USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 32
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In Mackinac county, Mr. Brown, James MeNamara and Mr. Hoff- inan have been for many years the leading practitioners, and are men of wide experience and extensive practice.
Schooleraft county has, at the present day, several young, vigorous and somewhat experienced lawyers at its bar. They are all capable and active workers.
The dean of the bar of Delta county is Eli P. Royce, who is now a nonagenarian. Mr. Royce in his earlier manhood, practiced the sur- veyor 's profession, and planned and laid out, as its first surveyor, the village of Escanaba. He began the practice of law in Delta county in the earlier years in the history of the village of Escanaba, and con- tinned to practice until about the year 1894, since which time he has practically retired from all legal activities. He was a candidate for circuit judge, opposing Claudius B. Grant, but was defeated. He has been prosecuting attorney of Delta county, and served also as mayor of the city of Escanaba. He is a man of venerable appearance, wonder- fully preserved in view of his advanced years.
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THE NORTHERN PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN
Delta county has a large bar, and the business of its courts has been rapidly growing within the last few years. Its bar at this writing numbers twenty members, most of whom are still in the active prac- tice of the profession ; and among the elders of whom may be reckoned John Power, A. R. Northup, F. D. Mead, Ira C. Jennings, C. D. Me- Ewen, John Cummiskey, Newton C. Spencer and Judd Yelland.
MENOMINEE COUNTY PRACTITIONERS
In Menominee county, in the earlier years of its legal history, one of the most noted of its practicing lawyers was Judge E. S. Ingalls. He served for a time as probate judge, and this circumstance, coupled with the respect and affection in which he was held, was responsible, no doubt, for the fact that he was popularly called for many years of his life, Judge Ingalls. Eleazer S. Ingalls was born at Naslina, New Hamp- shire, in 1820. When eighteen he migrated to Illinois, driving an ox- team, accompanied by a companion of his own age on the trip. He passed through the site of Chicago and located at Antioch, where his father engaged in farming. He worked at blacksmithing for a time and read law, and finally entered upon practice. He married Martha M. Pearson. There were born to them three boys and five girls. Of this family at this time, only three survive. They are Mrs. A. L. Sawyer of Menominee, Mrs. P. M. Beaser and Arthur J. Ingalls. The two latter now live in California. In the year 1850 Judge Ingalls organized a caravan and crossed the plains to California. After remaining in Cali- fornia two years, he returned east with the object of taking his family to the gold-producing state; but he changed his mind and did not re- turn to the Pacific coast. In 1859 he located on the bay shore a little south of the mouth of the Menominee river. Shortly after he moved to Menominee, and there immediately became a prominent and public-spir- ited citizen. There was an effort, at the time of Judge Ingall's location in Menominee, to establish a county to be known as the county of Bleecker, with the county seat a few miles from Menominee city. This effort Judge Ingalls vigorously fought and defeated. He was engaged in the publishing business, and started the Menominee Herald, now the Her- ald-Leader. He was also active in railroad construction interests, and secured a contract from the state to build the Green Bay and Bay De Noc State road within Menominee county. He was very active, too, in the work of bringing ahout the construction of the Menominee branch railroad to the Iron range. He was interested in the Breen mine at Wauceda, and in the Emmet mine at the same place, whence shipments of iron ore were begun in the year 1878. As a lawyer, Judge Ingalls was especially strong before a jury because of his winning and impres- sive personality. He was the only attorney whose name appears in the record of the first term of the Circuit court of Menominee. He filled the offices of prosecuting attorney and circuit court commissioner, as well as that of judge of probate. Judge Ingalls was very widely known and universally respected. He died at a comparatively early age, that of fifty-nine.
