USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 50
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As a municipality, Ishpeming is divided into ten wards with the fol- lowing population : Ward 1. 1.288; Ward 2, 811; Ward 3. 1,722; Ward 4, 2,012; Ward 5, 1,330; Ward 6, 1,516; Ward 7, 895; Ward 8, 945; Ward 9, 1,034; Ward 10, 895. Total 12,448. It is a city of good schools; fifteen churches; a fine opera house seating 1,200 people, a well arranged public library; paid fire department of sixty-five men, with modern apparatus, and an up-to-date Holly system of water works.
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THE OLIVER IRON MINING COMPANY
Since many of the largest properties owned and operated by the Oliver Mining Company are located in the Ishpeming district, a sketch is here given covering the main features of its extensive operations in this section of the state. Its holdings are distributed over the iron re- gion of the Lake Superior country and embrace some of the richest and most thoroughly developed iron mines in the world. This company holds the distinction of being the heaviest producer and shipper of iron ore in the world, with an annual capacity of between 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 tons.
The following mines located on the Marquette range are operated by the Oliver Iron Mining Company : Lake Superior Hard Ore, Lake Superior Hematite, Section 16, and Section 21 mines, comprising the Lake Superior Iron Company's group; Hartford mine; Champion; Prince of Wales and Blue mines, comprising the Queen group, and the Stegmiller mine.
As stated, the Lake Superior Iron Company was organized in March, 1853, and stands credited with having produced since then over 15,000,- 000 tons of ore. During 1909 the average number of men employed in the group was 642 and the amount of ore produced, 344.205 tons. Hard Ore mine is located in the southern part of the town of Ishpeming; the Hematite, in the same and adjoining section (10), near Lake Angeline; and sections 16 and 21 are indicated, as to location, by their names.
About half a mile northwest of the town of Negaunee is the Hart- ford mine, to which the city is so much indebted. Both Bessemer and non-Bessemer ores are produced. The mine employs 208 men and pro- duces nearly 250,000 tons of ore annually.
The Queen group of the Oliver mines comprises the Buffalo, Queen, Blue and Prince of Wales, the latter two being the only ones in opera- tion. The Stegmiller mine is also a producer. The Champion will be mentioned hereafter in connection with the mining town by that name.
THE CLEVELAND-CLIFFS IRON MINING COMPANY
No one in the Upper Peninsula or the iron world need be introduced to the Cleveland-Cliff Iron Mining Company, which is the result of the consolidation of the following distinct organizations: Jackson Iron Com- pany, 1848; Cleveland Iron Mining Company, 1849; Pioneer Iron Con- pany, 1857; Iron Cliffs Company, 1864. As noted, the active working of the mines is conducted directly from Ishpeming.
The company operates the following mines in Marquette county, the table also including their output of ore in 1909, with the number of men employed :
NAME OF MINE
NO. OF MEN
TONS
Lake Shaft Mine
302
402.302
Cliff Shaft Mine
180
248,254
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Negaunee Mine
294
279,498
Mass Mine
155
148.072
Princeton Mine
142
134,704
Moro Mine
110
91,177
Austin Mine
161
188,806
Salisbury Mine
145
72,709
Stephenson Mine
172
134,356
Imperial Mine
82
81,505
Total
1,743
1,781,383
At Ishpeming is also operated the Pittsburg & Lake Angeline mine, which commenced operations in the early sixties and has shipped dur- ing the half century of its existence more than 8,000,000 tons of ore. In 1909 it shipped 280,298 tons. The company's property consists of 200 acres of land and includes what are known as Old and East End mines. Altogether, the Pittsburg & Lake Angeline is one of the best known iron mines in the Lake Superior region.
Lake Shaft mine is located within the limits of the town of Ishpem- Ing and lies under the bottom of Old Lake Angeline mine; Cliff Shaft is just west of the town; Negaunee, east of the city named ; Mass mine, in Negaunee; Princeton mine in sections 18 and 20; Moro mine, at Ish- peming: Austin mine, south of the Princeton and directly north of the Stephenson; Stephenson, at Princeton abont a mile and a half from the town of Gwinn; Salisbury, at Ishpeming; and Imperial, near Michi- gamme.
