USA > Michigan > Marquette County > Beard's directory and history of Marquette County with sketches of the early history of Lake Superior, its mines, furnaces, etc., etc > Part 10
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EARLY HISTORY OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
The fire compelled the garrison to remove to Michilimacinac and the Sault was not again permanently occupied as a military fort until Fort Brady was established in 1822.
Col. and afterwards Gen. Bradstreet in December 1764, after the conquest of Canada, in a letter to Governor Gage, at New York, recommends that the vessels be sent to Lake Superior to engage in the fur trade, and the establishment of two forts upon the banks in addition to that at the Sault, and this recommend- ation is repeated by Col. Croghan to Sir Wm. Johnson the fol- lowing year. The fur trade continued to be of great value dur- ing the entire century and the first third of the present century. In 1765 the exclusive right to trade in furs on Lake Superior was given to Alexander Henry, an English merchant. He left Michilimacinac in August for the Sault, where he entered into partnership with Mr. Cadotte, a Frenchman who came to the Sault under Repentigny, and was the principal man of the fort, and had been in command there under the British.
He went up the lake, reaching Ontonagon August 19, where he found an Indian village, and proceeded to Chagonemig, or La Pointe, where he found fifty lodges of nearly naked Indians. Here he established himself for the winter. For a winter's stock of provision he caught 2,000 trout and whitefish, some of the former weighing fifty pounds. These were hung up by the tail in the open air, and were boiled and roasted as wanted, and eaten without bread or salt. As the result of his winter's enter- prise he embarked in the spring with one hundred and fifty packs of beavers, weighing fifteen thousand pounds, and the Indians with him had one hundred packs, which he was unable to purchase. In the following winter, he with his men, were driven from the Sault by the want of food ; the fish, usually so abundant, having failed. Two succeeding winters he spent on the north shore, engaged in this trade.
At this time specie was so wholly out of the question that bea- ver skins was the measure of values. Other skins were accepted as payment, being first reduced to their value in beavers. A man in going into a drinking saloon would take a marten's skin to pay the reckoning. The goods Mr. Henry took from Michili-
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EARLY HISTORY OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
macinac on his first expedition filled four canoes, and were esti- mated to be of the value of ten thousand pounds of beaver skins.
The magnitude of this fur trade can perhaps be best shown by a few figures. The North West Company, engaged in this trade, according to Mackenzie received in one year, 1798 :
106,000 beaver skins, 2,100 bear skins, 1,500 fox skins, 4,000 kitt fox skins, 4,600 otter skins, 17,000 musquash skins, 32,000 marten skins, 1,800 mink skins, 6,000 lynx skins, 600 wolverine skins, 1,650 fisher skins, 100 racoon skins, 3,800 wolf skins, 700 elk skins, 750 deer skins, 1,200 dressed deer skins, 500 Buffalo robes.
Of these, Lake Superior must have furnished a liberal pro- portion. Its furs were a source of wealth then, as its mines are now. The American Fur Company, organized by John Jacob Astor, in 1816, succeeded to the business of the Northwest Com- pany.
MINERALS.
The knowledge that the region of Lake Superior was rich in minerals was almost cotemporaneous with its discovery. As early as 1659-60 the Jesuit missionaries report " that its borders are enriched with lead mines, and copper of such excellent qual- ity, that it is already reduced in pieces as large as the fist," and ten years later father Dablon gives very full account of the various reports of the wealth of copper which existed in various places about the lake.
In September, 1670, M. Talen, Intendant, appointed Sieur de St. Lusson " to search for the copper mine in the countries of the Ontarios', &c., in North America, near Lake Superior or the Fresh Sea," and also, it would seem, to discover the South Sea passage; for in February 1671, M. Colbert, the French Minister, writes : " The resolution you have taken to send Sieur de la Salle toward the South, and Sieur de St. Lusson to the North, to dis- cover the South Sea passage, is very good ; but the principal thing to which you ought to apply yourself in discoveries of this nature is to look out for the copper mine."
In 1687, Denorvell, Governor of Canada, writes to the French
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EARLY HISTORY OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
Minister : " The copper, a sample of which I sent M. Arnore, is found at the head of Lake Superior. The body of the mine has not yet been discovered." He anticipates great results from its discovery, but adds, " This knowledge cannot be acquired from the Indians, who believe they would all die did they show it to us."