Vol. 1-16
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JUDGE E. S. INGALLS
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Benjamin J. Brown, also of Menominee, was a colleague at the bar of that county of Judge Ingalls, Judge Thomas B. Rice having prac- ticed contemporaneously with them. Judge Ingalls' death occurred in 1879, Judge Rice's about two years later, and Benjamin J. Brown, also familiarly known as Judge Brown, passed away in the year 1905. Per- haps, the most appropriate method which can be adopted to character- ize the life and work of Hon. Benjamin J. Brown would be to insert here the resolutions which were adopted by the Menominee county bar, his practicing colleagues who knew him best and had opportunity to study his characteristics, and who in these resolutions give expression to their views of the man. The resolutions follow :
"Hon. Benjamin J. Brown, unanimously acknowledged premier of the Menom- inee county bar, and by general recognition accepted as one of the leading lawyers of Michigan, died at his home, in the city of Menominee, on the ninth day of Jan- uary, 1905. His death for some little time past had been not wholly unlooked for. He had reached an age at which resistance to the attacks of disease yields; and the community in which he had lived continuously for over thirty years was not wholly unprepared for the wad announcement that the disease which had developed in his system some years ago had at length proved fatal.
"On the occasion of the death of so distinguished a member of the bar it is eminently proper that his surviving colleagues come together to give formal ex- pression to their feelings, and by proper observance mark their respect for the deceased. The announcement that our friend and associate, B. J. Brown, is dead is a command to at once suspend our work and convene to pay fitting respect to our departed co-laborer, although without any expression of action from individual or body the loss of B. J. Brown would be quickly felt by our community.
" We have all known him well for many years, and have learned to love and respect him for his many admirable qualities with which he has impressed his social and moral worth indelibly upon the community; but it is of him as a lawyer that we desire especially to record this tribute.
"Judge Brown, as he was familiarly called, was wont to speak of himself as having been 'born into the profession,' his father, Benjamin S. Brown, having been an able lawyer, and at one time associated in practice with Noah H. Swayne, after- wards one of the justices of the supreme court of the United States.
"Benjamin J. Brown was born at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, July 8, 1833, and received the principal part of his education at the noted Sloan Academy in that place. In May, 1855, he was admitted to the practice of law by the supreme court of Illinois, and the following year located at Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he lived until 1865, at which time he removed to Saginaw and became a member of the Michigan bar. In 1873 he came to Menominee, and here he has spent the greater portion of his professional life, having participated in a large part in the important legal ques- tions and controversies that have arisen in the development of our institutions and industries. He was well known to our supreme court, where his clear view on legal questions, always expressed in the classic language of the old school, received the closest attention and commanded the thoughtful consideration of the court. His acute reasoning pierced the most stubborn shield. It is but the truth to say that he bad acquired the attributes. of readiness, fullness and accuracy.
"In our every day practice here none of us dared dispute his enunciation of legal propositions. He was an exemplary practitioner, both in the preparation and presentation of cases. The precision and accuracy of his pleadings, and his in- sistence to the verge of tyranny on the use of the most apt word and phrase in legal documents will ever be remembered in connection with his name and work. The conciseness and aptness of his briefs, and the lucidity and eloquence of his argu- ments, are models worthy of imitation by the profession. This fact is exemplified by the records of many of our noted cases; therefore, be it
"Resolved, that the Bar of Menominee County, whose members have been as- sociated with Mr. Brown so long and so pleasantly in the labors of the profession, and in the duties and responsibilities of a common citizenship, and who from their association with him have learned to respect, admire and love him, deploring his loss,
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THE NORTHERN PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN
place on record this memorial of his life, and testimonial to his character as lawyer, citizen and honorable man.
""Resolved, that we tender to the family and friends of Mr. Brown our most sincere sympathy in their great loss and grief, but trust they, as well as all others who mourn his death, will find consolation in the knowledge and memory of his long, active and useful career, and his life's work nobly done.
"Resolved, that the Bar of Menominee County requests that the Circuit Court for this County and the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan and the Federal Courts of the District of Michigan to receive and place in their permanent records this memorial to our deceased brother. "
Among the practitioners at the Menominee county bar at this time, are A. L. Sawyer, M. J. Doyle, William F. Waite, M. C. Cuddy, J. E. Tracy, G. S. Power and others; a strong bar, many of the members of which give promise of much future achievement.
