with works having a capacity of 40 tons 
 per day of 24 hours. To reduce, he says, forty tons per day 
 will require a 20-stamp mill. The cost of operating such a 
 mill would be as follows: 
 
 LABOR. 
 
 One superintendent $ 5 00 
 
 One foreman 3 50 
 
 One machinist 3 00 
 
 One retorter and smelter. ... 3 00 
 
 Two engineers, $2.50 each 5 00 
 
 Two amalgamators $3 each 6 00 
 
 Two assistant amalgamators $2 each 4 00 
 
 Two stamp feeders, $2 each 4 00 
 
 Two rock breakers, $2 each 4 00 
 
 Two roustabouts, $2 each t ... 4 00 
 
 Total for labor $ 41 50 
 
 OTHER EXPENSES. 
 
 Four cords wood $ 8 00 
 
 Oil, lights, etc 2 00 
 
 Salt and chemicals 25 00 
 
 Loss of mercury, % Ib. per ton ore . . 30 00 
 
 Charcoal 100 
 
 Wear and incidentals 5 00 
 
 Total $113 50 
 
 Which would be $2.80 per ton! "This," says Mr. Crosby, 
 ''seems like a low estimate, but it covers every item except 
 interest on capital." 
 
 The cost of mining will not necessarily exceed $2.50 per 
 ton, and this being the case it is easy for any one to arrive at 
 a conclusion as to whether silver bearing rock which can be 
 made to yield from $30 to $50 per ton will pay to work. Tak- 
 ing the average of the 8 tests which have been made 
 
260 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 per ton and it will be seen that the net earnings of a 
 twenty-stamp mill would be over 1,400 per day, or over half 
 a million a year. Mr. Crosby's estimate further shows that 
 the veins would pay handsomely if the average yield of sil- 
 ver was not over $15 per ton. 
 
 The next test made was of rock from the Scranton mine, 
 which is situated nearly two miles west of the Ontonagon. 
 Four and a half tons of rock were put through the mill, giv- 
 ing a yield of 163 ounces of silver, 950 fine equal to $45.27 
 per ton coin value. At this mine a perpendicular shaft strikes 
 the vein at a depth of 300 feet on the dip or incline, from 
 the bottom of which shaft was taken the rock treated at the 
 mill. 
 
 The Collins mine is on the north half of the northeast 
 quarter of section 25. Here the vein was found outcrop- 
 ping in the river near the northwest corner of the tract. 
 The general appearance of the vein is precisely the same as 
 on sections thirteen and nineteen, one mile to the north, oc- 
 cupying the same geological position in the formation, but its 
 course is entirely different, being northeast and southwest, 
 and the dip southeast. After an examination of the vein at 
 the outcrop a shaft was sunk away from the bank of the 
 river perpendicularly through the overlying formation till it 
 reached the vein, which looked well, carrying considerable 
 native silver. During the past year considerable work has 
 been done on this property, with the most gratifying results, 
 so far as proving the extent and value of the deposit is con- 
 cerned. The vein matter is, apparently, very rich in native 
 silver, but owing to a lack of means the company was com- 
 pelled to abandon operations. 
 
 South of the Collins, on the south half of the northeast 
 quarter of section 25, is the Cleveland silver mine, at which 
 point more practical mining work has been done than at 
 any other place in the district. A perpendicular or down- 
 right shaft cut the vein at a depth of 136 feet, at a point con- 
 siderably over 300 feet from the outcrop, on the dip or incline. 
 Specimens of vein matter from the bottom of this shaft are 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 261 
 
 very rich in native silver apparently much richer than any 
 that has been tested at the mill. The company have shipped ten 
 tons of this rock to be treated by specific gravity in Frues 1 im- 
 proved vanning machines, at Silver Islet. It is believed by many 
 that this is the only proper plan for treating the IronRiver silver 
 bearing rock, and should the test prove successful it is highly 
 probable that the amalgamating process will be abandoned. 
 There can be no question as to the presence of silver in paying 
 quantities, at every point where the vein, or veins, have been 
 opened the problem is how to extract it. This problem 
 solved, it is confidently believed all doubts as to the future of 
 the district will have been put to rest. 
 
 The other properties upon which the vein has been opened, 
 is the Superior mine, which embraces the northeast quarter 
 of section 24, the Mammoth, on the east half of the west 
 half of section 13, and the Pittsburg Silver Co.'s mine, on 
 the southwest quarter of section 34, town 50, north of range 
 42 west. 
 
 The work at the Superior is embraced in an adit into the 
 hill from the river bank, from which adit was taken the rock 
 treated at the Wyandotte works, the report of which has 
 been given. A subsequent test of vein matter from the Su- 
 perior adit, made at the Ontonagoii Company's mill, gave as 
 the result from five tons of rock 224 ounces, Troy, equal to 
 $56 per ton. 
 
 Very little work has been done at the Mammoth only 
 enough to show that the vein crosses the tract. 
 
 The Pittsburgh, which lies some six or seven miles south 
 of the others, was discovered in June, 1873, by an outcrop in 
 .a small stream. The vein does not have the appearance of 
 a mineral bearing rock but from its relation to the other 
 rocks, and its partial conformation with those of the Iron 
 River district, the party by whom it was discovered was led 
 to believe that the matrix contained silver, which belief was 
 afterwards confirmed. The direction of the vein is about 
 35 south of east, and it has a dip of 80 to the southwest. 
 The average width as far as opened is about 6 feet. The first 
 
262 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 analyses of the rock were made by Prof. A. B. Prescott, of Ann 
 Arbor, and gave from 17 to $119. In the summer of 1875, 
 a test was made at the Ontonagon Co.'s mill, which gave 
 $27.38 per ton from unassorted rock, taken from the whole 
 width of the vein, over a space of it 20 feet in length. 
 There have been several opinions advanced in respect to this 
 formation, but probably the most reliable is that of Charles 
 E. Wright, M. E., who claims that the matrix is an argillaceous 
 plumbaginous slate, the hanging wall being the Pottsdam 
 sandstone. He is not certain of its origin, but thinks that 
 it is an older formation than the overlying sand rock that 
 is, instead of being on the Pottsdam sandstone, it lies under 
 it. The only work done at the mine was the driving of an 
 adit about 20 feet, from which about five tons of rock was 
 mined. 
 
 Prof. Charles Rominger, of the State Geological survey, 
 made an examination of the Iron River district in the fall 
 of 1875, and made the following written report: 
 
 "The silver-bearing rock, generally termed a vein, is actu- 
 ally a sedimentary rock stratum, spreading uniformly over 
 a wide space of ground which forms the less elevated belt of 
 land in front of the Porcupine mountains, and the higher 
 trap range of the Ontonagon copper mining district. The 
 age of the silver bearing beds is decidedly younger than that 
 of the copper belt, but it has participated in the upheavals of 
 that period, and the originally horizontal beds have been 
 elevated into a complicated chaos of more or less inclined po- 
 sitions, keeping a general conformity with the strike and dip 
 of the higher ranges, but locally subject to a great many 
 minor disturbances, which cause it to be found dipping in 
 various opposite directions, with abrupt breaks in the strike, 
 or bending in large curves out of the straight course. The 
 out-crops of the formation are almost exclusively confined 
 to the river beds or deep ravines; on the rest of the surface 
 heavy drift deposits are hiding the rock ledges from view, 
 and prevent their discovery except by expensive exploring 
 ditches; however, there is not the least doubt of finding the 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 263 
 