The first attempt at mining was made after the conquest of Canada by the British.
Mr. Henry, in 1765-6, found at Ontonagon an abundance of virgin copper "in masses of various weights," and among them " a mass of copper of the weight, according to my estimate, of no less than four tons."
As the result of this discovery, in 1768, an application was made to George III. for a grant of all the copper mines in the country within sixty miles of Lake Superior. A copy of this application was transmitted to Sir Wm. Johnson for the purpose of ascertaining his opinion upon the propriety of the grant, and especially what effect it would have upon the Indians.
In December of the same year Sir. Wm. Johnson reports upon this application that he is assured there is a large quantity of cop- per in the environs of Lake Superior, and that " it has been found extraordinary good and rich." He suggests some practical dif- ficulties arising from the scarcity and value of white laborers, while " the Indians are indolent and cannot be relied upon." He says some Canadians formerly took away a good deal of ore and lost by it. He says there is no serious objection to the grant so far as the Indians are concerned, if great pains are taken to protect them.
The grant was made, but never issued out of the seal office, and a company was formed, consisting of the Duke of Glouces- ter, Mr. Secretary Townsend, Mr. Baxter, consul of the Empress of Russia, Sirs Wm. Johnson, Alexander Henry, and others. Mr. Henry, Mr. Bostarch and Mr. Baxter had charge of the mining operations. They spent the winter of 1770 at the Sault and at Point Aux Pins, a few miles above ; they built a barge and a sloop of fifty tons. Early in May they set sail and first visited the Island of the Yellow Sands, but found no gold as
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EARLY HISTORY OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
they had hoped. At a point on the North Shore they found veins of copper and lead. They erected an air furnace at Point Aux Pins, and the assayer found silver in the lead ore. On the South shore one of the company picked up a stone of a blue color, weighing eight pounds, which contained sixty per cent of silver, and which was carried to England and deposited in the British Musnum.
They coasted westward to Ontonagon, built a house, set their miners to work, and left them for the winter. Early in the Spring of 1772 they sent up a boat with provisions, but it soon came back with all the miners, who had found that mining was impracticable without a much greater force and greater conven- iences.
That season and the next they experimented on the northern shore, with similar results, and in 1774 they disposed of their sloop and other property, and sent some ore to England. Thus ended this first systematic attempt at mining on Lake Superior, nor was any further effort made in that direction until 1843.
When Michigan became a State, in 1837, the only settle- ment on Lake Superior within its bounds, was at the Sault, which contained a population of 368. The population must have largely increased from 1820. Schoolcraft thus describes the place as consisting of fifteen or twenty buildings, occupied by five or six families, French and American.
NOTE .- I have drawn the material for the above sketch from many sources, and in relation to that portion which relates to the Jesuit mission- aries, I desire especially to express my obligations to Mr. Shea's admira- ble work, "The Discoveries and Explorations of the Mississippi, and " Catholic Missions to the Indians."
A SKETCH
OF SOME OF THE
MINES AND FURNACES
OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
THE MINES.
It is not more than twenty-five years since the first iron ore was taken from what is now known as the Jackson location, and less than half a ton of it packed upon the backs of half breeds to the mouth of the Carp, and from thence transported in canoes to the St. Mary's River, only to be pronounced worthless upon its arrival at Detroit. Yet in that short interval the develop- ment of our mines has been so rapid that they now contribute the ores from which is made more than one-fifth of all the iron manufactured in the United States. Less than a quarter of a century ago, the district which now supplies the ore for a hnn- dred and fifty furnaces, and which boasts a population of not less than fifteen thousand people, was an unexplored wilderness, never penetrated save by the wild Indian and the devoted mis- sionary. Little did our venerable citizen, P. M. Everett, Esq., imagine when, in 1845, he visited this place and carried away the first specimens from what is now the Jackson Mine No. 1, that he would live to read the report of shipments-over a Million Tons in 1870. Yet such is the grand result, long since announced, and the iron hills of the Upper Peninsula scarcely afford the evidence of a commencement having been made. More than this, the developments of the year 1870 render certain a largely increased product for 1871, and each succeeding year, should the demand require it ; and yet the Lake Superior Iron District is in its infancy, and only needs to be fully developed to become the great iron center of the West-if, indeed, it has not already attained that distinction.
