USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 53
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This county was named in honor of Dr. Douglass Houghton, the dis- tinguished scholar and scientist and state geologist of Michigan, whose report to the legislature in 1841 awakened so much interest in the min. eral possibilities of the Upper Peninsula. In connection with the geo-
. KEY TO LETTERS-a, Idle; b. Active; e, Absorbed by Calumet & Hecla; d, Absorbed by Tamarack : e, Absorbed by Osceola; f, Absorbed by Michigan; g, Ab- sorbed by Quincy; h, Absorbed by Mass; i, Not a direct copper producer.
pogle
1869
1871
650,000
Kearsarge
Last.
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THE NORTHERN PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN
logical survey, he entered into a contract with the United States gov- ernment to execute the linear survey of the Northern Peninsula. This was conducted in 1844-5, and but added more tangible proofs of the ex- istence of rich deposits of copper and iron. With his able corps of assistants, Dr. Houghton was conducting the combined survey with his usual energy and thoroughness, when a black gloom was thrown over the expedition by his unexpected death. On the thirteenth of October, 1845, a few months after the creation of the county, he was sailing in a small boat, with some of his men, off Keweenaw Point, when a sudden gale swept down from the north, and all were lost, with many valnable field notes made by the head of the survey.
As originally formed, Houghton county comprised the present Ke- weenaw and Baraga counties, and on May 18, 1846, was organized into three election precinets or townships-Eagle Harbor, Houghton and L'Anse. There was already quite a mining settlement at Eagle Harbor, near the scene of Dr. Houghton's untimely death, and the Methodist and Catholic missions had gathered considerable communities around them, made up largely of Indians, religionists, government employees and traders; but the great industrial centers and flourishing cities of the Houghton county of the present day were to await the permanent establishment of the copper mines. By the 1846 act elections were held at Eagle Harbor, Eagle River (then building on the lands of the Lake Superior mine), and L'Anse, and the governor appointed three com- missioners to locate the county seat. Eagle River was selected for the honor, the following being named to the first county offices : John Bacon, county judge; Edward Burr, judge of probate; Charles A. Amerman, county clerk; Hiram Joy, register of deeds; Joseph Raymond, sheriff ; David French, treasurer; Samuel G. Hill. surveyor: John Beedon and John Atwood, coroners.
Under the art of March 16, 1847, the county was divided into Cop- per Harbor, Eagle Harbor, Houghton, Portage, Algonquin and L'Anse townships, but the first election for supervisors did not occur nutil July 4, 1848, at which were also chosen district and probate judges, clerk, register of deeds, sheriff, treasurer, surveyor and coroners, The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held at the office of the Lake Superior Copper Company at Eagle River, January 20, 1849, and Will- iam A. Pratt was chosen chairman. As to the first official business transacted, the following adopted resolutions will signify :
"Resolved. That John Bacon, supervisor for Houghton township, be and is here. by fully authorized to select a building at or near the office of the Lake Superior Copper Company and employ at the expense of this county some suitable person or persons to put it in fit condition for the reception and safe keeping of prisoners; said expenses not to exceed $100."
" Resolved. That the office of the Lake Superior Copper Company be designated as the place of holding the courts for this judicial district, at a rent not exceeding $1 per month."
Portage township, as defined under the art of March 17, 1847, was formally organized in September, 1853; Hancock, by special act of the
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legislature, March 16, 1861, from Portage township; Franklin was or- ganized by the board of supervisors out of Hancock October 19, 1863; Schoolcraft, including Traverse island, taken from Portage July 28, 1866; Calumet, from Franklin, was set off by the county board of su- pervisors November 27, 1866, and organized at an election held in the office of the Calumet Mining Company, on December 17th of that year; Adams township, set off from Portage in March, 1867, was organized at a meeting of its electors held in the office of the South Pewabie Copper Company on the first Monday of the following April. When Keweenaw was set off from Houghton county, in 1861, it took away part of Hough- ton township and all of Eagle River and Copper Harbor townships; this also marked the location of the county seat at Houghton village (never incorporated as a city).
In 1875, with the erection of Baraga county, old L'Anse and Al- gonquin townships were eliminated from the Houghton county list. Townships of later organization than these mentioned are Chassell, Dun- can, Elin River, Laird, Osceola, Quincy, Stanton and Torch Lake.