One of the most noteworthy works of development accomplished by the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company is the town of Gwinn on the Swanzy range. Although the site was platted only in 1907, and building opera- tions did not fairly commence into the following spring, it is now quite a finished and well built place, with well constructed buildings, sewer- age and water system and graded streets: The Princeton, Stephenson and Austin locations in the same district, are also being developed as residence connnunities for the miners and their families.
EARLY OUTSIDE MINING CENTERS
Among the early mining centers outside of Marquette, Negaunee and Ishpeming, which are still active may be mentioned Champion, Republic and Michigamme. The original Champion is one of the oldest iron mines in the Lake Superior region. The first opening of this section in the Republican range was made in 1867, although very little was done in the way of mining or exploration until the following spring. Then, just as the first ears were being loaded, the burning of the docks at Marquette, in the great 1868 fire, caused a suspension of operations un- til the following October, when the first shipments were made. The first season's output amounted to 6,255 tons. In Angust, 1869, the
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Champion Iron Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $500 .- 000.
The Champion is one of the many mines now owned and operated by the Oliver Iron Mining Company. It is located near the town by that name in section 31, township 48, range 29, and its realty holdings cover 18,000 aeres of land. In 1909 the management employed 54 men, op- erated five power drills and produced 11.468 tons of ore. The first set- tlements in the town itself were made as early as 1863. Champion is not only the center of a brisk mining industry, but is surrounded by a fair agricultural country, which is especially favorable to the potato crop. It is a station on the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic line.
Republic, formerly well known as Iron City in the western part of the county, and on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, Chicago & North- western and Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic railroads, is one of the most flourishing mining centers of the Marquette district. It may be called a township village, as there is centered the trade, commerce and indus- trial life of the township by that name with its population of nearly 2,500 people. It has a number of good general stores, a public library and other accessories of an intelligent, moral mining community.
The Republic Iron Company, which founded the place, was organ- ized October 20, 1870, by S. P. Ely, Hon. Ed. Breitung and E. D. Par- sons. Capt. Peter Pascoe began the actual work of opening up the mine on November 30, 1871, when his gang of men commenced to clear off the windfall which then covered its site in section 7, town 46 north, range 29 west. This work was completed in the spring of 1872, the captain and manager of the mining enterprise having, in the meantime, erected a number of houses for the accommodation of his men. Captain Pascoe continued in active charge for many years and is considered the founder of the mine and the town.
As now organized the Republic Iron Company operates the Republic and West Republic mines. The number of men employed in 1909 was 350 and the output of ore 196,841 tons. The ore mined is mostly what is designated as a "hard specular," with a small part magnetic. Re- public mine is operated through several shafts, the deepest of which are No. 9, 1,815 feet, and the Pascoe, 1,950.
The situation of the town or village of Republic and of the mines themselves is quite pleasing and romantic. The Michigamme river, a stream of considerable size, has here a very rapid current, foaming vigorously over the rocks, but above the rapids spreads out into a broad magnificent body of water which disappears to the north between the rugged hills that come down to its margin. Here, too, are several beau- tiful bays, formed by depressions in the surface adjoining the river, and high up in the northerly and westerly slope of the bold, rocky bluff which surrounds two of these placid sheets of water, are the shafts of the Republican mine. The Michigamme furnished much of the power which drives its ponderous machinery, electricity being used to operate its pumps, surface machinery and ore crushing plant. Its air compres- sion plant is hydraulic.
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TYPICAL SPORTS
1. CORNISH MINERS WRESTLING
2. SKI-JUMPING AT ISHPEMING
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Michigamme is an incorporated village (1873) of a few hundred people lying at the west end of Lake Michigamme, and near the western bonndary of the county. The waters of the lake encircle many pretty islands and the entire country is picturesque. Jacob Houghton, one of the old Burt party of government surveyors, was the pioneer of the locality. He discovered the Michigamme mine in 1872, mining opera- tions being commenced in August of that year and the town laid out by the mining company in the fall of that year. In the winter of 1872- 73 a saw-mill was erected and it was kept busy for a minber of years by builders in the new town, although its first structures were nearly all swept away by the fire of June, 1873. The panie of that year reduced the working force of the mine from three hundred to seventeen, and the depression was generally severe. But the general revival of business placed Miehigamme on its feet again, and, as a whole, she has gone right ahead.
The Imperial, the principal mine near Michigamme, is the property of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Mining Company, but although a producer of ore for years. is an irregular shipper. The prodnet tor 1909 was 81,505 tons; shipments, 115,478 tons; men employed in mine, 82.
