Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state, Part 11

Author: Evening News Association (Detroit)
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Detroit : Evening New Assoc.
Number of Pages: 558

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buildings for the Michigan Asylum for edu- cating the deaf and dumb and the blind, and the Michigan Asylum for the Insane. Act 282, Laws of 1850, appropriated ten addi- tional sections for the same purpose. There remains unsold of the salt spring lands less than 1,500 acres.

By Act of Congress August 26, 1852, an aggregate of 750,000 acres of land in Michi- gan was granted to the State to aid the con- struction of the canal at the Sault de Ste. Marie, popularly contracted as the "Soo." This grant was turned over to a company pur- suant to Act of the Legislature in 1853, in consideration of the construction by them of the first Sault canal. The company kept an office in Detroit for a number of years for the sale of these lands, but it was closed many years ago, and if there are any of the lands remaining unsold they are controlled by agents of the company at the east.

By Act of September 28, 1850, Congress granted to certain States to enable them to reclaim the swamp lands within their limits by constructing the necessary levees and drains, the whole of the swamp and over- flowed lands within their borders respectively remaining unsold at the time of the passage of the Act. By arrangement between the State and Federal Government the basis of the se- lection of such lands in Michigan was to be the field notes of the surveys as made by the surveyors and deputy surveyors employed by the general government. Lists of such lands were prepared by the surveyor general and submitted to the Commissioner of the Gen- eral Land Office and by him to the Secretary of the Interior for approval or rejection. From lists approved by the Secretary of the Interior, patents were prepared and issued to the State. Michigan received, approximately, six million acres under this grant.

Many of the lands patented to the State as swamp lands were among the best farming lands in the State, having on them barely enough swamp to make a trace on the field notes of the surveyors. It was for a consid- erable time a question how the terms of the

HISTORICAL SKETCHES.

grant, which contemplated the construction of levees and drains, could be complied with. It was a work that the State did not want to undertake, even could it have been carried on by any practicable method. It was finally determined that the spirit of the con- tract, as implied by the terms of the grant, would be equitably met if the drainage and reclamation was effected by means less direct than by the State itself. This was the course substantially recommended by Gov. Bing- ham in his message to the Legislature in spe- cial session in 1858, that instead of the State doing the work, it should be the policy "rather to dispose of them (the lands) in all the dis- tricts where there are settlements, at such a low price as would justify the purchaser in making the necessary provision for their drainage and improvement." Act No. 117, Laws of 1859, in a preamble, set forth that "In the opinion of the Legislature, the most efficient means of effecting that end (the drainage, etc.), is the construction of roads, with proper ditehes and drains." The Act provided for laying out ten State roads, the cost to be met either by money proceeds from swamp land sales or by lands direct. Later it became the practice to appropriate lands in specific quantities for the construction of roads on defined routes, or the improvement of certain water courses, and the session laws for a dozen years or more are replete with Aets for this purpose. Details of the legisla- tion are necessarily out of the question. Grants of swamp lands have been made by the State in aid of railway construction as follows: To the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co., 141,674 acres; Detroit, Maeki- nac & Marquette R. R. Co., 1,327,041; Mar- quette, Houghton & Ontonagon R. R. Co., 82,422; Menominee River R. R. Co., 144,- 371. Of the 6,000,000 acres embraced in the grant, only about 100,000 remain in the hands of the State. This is certainly evidence of the original value of the lands and of the industrious manner in which the State has passed them out of its hands.

Under the provisions of an Act of Con-

gress, June 3, 1856, lands were granted to the State of Michigan to aid in the construc- tion of a railroad from Little Bay De No- quet to Marquette, and thence to Ontonagon, and from the last two named places to the Wisconsin State line. Also from Amboy, by way of Hillsdale and Lansing, and from Grand Rapids to some point on or near Tra- verse Bay, and from Grand Haven and Pere Marquette to Flint, and thenee to Port Hu- ron. By Act of the State Legislature, Feb- ruary 15, 1857, the grant was eonferred upon Varions companies named in the Act, some mine in number. Under this Act a Board of Control, with the Governor as president, was created to manage and dispose of the grant, and do all things necessary to carry out the provisions of the granting Act. The Acts were several times amended by Congress and by the Legislature, and new Aets and joint resolutions were passed respecting the lands. The original companies in several cases never filed maps of location; others failed in whole or in part to comply with the requirements of the Act as to time of completion, and by con- solidations others were absorbed into new cor- porations.

