USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 36
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COPPER INDUSTRY SINCE 1845
As to the copper production of Michigan the following table wherein the figures down to 1909 have been taken from Mr. Stevens' valuable "Handbook," and those for 1909, from the report of the commissioner of mineral statisties, give a fairly necurate illustration of the growth of the copper industry from its beginning in 1845, and at the same time shows with accuracy the immense net income derived from one branch of the natural resources of that part of the country which was "thrust" upon . Michigan at the time she attained statehood :
PRODUCTION, VALUE AND DIVIDENDS OF LAKE COPPER
Y'ear
Pounds Gross Product of Fine Copper
Gross Value of Production
Total Divi- dends Paid
1845
24,880
$ 5,000
1849
1,505,280
360,000
$ 60,000
1854
4.074,560
909,500
198,000
1859
8,937,995
1,950,355
360,000
1864
12,491,965
5,870,300
1,150,000
$ 1869
26,625.301
6,230,016
210,000
1874
34,334,389
8.009,356
1,940,000
1879
42,671,529
7.327,350
1,818,620
1884
69,353,202
9.494,306
1.327,500
1889
88.175.675
11,894,942
2,670,000
1894
114,308,870
10,852,122
2.380,000
1899
146,950,338
26.098,382
12.318,450
1904
208,355,935
27,107,107
5,432.300
1909
230,123.525
8,405,940
The above table shows only the operations every fifth year. The gross product of lake copper to and including 1908 was 4,669,099,201 pounds, its gross value, $666,520,748 and the total dividends paid amount to the magnificent sum of $169.541,570 and the percentage of dividends to gross values is 25.4.
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FIRST IRON EXPLORATIONS
Unlike the copper of the Upper Peninsula, its iron seems not to have been known to or used by the Indians, and its existence here, in com- mercial quantities, first came to the knowledge of the world soon after its discovery, in 1844. while William R. Burt was conducting the gov- ernment survey in Marquette county. As a result of the effect of the magnetic ore deposits upon the compass, at a point where the Jackson mine is now located, the first discovery was made, and, the following year, 1845, explorations were begun by a company of men from Jack- son. Michigan.
These first iron explorations were made by Mr. P. M. Everett, who had with him in the work Messrs. S. T. Carr and E. S. Rockwell, and their fortunate beginning of the great iron industry in this peninsula developed into the famous and profitable Jackson mine, at Negaunee.
In 1846 the first iron ore mined, was taken from this mine, and it is said to have been smelted in a blacksmith's forge. Early in 1848 blooms were made from the Jackson mine ore, in a bloomery of the Jackson Company located on the Carp river a few miles east of Negaunee.
In 1849 the Cleveland mine near Ishpeming was opened, and in 1850 about five tons of its ore was shipped to New Castle, Pennsylvania, and was there made into bloom and bar iron by A. L. Crawford, proprietor of an iron working establishment at that place. The results were so exeel- lent that it was considered the great value of the ore was established; and this test immediately attracted the attention of the iron-workers of Pennsylvania and Ohio to the new iron field, as being a desirable source for the supply for their furnaces.
FIRST LAKE SUPERIOR PIG IRON
In 1852 about seventy tons of ore was shipped from the Jackson mine to Sharon, Pennsylvania, where, in the "Old Clay" furnace, it was made into "pig." the first, in this form, from Lake Superior ore, and this test emphasized the value of the ores and increased the interest of the iron manufacturers therein. This opened up to view the impor- tance of better transportation facilities to and from Lake Superior, and iron ore shipments had to await transportation developments.
ORE PRODUCTION 1855-64
In 1855, the Sault de Ste. Marie ship canal, constructed because of the provisions of the federal congress of 1852 granting to the state of Michigan 750,000 acres of land to aid in its construction, was so nearly completed as to admit of the passage of boats, and as a consequence the local bloomeries were abandoned, and immediate shipments of iron ore were begun.