BAR OF DICKINSON AND IRON COUNTIES
Dickinson county being comparatively young, has few of the men in its personnel who figured more than three decades ago in the pro-
. fessional work of the peninsula. R. C. Flannigan, present judge of the Twenty-fifth circuit, is one of these. A. C. Cook of Iron Mountain, and possibly his professional co-partner, H. M. Pelhan, is another. The present prosecuting attorney R. C. Henderson, Attorney Knight and other professionals in that county are comparatively young. though quite successful in their work. One of the oldest lawyers in Dickinson county is Attorney Hurley, who is now, I believe, conducting the court of justice of the peace.
. Iron county, also comparatively new, had, however, some lawyers of note; among whom mention is dne of Senator Moriarty, Charles E. Watson and Fred H. Abbott, all of whom have been engaged in the practice of the law in Iron county, nearly, if not quite, all the years of its existence as a county. The younger members of the bar here, too, are men of force, generally energetic and given to application to the work of the profession. Credit is due, and is hereby appreciatively ac- corded by the writer of this sketch, to Hon. Dan H. Ball of Marquette, Hon. Joseph H. Steere, of Sault Ste. Marie, A. L. Sawyer of Menom- inee, and the late Thomas L. Chadbourne, formerly of Houghton, Mich- igan, for valuable hints and data furnished him in its preparation.
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CHAPTER XIII THE FAMOUS SOO REGION
OUTLINE HISTORY OF LAKE SUPERIOR-ITS VESSELS-ITS COMMERCE- ENORMITY OF TRAFFIC-THE RAPIDS-"DREAMS OF DE LONG AGO" -THE LOCKS-THE CITY-AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES.
By Hon. L. C. Holden
Lake Superior was discovered by the French explorer Brule in 1629, and is appropriately named. It is the largest body of fresh water in the world. It is 350 miles long, 160 miles wide and has an area of 31,800 square miles-exceeding the combined size of New Hampshire, Massa- chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey-which states, according to the last census, have an aggregate population of 7,991,521, while the ports on the shores of Lake Superior have a population of only 189,191, of which 9,050 are in Canada and 180,141 in the states; yet the tonnage of ores alone shipped from Lake Superior during eight months of navigation is three times greater than the total tonnage of all kinds and descriptions of freight exported in a whole year from the port of New York, which is the largest export city in the world.
The early explorers of the shores of Lake Superior reported most fabulous tales of the richness of the copper deposits along its south shore. Yet all united in the settled opinion that the locality was so far inland that the mineral could never be transported profitably to the markets of civilized people. Time has revealed the dimness of their vision, and now we look with prophetie eye to vessels which shall soon receive their precions cargoes at the ports of this great lake and dis- charge them a few days later wherever needed in the ports of the Old World. These cargoes will not consist alone of copper from the world's greatest native copper mines; nor will they be of iron alone from the world's greatest iron mines; nor yet only of the two combined; but combining the two, as nowhere else on the whole earth, there will be added to that vast and valuable bulk the grains grown on the largest and richest agricultural division of the continent.
More than two hundred streams flow into Lake Superior, but it is a remarkable fact that none of them is navigable. It discharges 72,000 cubic feet of water per second over the Soo rapids, equalling in me-
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THE NORTHERN PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN
chanical energy about 150,000 horse power, or the equivalent of burn- ing 1,500,000 tons of coal per year ; which power when fully harnessed and utilized will generate a current of electricity sufficient, if trans- mitted, to light Detroit and Chicago and all the cities lying between.