 rock beds under consideration, in every portion of the radi- 
 cated district, if we undertake to dig deep enough to uncover 
 it. The silver-bearing rock is a gray, compact, well-stratified 
 sandstone, interlaminated with undulating thin seams of a 
 black, shaly material, which contains the principal part of 
 the silver in metallic condition. The sand-rock itself is also 
 silver-bearing, but much poorer than the shaly seams, so that 
 only in rare instances silver can be detected in it by the 
 naked eye. The thickness of the strata is from two to six 
 feet. Their footwall is formed by a brown sandstone of great 
 thickness, often having the character of a conglomerate. 
 The hanging wall of the metalliferous beds is formed by a 
 blue arginaceo- arenaceous rock generally termed slate, but 
 not of the fissile structure of true slate. Usually it lias the 
 form of thin-bedded, easy decaying flag-stone. Some beds 
 are more compact, and often contain a large proportion of 
 calcareous cement. The visible thickness of this overlying 
 so-called slate rock amounts in many places to over one thou- 
 sand feet. Only a few feet above the silver-bearing sand- 
 rock there is another series of metalliferous beds, containing 
 finely comminuted metallic copper in astonishing quantity. 
 The Nonesuch mine is working these, and if it were not for 
 the great loss of metal in working the stamped rock, I should 
 consider this mine even wealthier than the famous Calumet 
 & Hecla mines, which are unsurpassed in the world. In all 
 the exploring shafts of the silver mining companies this 
 same bed has been noticed, but not everywhere equally rich 
 in copper. 
 
 " It is stated above that the silver in the rock is contained 
 in metallic condition; but a not inconsiderable additional 
 quantity of the precious metal is combined in the sulphur, and 
 makes part of the black, shaly substance pervading the rock 
 in linear seams. Several tests on a large scale have been 
 made with the silver-bearing rock mass, taking for the experi- 
 ments, without selection, the entire thickness of the so-called 
 vein, and the results have been very favorable. In each ex- 
 periment several tons of the rock have been stamped and 
 
264 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 subjected to the amalgamating process, which evidently was 
 not carried out to perfection, but still the results proved very 
 satisfactory. The rock of three different localities, treated 
 in this way, yielded from forty to forty-five dollars' worth of 
 silver for every ton of rock. 
 
 u The brown sandstone forming the footwall, if found in the 
 vicinity of the blue-colored slate-like rock of the hanging 
 wall, serves always as a good guide for the explorer; more risky 
 it is to rely on the explorations to follow the direction of 
 the strike of the strata from places of outcrops into territo- 
 ries where the rock is covered by drift, on account of the 
 frequent disturbances and breaks in the strata. The mining 
 of the rock is neither difficult nor expensive, and if carried 
 on with reasonable economy and circumspection will cer- 
 tainly return a large margin of profits to those engaged in its 
 development; otherwise, the history of our mining districts 
 have clearly shown that even the richest deposits of mineral 
 wealth are not sufficient to prevent disastrous consequences 
 and total failures of companies, if speculation and misman- 
 agement are exerting their deleterious force." 
 
 Work was continued at the Ontonagon mine during a part 
 of the winter of 1875, but the results at the mill were not 
 satisfactory, and operations were suspended. There has been 
 a difference of opinion as to the cause of the failure; some 
 insist that those in charge of the mill were incapable of 
 achieving a true result, while others give, the credit to the 
 mine and the absence of silver. However this may be, the 
 true friends of the district are not despondent, and the 
 Cleveland and Collins companies have continued the work of 
 development, as if certain of future rewards. The writer 
 does not venture an opinion other than that enough has been 
 done to warrant still further research and experiment, believ- 
 ing that the only problem to be solved is the best and most 
 effective process for treating the vein rock. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 265 
 
 SLATE. 
 
 Among the material and most valuable resources of the 
 Lake Superior country, slate is now taking rank. Long since 
 it was known that large deposits of slate were lying in the 
 hills east of Huron Bay, but the country being almost inac- 
 cessible, except by water, and explorers being attracted by 
 what was considered the more valuable products of iron and 
 -copper, Avere not tempted to investigate the resources of the 
 slate country. But by and by a few adventurous and cour- 
 ageous men concluded that if copper found in a wilderness, 
 or iron found in a wilderness, could be so manipulated, with 
 the aid of transportation facilities, as to bring wealth to those 
 who were first to present these minerals to the market, and 
 wealth to the scores who were led to follow the lead of the 
 pioneers, that slate might also be made a medium of pros- 
 perity. But it was not with a full knowledge of the charac- 
 ter of the slate, or of the quality which they had discovered, 
 that those men commenced their movements. They scarcely 
 knew what they had found whether it was a slate of an 
 indifferent or of a superior character. But they resolved 
 upon a test, and accordingly Thos. J. Brown, of Marquette, 
 accompanied by Win. T. Kennedy, of Pittsburgh, and an 
 Indian, as a man of all work, attempted, in November, 1871, to 
 pack out a few hundred pounds of the slate and have it sub- 
 mitted to test. S. C. Smith, the veteran explorer, had previ- 
 ously, in July, 1868, visited the locality and carried away a 
 quantity of the slate, which he shipped to Vermont for the 
 inspection of those posted in such matters. 
 
 Geographically, the belt lies midway between the copper 
 and iron deposits; geologically, it is a later deposit than the 
 copper measures and older than the iron of the Marquette 
 
266 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 range. No estimate of the length, depth and breadth of the 
 belt can at present be satisfactorily made. In township 51 
 north of range 31 west, the breadth of the belt is believed to 
 be two and a half miles, but the length has not been fully 
 explored. It is evident that the same belt appears in the 
 Ontonagon silver district, while outcrops have been discovered 
 twelve miles to the east of the present quarries. It does not, 
 however, follow that all the slate covering this wide stretch of 
 country can be denominated good roofing slates; on the con- 
 trary, slates free from joints and impurities are not easy to 
 find. 
 
 Meanwhile, the lands had been purchased, and subsequently 
 a company was organized to quarry slate in township 51, 
 range 31. The company is organized as follows: 
 
 President, W. L. WETMORE, Marquette; Secretary and 
 Treasurer, H. A. DOWNS, Marquette; Superintendent, 
 JOHN THOMAS; Directors, PETER WHITE, S. L. SMITH, THOS. 
 J. BROWN, Marquette, D. W. C. WHEELER, JAS. MCDONALD, 
 New York. 
 
 The organization was effected in October, 1872. Toward 
 the last part of that month, Mr. Williams, the first superin- 
 tendent, reported for duty, and with a brush shanty, and 
 eighteen miles of primitive forest through which to haul his 
 supplies, commenced the development of what is now acknowl- 
 edged to be the finest slate quarry in the world. 
 
 Operations were first commenced on a bed of slate which 
 seemed to be inexhaustible, and of finest working quality, but 
 which was found to be laminated with mundic, or arsenical 
 pyrites an ingredient which does not injure the value of the 
 slate any farther than the appearance of the light flakes 
 might affect the sale. 
 
 Further explorations were made on the same vein in an 
 adjoining neighborhood, where a clear, pure, beautiful slate 
 was found, and this is the quarry which is now being princi- 
 pally worked. Details as to location are of no interest to the 
 general reader, therefore we omit distances and points of 
 compass in the several explorations and openings. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR 26T 
 
 Of the quality of this slate, little nee4 be said, since it is 
 now so well known and appreciated, that architects in nearly 
 all the western cities insert it in their specifications. It is 
 blasted out in angular shape, without reference to regularity 
 as to cubes or slabs, and afterward broken into tablets of con- 
 venient size for splitting. As it comes from the quarry it is 
 uniformly of the same quality, and the proportion of it which 
 is used depends altogether upon the shape it assumes whilst 
 being broken into tablets. The cleavers say they have never 
 handled a slate, in Wales or the United States, upon which 
 they could make as good wages, for instead of being com- 
 pelled to crease or trench the edge of a tablet to split off a 
 shingle, but one movement and one position of the chisel, 
 with a few taps of the mallet, is necessary to separate a plate, 
 like separating two panes of glass which have been but slightly 
 pasted together. The surface of the sheets is almost as regu- 
 lar and smooth as if they had been planed; and the sheets, 
 however thin, will stand very rough handling without break- 
 ing, and are pitched about like wooden shingles. It is of a 
 blue-black color, and gives off a sound, upon being tapped, 
 like hollow crockery. 
 