The local forges had been located at Forest, Collins and Marquette, and ore for these, and for the early shipments, was hauled in wagons over rough roads; but in 1856 a plank-road was constructed from the
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mines to Marquette, which was later converted into a tramway, and still Inter (in 1857) was supplanted by a railroad, which became a part of the Marquette, Houghton and Ontonagon line. Previous to the con- struction of this railroad 52,000 tons of ore had been shipped to and smelted at the local forges mentioned, and the entire output of ores for the district in 1857 was only 21,000 tons; from which it can be seen that the industry was then in n very primitive condition.
With a good beginning the infant industry was ready for rapid growth, and in 1858 31,035 tons were shipped, followed, in 1860, by an amount exceeding 100,000 tons. This was considered remarkable, and the prophecies of the enthusiasts, for the future of the district, were ridieuled by the conservatives as being impossible, but the most san- guine expectations of that period have been exceeded in the actual re- sults of subsequent operations.
In the year 1864, the product was 235,123 tons from which time the inerease was rapid and will be more particularly mentioned in connec- tion with the history of the several mines. While those older mines have been continuous producers of large quantities of ore. the field has grad- ually grown and been extended by new discoveries and developments, that place this district in the front rank of the iron producing districts of the world, especially considering the quality of its ores. Details of this development can be gathered from the conuty histories of Mar- quette and Baraga counties through which the Marquette range extends.
IMPROVEMENTS IN HANDLING ORE
Very naturally, because of the crude methods of operation then in vogue, early operations showed smal annual production as compared to later years when hand and horse power has given way to steam and elec- tricity ; power drills have taken the place of the hand-hammer ; winding engines have superseded the old whim; dynamite has dispheed the use of black powder; the steam shovel has made the old hand-shovel and wheelbarrow objects of memory; curs of thirty to fifty tons capacity have supplanted the old "jumper" cars of five or six tons, and the lake freights are now handled with magnificent boats, as illustrated by the chapter on transportation.
Whether cheaper ore is the result of the improved systems and eon- ditions, or whether the improved systems have been introduced to meet the demands for cheaper ore. is of little consequence; but the result of operations has been to very materially reduce the cost and price of iron ore, which, at the beginning of the iron history of this peninsula, sold as high as twelve dollars per ton.
THE MENOMINEE RANGE
The Menominee range is second in order of discovery. The first dis- covery of iron ore upon that range was at the location of the Breen mine at Waveedah. now in the county of Dickinson, but then in the county of Menominee. This range extends throughout the counties of
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HANDLING ORE AT THE GREAT ESCANABA DOCKS
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Dickinson and Iron and has steadily developed its ore-producing area, as well as the product of its mines from its first operation to the present day
It is worthy of note that early residents of what was then Menom- inee county became enthusiastic champions of the iron prospects of the Menominee range, at a date when the geologists seem to have been so over-awed by the results in the Marquette range that they reported that the deposits of the Menominee range would not develop into commer- cial importance. Among the most prominent of those early residents to bring to the attention of the world the iron interests of this then pros- pective field were Bartholomew (Bartley) and Thomas Breen and Judge E. S. Ingalls, the latter of whom was active in publishing news of the conditions and the former of whom were both active in the work of ex- ploration and the field of discovery.
FIRST COMMERCIAL DISCOVERIES
The Breens were prominently engaged in woods work as timber in- spectors and cruisers. In the year 1866 they discovered the outerop- ping of ore at the Breen mine, but there were no railways within the county of Menominee, the location was far inland, and, as a consequence, development of the locations had to practically await the coming of a railway. The nearest feasible lake port was at Deer Creek, the point now known as Fox, north of Cedar river. The prospectors had also discovered what appeared to them to be large marble deposits on the Sturgeon river, but a few miles from the iron discoveries. A railroad was projected from Deer Creek to the iron and marble locations, called the Deer Creek and Marble Quarry Railroad, in the promotion of which Judge Ingalls took a very active part. However, before this project had reached the point of securing capital for its construction the Chicago & Northwestern Railway entered the field, and the first mentioned pro- jeet was abandoned.