The greatest known depth of Lake Superior is 1,008 feet, and it is 601 feet above sea level and 407 feet below it. Its shore line is 1,500 miles long, being one and one-half times the length of the coast of Cali- fornia, and much greater than the distance in a direct line from Can- ada to the gulf of Mexico. Its waters are chemically pure, und so cold that bodies drowning in them do uot rise to the surface, as decomposi- tion does not occur, and gases do not form sufficiently in such a tem- perature to overcome the water pressure, which at the depth of a thou- sand feet is four hundred and thirty-three pounds to the square inch; hence it is that "Lake Superior never gives up its dead." It has been claimed that if an oak log six feet long and one foot in diameter should be sunk to the depth of 1,000 feet, the water pressure would compress it to the size of an ordinary rolling pin. What then must result to the human body if sunk to such a depth.
In only two other localities are chemically pure waters kuown to exist-being two small lakes in Scotland, and two small lakes in Ger- many.
LAKE SUPERIOR VESSELS
Ocean steamers going from Montreal to Lake Superior pass through forty locks, with a total lift of 550 feet. The first sailing vessel was built on Lake Superior by the French in 1812 and named the "Far Trader." She was afterwards wrecked in an attempt to run her over the Soo rapids to the lower lakes. But another little boat, built in 1817 and called the "Mink," was successfully run over the rapids. In 1835 the first Americau boat was built on this lake and named the "Jolin Jacob Astor." She was wrecked. In 1845 the steamer "Independ- ence" came from Chicago, wus hauled out of the river below the rapids. portaged about a mile and put afloat above the rapids. Nine years later her boiler exploded near where the head of the present caual is and she sunk-a total loss. About fifty years later J. H. D. Everett, of the Soo, became possessed of a part of the wreckage and made many curious souvenirs, such as paper cutters, egg cups, gavels, canes and the like from the well preserved timbers of this famous old boat-the first steamer on Lake Superior. The largest of these early vessels was only about one hundred and fifty feet in length, and two hundred tous eapac- ity. The number of bouts has steadily increased on the great lakes till there are now 2,500 or more. The size has also increased till some boats passing to and from Luke Superior are more than six hundred feet long and sixty feet wide; while Noah's Ark, which carried a pair of every living, breathing thing, was only five hundred and twenty-five feet long, and eighty-seven and one-half feet wide.
The Indian name for Lake Superior was "Kitchi Gummi" (Big
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THE OLD WAY-TOWING SCHOONERS THROUGH THE RAPIDS
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THE NORTHERN PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN
Lake), or "Gitchegomee" (Great Water). But in September, 1666, Claude Allouez declared that from thenceforth its name should be Lac Tracy, in honor of M. de Tracy whom Allouez thought had been suf- ficiently a benefactor of the community to entitle him to such distine- tion. The early maps showed the name to be Lac Tracy. Soon, how. ever, the importance of the man for whom the lake was named-like most things human-paled into comparative insignificance, while that of the lake increased, is still increasing, and must yet increase in tre- mendous proportions, so that the name Superior is more expressive of its true importance, than if it had borne the name Tracy, or that of any other man.
ITS COMMERCE
The United States officials keep strict account of all the Lake Su- perior traffic passing through the locks at the Soo. That its growth and importance may more readily be understood, the following table is given, showing the most important features of that traffic, season by season, from the opening of the locks June 18, 1855, to the closing December 15, 1910.
Passen-
Year
Total Paa.