INCREASE IN POPULATION
The names of the original towns of Houghton county previous to the detachment of Baraga, with their population from 1850 to 1870, are as follows: Eagle Harbor, in 1850, contained 125 whites and 1 colored person ; in 1860, 1,303 whites and 3 Indians. In 1850 the population of Houghton was 456 and of L'Anse, 126.
For 1860 these are the figures: Copper Harbor, 193 whites and 1 In- dian ; Eagle Harbor, 1,306; Hancock, 1,618; Houghton, 2,124 whites, 18 colored and 3 Indians; L'Anse, 327 whites, 253 Indians and 2 col- ored; Portage, 3,808 whites, 32 colored and 18 Indians.
1870: Franklin, 2.163; Adams, 670; Baraga, 160; Calumet, 3,182; Hancock, 2,700; Huron, 769; Webster (set back to Portage township in 1874), 876; L'Anse, 33; Portage, 1,540; Quincy, 1,117; Schoolcraft, 669.
Always keeping in mind the detachment of Keweenaw county in 1861 and of Baraga in 1875, the population of Houghton county at the end of the several decades are as follows: 1850, 708; 1860, 9,234; 1870, 13,879; 1880, 22.473; 1890, 35,389; 1900, 66,063; 1910, 88,098.
By townships, eities und villages the comparative exhibit, necording to the figures of the U'nited States census burcan is as follows:
DIVISIONS
1910
1900
1890
Adams township, including S. Range village
8,419
3,253
1,475
South Range Village
1,097
Calumet township, including Laurium and Red Jacket villages
32.845
25,991
12,529
Laurium village
8,537
5,643
1,159
Red Jacket village
4.211
4,668
3.073
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Chassell township
1,523
1,088
680
Duncan township
865
1,316
476
Elm River township
1.073
532
Franklin township
5,679
5,418
2,687
Hancock City
8,981
4,050
1,772
Hancock township
351
1,945
963
Laird township
690
658
159
Osceola township
7,775
7,615
3,630
Portage township including Houghton village
8.599
5,019
3,531
Houghton village
5.113
3,359
2,062
Qniney township
1,507
1,667
1,258
Schoolcraft township, including Linden village
Lake
4.122
4,197
3,325
Lake Linden village
2,325
2.507
1,862
Stanton township
2.351
Torch Lake township, including Hub- bell village
3,318
3,314
2,904
Hubbell village
1,059
PHYSICAL FEATURES
Houghton county, as now formed, lies east of Ontonagon and west of Baraga, constituting, also, the southern portion of the extreme north- western projection of the Upper Peninsula, of which Keweenaw county is the northern section. It extends some sixty-five miles from north to sonth, with a width varying from twelve to twenty-seven miles, its general shape reminding one of the ordinary definition of a French farm in the province of Quebec-"all long and no wide." Fully three- fourths of its population of nearly 90,000 people is included in the stretch from Portage lake to its northern boundary, or within about a quarter of its territorial area; within this are Houghton, Hancock, Lanrium. Calumet, Hubbell, Lake Linden, and most of the richest mining plants and properties, connected with the copper industry, in the Upper Peninsula.
Like the adjoining counties of Ontonagon, Keweenaw and Baraga, the surface features of Houghton county are rough, broken, rocky and uninviting to the husbandman, but a paradise for the miner. It lies, on the northern slope of the water-shed extending east and west along its southern boundary, and itself lies upon a north-and-south water-shed. which sends the water courses within its limits, northwest and northeast into Lake Superior and Portage lake; this shed, or ridge, is popularly known as the Copper Range. From the southern shores of Portage lake the ground rises quite abruptly, after it has furnished a somewhat lim- ited and more gentle decline to accommodate the business portion of Houghton ; the rise from its northern shores, which includes the site of
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Hancock, is more gradual, and the elevated plateau which extends be- yond to Keweenaw line is one of the richest copper fields in the world, having, in its northern section, the wonderful mining villages of Lau- rium and Calumet (incorporated village, Red Jacket), which form, ap- parently, a continuous and well-built city.