THE CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY
In this connection Judge Ingalls. in his "Centennial History of Menominee county," said : "When the Menominee ranges shall be op. ened by railronds they bid fair to become the most valuable iron dis- triets in the United States." And he also says, that when the building of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway was assured, a petition in chancery was filed for the voluntary dissolution of the Deer Creek & Marble Quarry Railroad Company, of which he was the president, formed for the purpose of giving the Menominee range a rail connec- tion with water transportation. Of the devoted interest of the venerable judge, Mr. A. P. Swineford, in his "Review of the Iron Mining Indus- tries of the Upper Peninsula, says: "The late Judge Ingalls was from the start, an enthusiastic-believer in the great mineral wealth of the re- gion, and never tired in his efforts to secure its early development." To further show his faith in the future of the new iron field it is re-
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corded that Judge Ingalls incorporated the first mining company to operate on this range, in 1872. It was the Breen mine and the stock- holders were E. S. Ingalls, S. P. Saxton. Bartley and Thomas Breen and Seth C. Perry. Mr. Saxton explored upon the property in 1870. To Hon. John L. Bnell is also due large credit for his efforts to secure the railway to the range.
The Chicago & Northwestern road was constructed from Menominee north to Escanaba in 1872, and its course through Menominee county was diverted from that along the Bay Shore, as originally planned, to its present inland route through Powers, because of the discovery of ore on the Menominee range, and with the purpose of building what is now the Menominee Range Branch of this company's railway. In order to reach the new discoveries on the Menominee range a new railway com- pany was organized in Michigan known as the Menominee River Rail- way Company, which was in the control of the officers of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, and this company secured from the state a grant of seven sections of land per mile to "promote the early construction of a railroad through the Menominee Iron Range."
Plans for the proposed branch were well matured, so that everything was ready for the beginning of operations as soon as the desired grant was secured. Work was begun immediately, and the first eighteen miles of the branch railway was constructed to the iran developments at Vul- can in the summer of 1877, and continued to Quinnesec, in the fall of that year.
Just at the period when the discoveries of this range were brought to the attention of the public, the government grant to the Portage Lake Ship Canal Company enabled that fortunate company to locate lands along this range, and it promptly proceeded to do so to the ex- tent of about 400,000 acres, from which it has reaped handsome har- vests of both timber and iron.
DR. N. P. HULST AND THE LOWER MENOMINEE
While awaiting the coming of the railway, explorations were con- dueted at numerous locations along the proposed route. In 1872, the Milwaukee Iron Company, under the supervision of Dr. N. P. Hulst, to whom is due a very large measure of credit for the activity and skill displayed in the development of this range, commenced explora- tions on the Breen mine under a lease thereof from the Breen company, owner of the fee, and they continued throughout that season and the sea- son of 1873. In this last mentioned year the Vulean mine was diseov- ered. It was developed in 1876, in anticipation of the early completion of the railway to that point, and it made its first shipments in 1877, the year of such completion of the railway.
Of the situation, and the early operations upon this range, it is a pleasure to quote briefly from a paper written by Hon. John L. Buell, one of the very early pioneers of this region, as follows: "No more strik- ing illustration of the rapid development of iron are in our country, or
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in the world, is observable than in the rapid opening of the lower Me- nominee range, and the Iron River, Crystal Falls, Gogebie and Minne- sota districts, disclosing ore fields over a vast territory, which, a short time previons, if it had any appreciable value in the eyes of inen, was based solely upon the quantity and quality of pine timber standing thereon.
"The first exploring party to enter the territory embracing the lower Menominee range was Dr. N. P. Hulst of Milwaukee. As a representa- tive of the Milwaukee Iron Company he began active explorations with a large force of men on section 10-39-29, in the summer of 1872. The exploration was not confined to this point, but extended elsewhere along the range, consisting of test-pitting and trenching. with the exception of a long drift across the cilicions formation on section .10.
