USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 52
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his principles in the undertaking. Eventually, Messrs. Bigelow and Clark of the Osceola, with a few of the other large stockholders fur- nished the necessary capital, amounting to about a quarter of a million dollars, and the lands were bought and the sinking of Tamarack's No. 1 shaft began in 1882.
In this day of mile-deep shafts the magnitude of Capt. Daniell's undertaking may not be properly appreciated. He was regarded as half-eracked by the majority of people; but lived to see the verification of his every prediction, and the opening of one of the greatest mines of the world along his plans. The shaft was bottomed in 1885, three and a half years after starting and struck the lode at a depth ouly ten feet greater than the estimate of Captain Daniell, made before the first sod was ent for the sinking of the shaft. The lode was rich, and from that time the history of the Tamarnek is one of steady growth and large profits.
Some 1,700 men are now employed in the various activities conducted by the Tamarack Mining Company, from its central offices at Calumet. and for the year ending December 31, 1909, it produced 13.118,785 pounds of fine copper which realized $1,747,422. As stated by the Michigan commissoner of mineral statistics in his annual report for 1909: "This is an interesting mine and one of the most remarkable mining organizations on the globe. For many years, it has been a sub- stantial producer and a fine business enterprise. Since the beginning of operations the company has provided steady employment at good wages to a force of from 1,000 to 2,000 men year in and year out. Tam- arack Mining Company was organized in 1882 for the purpose of mining the Western continuation of the Calumet conglomerate lode as it passes from the lands of the Calumet & Hecla mining Company into those of Tamarack. This lode is the same one which Calumet & Hecla mines and from which Calumet & Hecla Mining Company has paid stockhold- ers $107,850.000 in dividends and built up the finest mining location and mining .equipment in the world. Tamarack also mines the Osceola amygdaloid lode, but the conglomerate forms the chief source of prod- uet supply.
"Underground operations are conducted through five working shafts which are large, deep and vertical, and known as Nos, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. No. 1 is the oldest and now used principally for getting the water out of the workings. The conglomerate tributary to this shaft is exhausted besides the shaft was badly damaged by fire. It is 3,409 feet deep and 3 compartment. No. 2 is 4,355 feet deep, 8x16 feet inside measure- ment and 3 compartment. Nos. 1 and 2 form 'Old Tamarack,' while Nos. 3 and 4 constitute . North Tamarack.' No. 3 is 5,200 feet north of No. 1 and 16x8 feet in dimensions, three compartment and 5.253 feet deep or practically a mile down vertically. This is the deepest vertical shaft in the Lake Superior region, if not in the world and it happens to be the best one of the Tamarack mine. No. 4, located just north of No. 3. is 4.450 feet deep and a duplicate of No. 3 in dimensions.
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UNDERGROUND WORKINGS AT THE FAMOUS TAMARACK MINE
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No. 5 is one of the greatest shafts in the world, being 27 feet long by 7 feet wide within timbers, divided into 5 compartments and 5,210 feet deep."
The Tamarack mine has two stamp mills on Torch lake, about a mile south of the Calumet & Heela mills, and, with the Osceola Mining Com- pany, owns a pump house of 55.000,000-gallon capacity, as well as ex- tensive wharves and coal sheds at Dollar Bay, on Portage lake. The Tamarack ore is smelted at Dollar Bay by the Lake Superior Smelting Company, which is controlled by the Tamarack, Osceola and Isle Royale companies.
(From this point in the mining narrative, the sketches of the differ- ent mines are grouped with reference to their locations either north or south of Portage lake.)
ISLE ROYALE CONSOLIDATED
The present Isle Royale Consolidated Mining Company owns over 3.500 acres of lands, including the old Isle Royale (opened in 1852), Grand Portage (1853) and Huron (1855) mines; the Dodge and True prospects; and sundry undeveloped properties, including an 80-acre mill site, and altogether providing a stretch of about two and a half miles of copper-bearing beds, south of Portage lake near the Atlantic and Superior mines. The company was organized in 1899, the three old mines included in the present Isle Royale tract having produced the following amounts of fine copper : Huron, 35,766,225 pounds; Isle Roy- ale, 9,204,071 pounds, and Grand Portage, 3,482,294 pounds. These properties were secured under primitive conditions at a net aggregate loss of $2.500,000, but improvements have been made to make the pres- ent mine productive and profitable. It now produces about 5,719,000 pounds yearly, valued at $746,000, with a small yield of silver, and em- ploys between 700 and 800 men.