By the terms of the grants, the lands were to be confirmed to the companies propor- tionally, on the completion of their roads in twenty mile sections. Failure to con- struct within the specified time, with other lapses, wrought a forfeiture of right, and on March 2, 1889, Congress declared a forfei- ture of all the land eo-terminons with the un- completed portion of any railroad in aid of which the Act of 1856 was made, and joint resolution 19 of the legislative session of 1889 authorized the relinquishment by the State of all lands certified for railroad purposes and unearned. This legislation practically elosed one of the most perplexing and complicated grants ever made by Congress. The total of lands certified to the State under the Act of Congress was approximately 3,776,590 acres. There is no ready means of ascertaining what portion of these lands passed into the hands of the railway companies before the Aet of

MEN OF PROGRESS.

forfeiture. The principal beneficiaries were the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw (591,000 aeres), the Flint & Pere Marquette and the Grand Rapids & Indiana, in the Lower Pen- insula, and in the Upper Peninsula the Chi- cago & Northwestern, the Marquette, Hough- ton & Ontonagon (now part of the Duluth,

South Shore & Atlantic) and the Ontonagon & Brule River.

The data on which the foregoing is pre- pared has been largely supplied by Messrs. Loomis and Wilkinson, deputies respectively in the State Land Office and Auditor Gen- oral's Office.

MINERAL RESOURCES.

Early Discovery of Copper-Later Explorations- Discovery of Iron Ore-Geological Survey-Dr. Douglass Houghton-Work on the Survey by Others-Copper and Copper Mining-Statistics of Copper Production-Ancient Mine Work-Iron and Iron Mining-Iron Ore Shipments-Saline Interests-Gold and Silver-Other Mineral Pro- ducts.

It was deemed a hard bargain by the peo- ple of Michigan when they consented to the surrender of a strip of productive land on the southern boundary and the acceptance in its stead of a rock-bound and comparatively n- known region, as a condition of the admit- tance of the State as a member of the Union. It was a profitable exchange, nevertheless, as results have shown.

While iron and copper are not by any means the only minerals that are found, as the more itaportant, they justly claim first mien- tion. The first account of the occurrence of native eopper on Lake Superior is in the work of "Lagarde," published in Paris, in 1636, in which some interesting accounts are found concerning the richness of the country. He says: "There are mines of copper which might be made profitable, if there were in- habitants and workmen who would labor faithfully. That would be done if colonies were established. Abont eighty or one hun. dred leagnes from the lInrons there is a mine of copper, from which 'Truchement Brusle' showed me an ingot on his return from a voyage he made to the neighboring nation."

Father Claude Allouez, a Jesuit mission- ary, who visited the region in 1666, says: "It happens frequently that pieces of copper are found weighing from ten to twenty pounds.

I have seen several such pieces in the hands of the savages; and since they are very super- stitious, they esteem them as divinities, or as presents given to them to promote their hap- piness, by the gods who dwell beneath the water. For this reason they preserve these pieces of copper, wrapped up with their most precious articles. In some families they have been kept for more than 50 years; in others, they have descended from time imme- morial-being cherished as domestic gods."

Father Dablon, 1669-70, says: "After hav- ing reached the extremity of the lake there may be seen, on the south shore, by the water's edge, a mass of copper weighing 600 to 700 pounds, so hard that steel cannot out it; but when heated it may be eut like lead." On one of the islands near C'hagnemegon bay, he relates that copper rocks and plates are found, and that he bought of the savages a plate of pure copper, two and a half feet square, weighing more than 100 pounds. He supposes that they have been derived from Menong (Isle Royale ). Ile mentions the fact that the Ottawa squaws, in digging holes in the sand to hide their corn, find masses weighing 20 to 30 pounds.

In 1689, Baron La Honton, in a book relat- ing to travels in Canada, mentions that "upon Lake Superior we find copper mines, the metal of which is fine and plentiful, there being not a seventh part base from the ore."

In 1721, P. de Charlevoix describes the native copper deposits, and superstitions which the Indians had in regard to them, in considerable detail.