THE QUINNESEC MINE
"In the fall of 1871, memorable for its devastating fires, which pre- vailed at Chicago, Peshtigo, and other points, the writer, in company with John Armstrong. encamped at the little spring at the north end of Quinnesee Avenue, on the present site of the village of Quinnesec. While Armstrong was preparing dinner (it was his turn that day) a little stroll over the bluff to the west disclosed the ont-cropping of the easterly terminus of the Quinnesee mine formation. This was near the township line on the southeast quarter of section 34-40-30. This traet had been entered by Sales & Lasier, with agricultural serip, in 1864, but the entry had been cancelled and the land withdrawn from the mar- ket, with all other even sections in this region, to enable the canal com- pany to complete its selection. It was not until the spring of 1873 that the title to this tract was restored to Sales & Lasier, and in May of that year, exploration was begun by the writer of this paper, with a force of fifteen men, und prosecuted until a deposit of blue ore was discovered, on the 3d day of August in the same year. Where the ore was first struck it had a width of eleven feet of clean ore, a jasper horse four feet in width, and then one foot more of clean ore. Seventy-five feet east the deposit had a width of thirty-three feet. The analysis of this ore gave sixty-six per cent metallie iron, four per cent silica and .013 per cent phosphorus.
"In the spring and summer of 1874 fifty-five tons of it was hauled to Menominee on sleds and wagons, and smelted in the furnace at that point, with a mixture of Jackson hard ore and Winthrop. The last fur- nace charge was entirely of the Menominee range ore, thus establishing its tractability. Robert Jnekson, superintendent of the furnace, spoke in the highest terms of the quality of the ore. This was practically the first test of standard ore from the Menominee range. and was the incen- tive to rapid and snecessful exploration along the entire formation."
From Mr. Buell's paper we also gather the following facts as to early developments, aside from the work of the Milwaukee company, at the Vulcan and Breen mines, as already spoken of.
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EARLIEST MINES OF THE RANGE
The Breen mine was operated by the Menominee Mining Company in 1877, and shipped that year 5,812 tons. The Quinnesec was opened in 1877 and made its first rail shipments in 1878. The Emmet mine was opened in 1877, and, during 1878 there was shipped therefrom 11,523 tons. The Cyclops mine was discovered October 1, 1878, and by the 24th day of the same month was shipping 150 tous of ore per day. The Curry mine was discovered in 1878, and shipments therefrom to the extent of 13,010 tons were made in 1879. The Saginaw mine, later called the Per- kins, was discovered in 1878, and made shipment of 13,492 tons in 1879. The East Valean was opened in 1879. The Cornell mine was discovered in 1879, and it produced in 1880 .. 30,856 tons. The Keel Ridge mine was discovered in 1879, and shipped 11,445 tons in 1880. The Ludington mine was discovered in 1879, and the following year produced 8,876 tons. The world famous Chapin mine was discovered in 1879 and in the following year shipped 34.556 tons. The Indiana mine was discovered in 1879, and produced 709 tons in 1880. The Millie mine was discovered in 1880 and produced the next year 4,352 tons.
THE PIONEER PROMOTERS
It is safe to say that in no section of the country was there a more rapid succession of discoveries and development of important mines than was experienced in the short portion of the Menominee range between Waneedah and Iron mountain in the three years from 1877 to 1880. and it is also worthy to be recorded, in recognition of the patriotie work and allegiance of such men as Judge Ingalls, Bartley and Thomas Breen, John L. Buel and S. P. Saxton, that their pioneer prophecies have been fulfilled in over-flowing measure, and their reward, at least in part, is the existence of a prosperous, progressive and productive community, built upon the foundations staked ont by them.
In further testimony of the appreciation necorded to those and others active in the discovery and later development of the lower Menominee range, we will digress from the mines to speak briefly of those instru- mental in bringing them into use, and in doing so will use the words of one of those early pioneers speaking of the others. They are found in the paper of Mr. Buell's already quoted from, and as follows: "This, gentlemen, concludes the tax upon your patience, but before a final closing, reference is in order to some of the by-prodnets of this range- products more useful than ornamental. Attention is called to a few of the young men who came to this range of an early date, and in minor positions linked their destiny with its mining progress. We are proud of them, proud of their positions and prosperity, proud to think that the range can claim them, with all the enviable reputation they have ae- quired as practical miners-can claim them as some of its most compli- mentary productions. Among these we find the names of Hulst, Cole, Davidson, MacNaughton. Jones. Brown, Mebean and many others. Thei: hair is beginning to ripen, the sight dimming somewhat, but the
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purpose of their lives is still before them for a worthy and successful completion. The list of absentees of those who were identified with the early development of the lower range is a large one. It includes the names of Conro, A. C. Brown, both the Kimberleys. Foster, Williams, Stockbridge, Ludington, Stephenson, Van Schaick, Daniel Wells, Jr., Ingalls, both the Olivers, Rundle, Bartley, Breen and others not now occurring to memory. All these have crossed the dark river, and others are trimning their sails for the fateful voyage."