The millsite of the Isle Royale, at the mouth of Pilgrim river, has nearly a mile of frontage on Portage lake. At that point is also its 600- foot wharf from which are dispatched its ore-Inden scows for the smelter of the Lake Superior Company at Dollar bay, two miles across the lake.
ATLANTIC AND SUPERIOR MINES
The old Atlantie mine lies about two miles south of Portage lake and four miles southwest of Houghton on a 640-acre tract, between the Bal- tie and Superior locations. Organized in 1872, the present Atlantic Mining Company inchides within its location the mines known before that year as the Sonth Pewnbie and Adams. Between 1904 and 1906 the mine suffered severely from fire and air-blasts and suspended operations in May of the latter year, its production decreasing during that period from 5,500,000 to 1,500,000 pounds. There was no production in 1907 and only 43,483 pounds in 1909. About 150 men are now employed, the future of the mine resting apparently on the outcome of the explora- tions in the new mine on section 16.
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At the old mine is a well-built town, comprising several hundred structures of various kinds and including one of the best graded schools in the state; an opera house and hospital and Catholic, Methodist and two Finnish churches. The mining equipment includes a number of shops, engine houses and shaft houses, with powerful and modern ma- chinery. Its stamp mill at Redridge, Lake Superior, was built in 1895, on a site having nearly two miles of water frontage. The Atlantic Rail- road, which is owned by the company, connects mine and mill by nine miles of main line and a three-mile branch runs from the mine to the old millsite on Portage lake, where there are coal and merchandise wharves. The mine is also on the main line of the Copper Range Rail- road and has every facility for future growth.
The Superior Copper Company is auxiliary to the Calumet & Hecla and its location covers 400 aeres between the Baltic and Isle Royale mines and directly east of the Section 16 mine of the Atlantic. No. 1 shaft is connected with the main line of the Atlantic Railway by a spur of a mile and a quarter built in 1908. The company was organized in . 1904. Its mine produced 2,205,000 pounds of copper in 1909, and, as it is operating on the same lode as the Baltic and Champion, its prospects are bright.
COPPER RANGE, BALTIC, ETC.
The Copper Range Consolidated Company, with general headquar- ters at Boston, Massachusetts, and mine office at Painesdale, Houghton county, was organized in November, 1901, since which its capitalization has been increased to $40,000,000. The assets of the company consist principally of stocks in subsidiary companies by which it is the owner of the Baltic and Trimountain mines, and has a half interest in the Champion mine (the other half owned by the St. Mary's Mineral Land Company). Thus the Copper Range Consolidated is second largest cop- per producer of the Lake Superior district and one of the dozen largest in the world. the annual output of the various mines mentioned to which it can claim ownership amounting to 41,105,000 pounds of refined eop- per, valued at $5,340,000. Its mining expenses were $3,499,000, and it paid Honghten county $192,000 in taxes.
The Baltic Mining Company, whose mine is operated at Baltic, Mich- igan, north of the central part of Houghton county and southwest of the county seat, employs about 1,100 men, and produces 17,800,000 pounds of copper annually. The company was organized in 1897, and the mine was an actual producer about three years later. In 1900 the place which is now the Baltic location was a wilderness; it is now a prosperous mining town; the mine being considered one of the impor- tant and permanent industries of llonghton county. Its holdings com- prise a traet of some 900 acres. The town of Baltic has good transpor- tation service through the Painesdale branch of the Copper Range Railroad, and also by a branch of the Atlantic railway.
The Trimountain and Champion have locations in this section of
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the county, the latter at Painesdale. Organized in 1899, and prodnetion commenced in 1902. the Trimountain Mining Company employs six hundred men at the location by that name. The product of the mine for 1909 was 5,282,000 pounds of copper, and its various properties and employees are served by the Painesdale branch of the Copper Range line.
The Champion Copper Company was also organized, under state laws, in 1899, and holds 1.240 acres of land, with the properties of the Copper Range and Trimountain on the north; those of St. Mary's Company and Hussey. Howe & Company on the east ; Hussey-Howe lands and the Globe tract on the south and Copper Range lands on the west. The water system serving the great mine plant, and the town which has sprung up around it, has a 1,000,000-gallon electric pump at Lake Perreault, four and a half miles distant, distributing water to the mains from a 200,000-gallon steel stand-pipe, located on high ground near the mine. The stampmill at Freda, on Lake Superior, two miles west of Redridge, is 215 by 354 feet in dimensions, the mill plant at Painesdale including a machine shop, a carpenter shop, smithy. warehouse, office laboratory and ahout twenty dwellings. About 1,200 men are employed at the mine and mill. and nearly 18,000,000 pounds of copper are produced every year.