 The product of the quarry is shipped over a three-foot tram- 
 railway to Huron Bay, a distance of 4^ miles. At the bay, 
 the company have a dock which extends 600 feet into the 
 water and has a front of 100 feet. 
 
 The company is employing from 40 to 60 men, and com- 
 menced shipments this season from a stock of 500 squares of 
 roofing slate, and with orders for 3,000 squares. They make 
 24 sizes, and find a ready market for their entire product, in 
 St. Paul, Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit. 
 Some of the best buildings in Chicago and Milwaukee are 
 covered with the Huron Bay slate, among them the Chicago 
 and Northwestern Railway shops, the new club house, and 
 several churches. 
 
 It is not roofing slate alone for which this material is use- 
 ful, but every purpose for which slate is used. The waste 
 from the quarry in the production of roofing slate could be so 
 
268 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 utilized for the manufacture of tiles, lamp bottoms, and the 
 like, to pay all expenses of the quarry. And for mantels, fire 
 fronts, table tops, imposing slabs, and such purposes, it is 
 only second to marble. That a large business in these lines 
 will be done at these quarries when machinery has been 
 placed to handle the material, there is no doubt. The Com- 
 pany is considering the question of putting in such ma- 
 chinery, and it will probably be added at an early da}^. 
 
 quarry is situated on a tract which embraces the west half of 
 section 8, and the northwest quarter of section 33, town 51, 
 north of range 31 west. The Company was organized in 
 1874, with a capital of 8500.000, divided into 20,000 shares of 
 25 each. President, DsWiTT C. WHEELER, of New York; 
 Secretary and Treasurer, JAMES H. SEAGER, Houghton, and 
 Superintendent, R. R. WILLIAMS. The quarry, as now opened, 
 lies on the township line between sections 28 and 33. To 
 the north and east, about 1,000 feet, is the Huron Bay Slate 
 Company's quarry, and the slate out-crops here and there 
 between the two. 
 
 A shaft has been sunk in the slate at the Clinton to a depth 
 of forty feet. The shaft or, as the slaters or scalpers call it, 
 " the loose si$e and back " is about fifty feet square at pres- 
 ent, and it is being constantly enlarged and deepened. It is 
 the intention to carry this loose side and back down into the 
 slate a sufficient depth to admit of a goodly number of stop- 
 ing parties on the several layers or strata of slate. When 
 once down, a large force may be employed in quarrying out 
 the sla.te, in steps. During the time consumed in working 
 out the loose side and back, quite a large quantity of slate 
 has been made, and is now ready for shipment. In quality, 
 the slate is pronounced by competent judges, to be equal to 
 the best slate products of Maine. It is a dark, indelible blue, 
 free from mundic and sulphate of iron, and the joints are far 
 apart. As the shaft descends, the slate grows denser and 
 purer. So far, the slate at the Clinton is pronounced the 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 269 
 
 softest yet found, which permits a freer cleavage and thinner 
 slates. 
 
 An erroneous impression has obtained heretofore, concern- 
 ing the dip of the beds, by confounding the dip with the 
 cleavage. On sinking, it has been ascertained that the beds 
 slightly incline to the north, while the cleavage is to the 
 south. It is now believed that the bed lies in a basin. At 
 the northern boundary of the bed a vein of lean iron ore out- 
 crops; and a rock, identical in appearance to the wall-rock of 
 the Ontonagon silver vein, has been found, from which fact, 
 it is believed it may not be impossible to discover somewhere 
 in the vicinity of the slate formation, on the transverse veins, 
 a prolific silver lode. Explorations, with this aim in view, 
 will be made, and it is not at all improbable that the efforts of 
 the faithful in this regard, will be crowned with success. 
 
 The tram-road spoken of in connection with the Huron 
 Bay quarry, has been extended to the Clinton, and a force of 
 men has been kept constantly employed in the quarry ever 
 since the first opening was made. Up 'to the close of naviga- 
 tion in 1875, the Clinton Company had made and shipped 
 about 1,000 squares. 
 
 HURLEYS 1 HURON MOUNTAIN 
 
 quarry is owned by a company of that name, and though 
 more remote from water communication, is esteemed a 
 most valuable property. Considerable work has been done 
 at this quarry, though as yet little in the way of making 
 slate, owing to the absence of a suitable road for its trans- 
 portation to the lake side. The financial depression has had 
 the effect to retard the work of development, otherwise the 
 quarry would no doubt long since have been ready with its 
 product for the market. 
 
 THE SUPERIOR SLATE AND MINING COMPANY 
 
 is the owner of a large acreage on the slate belt, which will 
 no doubt be opened when the market demands an increased 
 product. 
 Several other parties have purchased lands, among them 
 
270 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 
 
 the original discoverers of the belt, S.-C. Smith, Esq., Henry 
 H. Stafford, and others, of Marquette. 
 
 The soil on the shore of Huron Bay is especially adapted 
 to agricultural purposes. It is a sandy loani, very deep, warm 
 and rich. All sorts of root and grain crops grow exceedingly 
 well. The vegetables are especially fine, and we were shown 
 some spring wheat which cannot well be excelled. The bay 
 is fourteen miles long, with nearly forty miles of shore line, 
 including the inlets and points, with a good depth of water 
 on every mile of the shore. The timber is hard wood, and 
 stands thick and heavy. The bay is absolutely land-locked, 
 as points extend from either shore so far into the bay as to 
 break off all influence of rough weather from the lake. 
 
 The superior quality of the slate in this district warrants 
 the prediction that within a few years the entire west will 
 be supplied from Lake Superior. Wherever introduced it at- 
 tains a celebrity over any and all slates brought from the 
 east, and it will soon be in request like our copper and iron, 
 and its purity, durability, and unfading color, will command 
 for it a better price than eastern slates. The out-put this 
 year will reach several thousand squares, and it will be an- 
 nually increased as the product becomes better known. In 
 the near future the Huron Bay slate district will become as 
 populous and enterprising as any of her sister Lake Superior 
 communities. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 271 
 
 BUILDING MATERIAL. 
 
 BROWN SANDSTONE. 
 