As to its having been a good field for the penetration of a railway, Mr. Buell says: "The delay in the construction of the road as far as Quinnesec arose from a matter of donht on the part of capitalists as to whether this range would sustain a railroad costing, exclusive of equip- ment. $475.000. The road paid for its construction in its first year of full operation, and this little stretch of railroad from Iron Mountain to Escanaba, since it began operations, has paid for many hundreds of miles of track on the western prairies." In 1880 the railroad was con- tinned to Iron Mountain, there to receive the same year a substantial initiation into the mammoth shipments since made from the Chapin mine that had been discovered the year previous, and from there, pushing on its course through the iron formation, crossed into Wisconsin and located its stations of Commonwealth and Florence to "accommodate" the iron discoveries there, and, crossing the Brule, returned again to Michigan and, to meet the Upper Menominee range discoveries, sent one branch to Crystal Falls and its main line to Iron river, whence it eventually went northward to meet the discoveries of the Gogebie range.
In Iron county, and especially in the recent discoveries and develop- ments in the vicinity of Iron river und Palatka, there has been a close approximation to the rapidity of discovery and development on the lower Menominee range, as already described, but of this later development, as well as of that of the individual mines of the lower range, more will be said in the histories of the several counties which are included in other chapters of this work, and, keeping to the purpose of this chapter, to mention generally the course of discoveries and development of the various iron regions of the peninsula, we pass on to the
GOGERIC RANGE
The iron-bearing formation of this range, different from the broken and irregular formation of the Menominee, is very regular and extends almost continuously for a distance of abont eighty miles. from Lake Gogebie, Michigan, to Mineral lake, Wisconsin. The developed portion of this formation is only about one-fourth its entire extent, and extends from Castle mine on the east, in Michigan, to the Atlantic mine, in the west, in Wisconsin. The general course of the range is a little north of east and a little south of west.
As an illustration of the generosity with which nature filled the Up- per Peninsula with mineral-bearing measures, ore is found in the north limit of the iron formation, near the village of Wakefield, within three hundred feet of the trap rock of the Copper range.
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As in the Menominee Range ore was first discovered by the Breen Brothers while on a timber cruise, so in the Gogebie Range it is said the first ore was discovered at the site of the great Colby mine, in 1880, by a lumberman who is reported to have informed Captain N. D. Moore thereof; and this gentleman is generally credited with the discovery. This section of the country was then a wilderness and far inland, and being then a part of Ontonagon county, was far from the county seat at Ontonagon. Upon the site of this discovery the Colby, the first mine to be developed on the Gogebie Range, was later opened up, and promptly took front rank with the heavy prodneing mines of the older ranges. Its development, however, had to await the coming of the steamhorse and iron-rail which first made its appearance in 1884, in the corporate form of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western, which was later ac- quired by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company.
On the coming of this railway a tide of emigration set in that soon made populous villages, while explorations for iron were carried on with an activity worthy of the success attained, and here, too, discoveries were frequent that developed into profitable mines. In the year of the coming of the railroad (1884), the Ashland mine was discovered, and in the following year it shipped 6.471 tons of ore. The Norrie was opened in 1885, and shipped that same season 15,419 tons of ore. The Aurora was opened in 1886, in which year the Newport, then called the Iron King. was also opened and began operations. Other discoveries fol- lowed along the range in quick succession following the range easterly into Michigan and westerly into Wisconsin, until the range at the pres- ent day has twenty-three producing mines.
GRAND TOTAL OF PRODUCTION
The total shipments from all the iron mines of the Upper Peninsula now reach more than 13,000,000 tons, which, in 1909, were thus divided among the three ranges: Menominee, 4,875,385; Marquette, 4,256,172; Gogebie, 4,088.057. Since the first shipments were made the production has been as follows: Marquette Range, 91,903,991 tons; Menominee, 71,313.115; Gogebie, 60,820,503. Grand total, 224,037,609 tons.
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