The Globe mine, adjoining the Champion to the south, is owned by the estate of John Stanton, and has been in process of development for the past six years.
The South Range Mining Company owns about 7,000 acres of lands. mostly undeveloped, lying between the Globe and Belt properties, in Houghton and Ontonagon counties. At one of its locations in Adams township a town of ahout 1,000 people has sprung up known as South Range Village, which was incorporated by the county board of super- visors in 1906. It lies on the Copper Range railroad, eight miles south- west of Houghton and is the main shipping point and banking center of the Baltic, Trimountain and Atlantic mines.
COPPER RANGE RAILROAD
The Copper Range Railroad Company, which was organized in 1899, has upward of one hundred miles of trackage, Its main line of sixty miles runs from Calumet, Honghton county, to Maas, Ontonagon county, and connects with the Keweenaw Central at Calimet, with the Dulnth, South Shore & Atlantic and the Hancock, Calumet & Mineral Range railways at Hancock and Houghton, and the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul at Maas. The line was originally built to transport the ore and supplies for the mines controlled by the Copper Range Consolidated Company, but, with the remarkable development of the entire country through which it passes, a large general business has been attracted to it. Its entire equipment is of modern type-fine engines and passenger trains made up of Pullman coaches-and its road bed is substantial, with well ballasted tracks and heavy steel rails. The Copper Range Railroad Com-
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pany owns an extensive water wharfage on Portage lake in the western part of Houghton, which is improved by a two story stone and brick building devoted to passenger and general office purposes, as well as shops, roundhouse, warehouses and wharves for merchandise and coal. It also owns a half interest in the railroad bridge which erosses Portage lake, between Houghton and Hancock.
MICHIGAN SMELTING WORKS
At Cotes Creek, three miles west of Honghton, with a fine frontage on Portage lake, is the great reduction plant of the Michigan Smelting Company, at which the mineral prodnet of the Atlantic, Baltie, Cham- pion, Trimountain, Michigan (Ontonagon county), Mohawk ( Keweenaw county) and Wolverine mines is refined and prepared for the market. The works were built in 1903. when the company was organized, and include the largest and most modern smelter in the Lake Superior dis- triet, with an annual capacity of 90,000,000 pounds of copper. The plant-which includes besides the smelting works proper, machine shop, power house, and office and laboratory building-is terraced throughout, the terraces for the different structures being sand-graded with stone- retaining walls, Mineral is delivered to the works in 40-ton bottom- dumping steel cars by the Copper Range Railroad, which also hauls away the refined copper for shipment from the Copper Range wharves in Honghton. The 3,000-ton storage bins, holding ten days' supply for the works, are located on the upper terrace of the plant, which is, in every detail, a model of convenience and saving of labor.
St. Mary's Mineral Land Company, organized in 1901, controls va- rious mineral and timber lands in the copper region und owns the Chul- lenge mine outright, this location being about five miles south of the Champion. Considerable development work has been done on this prop- erty, as well as in the King Philip tract. The latter consists of over 1,000 aeres in Houghton and Ontonagon counties, the main traet lying a mile south of the Winona mine.
The Winonu, which is practically controlled by the St. Mary's Min -- eral Land Company, adjoins King Philip on the north, and, although exploration work is still progressing the original mine was one of the first to be opened in the district. Its location consists of 1.568 acres of mineral land in Houghton county, near the Ontonagon line, and is in the direct channel of the richest lodes mined south of Portage lake. The mine was discovered in 1864 by a line of prehistorie pits along the out -. crop, and a single shallow shaft was then sunk, but owing to an entire lack of transportation facilities little was accomplished. The property was leased in 1880, but did not furnish sufficient ore to pay, and was closed until taken over by the Winonn Copper Company, which was or- ganized in 1898. The old shaft was then cut down, retimbered and deepened, and three new shafts sunk. Since then several new openings and a few miles of workings. Since 1903 the production of the Winona has ranged from nothing to 1.285,000 pounds, the last few years having been given mainly to exploration work.
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Adjoining the Winona is the location of the Wyandot mine, over 1,000 acres in extent, on which considerable exploratory work of an enconrag- ing nature has been accomplished since 1909.