It is our purpose to present in this little book an elaborate history of our iron mines and furnaces, embodying such facts and figures as we have been able to collect, touching their early history and subsequent development-first indulging in a few general remarks upon the geological formation and classification of the ores.
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MINES AND FURNACES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.
The iron ores of this district are generally found in hills, rising from one to five hundred feet above the level of the sur- rounding country. These hills (those given to exaggeration call them mountains) are simply immense deposits of iron ore, though partially or wholly covered by layers of earth and rock. It is true they are also found in the valleys, but where so found are usually covered with a deep drift, and consequently cannot be so easily mined.
That part of the Lake Superior Iron Region in which the most gratifying results have been obtained, is all included within the limits of Marquette county, west of Negaunee, within a range of six miles wide, running in a northwesterly course from Lake Fairbanks, in Town 47 N. of Range 26 W., to Keweenaw Bay, in Town 49 N. of Range 33 W .- a distance of nearly one hun- dred miles. The mines now opened and being worked are all situated on the east end of the range above mentioned, the most remote being the Champion, near the east shore of Lake Michi- gammi.
Another extensive district or range is that known as the Me- nominee, extending, so far as known, from the south part of Town 40, on both sides of that river up to its headwaters at Lake Michigammi. The deposits in this district are not only numerous, but said to be very rich and valuable, though, as yet, but little has been done towards their development.
The iron range again crops out some thirty miles south of Bayfield, where ore of a tolerably pure quality has been found. By reference to a geological map, it will be seen that the Marquette and Menominee iron ranges cross each other upon the south side of Lake Michigammi, the one continuing to the west and northwest, and the other southward into Wisconsin. Very large deposits of magnetic ore have been found south and west of the lake in question, some of which are known to be as pure as the red oxydes of the Jackson and Superior.
CLASSIFICATION OF ORES.
This table names five varieties of iron ore. The most valua- ble, so far as developed, is the specular hematite, which is a very pure anhydrous sesqui-oxyde, giving a red powder, and yielding in the blast furnace from 60 to 70 per cent. of metallic iron, which is slightly red short. The ore appears both slaty and granular, or massive. It is often banded or interlaminated with a bright red quartz or jasper, and is then called " mixed ore."
The next in order of importance is probably the soft hema - tite, which much resembles the brown hematite (Limonite) of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. This ore is generally found as- sociated with the harder ores, from which many suppose it is formed by partial decomposition or disintegration. It contains
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MINES AND FURNACES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
some water, chemically combined-is porous in structure-yields about 55 per cent. in the furnace, and is more easily reduced than any other ore of the district. It forms an excellent mixture with the speculars. There are, probably, several varieties of this ore which have not been well made out. That found at the Jackson, Lake Superior and New England, is associated with the specular, while the Foster bed is several miles removed from any known deposit of that ore, and has probably a different or- igin.
The magnetic ore of the district has thus far only been found to the west of the other ores-at the Washington, Edwards and Champion Mines-at which none of the other varieties have been found except the specular, into which the magnetic some- times passes, the powder being from black to purple, then red. It is not improbable that they may be varieties of the same ore, as they are much alike in richness, nature of iron, and geologi- cal structure. This view is much strengthened by the fact that the specular ore is often found in octahedral chrystals, which form is well known to belong exclusively to the magnetic oxyde; hence it is probable that our specular deposits were once magnet- ic, which by some metamorphic action have been robbed of one ninth their oxygen, which would make them, chemically, hem- atites.
The flag ore is a slaty or schistose silicious hematite, contain- ing rather less metalic iron, and of more difficult reduction than either of the varieties above named. It is often magnetic, and sometimes banded with a dull red or white quartz. The iron is cold short, which is one of the best qualities of this ore-the other ores of the district being red short. This ore varies much in richness, and comparatively little has been shipped. It is, however, probably, the most abundant ore in the district.