The Washington Iron Company, organized in the summer of 1864, was the mother of Humboldt, the mining settlement on the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantie line, a few miles southeast of Champion. The first ore from what was then known as the Humboldt mine was shipped in 1865, a prodnet of nearly 80,000 tons having been reached in 1870. From that year the output steadily diminished until the mine suspended operations. In the sixteen years from 1864 to 1880, the old Humboldt mine produced 485,000 tons of ore.
The Barrow mine, now operated by the Washington Iron Company, is located on the Republic branch of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic railroad, one mile from Humboldt. In 1909 its ontput was 51,926 tons; shipments, 44.715 tons ; men employed. 145.
Forsyth, known also as Little Lake, is a station on the Chicago & Northwestern road, in the eastern part of the county. in the Swanzy mining district. The village was settled in 1863 and was formerly a flourishing center in the line of saw-mills and shingle and planing fae- tories. It is now getting the benefits of the development in the Swanzy district so vigorously- prosecuted within the last few years by the Cleve- land-Cliffs Ion Company, although the new towns of Gwinn and Swanzy, with the Princeton and Austin locations, are being especially promoted as the children of that great corporation.
The Richmond mine is operated by M. A. Hanna & Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, and is what is known as "an open pit and low grade ore proposition ;" there being no shafts. It is located just south of the town of Palmer, employs about 100 men and produces over 100,000 tons of ore annnully.
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MINING SUMMARY
Altogether there are now some 48 mines operating in Marquette county, employing 6,546 men. In productive capacity, the Marquette range has stood midway between the Menominee and Gogebie ranges, for a number of years, nearly equalling that of the former. In 1909 the Marquette mines shipped 4,256,172 tons of ore, against the 4,875,385 of the Menominee range.
According to George A. Newett, of Ishpeming, a world authority on iron ore: "There are enormous bodies of low grade material in the Mar- quette region, but it will not be necessary to touch these for decades yet. Even now, in fact, the limits of the range are still to be determined. The discoveries of the new beds in the Negaunee and Swanzy districts have been followed by fully as important finds in the territory to the west of Ishpeming until it has come to be believed that there is an al- most unbroken stretch of ore all the way from Ishpeming to a point be- yond Lake Michigamme. It was in the vicinity of the American mine, in this district west of Ishpeming, that the deepest diamond drill hole ever bored in North America was put down during the year (1909) by George J. Mass. The work was done by Cole & McDonald. The hole was bottomed at 3,265 feet. It required six months to sink to that depth."
In view of the fact that there is apparently an inexhaustible supply of ore within the reach of modern mechanical ingenuity, throughout the entire county of Marquette and the Lake Superior region, the people of this section of the state have not been giving as much attention to other portions-especially the old lumhering counties of Michigan which have seen a virtual end of raw supply, in this line, some years ago.
MODEL DAIRY FARM
If anything, more attention has been paid to dairying than farming in Marquette county. One of the most striking evidences of success in the line is the Emblagaard dairy farm of John M. Longyear, at Big Bay, near the shores of Lake Superior, forty miles northwest of Mar- quette. Mr. Longyear commenced buying land there in 1893, and is making all kinds of improvements on his grand estate -- forestry, agri- cultural, etc .- but from the first his main endeavors have centered in the founding of a model dairy. This establishment is at Ives lake and consists of a collection of large and modern buildings which combine every known convenience and sanitary safeguard connected with the production of milk. The main dairy building is 157 by 36 feet, and the cow stable, containing sixty or seventy wonderful milch cows, mostly pure Holsteins, 137 feet in length, with a double row of stalls. The residences which form a part of the plant, so to speak, are convenient, modern and some of them decidedly handsome. The average price paid for the cows in the famous Emblagaard herd is $285, and, according to careful tests made of their capacity as butter producers, no better record can be shown in Michigan, and few herds can approach the figures in
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SOME GOOD ROADS IN MARQUETTE COUNTY
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the country. The test covers seven days and the pounds of fat in the milk supply are reduced to pounds of butter. According to the mana- ger of the Emblagaard Dairy, L. M. Hatch, following is a summary of records made between February 1, 1910, and March 15, 1911: "The average records of cows, four years old and over, is 23.21 pounds of butter. No record of a cow, four years old or over, having been made here, has fallen below the twenty-pound mark. Our aim, however, is to have all of our cows make good yearly records, as we consider that the only true method of judging of a cow's ability. Our first four cows to complete yearly records have averaged 602 pounds of fat, or 700 pounds of butter. These cows have an average of 23.18 pounds of but- ter in seven days. We have another cow to complete her yearly record on the 30 of this month (May, 1911). She will have a trifle more than 700 pounds of fat and about 22,000 pounds of milk. One of our cows, on test now, will make just about 800 pounds of fat; and one of our junior four-year olds will make one of the largest four-year old records ever made by a Holstein."