One of the simplest and clearest geological explanations of the na- ture of the Upper Peninsula Copper Range was written several years ago for the Marquette Mining Journal by Dr. M. E. Wadsworth, and is reproduced : "The Copper Range consists of a series of interbedded flows of volcanic lava, and sea beach conglomerates and sandstones, all standing now at an angle of ronghly thirty to sixty degrees. This range is underlain or abntted against on the east and southeast by the Eastern Sandstone, and overlain on the west and northwest by the Western Sandstone.
"The upturning of the Copper Range roeks did not take place until the entire series of different flows and beds had been completed. Some time after this the rocks were all turned up on edge, and broken by fis- sures running lengthways and erossways of the beds. With this frae- turing there was more or less relative displacement of a bed on one side of a fissure compared with the same bed on the other side of that fis- sure; much as after a layer cake has been ent and the pieces moved, the same layer will not generally be found to be at exactly the same level on both sides of any eut.
"After the npturning and fracturing of the rocks of the 'Copper Range' they were acted upon by hot and cold waters-the former al- ways accompanying the dying ont of volcanic activity. These waters passed along the fssnres and permeated through the pores of the solid rocks themselves. By this water action the rocks were decayed and in part dissolved, while the fissures were often times much widened. This process was of long duration and during it the percolating or infiltrat- ing waters, collected the finely disseminated copper such as is found in all basaltic lavas, like those of Lake Superior, and deposited it with other minerals in the fissures, cavities, or within the more or less de- cayed rock itself.
"The most famous deposit is that worked by the Calumet & Hecla. the Tamarack group and other mines. This lode is formed by an old tide washed sea bench conglomerate, made the same as any of our shingle beaches found on the shores of a lake or sea. This beach conglomerate had much of its cementing mud removed and copper deposited in its place by the infiltrating waters; while many of the more easily decom- posable pebbles and cobble stones were dissolved ont, partly or entirely, and replaced by copper.
"On the other hand the Quiney, Franklin, Osceola, Atlantic, Baltic, Portage and other mines have as their lodes, lava flows that have been greatly acted upon by the waters and the copper deposited in them in irregular masses of various sizes from minute forms up to those of many tons in weight. All the copper mining of Houghton county is
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upon these two classes of deposits; bed deposits like the Calumet & Heela and other conglomerates, and lava flows like those of the Quiney and Atlantic mines. There are no veins mined in the county, and the term 'vein' is improperly applied when used in reference to any of the Houghton county lodes. In Keweenaw county a true vein is worked in the Central mine, as were mined veins previously in the Cliff, Phoe- nix and many others.
"South of the immediate vicinity of Portage Lake there is a large extent of the 'Copper Range' that has been but little explored in re- cent days, and from which much is hoped-especially since the lusty young Baltic infant has been clamoring so loudly for recognition and milk that will enable it to reach a vigorous manhood.
"The mining of copper has led to the establishment of large ore dressing, smelting and wire works, and to the establishment of foundries
PORTAGE LAKE SHIP CANAL, FROM THE HANCOCK SIDE
and manufacturing establishments. although in the way of the latter but little has been done compared to the future possibility."
As also stated by Dr. Wadsworth, the chief building stone industries of the Upper Peninsula are in Honghton county. The "Eastern Sand- stone" is quarried in large amounts at Jacobsville and the quantity awaiting future development in the county is very great. No limestone is quarried in the county but all the lime manufactured is made from limestone brought from the lower lakes.
Lumbering is a prominent industry over much of the area of the county, and the manufacture of lumber in various forms is important on Portage and Torch Lakes and elsewhere.
Properly eondneted farming pays, owing to the excellence of the local markets-the principal crops being hay, oats, barley, rye, wheat,
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potatoes, turnips, small fruits, etc., etc. The climate and soil are much like those of Maine, and agriculture is becoming yearly a more impor- tant and prominent industry. The county is an excellent field for people used to a northern elimate like the inhabitants of northern En- rope or Ieeland.
The chief rivers coursing through Houghton county are the middle and east branches of the Ontonagon, which flows northwest and emp- ties into Lake Superior at the village by that name in Ontonagon county; and the Sturgeon river, which rises in the southeast corner of Buraga county and, with its branches, courses into Houghton county und flows through the north end of other Inkes into Portage lake, near the northern entry of Portage river.