gers Num- ber
Coal Short TODA
Flour Barrela
Wheat Bushela
Iron Ore Short Tons
Lumber M. Feet
dine
Total Freight
1855
193
8.293
3.414
10.289
1.445
17.686
LL.597
433
5.538
13.817
1857
376
6,650
5.29€
18,515
28.185
1.140
51.007
1859
406
9.230
4.116
13.752
31.035
188
9.58T
57.002
1859
669
8.884
39.45@
65.769
25,280
122.066
1860
916
50,250
120.000
14,915
153.721
534
9.816
11,507
22.713
213
44.837
684
12.972
87.847
1863
1.257
18.281
1.MOT
31.975
181.587
1.414
30.213
236,760
1864
1.411
16.985
11.287
33.93]
₹13.753
2.012
33.4TT
284.350
1866
1.00€
14.062
19.915
33,603
152.102
660
22.316
239.457
1887
1.305
15. 120
12.927
28.345
222.881
1.171
33.632
325.35T
1.15$
10.590
25.814
27.372
181,939
1.404
31.843
299.175
1849
1.3:18
17.657
27.850
33.007
239.368
1.423
41.813
868.224
1870
1.828
17.153
15.952
33.544
49.700
409.850
327.461
1.098
74.221
585.593
1872
2,004
25 630
80.416
136,411
363,195
109,643
T46.258
1953
2.517
30,966
96.160
172.692
2.110.99T
504.121
2.191
123.395
888.432
1874
1.734
22.958
61.124
179.835
1.120,015
427.65$
55,312
650.135
1975
2,03 €
19.683
101.280
309 991
1.213.708
493.406
4.498
To.128
¥33.465
2.417
20.286
124,960
390.5TT
1,971.549
009,753
11.620
91.119
1.073,570
1877
2.451
21.800
91.575
355.117
1.349.738
566,062
15.373
64.201 69.007
932.381
3.503
24.766
170,5m]
523.860
2.105.1.20
677.073
48.635
140,819
1,321.906
4.004
24.671
295.547
605,453
3.456,905
746,131
58.877
129,031
1.507.74L
4.315
20.170
:14.141
687.031
5.900.473
791.732
87.131
191.571
2.267.105
18#4
5,459
54.214
706,379
1.249.243
11.985.791
1.136.071
122.389
207.173
2.674.557
1886
7.4:1
27.088
1.499,999
1,759.365
18.991.485
138.668
230.120
4.527.759
188:
9.345
32.668
1.352.987
1,5:2,735
23.096.526
2.497.217
165.226
344.588
5.494,649
7.803
25.358
2.103.041
2.190.725
18.506.35]
2.570,517
210 372
345.854
6.411.433
9.579
25.712
1,629,197
3.220.107
16.291.831
4.005,855
315.554
313.410
1.516.022
10.547
21.656
2.176,925
3.249.104
14.217,370
4.771,769
201.929
271.294
9.041.313
IN91
10.191
25.190
2.507.532
2.780.143
38.815.570
3.740.21%
366.205
417.003
11.214.333
IN93
12.00₺
3.00%,120
7.420,674
43.481.652
4.014.556
588 545
415,180
10,790,572
14.491
31.276
2.797.181
N. 905.773
34.889 413
6.548.876
T22.7 **
451,185
13.195,860
1895
11.956
31.856
3.571.364
8.512.702
46.218.250
8.052 209
740,con
461 308
15,062.580
18,615
37.08€
3.623,549
8. 442.8.5%
63.216.463
7.909,254
684 986
520.851
16.23H. 51
1897
17.171
40.213
3.019.172
8.821.143
59.924 302
10.619.715
$05.612
624,144
21.274,664
1899
20.255
49.0M 2
7.114.117
58 307.335
15,328.24
1.0 IN 097
597.484
2.1.255, *10
1904
19,452
20,941
4.593.1%
7.634.354
32.812.636
18 090.618
1.072 124
58.041
28.403,043
1963
14.306
51.175
6.937.433
7.094.360
61.IM4.542
21.651,898
1.003.192
#59.8.3g
34.674.437
1905
21.679
54 304
6.509. 056
5. TTZ,TIA
68.321.284
21,302.637
966 806
836.583
44.270.680
1906
24.175
61.077
$ 139.130
6. 495,850
84 271.378
35.357.012
900,611
1.131,811
51.751.080
1907
20.447
62.738
11.100.045
6 524.170
98.135.775
34.594.944
649.320
1.022,654
58.217.214
15.181
53.887
9.542.440
6.704.375
100.041.8:3
21.650.340
413.741
$42.9001
41.590,357
1910
20.899
66.933
13.513,127
7.091.175
113.253.561
40.014.038
512.380
1.140.344
59.893.149
7.516.789
86.259.974
41.403.6.44
603.101
1.411,549
62.363.216
1862
8.408
11.346
11.291
113.014
240
19.365
101.675
947
19,777
31.985
147.459
11.226
181,638
1871
1.631
15.859
46.795
26.049
567.134
2.603.666
540,023
43.439
81.279
1.050 784
1× 979
110,704
451.151
15.274.213
1.275.122
127.984
184,963
3.256.828
12.5.KA
25.896
2.901.264
5,118.135
40.994.780
4.901.132
512.844
459.146
18.982.755
1828
17.741
43,424
3.716.470
7.7:8.443
62.339,906
11.706, 960
18.444.568
24.217.555
1.091.47L
744.100
36.061.146