So much for the actualities of Marquette county as a dairy country.
INCREASE IN POPULATION
The progress in the population of Marquette county is shown by the following figures: 1850, 136; 1860, 2,821; 1880, 10,065; 1890, 39,521; 1900, 41.239; 1910, 46,739.
Comparative statistics of the last three enumerations taken by the government census bureau are as below :
LOCALITY
1910
1900
1890
Champion township
1,069
1,707
2,622
Chocolay township
852
662
1,285
Ely township
922
303
694
Forsyth township
2,402
595
270
Humboldt township
604
341
608
Ishpeming City
12.448
13,255
11,197
Ishpeming township
587
360
904
Marquette City
11,503
10.058
9,093
Marquette township
155
200
268
Michigamme township
846
1,143
1,435
Negaunee City
8.460
6,935
6,078
Negannee township
157
94
333
Powell township
736
Republie township
2,420
2.293
2,594
Richmond township
911
892
1,132
Sands township
159
192
Skandia township
546
338
Tilden township
1.150
1,448
908
Turin township
202
141
100
Wells township
306
West Branch township
304
282
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BARAGA COUNTY
Baraga county was organized under the legislature act of February 19. 1875, which provided that the following territory should be de- tached from the county of Houghton: Townships 50, 51. 52 and 53 north, range 30 west; townships 47, 48, 49, 50. 51. 52 and 53 north, range 31 west ; townships 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 and that part of town 52 lying east of Sturgeon river, range 33 west ; that part of town 47 north, lying east of the south branch of Sturgeon river; townships 48, 49 and 50, and that part of townships 51 and 52 north, lying enst of Sturgeon river, range 34 west ; and that part of townships 47, 48, 49 and 50 north, lying east of Sturgeon river or the south branch thereof, range 35 west. By the same art the county seat was established at L'Anse, which had
COURT HOUSE AND JAIL, L'ANSE
been platted in 1871, and provision was made for the equitable division of the vacant lands open to entry, comprising chiefly the several hundred thousand acres belonging to the Michigan Land & Iron Company.
In the first election for county officers, the highest number of votes cast was 490 and the following officials elected : Alexander Shields, sher- iff, 266 votes: Oscar J. Foote, county clerk. 248; James D. Reid, county treasurer, 226; Oscar Foote, register of deeds, 241; Jeremiah T. Finne- gan, proseenting attorney (447) and circuit court commissioner (445) ; Robert M. Stend, surveyor, 238; John Stewart, judge of probate, 280; John Marion and John Atwood, 448 and 273, respectively ; Earl Edger- ton, fish inspector, 449. James Bendry was chosen chairman of the board of canvassers and E. Z. Mason, secretary.
School district No. 1 was organized in 1881 and comprised sections 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12, township 50, and sections 33, 34. 21 and 27, town-
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ship 51. This included the village of Baraga. The township is now a union district, comprising ten schools and seventeen teachers. The first school was taught at Baraga about 1867, in Captain Walford Bean's house in Main street. A school house was built about 1869, a Miss New- combe being the first to teach therein.
BARAGA MISSION AND VILLAGE
The county was honored with the name of that great and beloved Catholic missionary, Rev. Frederick Baraga, who first established his mission to the Indians at Dubay's Place, on the west side of Keweenaw bay. His church was a building owned by Peter Crebassa, which orig- inally stood on the site of the American Fur Company's old place, a mile and a half above the present village of L'Anse. It was moved on the ice to Dubay's Place and there dedicated as a church by Father Baraga. The reader will probably remember that the name L'Anse was applied by the early French discoverers to the pretty indentation of water constituting the lower lobe of Keneenaw bay, on the western rim being Baraga and the eastern, the county seat-L'Anse signifying "arch," or bay.