Portage lake is a navigable body of water lying in the northeastern portion of the county and extending from Portage river five miles from Keweenaw bay, a distance of fourteen miles in a northwesterly direction across Keweenaw peninsula to within two miles of Lake Superior. This neck of land is eut by the Lake Superior and Portage Ship Canal, a deep and well-constructed water way, built by a company of that name, from 1868 to 1873. at a cost of $2,500,000. The work was proseented from funds raised on land grants made by the general government and amounting, in the aggregate, to nearly half a million acres. Under the first management the enterprise was bankrupted and passed into the hands of a receiver, by whom the canul was completed. In 1874 the canal, with its subsidies, was sold to Detroit capitalists who organized the Lake Superior Ship Canal, Railway and Iron Company. By this route through the Keweenaw peninsula lake vessels making Houghton, Hancock and other inland points are saved a hundred miles distance in their course to the upper lakes region. Portage river, five miles in length, has been widened, deepened and generally improved, so that the entire waterway is thoroughly adapted to navigation.
Torch lake is a body of water seven miles long and lies a short dis- tance northeast of Portage lake, the two being connected by Torch river. On its shores are located the great smelting works of the Calumet & Heela mine and the stamp mills of the Osceola, Quiney, Tamarack and Ahmeek mines, as well as other industries.
HOUGHTON, THE COUNTY SEAT
This is a well-built village of five thousand people, located on the southern slopes of Portage lake, ten miles from Lake Superior on the west and fourteen miles from the mouth of Portage river. It is the northern terminus of the Duluth. South Shore & Atlantic Railroad, and lies on the Mineral Range und Copper Range railroads. The latter is owned chiefly by Houghton capitalists and has its general offices in that city. Honghton, in fact, shares with Hancock and Calumet, the honor of being the most important administrative and executive center of the copper interests in the Upper Peninsula. It is connected with its sister city across the lake not only by the railroad bridge of the Copper Range
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line, but by a fine passenger bridge which was completed in 1876 by the Portage Lake Bridge Company. The Houghton County Electric line furnishes complete service to the village itself and connects it with Hancock. Laurium and Calumet, with branch lines to Lake Linden and other points.
Houghton has a number of magnificent buildings which would be creditable to a city of any size, including its court house on a most com- manding site overlooking the business district; Masonic and Odd Fel- lows temples; one of the handsomest and best conducted hotels in the Peninsula; and also one of the most elegant club houses in Northern Michigan. It also has a handsome high school, built in 1899 which would now be valued at $100,000 and which accommodates 250 of the 1,950 pupils which enjoy the privileges of its publie system of education. Houghton has four ward schools, and employs altogether sixty-two teachers.
MICHIGAN COLLEGE OF MINES
Houghton is the seat of the Michigan College of Mines, one of the oldest and best institutions of the kind in the country. The handsome buildings and grounds of the institution are in the eastern part of the village. The college was established by legislative act of 1885, which vests the government of the institution in a board of control of six mem- bers appointed by the governor, and provides that "the course of instruc- tion shall embrace geology, mineralogy, chemistry, mining and mining engineering, and such other branches of practical and theoretical knowl- edge as will, in the opinion of the board, conduee to the end of enabling the students of said institution to obtain a full knowledge of the sei- enee, art and practice of mining, and the application of machinery thereto." The school was opened for the reception of students Septem- ber 15, 1886. Its establishment and the earlier appropriations for it are to a very large extent due to the great interest, the foresight and the energy displayed on its behalf by the late Jay A. Hubbell, of Houghton. He donated a portion of the site occupied by the college, and during his life spared no effort to further its aims and to help it toward prosperity.
Most of the students of the college have been from Michigan, since it is a Michigan institution, but it has trained men from all parts of the United States, and from a number of foreign countries in both hemi- spheres. The concentration of effort on training men for the field of mining, the location of the College in a district where its students live in a mining atmosphere, together with its special methods of instruction, and manner of using the mining environment, have brought to the in- stitution a large measure of snecess. The college was established for, and exists only for the purpose of training men to take an active part in the development of the mineral wealth of the state and nation.