 The brown sandstone which was quarried at Marquette for 
 some years, without attracting the especial attention of men 
 who have been prominently engaged in this line of industry 
 and utility, has of late years been given particular promi- 
 nence by being introduced for building purposes through the 
 best architects and builders, and it is found to surpass, in 
 every particular, all other qualities of building stone here in 
 use. It is well known that the mass of most quarries from 
 which building stone is obtained and especially sandstone 
 and granite is interseamed with thin strata of limestone, 
 trap, conglomerate, semi-limestone, clay-slate and other 
 substances, which detract greatly from the uniformity of 
 the material taken out. But the stone which is found in 
 the Marquette Quarries, is as uniform in quality and as 
 easily manipulated in a mass of any size to an especial pat- 
 tern, if desirable as if moulded out of soap, aside from the 
 trifle of additional labor required to work the harder sub- 
 stance. This may seem like exaggeration, but operations on 
 the ground, at the quarries, show, that by the usual method 
 of trenching and underseaming, any size of stone may be 
 taken out in as perfect a form as it is possible to obtain it 
 without the use of saw and chisel. Then it is easily worked; 
 so easily, in fact, that the most experienced stone cutters de- 
 cide that from twenty to fifty per cent, can be saved by carv- 
 ing it to occupy any place which may be desired in a building. 
 And last of all, it is found that as it is exposed to the atmos- 
 phere and its moisture is evaporated, it becomes harder than 
 
272 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 any other stone in use, and when laid up in a wall in the 
 same horizontal position it was taken from the quarry, it will 
 not scale, crack or expand, as is the case with much of the 
 stone used for building purposes. It resembles, as near as 
 possible, in grain, color and texture, the Portland, Connecti- 
 cut stone, and is much easier worked. It is finer and more 
 compact than the Ohio building stone, and has been pro- 
 nounced just as good as the New England granites, while it 
 is far less expensive, thus having every advantage of all the 
 best building stones. There are within the city limits of 
 Marquette two of these quarries, from which have been fur- 
 nished the material for some of the handsomest and most 
 substantial business blocks in Chicago. The 
 
 MARQUETTE BROWN STONE COMPANY 
 
 owns 120 acres, just back of the rolling mill, which have 
 been worked quite profitably for several years past. It is 
 not deemed necessary to describe the quarry in detail, nor to 
 say more than that there appears to be an immense bed of 
 the stone. The upper layers are white and variegated, under 
 which lies the pure brown stone which is so eagerly sought 
 after, not only because of its beautiful uniform color, bat be- 
 cause of its invaluable fire-proof qualities. It is owned ex- 
 clusively by Marquette men. 
 
 THE BURT FREE STONE COMPANY'S 
 
 quarry adjoins that of the Marquette Brown Stone Company, 
 and has been wrought for several years, though not very suc- 
 cessfully. The stone does not appear to be of quite as good 
 quality as that of its neighbor, and the quarry has been par- 
 tially abandoned. 
 
 At Portage Entry another bed of fine red sandstone has 
 been secured by Jay. C. Morse, Esq., and other Marquette men,, 
 upon which it is proposed to organize a joint stock company. 
 Indeed, but for the occurrence of the panic, it is more than 
 probable that the company would have been successfully or- 
 ganized, and work long since commenced. The development 
 of the quarry is only a question of time. 
 
 The newest and most important enterprise of the kind is,, 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 273 
 
 however, near I/ Anse, where a new quarry was opened by the 
 
 I/ANSE BROWN" STONE COMPANY, 
 
 in the summer of 1875. At this quarry the stone outcrops 
 400 feet on the bay shore, is of a dark brown color, some- 
 what harder than tha of the Marquette quarries, and it is 
 believed will stand a much greater pressure, while its fire- 
 proof qualities are equally as good. The bed of pure brown 
 stone is about nine feet thick at the point where quarrying 
 has been commenced, and test-pits show that it extends back 
 from the water front some four or five thousand feet. It is 
 covered by a drift which does not average more than two feet 
 in thickness, and its situation on the bay is such that it can 
 be quarried and loaded upon vessels at a cost at least 25 per 
 cent, below that of quarries situated at a distance from nav- 
 igable waters, and in the operation of which teams have to 
 be employed to haul the product to the water's side. 
 
 A crib dock has been built into sixteen feet of water, 
 which depth is reached in less than 200 feet from the shore 
 line. The cribs are placed just north of the quarry and are 
 strong and substantial enough to answer the purposes of a 
 breakwater, thus enabling vessels to land in almost any stress 
 of weather. The cribs were all filled with rubble from the 
 quarry, and cost little more than the timber used in their 
 construction. A tram-road extends on a slight incline from 
 the quarry along the whole length of the dock, upon which 
 the product of the quarry is conveyed along side the vessel 
 without the aid of steam or horse power. A small engine is 
 employed in hoisting the stone upon the cars, and in trans- 
 ferring it from the dock into the vessels. 
 
 The first u break" at this quarry detached a solid block of 
 stone containing 2,400 cubic feet. The working face on the 
 first bed, or layer, is nine feet in height, or thickness, and as 
 may be inferred, can be extended 400 feet along the shore. 
 These 400 feet cover the front of ten acres, all of which are 
 under-laid with the same quality of stone, as has been proved 
 by a close examination. The ground rises to a height of 
 about 50 feet, about the same distance back from the shore, 
 and there is every reason to believe that the bed increases in 
 
274 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 thickness unless, indeed, it conforms most closely to the to- 
 pography, in which case the facilities for quarrying will, at 
 least, be greatly enhanced. 
 
 T. T. Hurley, Esq., of Marquette, is the moving spirit in 
 this enterprise, as he has been in many others that have re- 
 dounded to the credit and advantage of the Lake Superior 
 region. E. M. Wood, Esq., a competent man, is superintendent. 
 
 Near Bay field, on one of the islands of the Apostle group, 
 a quarry was opened some years ago, and from it was ob- 
 tained the stone of which the elegant Milwaukee court house is 
 built. In fact, all along the south shore of the lake are situ- 
 ated beds of this brown stone of the very finest quality, which 
 in years to come will be developed and made to yield the mate- 
 rial for the building up, in a more substantial manner, of our 
 great lake cities. Indeed, such is the acknowledged value of 
 our Lake Superior brown sandstone as a building material, that 
 we may confidently expect our quarries, in a few years, to 
 become one of the most important elements of substantial 
 wealth. 
 
 LUMBER. 
 
 It was the desire of the writer to present in this volume 
 full statistics of the lumber trade of the Lake Superior coun- 
 try, but he regrets to say that his requests for information 
 were not generally responded to. Reports were received 
 from twenty -two mills, having an annual aggregate capacity 
 of one hundred and seventy-five million feet. These twenty- 
 two mills cut in 1875, 95,000,000 feet of lumber, 21,200,000 
 lath, 20,650,000 shingles, and 12,298 bundles of pickets, the 
 total value of which in the market was about $1,500,000. 
 These returns do not include all the mills, and the writer is 
 therefore precluded from making as detailed a statement as 
 he desired to do. The figures show, however, that lumber is 
 not the least important of the many natural resources of the 
 Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In one county alone, (Chip- 
 pewa,) there is pine timber enough to keep fifty mills at work 
 for as many years, and the whole peninsula, except where it 
 has been burned over, is little less than a vast forest of pine 
 and hard wood. 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 275 
 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 The idea commonly held by strangers to Lake Superior is, 
 that it is a barren, sterile region, the surface of the country 
 consisting of rocky ledges, cliffs and hills, with here and 
 there a stunted fir or spruce tree, maintaining a precarious 
 existence in the shallow soil which has collected in cracks in 
 the rocks or in small valleys between the ridges. This idea, 
 which was probably derived from the accounts given by the 
 early voyagers, explorers and missionaries who first visited 
 this region, and rarely, if ever, penetrated the forests far 
 enough to lose sight of the lake, is certainly erroneous. In 
 consequence of these popular fallacies, strangers visiting this 
 region are almost invariably astonished, when they learn that 
 there are farms at various points on the lake, that pay larger 
 dividends to the proprietors than the best farms in the most 
 fertile parts of the country; and they are inclined to doubt 
 their senses when they find farmers actually getting rich on 
 their Lake Superior farms. 
 