WOLVERINE, CENTENNIAL AND OSCEOLA
In 1890 the Wolverine Copper Company was organized, its mine, op- erated at Kearsarge, Houghton county, being pronounced the profitable enterprise, considering the area covered by its properties, in the copper region. Its location embraces 320 acres, neighboring properties being North Kearsarge, Mayflower, South Kearsarge and Centennial. Al- though the mine was opened in 1882 it has been a steady producer since 1892, its snecess being largely due to the courage and good management of John Stanton. 'The Wolverine employs about 500 men and its pro- duction in 1909 was 12,676,000 pounds of copper. Its mill, completed in 1902, is near the mouth of the Tobacco river on Traverse bay, Lake Superior, and adjoins that of the Mohawk mine, whose holdings are just over the Keweenaw county line.
The Kearsarge bed, on the Wolverine property, averages about six- teen feet in width, and is the richest amygdaloidal mine in the Lake Su- perior distriet, and is second only to the Calumet & Hecla in richness among all Lake Superior copper mines. About a mile of new openings is made in this location, annually, with ground blocked out for about six years' production, or 60,000,000 pounds, and from twenty to twen- ty-five years of life ahead of the mine. Lying west and parallel with the Kearsarge bed is the West lode, on which considerable exploration has progressed.
The Centennial Copper Mining Company was organized in 1896, as successor of the Centennial Mining Company, and is controlled by the Calumet & Hecla; capital stock, $2,500,000. Its lands comprise about 670 acres; a triangular piece of 30 acres at the southeastern corner of the main tract, bought of the Osceola mine to secure the outerop of the rich Kearsarge lode, and 10 acres, purchased of the Old Colony mine in 1905, as the site for its surface plant. The first work upon the Centennial lands was done in 1863 by the old Schooleraft Mining Company, which failed to open a paying mine and was reorganized in 1876, as the Centennial Mining Company. This coneern, as stated, was again reorganized, in 1896, under its present name. The present Centennial lands are in the great mining camp of Calumet and have already been largely platted for building purposes, with mineral rights reserved.
In 1897 the Centennial Copper Mining Company did a few months' work on the old conglomerate shaft; then turned its attention to the Os- ccola lode, and commenced operations on the Kearsarge lode in Septem- ber, 1899. The principal mine buildings are substantial structures of Lake Superior red stone; there are a large number of dwellings for em- ployees, and the entire surface plant is well planned and solid in ap- pearance. The Copper Range and Mineral Range railroads, as well as
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a private line connecting the shops and shafts, furnish good means of transportation. The Centennial stamping mill is at Point Mills, Hongh- ton county, its site, with docks, shops and coal sheds, covering more than 400 acres. The plant at Point Mills was purchased of the Areadian Min- ing Company in 1904. Since that year the production of the Centennial mine has been constant, its production of fine copper in 1909 being 2,583,000 pounds valned at $343,000.
The location of the Old Colony mine, east of the Calumet & Heela and south of the Mayflower, comprises 1,200 acres, the mineral value of which is still problematic. Work was discontinued in 1909, pending the results of diamond drill operations on the property adjoining it on the north-the Mayflower traet. The latter consists of 840 acres. In Au- gust, 1909. the Mayflower Mining Company began its drill operations to explore the eastern portion of the Mineral range, which has at- tracted so much attention in the Upper Peninsula and on which sev- eral important discoveries have been made. It is the intention of the management to thoroughly investigate this portion of the property, which extends from the Eastern Sandstone to the Wolverine mine, a distance of one and a half miles.
La Salle Copper Company is an auxiliary of the Calumet & Hecla and in May, 1910, purchased the property of the old Tecumseh mine. The 560 acres comprising the location adjoin the Osceola mine on the south. Production under a former management was begun in No- vember, 1906, but soon discontinued, operations since having been mainly in the lines of exploration and development.
Osceola Consolidated Mining Company, operating its mine at Os- ceola, has two stamp mills adjoining those of the Tamarack, on the shore of Torch lake, the first of wood (built in 1886) having been torn down in 1905. The second was completed in 1899, and the third in 1902. As stated the Osceola and Tamarack companies have a joint boiler house, pump house and wharves. The Osceola Consolidated Mining Company was organized under Michigan laws. in 1873, and reincorporated, in 1903, for a term of thirty years with a capital of $2,500,000. It is con- trolled by Boston capital; owns over 2.000 acres of land in four separate tracts, covering properties of the Osceola, North Kearsarge, South Kear- sarge and Tamarack Junior mines; an extensive mill site in Houghton county and considerable holdings of timber and miscellaneous lands ip Iloughton and Keweenaw counties. In 1909 the gross shipments of ingot copper from its workings amounted to 25.296,657 pounds, and 1.898 men were employed in its various operations.