The location of the Michigan College of Mines presents in a marked degree all these features. It is situated in the heart of the great copper mining region of Lake Superior. In the immediate vicinity are a num-
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MICHIGAN COLLEGE OF MINES IN SUMMER
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ber of active copper mines, among them several of the largest and most extensively equipped mines in the world. The deepest shafts in the world and the most powerful machinery employed in mining are here in constant operation. Beside the plants at the mines there are neces- sary docks, railroads, mills and smelters. To all the student has access, and he is required, under the direction and supervision of his instructors, to visit and inspect these plants and their operation at proper times during his study here. By being in such a district and being required to use its opportunities as he is, the student breathes from his arrival an atmosphere in entire harmony with his present and future work. He is continually inspired by observation of and contact with men who have achieved success in the line for which he is training. This location, to- gether with the practical methods of training employed, account for the
MICHIGAN COLLEGE OF MINES IN WINTER
remarkable fact that of 522 men graduated up to this time, but twelve have left engineering for other pursuits.
The scheme of instruction ineludes the usual lecture, text-book and recitation methods, supplemented in every department by problems drawn as far as possible from actual practice. Because the successful engineer must be a man whose judgment of things is well developed, laboratory methods of instruction are given great prominence. These include the trips and the laboratory courses in which the student works with his own hands rather than watches the operations of some one else. The trips of inspection are to plants which exemplify often on a large scale the application of principles taught in the classroom to problems of commercial operation. The study of such application serves to vivify the teaching and to bring to the student a clearer comprehension and firmer grasp of the subject in hand. But it is obvious that in his own attempt to apply the principle to some definite problem of practice, the student will most speedily gain a true comprehension of its bearing and force. He should therefore have as far as possible his practice in the field or in properly directed laboratories. This the college endeavors to give. Necessarily the nearer the field or laboratory practice is made to conform to the requirements of actual operation, the more forcible its
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JAY A. HUBBELL-FATHER OF MICHIGAN COLLEGE OF MINES, HOUGHTON
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tenchings. Moreover in such practice properly directed, lies one of the principle resources of the college in its effort to stimulate and influence the development of judgment on the part of the student.
The field of mining engineering is so broad, and the number of sub- jects bearing on it so great, that no student can profitably cover all of the ground in the time nsunlly given to a college course. Moreover, the average student possesses greater aptitude in some part or parts of this broad field than in others. His interest and chances of snecess are greater the more deeply he goes into those portions for which he is best adapted. In order that he may do this the Michigan College of Mines has in operation a flexible system, allowing a considerable range in the courses or subjects comprising a given student's curriculum. Haphazard selection of subjects is not permitted. Each student is required to gain a broad view of the general field; he must preserve the natural sequence of subjects, and he must follow an orderly system which may become more specialized as he nears the end of his course. This college was the first, and until very recently the only institution to offer such privileges of choice to a student of engineering.
There are now 263 students in the college, averaging 2214 years of age, of whom 149 come from Michigan, 16 from Minnesota, 12 from Illi- nois and 10 from Wisconsin. The total number received during the initial school year, 1886-87, was 23.
The president of the college is Dr. Fred W. MeNair; secretary and librarian, Mrs. Frances H. Scott and the treasurer. Frederick W. Nich- ols. Besides Dr. McNair, the staff of instruction ineludes nearly forty members who have well-established reputations in their specialties.
The college plant embrnees nine buildings, specified as follows: Hub- bel hull is constructed of Portage Entry sandstone and has extreme di- mensions of 109 by 53 feet, with a wing 37 by 25 feet, and is a two- story building. It contains the laboratories and lecture rooms of the departments of mineralogy and geology, and of mathematies and physics.
The Chemistry building is 115 by 45 feet, with wings 36 by 17 feet and 53 by 36 feet in size. It is a brick and stone structure of three stories in height. This building has a forced draft ventilation system.
The Mechanical Engineering building, of brick and stone, is of the extreme dimensions of 101 by 64 feet. It contains the rooms used by the department of mechanical and electrical engineering. The mechan- ical drawing room, on the second floor of this building, is an exception- ally well lighted room and well adapted to its purpose. In addition, the building contains the wood-working shop, the mmehine shop, elec- trical laboratory, testing laboratory, together with lecture and recitation rooms. A wing. 43 by 26 feet in size, has been constructed to accommo- date a blacksmith shop. The ore dressing building is a wooden structure with main part 30 by 30 feet, two stories in height and an extension 51 by 30 feet. It ocenpies a slope on the eastern side of the college grounds which gives the requisite fall for gravity processes. There is also a reverberatory roasting furnace in a wooden building 28 by 28 feet. This furnace is operated in connection with the ore-dressing mill.
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