A silicious iron ore, containing a variable amount of oxyde of manganese, is found at several points, accompanying the flag ore. This ore is unquestionably of great value as a mixture, but as it has but just been introduced, its importance cannot yet be determined.
The generally received geological theory of the origin of these ores is, that they were aqueous deposits, which have been highly metamorphosed. The masses are lens-shaped, varying much in thickness, on which the value of the mass chiefly de- pends. These masses are interstratified with a soft green slate, which always accompanies the specular and magnetic ores. Overlying these beds is usually found a quartz rock, which is probably one of the most recent of the district. Below the spec- ular is a green stone, often slaty, and beneath this is one or more horizons of the flag ore, separated by chrystalline schists. Next older than the flag ores is another quartzite, which seems to be sometimes replaced by a silicious marble. Yet older are the granite rocks, which are supposed to belong to the Laurentian
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MINES AND FURNACES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
system of Canada-the schists above named including the ores belonging to the Huronide system. These rocks are much bent and folded, several axes, running nearly east and west, being plainly discernible.
FIRST DISCOVERY.
Prof. Chas. T. Jackson, United States Geologist, in his Re- port to the Secretary of the Interior, made in 1849, says that during his first visit to Lake Superior, in the summer of 1844, he obtained from Mr. P. B. Barbeau, then a trader at Sault Ste. Marie, a fine specimen of specular iron ore, which he (Mr. B.) had received from an Indian chief. He also learned at the same time that this chief knew of a mountain mass of ore, somewhere between the head of Keweenaw bay and the head waters of the Menominee river. The next summer he informed Mr. Lyman Pray, of Charlestown, Mass., what he had heard, and suggested to him the propriety of looking up the mountain in question. Mr. Pray immediately proceeded to the Sault, where he employed the son of the Ojibway chief as a guide, and went with him to L'Anse; from thence, guided by the Indian, he traversed the then unbroken forest, and found the mountain. On his return he informed Prof. Jackson that he had traveled four miles around the mountain, and found only the same kind of ore, and no rocks. To Mr. Pray Prof. Jackson ascribes credit of the first practical discovery of iron ore on the Upper Peninsula, deeming it probable that no white man had ever before explored this locality. If such were really the case, it would appear a little singular that Mr. Pray did not take measures to secure the re- ward due to such a discovery, and that his name has never since been heard of in connection with the development of our mineral resources. It is more than probable, however, that Mr. Pray's discovery was not within the limits of the iron district to which developments have thus far been confined, since we find that in the same year Mr. Joseph Stacy, of Maine, explored that portion of the iron range between the mouth of Dead river and Lake Michigan, and found, as he says, an inexhaustible amount of compact and specular iron ore. The exact localities which he visited are not definitely known, but it is more than probable that the Jackson location was one of them, since Prof. Jack- son, in the same connection, speaks of having afterwards ob- tained specimens of ore " from near the forge called the Jackson furnace."
ANOTHER AND MORE RELIABLE STATLMENT.
On the other hand, Mr. Barbeau, who is the father-in-law of J. P. Pendill, Esq., of Negaunee, informs us that the existence of iron ore all over the Upper Peninsula-not only in that por- tion of the district since developed, but in the Huron Mountains -was known to the white traders as early as 1830. Mr. Barbeau
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MINES AND FURNACES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 205
is an old Indian trader-being at an early day in the employ of the American Fur Company-and perhaps no man on the Upper Peninsula is more familiar with its early history. He knows every acre of it, having traversed its forests, and crossed its hills and mountains long years before its immense mineral wealth was known, or even dreamed of, except by hardy adventurers like himself. He informs us that he himself knew of the exist- ence of iron ore at Negaunee in 1830, in which same year was discovered the great mass of native copper in the Ontonagon Rapids, which was afterwards removed to Detroit by a gentle- man named Eldred. This mass of copper weighed over 3,000 pounds, and after reaching Detroit was seized by the United States government, and removed to Washington, where it still remains.
The Indians knew of the existence of iron in this district for many years previous to its discovery by the whites, but were, of course, ignorant of its uses, or, at least of the means by which it could be made available. They knew also of the existence of lead, in large quantities, and Mr. Barbeau informs us that in 1830 he met Indians who had collected lead sufficiently pure to be used for rifle balls, and that they did so use it. Lut they could never be persuaded to tell were they found it, and to this day refuse to give any information whatever concerning it. They appear to entertain a superstitious fear that some dreadful ca- lamity will befall them should they discover their secret to the white man.