HANCOCK AND LAURI'M MINING COMPANIES
Hancock Consolidated Mining Company was organized in 1906, when it was capitalized at $5,000,000; issned $2,500,000. Its location of 936 acres adjoins the Quincy mine to the southwest. The traet included the original Hancock mine (around which the village and city gathered), which was set aside in 1859, by the Quincy Mining Company, mineral
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ELECTRIC HAULAGE AS SHOWN AT LAKE ANGELINE MINE, HOUGHTON COUNTY
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rights being reserved to the Pewabie lode. The Hancock Consolidated now owns, besides the latter, the Quincy West and Hancock, or Sumner copper-bearing beds. The old Hancock mine commenced actual opera- tions in 1861 and closed in 1885, producing during that period 5.709,000 pounds of fine copper. In the present workings it is known as No. 1 shaft, and about two hundred men are now employed in the operations of the company. Since the organization of the Hancock Consolidated the work has been of an "opening," or developmental nature. Among the important features of the latter is the acquirement of the necessary right-of-way for the construction of a mine railroad to the Mineral Range line, and the completion of the branch to No. 2 shaft.
The Laurinm Copper Company is a subsidiary of the Calumet & Hecla. Its lands originally consisted of 640 acres lying east of the Calu- met & Hecha tract, but a triangular piece of about 65 acres carrying both surface and mineral rights was sold, many years ago, to the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, and some 250 acres of surface rights have since been sold in the form of building lots in the village of Laurium. As min- eral rights were reserved, this gives the company holdings of approxi- mately 325 acres of surface rights and 575 of mineral rights. Active mining developments were commenced on the property in August, 1909.
MINE PRODUCERS AND DIVIDEND PAYERS
According to the commissioner of mineral statistics in his 1909 re- port, the copper mines of Houghton county are producers to the amount of 201,233,139 pounds of fine copper annually, divided in the compara- tive order of their output as follows:
MINE
PRODUCTION 1909
Calunnet & Heela
78,852,618 1bs.
Osceola
25.296.657 lbs.
Quincy
22.511.984 lbs.
Champion
18.005.071 lbs.
Baltie
17,817,836 lbs.
Tamarack
13,533,207 lbs.
Wolverine
9,971,482 lbs.
Isle Royale
5,719,056 lbs.
Trimountain
5,282,404 1bs
Centennial
2,583,783 lbs.
Franklin
1.615,556 Ibs.
Atlantie
43,483 lbs.
Total
201.233,139. 1bs.
"Stevens' Handbook" gives the following as the dividend record of the mines, since their organization :
Vol. 1-30
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Name of Company
Present Status.
Dates First.
Paid.
Total Amount.
Atlantic
a
1879
1905
Baltic
b
1905
1909
$ 990.000 5,550,000
Calumet
e
1870
1871
300,000
Calumet & Heela
b
1871
1909
109,600,000
Centennial
€
1864
1905
2.130,000
Champion
b
1903
1909
5,700,000
Cliff
d
1849
1867
2.518,620
Copper Falls
a
1864
1871
100,000
Franklin
h
1863
1894
1,240,000
Hecla
e
1890
1897
160.000
National
a
1861
1872
320,000
Osceola
b
1878
1909
8,381.750
Pewabie
1862
1873
1,000,000
Phoenix
a
1877
1877
20,000
Quincy
b
1862
1909
18,890,000
Ridge
h
1873
1880
100,000
Tamarack
b
1888
1907
9,420,000
Trimountain
1903
1908
800,000
Wolverine
b
1898
1909
5,700,000
Totals
$173,570,370
Copper Range Cons
i
1905
1909
9.219,186
Copper Range Co
i
1905
1909
2,050,000
St. Mary's M. L. Co.
i
1886
1909
3,640,000
Grand Totals
$188,479,556
HOUGHTON COUNTY, POLITICALLY
.
The legislative act of March. 9, 1843, divided the Upper Peninsula into Mackinac, Chippewa, Marquette, Schoolcraft, Delta and Ontona- gon counties. On March 19, 1845. this aet was amended as follows: "All that portion of the state embraced between the north boundary of township 49. the line between ranges 37 and 38 west and Lake Su- perior, together with islands in said lake west of the county of School- craft, shall be laid off as a separate county, to be known and designated as the county of Houghton."
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