 There are large tracts of fertile land lying at various 
 points along the south shore of Lake Superior, and all over 
 the U pper Peninsula of Michigan, in such proximity to the 
 mining and lumbering settlements that their products 
 would always be in good demand, and bring the high- 
 est cash prices. The soil is either a dark sandy loam, or 
 clay, principally the former well watered with numerous 
 small streams of clear spring water, and an occasional small 
 lake of remarkable clearness and beauty, well stocked with 
 excellent fish principally the popular speckled trout. One 
 peculiarity of this locality is that the great depth of snow 
 (from three to seven feet) which falls during the winter, 
 
276 t MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 usually prevents the ground from being frozen in the slight- 
 est material degree. In many instances, potatoes , have been 
 left in the ground during the winter without sustaining 
 injury from, frost. A home-steader remarks: u I have been 
 on my location five years, and have planted no potatoes since 
 the first year, allowing them to 'seed' themselves; but/' said 
 he, u I suppose I shall have to plant some more, for they get 
 smaller every year; and they'll get so small I can't find 'em 
 in two or three years more. The first two years they were 
 the best potatoes I ever saw." 
 
 Farmers from the old settled regions of New York, Ohio, 
 and even of Southern Michigan, Wisconsin, and other near 
 localities, while visiting this region for the first time, are 
 greatly astonished on learning that though the winters usu- 
 ally last from six to seven months, agriculture can be suc- 
 cessfully carried on. It would scarcely be profitable to raise 
 live stock for the market, as the length of time for winter 
 feeding is so great, and corn is not a successful crop. The 
 principal crops raised here are hay, oats and potatoes, and 
 other common root crops. Strawberries, and other small 
 fruits, grow luxuriantly and yield abundantly. Wheat would 
 doubtless do well, but as yet there are no mills for grinding, 
 and the cereal is not regularly grown. As soon, however, as 
 the farming communities become extensive enough to war- 
 rant it, mills will, of course, be erected. The deep snows, it 
 is contended by some, will smother the wheat; but in the 
 month of June, 1872, the writer traveled from the southern 
 part of Michigan to the Straits of Mackinaw, at the northern 
 extremity of the Lower Peninsula, a distance of upwards of 
 two hundred miles, and the best piece of winter wheat he 
 saw in the State was in Cheboygan county, on the Black 
 river, within six miles of the Straits, where the snow had 
 been from three to seven feet deep for several months during 
 the preceding winter which is about the depth the snow 
 reaches in the hardest winters on the south shore of Lake 
 Superior. Hay, is probably the easiest and most remunera- 
 tive crop the agriculturist can raise in this region, as grass 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR, 277 
 
 attains a rank growth, and when cured, commands a high 
 price from the various mining and lumbering companies. 
 During the season of 1873-'4, hay was sold at $35 and 
 upward per ton. We have seen "blue joint" grass grow- 
 ing in the beaver meadows along the small streams in 
 this region, which stood from four to five feet in height in 
 the month of June equivalent to May in the latitude of 
 central and western New York. Those meadows, which are 
 accessible from the lumber camps or mines, are mowed every 
 year by the companies nearest adjacent, and indeed much of 
 the land on which they are situated has been purchased by 
 them in order to secure the grass. There is no danger of 
 overstocking the hay market, because, even now, large quan- 
 tities are annually shipped to this country from those agri- 
 cultural districts which are the most accessible, and the 
 mineral development of this country has but just commenced. 
 Oats are always in demand at high prices, and yield well. 
 The large number of horses employed in lumbering and 
 mining operations require thousands of bushels of oats every 
 year, which are shipped from as far south as Illinois, and 
 never bring less than fifty cents per bushel, and usually the 
 prices are much higher. Potatoes yield well, and bring 
 strong prices $1.00 and upwards per bushel with ready 
 sales. 
 
 The timber growing on the agricultural lands usually con- 
 sists of sugar, or hard maple, yellow birch, basswood, elm, and 
 on the low lands along the streams and near the lakes, white 
 cedar, fir, hemlock, and soft maple, with some pine timber. 
 The numerous charcoal furnaces already built, and others 
 soon to be, will make this timber valuable; in fact, large 
 tracts of the lands covered with this hard wood have been 
 located by speculators, in anticipation of the denesaid for the 
 wood sure to be created by these furnaces, and large sums of 
 money have already been realized by comparatively small 
 investments in this class of lands, located near enough to the 
 railroads, before they were built, or soon after they were 
 finished, to render them accessible to the charcoal burners. 
 
278 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 One furnace company has constructed a wooden railroad of 
 about eleven miles in length, on which to draw charcoal, 
 wood having become scarce in the vicinity of the furnace. 
 Other furnaces have been abandoned wholly on account of 
 the difficulty in obtaining a supply of charcoal. Thus a 
 scarcity of wood may be created even in a "wooden country." 
 The desirable lands lying near the railroads already built 
 are probably nearly all bought up, but along the line of one 
 or two projected roads, (the Mackinaw & Marquette, and 
 Menominee Range) which must, in the nature of things, 
 soon be built, there are still considerable state and govern- 
 ment lands that can be bought for $1.25, $2.50, and $4.00 
 per acre; or, any one desiring to settle on the land can, by 
 payment of a small fee at the government land office, " pre- 
 empt " 160 acres of the $1.25 land, or 80 acres of the $2.50 
 land. In buying $4 state lands, the purchaser can, by 
 making oath that it is principally valuable for agricultural 
 purposes, secure the title on payment of $1.00 per acre, and 
 have almost unlimited time in which to pay the balance, with 
 seven per cent, interest, payable annually. 
 
 This volume would not be complete without a reference to 
 Lake Superior as a summer resort for the tourist pleasure 
 seeker and invalid; and the writer feels that he cannot do 
 better than quote the words of one who can hardly be con- 
 sidered an interested party. In 1864, M. J. R. St. John 
 visited this region, and was so enraptured with the climate 
 and scenery that he was led to write and publish a small 
 volume, giving an account of the country and its many 
 attractions. In it he says: 
 
 "To the traveler for pleasure, let me say a few words. When 
 you shall have read the round upon which I have taken the 
 coaster, you will probably shrink from the toils of following 
 the shore, and wish to go direct, and quick, from place to 
 place, or tarry a time at one place and then go to another in 
 either case there will be ample provision next season. * * 
 
OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 279 
 
 If you are in pursuit of pleasure, whether lady or gentleman, 
 you can find it in the Lake Superior region, provided you can 
 be pleased with grand scenery, water-falls, lakes and moun- 
 tains. You can ramble in search of agates and carnelians, 
 in which, of all I have seen engaged, I have never known one 
 to tire of the amusement. * * Or, tired of this, you can 
 wander away with hook and line, to the bright and beautiful 
 lakes that lie among the hills; or take your gun, for 
 The Pigeon and the Pheasant's there, 
 The wild Duck, and the timid Hare 
 
 but no snakes ! I have never heard of any in the country. 
 Or take a bark canoe, which two or three trials will make you 
 at home in, for they are much easier to get the 'hang' of, than 
 most persons suppose; go to the adjacent islands, run into 
 the caverns and grottoes, which cannot be reached in any 
 other way. You may find rare agates there after a gale, and 
 when you return keep along the shore and examine the bot- 
 tom marked by white spar veins, discernible at thirty or 
 forty feet deep, * and when you get back you will have 
 
 an appetite; the tonic air of that region, and the water, will 
 make a new being of you in a few weeks. The air is bracing, 
 yet soft, and is pleasant in 'dog days, 1 without producing that 
 faintness and lassitude of the warm weather you have been 
 used to; and the water well, you will not be singular, you 
 will then say you have never drank any water before, and 
 when you return whence you came, and again drink of that 
 you once thought delicious, you will condemn it as an adul- 
 teration, or spurious. To the invalid I have a few words to 
 say: 1 am not 'cracking 1 up the country; for I shall write 
 nothing that all who go will not find as I represent it, or 
 all who have been will not confirm, either on this or any 
 other subject of their acquaintance which I treat upon. T.o 
 you I sav, go, then; although your health is impaired you 
 cannot be injured, and I know one gentleman who had been 
 south, and to Havana, without benefit, and one season on 
 Lake Superior restored him, as he said, to comparative health. 
 I don't know why it should not relieve consumptives as well 
 
280 MINERAL RESOURCES. 
 
 as others all who go there declare they feel much better, and 
 I know I did." 
 