Captain Jonathan Carver visited Lake Su-

HISTORICAL SKETCHES.

perior in 1765, and in his account dwelt so largely on the abundance of native copper that a copper company was formed in Eng- land in 1771, which actually began mining operations on the Ontonagon river, under the direction of Mr. Alexander Henry, who seems to have been a better historian than miner; for he gives a detailed account of the winding up of his operations in 1772, and concludes, as the result of his unsuccessful experiment in mining, "that the country must be culti- vated and peopled before the copper can be profitably mined."

In 1819 Gen. Lewis Cass, under authority of the Secretary of War, directed an explor- ing expedition, which passed along the south- ern shore of Lake Superior and crossed over to the Mississippi. This expedition had, among its principal objects, that of investi- gating the northwestern copper mines; and was accompanied by II. R. Schoolcraft in the capacity of mineralogist and geologist.

In 1831 an expedition was sent out by the United States government under the com- mand of Mr. Schoolcraft, for the purpose of ascertaining the sources of the Mississippi. Dr. Douglass Houghton was attached to this party, and he subsequently speaks of the aid afforded by the observations made at this time in tracing the fragments of copper to their place in the rock.

The outline of the history of the discovery of the copper deposits here given is found in the report of T. B. Brooks, 1873, and in other published reports. Citations to original sources cannot well be given.

The date of the iron discovery is quite un- certain, but is much more recent than that of copper. In his geological report of 1841, Dr. Houghton says: "Although hematite ore is abundantly disseminated through all the rocks of the metamorphic group, it does not appear in sufficient quantity at any one point that has been examined, to be of practical im- portance." At this date Dr. Houghton had traversed the south shore of Lake Superior five times, in a small boat or canoe, on geo- logical investigations. It is, therefore, prob-

able that up to 1841 no Indian traditions worthy of credence, in regard to large de- posits of iron ore, had conie to liis knowledge. As there are, so far as known, no considerable outerops of iron ore which come nearer than seven miles of the shore of the lake, it is plain that investigations, based on observations taken along the shore only, could have deter- mined no more than its probable existence, which is plainly indicated in the extracts given. The United States surveyors, in the fall of 1844, officially established the fact that iron ore in considerable quantities existed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Steps had been taken with a view to an ex- ploration of the copper region during the presidency of John Adams, but nothing was over effected. The work of systematic scien- tific exploration was first undertaken by Dr. Douglass Houghton, the earliest State geolo- gist, pursuant to Act of the State Legislature of February 23 and March 22, 1837. Dr. Houghton, in his annual report to the Legis- lature in 1841, presented the results of his labors up to that period in so able a manner that the attention of the world became directed to the Northern Peninsula with greatly increased interest. The Acts of the Legislature, providing for the geological sur- vey, contemplated also the topographical, zoo- logical and botanical features, embracing the entire State, but the two latter were discon- tinued in 1840. For the purposes contem- plated by the original Act, Dr. Houghton was supplied with a corps of assistants, who were probably mostly amateurs without com- pensation, as may be inferred from the resig- nations of those in charge of the zoological and botanical departments in 1839. The first annual report, 1838, reasonably enough, was a brief one, but the one for 1839, com- prising 153 pages, covers the several depart- ments of geology, zoology, botany and topo- graphy. The third and fourth annual re- ports followed, having reference more or less to localities in the Lower Peninsula, but treating more particularly of the Lake Supe- rior region. For a full resume of the early geo-

MEN OF PROGRESS.

logieal work, with citations of authorities, see in regard to its reality. The facts were, how- ever, abundantly proven.

Prof. Winchell's report, 1860, from which synopses here presented are largely drawn.

The financial stringency in the early forties compelled a suspension of the work of the geological survey. Dr. Houghton's devotion to the work, however, inspired him to devise another means for its prosecution. An ap- propriation was secured from Congress in 1844 for connecting a geological and mineral- ogical survey with the linear surveys of the public lands of the Upper Peninsula, the former under Dr. Houghton and the latter under Wm. A. Burt, a name intimately asso- ciated with Upper Peninsula history. The work of one season had been nearly com- pleted, when it was bronght to an unfortunate termination by the death of Dr. Houghton by drowning, October 13, 1845. Mr. Bela Hubbard, a former resident of Detroit, and well known in literary and scientific circles, was associated with Dr. Houghton in the first geological work under State auspices. He was therefore chosen, in connection with Mr. Burt, to compile reports of the work of 1845 from the field notes of that year-Mr. Burt from his own notes and Mr. Hubbard from those of Dr. Houghton. "These two reports unfold in an admirable manner the geological structure of the trap and metamorphic regions of Lake Superior, and anticipate results which were subsequently worked out by the United States geologists."*

After the death of Dr. Houghton the names of Charles .l. Jackson, Foster and Whitney, Prof. Alexander Winchell, Brooks and Pumpelly, Dr. Charles Rominger, Charles E. Wright, W. E. Wadsworth and Lueins L. Hubbard are associated with the survey, either under State or government auspices.