But to return to the discovery of iron. Mr. Barbeau says that in 1845, Achille Cadotte, a French and Indian half breed, was informed by an old Indian chief, then living at the mouth of the Carp river, near the site of the present village of Mar- quette, that he knew where there was a mountain of iron, and went with the chief to see it. The name of the chief was "Man- je-ki-jik" (Moving Day), and his brother, " Man-gon-see" (Small Loon), is still living. Cadotte then communicated his discovery to Mr. John Western, who went with him to the mountain, and under his direction nearly a ton of ore was packed from what is now known as the Jackson location, to the mouth of the Carp, thence in canoes to Sault Ste. Marie, and thence to Detroit. It is more than probable, however, that it was P. M. Everett, Esq., of this place, to whom Mr. Barbeau refers, since it appears that John Western did not visit this region in 1845, and Mr. Everett did.
In June, 1845, the Jackson Company was organized with a view to operations in the copper district, and Mr. P. M. Everett, one of the original incorporators, came to Lake Superior the same summer, and located what is now the Jackson Mine, under a permit from the Secretary of War. While at Sault Ste. Marie, Louis Nolan, a half-breed, told Everett of the existence of iron on Lake Superior, and volunteered to show him where it was.
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MINES AND FURNACES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
Nolan came to the mouth of the Carp with Mr. Everett and his party, and they all went as far as Teal Lake in search of the iron, but failed to find it; they then returned and proceeded on their way to Copper Harbor. Afterwards Mr. Everett fell in with the Indian chief Man je-ki-jik, who returned with them to the mouth of the Carp, and piloted the party to the Jackson mountain, and also to what is now the Cleveland Mine. Mr. Everett, as agent for the Jackson Company, was provided with a number of permits from the Secretary of War for the location of such lands as he might select for the company. These per- mits were intended to cover one square mile each, to be described ยท by such permanent boundaries as would admit of their being entered upon a map, kept for that purpose in the land office at Copper Harbor. At the time of Mr. Everett's first visit the whole country for twenty-five miles west of Presque Isle, had been covered with these permits. The first one located was sur- veyed from a designated point near Presque Isle, and being entered upon the map, formed the eastern boundary for the next permit, which in its turn served a similar purpose for another, and so on for a distance of twenty-five miles. The "square mile" on which the Jackson is situated had been located under one of these permits by a man named Hamilton, who was entirely ignorant of the immense wealth it contained. Everett and his party, in locating upon the same section, were unable to describe the land accurately, and made Teal Lake (not then laid down on the map) its northern boundary. The mineral land agent, not knowing the exact locality of Teal Lake, entered the permit so that it appeared on the map about twelve miles southeast of its actual location. At this time the copper fever was at its height, and Dr. Houghton having reported strong indications of gold on whatis now known as the Silver Lead Range, many of the permits issued by the Secretary of War were located as stated above. These permits were entered in pencil marks upon the map at the Mineral Office, so that they could be lifted and trans- ferred at the option of the owner. When Mr. Everett announced his discovery, and exhibited specimens of the iron ore found at the Jackson Mountain, the owners of these locations began to examine their lands, and failing to find ore lifted their permits and located them elsewhere. The lifting of one permit destroyed the boundaries of all the others, and they were abandoned one after another, necessarily. As soon as Hamilton abandoned his (in fact it is doubtful if he was able to find it a second time,) the Jackson Company managed to find the township lines, and entered the land from which they have since realized such immense products of iron ore.
On his first visit Mr. Everett packed some of the ore down to the mouth of the Carp, and carried it with him to Detroit and Jackson, as specimens. Some of this ore was sent to Pittsburg to be tested, but the Pittsburg iron masters pronounced it worth-
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MINES AND FURNACES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
less. Another small quantity was sent to an old forge at Cold- water, where was made the first iron from Lake Superior ore. This was only a small bar, one end of which Mr. Everett had made into a knife-blade, the better to exhibit the sterling quali- ties of the metal.
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