 This was written at a time when the only settlements were 
 at Sault ste. Marie and at Copper Harbor, when the building 
 of such towns as Marquette, Negaunee, Ishpeming, Hough- 
 ton, Hancock and others of less note, were not dreamt of. 
 Now, we have handsome and flourishing cities and villages, 
 where then stood the primeval forest; palatial steamers plow 
 the great lake; railways connect us with all parts of the 
 Union; we have churches, schools all the adjuncts of civ- 
 ilization and yet the clear, babbling brooks and beautiful 
 lakes remain to charm the tourist and afford recreation for 
 the sporting Nimrod. 
 
 Come and see us ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
THE 
 
 teuite* 
 
 MANUFACTURES AND OFFERS FOR SALE 
 
 ZMZercliaa^it IBa,r Iron.. 
 
 Flat Bars up to 6x2. Rounds and Squares up to 4 inch, 
 Ovals, Half Ovals, Half Rounds, Box Iron, Cylinder* Bars, 
 Plow Beam Iron, &c. Also, Hoop, Band, Horse Shoe and 
 Shafting Iron of superior quality. A full assortment in 
 store after February 1st. 
 
 3PIgr Iron. 
 
 Superior No. 1 Foundry Iron constantly on hand. Bes- 
 semer Iron and Special Grades of Foundry and Mill Iron 
 made on orders. 
 
 3=3aolroa,d. Iron. 
 
 Thirty Patterns, from 30 to 65 Ibs. per yard. Re-rolling 
 done on short notice. 
 
 3=2aj.lroa,d. Splices. 
 
 Fish Plates to fit all rails used in the West. Track 
 Bolts made from Iron of superior quality. A large stock 
 on hand. New patterns made promptly. 
 
 Oo-u-plingr IjirLtes a,nd. 
 
 All patterns kept in store and made to order. Link and 
 Pin Iron in stock. 
 
 Capacity of Works for 1876. 
 
 Merchant Bar Iron, ...... 20,000 tons. 
 
 Pig Iron, .... - 35,000 " 
 
 Railroad Iron, - .... 40,000 " 
 
 Railroad Splices and Couplings, - - 5,000 
 
 Address all correspondence to 
 
 MILWAUKEE IRON CO., 
 
 Milwaukee, Wls. 
 
ROTHSCHILD & BENDING, 
 
 Wholesale and^Retail Dealers in 
 
 Imported and Domestic Wines, Liquors, 
 
 Cigars, Tobaccos and Smoker's Articles, 
 
 52 Front Street, _ M^RQUETTT, MICH. 
 
 TREMONT HOUSE, 
 
 This popular Hotel has been re-opened under the management of the Proprietress, 
 
 MRS. ARMSTRONG, 
 
 And will be kept in first class style. Charges moderate, and accommodations equal to 
 any hotel in the city. 
 
 THE. 
 
 MINING LAWS OF MICHIGAN, 
 
 COMPILED BY HON. W. P. HEALY. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 Address with price, A . p, SW1NEFORD, 
 
 Marquette. 
 
CLIFF HOUSE, DEVIL'S LAKE, wis, 
 
 B. K. COWLES, Proprietor. 
 
 Devil's Lake is one of the mot delightful summer resorts in <he Northwest, within 
 easy distance from Chicago, and the Hotel has first class accommodations for one hun- 
 dred guests. 
 
 JOHN L. COCHRAN, 
 
 ATTORNEY- AT-LAW 
 
 AND SOLICITOR IN CHANCERY. 
 
 OFFICE In Watson's Block, MARQUETTE, MICH. 
 
 THE FIIJST NATIONAL 
 
 MARQUETTE, MICH. 
 
 Capital, ----- $4OO,OOO. 
 
THE 
 
 AN EIGHT PAGE WEEKLY, 
 
 DEVOTED TO THE 
 
 A. P. SWINEFORD, Editor and Proprietor. 
 
 Postal Card for Specimen Copy. 
 
 Having a large circulation at home arid abroad, the MINING 
 JOURNAL presents itself as the most desirable 
 advertising medium in the great min- 
 eral districts of Lake Superior. 
 
 BATES REASONABLE AND FURNISHED ON APPMCAION. 
 
 J 
 
 f 
 
 From an ordinary address card to the most elaborate blank 
 
 book executed in the neatest style. Steam presses, 
 
 and a very large assortment of types of the 
 
 latest stles. 
 
 Orders ly Mail promptly attended 
 
THE 
 
 ntonagon ilmlroacl 
 
 COMPANY. 
 
 GENERAL OFFICERS. 
 
 President, Hon. SAMUEL SLOAN, New York. 
 Treasurer and Sec'y, E. F. HATFIELD, Jr., New York. 
 Gen'l Manager and Sup't, SAM'L SCHOCH, Marquette, Mich. 
 Master of Transportation, JOHN HORNBY, 
 General Freight Agent, JOHN SIBSON, 
 General Ticket Agent, W. C. BROWE, 
 Cashier, J. S. HARDEN, Jr., 
 Chief Engineer, C. H. V. CAV1S, 
 
 HIS ROAD extends from Marquette, Mich., on 
 Lake Superior west along the northern part of the 
 Upper Peninsula to L'Anse, on Keweenaw Bay, a 
 distance of 63 miles, with branches and sidings making an 
 aggregate of 108 88-100 miles. All the important Iron 
 Mines of the section are reached by the M., H. & O. 
 R. R., and extensive Docks for the shipment of Ore are 
 located at the termini. It is also the only Rail Route to the 
 vast Copper Mines of Houghton and Keweenaw counties. 
 The Company own over 400,000 acres of land, portions of 
 it known to possess Iron Ore in quantities, and all of it 
 thickly timbered and easy of access. These lands are now 
 offered to the attention of those desirous ol investing in 
 Iron and Timber lands at very reasonable rates, and upon 
 liberal terms. 
 
 The tourist and sportsman will find more of interest in 
 a visit to this section than in any other portion of the State. 
 
 Connection is made with all trains of the Chicago & 
 Northwestern Railway at Negaunee and at L'Anse with 
 steamers for all points in the Copper and Silver regions. 
 
RHODES & BRADLEY 
 FIG IRON, 
 
 STEEL AND IRON RAILS, 
 
 Boiler Plate, Sheet and Galvanized Iron, 
 
 Agents for the following Manufacturers : 
 
 Baiigor Furnace Co., Lake Superior Charcoal Pig Iron. 
 Marquette & Pacific Rolling Mill Co., Lake Superior Stone 
 
 Coal Pig Iron. 
 
 Milwaukee Iron Co., Rails and Pig Iron. 
 Standard Iron Co., Sheet and Galvanized Iron. 
 Bradley, Reis & Co., New Castle, Sheet and Plate Iron. 
 Reading Iron Works, Boiler Tubes, etc. 
 Baltimore Rivet and Spike Works, Boiler Rivets, etc. 
 Haselton & Leetonia Furnaces, American Scotch Pig Iron. 
 
 Pig Iron Dock, 111. Cent'l E. R. Slips. 40 & 42 Dearborn Sc., Chicago. 
 
 IE IR, 
 
 JOSHUA CULBERT, 
 
 Keeps the finest stock of 
 
 3f tiroes, 
 
 And Carriages in the City. 
 