14.120
32.595
6.454.809
4.710,538
49.928.869
10.435.797
924.280
732.009
31.516.106
2.567
20,394
91.854
344.599
1.872.940
54.899
172.167
2.029,521
29 256
4.30.181
341,014
3.728,956
#2.793
40.342
539.889
1,376,705
B. M
Short Tons Short Tons
5.690
14,503
1856
290
3.96€
4.4M6,9 **
40.189.202
1001
4.912.478
8,910,210
76.790.965
$43.48%
541,397
25.643,078
36.147
A94 991
1.440.094
912.8.39
General Merchan-
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15.204
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THE NORTHERN PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN
As published by the government, the statistics are also given as to the freight traffic in pig iron, salt and copper, covering the period men- tioned in the introduction to the foregoing table. For the year 1910 there passed through the canals 444,669 tons of pig iron; 528,610 bar- rels of salt and 148,070 tons of copper.
In the foregoing table showing the commerce through the locks also appears the item, "grain other than wheat." which totals 39,245,485 bushels, which may be sub-divided into bushels as follows: Rye, 408,- 358; corn, 683,919; flax, 5,811,334; barley, 11,421,583; and oats, 20,- 920,291. The flax seed alone had a value of $14.627,128.
Forty-four new vessels were put in commission for the Lake Supe- rior traffic in 1910. Fourteen of these new vessels do not exceed 258 feet in length, in order that they may use the Welland Canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Six others range between 300 and 500 feet in length, and eighteen of them are 500 feet or more in length, and carry from 10,000 to 13,048 tons of freight in a single cargo on a draft of 18 feet 11 inches.
The only bridge spanning the waters of the great lakes, west of Buffalo, crosses the waters of Lake Superior at the head of the Soo rapids. and was built at a cost of $1,000,000. Its length is about one mile. It has swings to enable boats to pass through both the American and Canadian canals.
During the entire season of navigation, the total delay of trains in 1910 caused by the passage of boats was only 25 hours and 43 minutes; yet the total number of passages of the boats during that period were 33,638, and the number of engines passing over the bridge and swings during the same period were 3,240; and they hauled 5,057 passenger cars and 26,451 freight cars-so perfect is the system by which the boats are handled at the Soo.
From 1855 to 1881 the American canal was controlled by the State of Michigan, and twenty men were employed. When the United States Government took control in 1881, two watches of twelve hours each were established. In 1891 three watches of eight hours each were es- tablished and still continue. The force engaged in passing boats has been increased with a growth of commerce, the number now aggregat- ing seventy-four operators and nineteen other persons employed as clerks, watchmen, and janitors.
The operating expenses for 1910 were $70,609, and the repair ex- penses were $32,487. The total expense of the government for operat- ing the canals and locks and keeping them in repair have been reduced since the general government took over the operations from $13.57 per ton, to $3.98 per ton, showing that the cost per ton to the government has greatly decreased, while the number of tons passage has greatly increased.
ENORMITY OF LAKE SUPERIOR TRAFFIC
That the reader may be able to comprehend the enormity of the Lake Superior traffic. a few comparisons are made with a view of re-
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THE NORTHERN PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN
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