Copper mining on Lake Superior com- menced in 1845. The discoveries of Lake Superior were of native copper, which was a novelty in copper mining, and so improbable, according to all geological precedents, that much doubt was expressed by scientific men

In the report of Foster and Whitney, made in 1847, the copper region is divided into three districts, each with an estimated area as follows:

T. The Keweenaw Point district, embrac- ing the country from the eastern end of the Point to Portage lake, 61,620 acres;

II. Portage lake to the Montreal river, including the Ontonagon distriet, 18,270 acres;

TIT. Isle Royale, 77,380 acres. This lat- ter is a narrow rocky island, about 45 miles in length, lying northeast by southwest, vary- ing in width from three to eight miles, and some of its hills have an altitude of three to four hundred feet. The island, although within the State of Michigan, lies much nearer the north or Canada shore, than it does to the American shore.

It is unnecessary to repeat (what is said in substance if not in terms elsewhere) that much of detail that would be of interest (but which may be found in print in other forms), must be passed over in these sketches. Some comparative statistics of the copper produc- tion are given: From 1845 to 1858 the total prodnetion of ingot copper was estimated at 27,910,000 pounds, of the value of $9,000,- 000. The production gradually increased from 7,000,000 pounds in 1858 to 35,000,- 000 in 1875. The highest price reached per pound during the period named was 55 cents in 1864, and the lowest. 22 cents in 1870. The highest figure given was, of course, phe- nomenal during the war period, and has never since been reached. The lowest figure at any time was 93 cents in 1894. The latest table accessible, showing annual production, is that prepared by Charles E. Wright, commis- sioner of mineral statistics, in 1878. The total number of tons of refined copper pro- duced up to this time was given as 253,035, of an aggregate value of $123,394,000. It is not improbable that subsequent reports of the commissioner of mineral statistics may cover similar figures for later years, but these re-

*Prof. Winchell's report, 1860.

HISTORICAL SKETCHES.

ports are not printed at Lansing, and are not properly State documents, so that they are not accessible for all years. The total divi- dends paid to stockholders of all copper min- ing companies is given in the report of the commissioner for 1898 at $79,641,375. Of this total, the Calumet & HTecla Company divided $52,850,000, or 65 per cent. of the whole. The total production in the United States in the year 1897 was:

Pounds.

Montana

231,902,796

Michigan

144,930,670

Arizona

80,592,049

Other sources

26,656,000

Total 484,081,515

The evidences of ancient mine work by a primitive and unknown race are a notable feature of the Lake Superior mines. The dis- covery of this old work was the discovery of the mines.

In speaking of the ancient mines, Prof. J. W. Foster, in his late work on the Pre-His- toric Races of America, says: "The high an- tiquity of this mining is inferred from these facts: That the trenches and pits were filled even with the surrounding surface, so that their existence was not suspected until many years after the region had been thrown open to active exploration; that upon the piles of rubbish were found growing trees which dif- fered in no degree, as to size and character, from those in the adjacent forest, and that the nature of the materials with which the pits were filled, such as a fine washed clay envel- oping half decaved leaves, and the bones of such quadrupeds as the bear, deer and cari- bou, indicated the slow accumulation of years · rather than a deposit resulting from a torrent of water."

At a deep inlet, known as MeCargoes' Cove, on the north side of the island, excava- tions extend in almost a continnous line for more than two miles, in most instances the pits being so close together as barely to per- mit their convenient working. The stone hammers, weighing from ten to even thirty pounds, the chief tool with which the labor

was performed, have been found in cart loads. They are either perfect, or are broken from use, and the fragments of large numbers of them are found intermingled with the debris on the edge of the pits, or at their bottom. The sample of mass copper noted as taken from the Minong mine is more remarkable for these stone-hammer marks upon its sur- face, than for its weight.