 Conveyances and Guides to the best Fishing Grounds 
 furnished on application. 
 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 
 
 A REPRESENTATIVE JOURNAL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Iron, Coal, Ore, Hardware and Metal 
 
 TRADES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The only Journal of the kind Published in Philadelphia, 
 
 The IBON AND METAL EEVIEW is a class journal specially devoted to the Metal, Goal 
 and Ore industries of the country, and contains price lists, trade reports, correspon- 
 dence, and other valuable information from all sections of the United fetates. located 
 at Philadelphia, the great shipping point and centre of the Anthracite Coal trade, and 
 the metropolitan city of the leading Iron, Steel. Machinery, Ore and Metal producing 
 State of the Union, its publishers have unsurpassed facilities for obtaining the earliest 
 and most reliable information pertaining to ita special field of journalism, BcP" Cor- 
 respondence solicited on all subjects of interest '-o the trade. Advertising rates rea- 
 sonable. Subscription, $2.00 per annum, postage paid. 
 
 Address, IRON AND METAL KEVIEW, 323 Walnut St., Philadelphia. 
 
 SCOVILLE & JOHNSON, 
 
 DEALERS IN 
 
 Guns, Revolvers, Ammunition, Fishing Tackle 
 Tents and Camping Equipage of all descriptions- 
 
 Also manufacturers of 
 
 LEHpN'S PATENT 
 
 FOLDING 
 
 CAMP BAKER, 
 
 CLOSED. 
 
 OPEN. Kepresented by the accompanying cut. 
 
 When opened for use the Baker is placed before the fire, the heat being reflected from 
 the bright surface of tin, both below and above the t-luet-iron pan, in which all kinds 
 of meats, game, bread or biscuit can be baked as perfectly as in the oven of a stove. 
 When folded it occupies but a trifle more space than the pan it contains, in which may 
 be packed many ol the smaller articles used by camp-is. Will mail 4hem, post paid, 
 to any part of the United States at the following prices : 
 
 Size. Weight. Price. Size. Weight Price, 
 
 8x9 2 Ibs. $3.25 11x13 4 Ibs. 2cz. $4.75 
 
 8x11 2 " 3 cz. 3.75 11x16 5 " 5.75 
 
 8x13 2 " 7 oz. 4.25 11x19 o " 7 oz. 6,75 
 
 Extra large size, 17x27, $10.00. Discount on orders of six or more. 
 
 SCOVILLE & JOHNSON, Marquette, Mcch, 
 
ALL RAIL 
 
 TO THE NORTH 
 
 THE ONLY L 
 
 NLY INE TO 
 
 IS THE 
 
 Chicago & North-Western Railway. 
 
 It embraces under one management the Great Trunk Railway Lines of the West 
 and Northwest, and, with its numerous branches and connexions, forms the shortest 
 and quickest route between Chicago and all points in Illinois, Wisconsin, Northern 
 Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Calitornia and the Western Territories. Its 
 Omaha and California Line is the shortest and best route for all points in North- 
 ern Illinois. Iowa, Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, 
 Oregon, China, Japan and Australia. Its Chicago, Madison and St. Paul Line 
 is the short line for Northern Wisconsin and Miunt-sota, and tor Madison, St. Paul, 
 Minneapolis, Duluth, and all points in the Great Northwest. Its Winona and St. 
 Peter Line is the only route for Winona, Rochester, Owatonna, Mankato, St. Peter, 
 New Ulm, and all points in Southern and Central Minnesota. Its Green Bay and 
 Marquette Line is the only line for Janesville, Watertown, Fond du .Lac, Oshkosh, 
 Appleton, Green Bay, Escanaba, Negaunee. Marquette, Houghton, Hancock, and the 
 Lake Superior Country. Its Freeport and Dubuque Line is the only route for 
 Elgin, Rockford, Freeport, and all points via Freeport. Its Chicago and Milwau- 
 kee Line is the old Lake Shore Route, and is the only one passing through Evans- 
 ton, Lake Forest, Highland Park, Waukegan, Racine, Kenosha, to Milwaukee. 
 
 PULLMAM PALACE CARS are run on all throuarh trains of thia road. This is 
 the only line running these cars between Chicago and St, Paul, Chicago and Milwau- 
 kee, or Chicago and Wiuona. At Omaha our sletpeis connect with the Overland Sleep- 
 ers on the Union Pacific Railroad ,or all points West of the Missouri River. On the ar- 
 rival of the trains from the East or South; the trains of the Chicago & North-western 
 Railway leave Chicago as follows: 
 
 FOR COUNCIL BLUFFS, OMAHA AND CALIFORNIA, Two Through Trains 
 daily, with Pullman Palace Drawing Room and Sleeping Cars through to Council 
 Bluffs. FOR St. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS, two through trains daily, with Pull- 
 man Cars attached on both trains. FOR GREEN BAY AND LAKE SUPERIOR, 
 two trains daily, with Pullman Palace Cars attached, and running through to Mar- 
 quette. FOR MILWAUKEE, four through trains daily. Pullman Cars on night 
 trains, Parlor Chair Cars on day trains. FOR SPARTA AND WINONA, and points 
 in Minnesota, one through train daily, with Pullman Sleepers to Winona. FOR 
 DUBUQ,UE,via Freeport, tw through trains daily, with Pullman Cars on night trains. 
 
 FOR DUBUQUE AND LA CROSSE, via Clinton, two through trains daily, with 
 Pullman Cars on night train to McGregor, Iowa. FOR SIOUX CITY AND YANK- 
 TON, two trains daily, Pullman Cars to Missouri Valley Junction. FOR LAKE GE- 
 NEVA, four trains daily. FOR ROCKFORD, STERLING, KENOSHA, JANES- 
 VILLE, and other points, you can have from two to ten trains daily. 
 
 New York Office, No. 415 Broadway; Boston Office, No. 5 State street. Omaha Of- 
 #ce, 253 Farnham Street; San Francisco Office, 121 Montgomery Street; Chicago 
 Ticket Offices; 62 Clark Street, under Sherman House; corner Canal and Madison 
 Streets; Kinzie Street Depot, Corner W. Kinzie and Canal Streets; Wells Street Depot 
 corner Wells and Kinzie Streets. 
 
 For rates or information not attainable from your home ticket agents, apply to 
 
 W. H. STENNETT, MABVIJf MUGHITT, 
 
 Gen. Pass. Ag't, Chicago. Gen. Sup't, Chicago. 
 
MAt^F. BY M. C. BULLOCK, upl|_ LESCHOT'S PATENT, 
 
 (Formerly Supt. of the Pennsylvania Diamond Drill Co., and the General Supt. 
 ot the American Diamond Drill Co., of New York, and late of the Am. Dia- 
 mond Rock Boring Co., of Providence, R. J.) Are now brought to the 
 
 Highest State of Perfection and adapted to Prospecting, Mining, Shaft- 
 ing, Tunneling, Draining, Quarrying and Submarine Blasting. 
 
 Testimony from all parts of this country, Europe and South America, has 
 established their leputation for Rapidity of Execution and economy over any 
 other in use. For prospecting they accomplish the most important results, 
 otherwise wholly unattainable. By their use ONLY can mines be penetrated 
 to a depth of irom one to two thousand feet through the hardest rock at any 
 angle from vertical to horizontal, taking out a core the entire depth, fully de- 
 veloping the strata passed through. 
 
 Air Compressors, Hoisting Engines and all kinds of Mining Machin- 
 ery furnished. Satisfaction Guaranteed. 
 
 Catalogues and price lists forwarded on application. Personal attention 
 given to contracts taken for testing the value of mines and quarries. 
 