The mission of the Holy Name at Baraga was established by the good father in 1843. There he built a little church and twenty-four substantial log houses for his Indian converts, and continued to labor faithfully over his charge until his departure in 1853, or at his appoint- ment as bishop. At that time the number of individuals of all ages- Indians and half-breeds-belonging to the missions was about 350. One of the best known pastors in charge of the mission was Rev. G. Terhaust, who presided over it for about a quarter of a century after 1861 and who made nearly all the improvements upon the lands, with the excep- tion of the government schoolhouse. Baraga was under township gov- ernment until 1891. when the village was organized. To all intents and purposes, Baraga village with its accredited population of over a thou- sand souls, is still largely a Catholic community. It is quite a lumber and timber center, two fair sized mills being in operation which turn out lumber, lath and shingles. The fine trout streams in the vicinity and its delightful situation on L'Anse bay make Baraga a pleasant summer resort, with the result that it has several well-condueted hotels for tourists.
M. Zowland, better known as War Tap, a half-breed and Canadian born, was the first permanent settler upon the site of the present village of Baraga. coming hither and entering a traet of land in the early part of 1846. He first built a little bark hut on the shore of the bay, but later put up a larger log cabin, engaging in trapping and hunting un- til his death at a good old age. Capt. Walford Bean and a Mr. Phillips were also early pioneers, and Luther W. Giddings, Augustus Bashaw, Ethan A. Critchfield, John Hand and Jacob Shaffer came soon after the war. Ethan A. Critehfield was the first merchant of Baraga and Henry Houghton its first postmaster.
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The first election in Baraga, after its organization as a village, was held the second Monday in August, 1891, and resulted in the choice of George Hadley as president of the board; S. D. Davenport, clerk ; John McIntosh, treasurer; trustees for two years-Anthony Girard, T. A. McGrath and Philip Foucault; trustees for one year-James MeMahon, Nelson E. Penneck and J. J. Byers; street commissioner, Peter Gerard; assessor, James Bendry ; constable, D. J. Golden ; pound master, James Golden.
The Baraga light-house, built in 1878, is a short distance north of the village and a little southwest of Sand Point. Northwest of this point are the church, orphanage and schools of the Catholic mission. At this latter point Dubay established the post of the American Fur Company
PORTION OF CHIPPEWA INDIAN BURIAL GROUNDS, NEAR L'ANSE
at an early day. In 1838. when Peter Crebassa, so long postmaster at L'Anse, was appointed trader, he removed the post to the east shore above the present county seat.
THE METHODIST MISSION
The Methodists established a mission at Kewawenon, on the shores of L'Anse bay, in 1834, seven years before the coming of Father Baraga. About ten years afterward Rev. John H. Pitezel, who had charge of the mission in 1844-46, writes of this period: "This mission is situated near the head of Ke-we-naw bay, one of the finest in the world. on a sightly spot about forty rods back from the water. Near the house bursts forth from the side hill a living spring, an invaluable treasure anywhere. The Indian cabins lined the shore and were mostly built there by order of Rev. John Clark (missionary in 1834-37). They bore evident marks of age and decay. The mission-house was of hewed logs, about twenty-four
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by sixteen feet, one and a half stories high, covered with cedar bark, und a little shanty appended which some of the missionaries had used for n study. We had on one side of us, near by, the government blacksmith and on the other side the carpenter, and off some distance, in another di- rection, was the farmer's family. These constituted our white neighbors. Across the bay, directly opposite, was the Catholic mission, three miles distant."
The first birth and death among the English-speaking settlers of Ba- raga county, and perhaps in the Upper Peninsula with the exception of Mackinac county, was that of one of Charles Carrier's children-Mr. Carrier being the government farmer at the Indian mission. The child was born in the spring of 1844 and died at two years of age. On July 17. 1844, was born Sarah L. Brockway (afterward Mrs. Scott), daughter of W. H. Brockway, and she was the second white child born of English- speaking parents in what is now Baraga county.
VILLAGE OF L'ANSE
Up to 1871 the only settlements in what is now Baraga county were these Methodist and Catholic missions. In the summer of that year the village of L'Anse was platted by S. L. Smith, Charles H. Palmer and Captain James Bendry. The original plut contained the names of twelve streets designated as Front, Mnin, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Menard, Bendry, Division, River, Broad and Railroad.
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