 Address, Care of FRASER, CHALMERS & CO., Agents, 
 
 145 Fulton St., Chicago. 
 
 In large or small quantities, convenient to Iron and Transportation in Upper 
 Peninsula Michigan. 
 
 ZLja.xi.cis 
 
 On the Menominee Range and elsewhere. 
 
 ZE^Ine 
 
 Tributary to the best lumbering streams. For sale by the Land Agency of 
 
 JAS. B. GOODMAN & CO , 73 Dearborn St. 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 Also Farms and Farm Lands in all parts of the Northwest. Southern Plant- 
 ations, Chicago City and Suburban Real Estate. We undertake all business 
 pertaining to the purchase, care, management and sale of real estate, making 
 a specialty of Timber and Mineral Lands. Correspondence solicited from 
 owners and buyers. 
 
T. B. BROOKSCHAS. E. WRIGHT, 
 
 IRON EXPERTS AND CHEMISTS, 
 
 Will attend to the Exploration of Mineral Lands and Mines, and Analysis of Ores. 
 B^" References and Terms made known on application. ^gg| 
 
 SAMUEL F. HODGE," 
 
 MANUFACTURER OF 
 
 HIGH AND LOW PRESSURE ENGINES 
 
 For Boats, Mills, Stamping. Pumping and Hoisting Purposes, Bucket or 
 Plunger Pumps. Cast Iron or Brass Seating and Valves, Chilled Stamp Heads, 
 Wrought Lifters and Tongues, Steam whim Cipstvns or Cages. M ichine, Horse 
 and Winze Kibbles, Whim Shelves, Shelve Blocks, Hand-power Hoisting Win- 
 ches, Jack Screws, Wrought Iron Bucket Joints, Bolts and Nuts, Picks, Mal- 
 lets, Sledge*, and all kinds of Cast and wrought Iron work for Mining purposes. 
 All kinds of 
 
 STAMPING and MINING MACHINERY 
 
 Furnished at a short notice, together with Plans for Buildings and Wash 
 Floors. All work made of best materials, and by mechanics thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with mining work in all its details. Proprietor ar.d Manufacturer of the 
 
 Superior Steam Pumps, 
 
 Horizontal and vertical, and the celebrated 
 
 Turner Improved Steam Valve, 
 
 which for economy of steam and control of engine is not equaled by any slide 
 valve in use. Prices and descriptions given on application 
 
 Michigan Iron Foundry, Detroit, Mich., and Lake Supe- 
 rior Iron Works, Hancock, (P. 0. Houghton,} Mich. 
 
 THE L/KE SUPERIOR POWDER CO., 
 
 MARQUETTE, - - MICHIGAN, 
 
 Manufacture and Sell 
 
 MINING AND BLASTING POWDER 
 
 Of E^ery Descriptioa. 
 JAY C. MORSE, Pres't. C. H. CALL, Sec'y and Treas'r. J. G. REYNOLDS, Sup't. 
 
FMETBMAN & BROTHER, Proprietors. 
 
 SADDLE HORSES TO LET ^ REASONABLE RATES. 
 
 SPartles STxpplLecL -witla. Cc3a.-sre3ra,zi.ces a.33.d. 
 Cria.id.es to tDa.e 
 
 NEARLY OPPOSITE THE FIRST 
 NATIONAL BANK, 
 
 Cor. Washington and Front streets, 
 
 MAKQUETTE, L. S., MICH. 
 
 Enlarged and Newly Renovated. 
 Beautifully Located, 
 
 Overlooking the Bay and Lake and within easy access of Steamboat Landings and 
 
 Bailroad Depot. 
 
 ARRANGED AND CONDUCTED 
 
 To meet the requirements and tastes of all, the tourist, the invalid and the business 
 
 man. 
 
 JOHN F. W. THOMAS, Prop'r. 
 
Incorporated under the Laws of the State of Michigan. 
 
 Capital and Surplus, - - - $165,250.00 
 
 MARQUETTE, MICH. 
 Transacts a General Banking and Exchange Business. 
 
 Officers-AMBROSE CAMPBELL, Pres't ; EDWARD BREITUNG, Vioe Prea't: 
 J. M. WILKINSON, Cashier ; FRED M. STEELE, Ass't Cashier. 
 
 Directors -AMBROSE CAMPBELL, J. R. CASE, J. A. TREAT, EDWARD 
 BREITUNG, J. M. WILKINSON, T. B. BROOKS, S. ADAMS. 
 
 A. MATHEWS. J. M. LONGYEAR 
 
 MATHEWS & LONGYEAR, 
 
 LAND, TAX AND EXPLORING AGENCY., 
 
 Marquette, L. S., Mich. 
 
 Lands sold, taxes paid, titles examined, defective titles adjusted, lands ex- 
 amined, timber carefully estimated and mineral indications reported, lands 
 located at State and Government offices. fl^^Mineral Explorations a spec- 
 ialty.^jgj] Mineral, Pine and Hardwood lands, and Minutes for sale. Mining 
 Stocks bought and sold on commission. Complete and accurate Maps of the 
 entire Iron River Silver District, showing the locations of the various Silver 
 Mining Companies, dip and strike of veins as far as known, and containing 
 much other valuable information. Price 50 cents per copy. Properties placed 
 in the English market for sale. 
 
 Refer to Gov. John J. Bagley, Hon. Geo. Jerome, C. B. Hebbard, Noble & 
 Brady, Detroit ; S. F. Seager, S. L. Smith, E. Longyear, Cashier 2nd Nat. Bank, 
 Turner, Smith & Co., Geo. E. Ranney, Sec'y State Ins. Co., W. H. Chapman r 
 Pres't State Ins. Co., Lansing; R. K. Havley & Co., Baliimore, Md. ; J. M. 
 Wilkinson, Receiver Gov. Land Office, Ambrose Campbell, Register Gov. Land 
 Office, H. C. Thurber, Geo. P. Cuuimings, C. E., Francis M. Moore, Co. Clerk, 
 J. R. Case, Marquette ; Hon. Edward Breitung, Negaunee ; Smith & Co., 
 L'Anse ; Smith & Harris, Houghton ; C. E. Wright, I. E. & M. E., Marquette ; 
 Jos R. Bennet, U. S. Marshal, E. Di&t., Adrian ; Prof. R. Pumpelly, Newburgh r 
 N. Y. 
 
 MATHEWS & tONGYEAR, Gen'l Real Estate Agents. 
 
 C. M. BOSS, 
 
 Iron City, L. S., Mich. 
 
 Attention paid to examination of Lands for Mineral or Timber. References 
 given. 
 
STOIRIB 
 
 Free Museum, News Depot and Variety 
 Store. Silver, Copper and Iron Specimens, 
 
 Amethysts, Agates, Greenstones, (Chlorastrolytes,) 
 
 Bark Work, Sweet Grass Baskets, Beadwork, 
 
 Moccasins, Bows and Arrows, Snow Shoes, etc. Green- 
 
 stone Jewelry a specialty. Lake Superior Yiews. 
 
 Nearly Opposite the Post Office, MAR QUJETTE, L,. S., MICH 
 
B. nini & co 
 
 >u 
 
 Itfl 
 
 ron mn, 
 
 STEEL MO IROI RAILS, 
 
 93 Dearborn St., CHICAGO. 
 
 Sole Agents for 
 
 Joliet Iron and Steel Co., 
 National Iron Co., 
 
 De Pere, Wis., 
 
 Menominee Iron Co., 
 
 Menominee, Mich., 
 
 Green Bay Iron Co., 
 
 Green Bay, Wis. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
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 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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