Though it is probable that not one-tenth of these ancient excavations have so far been revealed, some idea of their extent may be ar- rived at, from the statement of a gentleman familiar with the mines, who has calenlated that, at one point alone on three sections of land toward the north side of Isle Royale, the amount of labor performed by those ancient men far exceeds that of one of our oldest cop- per mines on the south shore of Lake Su- perior, a mine which has now been constantly worked with a large force for over twenty years. Or, stated in another form, that it would have required a force of one hundred thousand men fifty years (with their means of working) to do an equivalent amount of work.

The practical working of the iron mines, commencing about 1845, is the period from which dates the chief interest in the subject. The first company was a Michigan one, or- ganized at Jackson, which gave the name to the oldest working iron mine on Lake Su- perior, the Jackson location and mine. Mr. P. M. Everett, then of Jackson, who formed one of the company, and was its treasurer and agent, writing November 10, 1845, from that point, speaks thus of his previons summer's explorations: "I left here on the 23d of July last, and was gone until the 24th of October. I had considerable difficulty in getting any one to join me in the enterprise, but I at last succeeded in forming a company of thirteen. I took four men with me from Jackson and hired a guide at the Sault, where I bought a boat and coasted up the lake to Copper Har- bor, which is over 300 miles from Sault Ste. Marie. We made several locations, one of which we called Tron at the time. It is a

MEN OF PROGRESS.

mountain of solid iron ore, 150 feet high. The ore looks as bright as a bar of iron just broken."*

In the report of the Geological Survey, 1873, it is said that the "Marquette Tron Re- gion" embraces all the developed iron mines of the Upper Peninsula. It is said of the "Menominee Iron Region" that it has as vet sent no ore to market. Further, it is said: "The 'Lake Gogebie and Montreal River Re- gion' (or Range ) is so little known that it may be questionable whether it should have a place in this economie grouping; it em- braces the country between Lake Gogebie and the west boundary of Michigan, and is 100 miles west of the Marquette region." The subsequent development of this region shows the want of adequate estimate of it in 1873. Twenty-five years later the Commissioner of Mineral Statisties says of it (report, 1898): "The Gogebie range is one of the important ones of the State, and is the youngest in the order of discovery and development."

Ore shipments from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota mines on Lake Superior are reported as follows:

DISTRICT OR RANGE.

No. of Cos.

Shipments 1897, tons.

Total ship- ments, tons

Marquette Range, Mich.

2,711,505

49,258,759

Menominee Range, Mich

1,799,856

21,788,278

Gogebic Range, Mich

1,882,640

19,294,161

Menominee Range, Wis.

135.813

2,992 833

Gogebic Range, Wis

374,634

3,414,503

Mesaba Range, Minn.

4,280,863

12,355,446

Vermillion Range, Minn

1,278,482

10,498.687

211

12,463,793

119 602,667

The cost of railway hanlage from mines to lake shipping points ranges from 32 to 80 cents per ton, according to distance. Lake transportation to distributing eenters is quoted, in one instance, as high as $2.75 in 1880, but ranging from 45 to 70 eents in 1897.

Of the production of pig iron, it is said in the report from which these statistics are taken: "All of the pig iron manufactured in Michigan is charcoal iron. There are no coke furnaces. The competition of the coke

irons is so keen that but little profit remains to the Michigan smelters. The margin has steadily been growing less, and the present finds but little indneement for new stacks or improvements upon the old ones." Furnaces are reported as at Mancelona, Elk Rapids. Ishpeming, Fruitport, Gladstone, Manistique, and three in Detroit, employing 763 men, and with an output in 1897 of 126,113 tous.

Next to iron and copper, ranks the salt in- dustry of the State in the line of its mineral products. The first satisfactory evidence of the existence of saline water within the limits of Michigan, of a strength sufficient to make the manufacture of salt profitable, was ob- tained by Dr. Douglass Houghton, the first State geologist, previous to 1840. The first successful experiments in salt manufacture were in the Saginaw Valley, in 1859, under the anspices of the East Saginaw Salt Manu- facturing Company. The faet is authorita- tively stated that greater progress was made in the manufacture of salt in Michigan in four years than in the Kanawha Valley in fifty years, and greater progress in the former in five than at the Onondaga Salt Springs in forty-two years succeeding 1797. Much of this progress was doubtless due to the policy of the Legislature in encouraging the manu- facture by a small bounty, during the earlier years of the enterprise.

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Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state, Part 11

Author: Evening News Association (Detroit) Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Detroit : Evening New Assoc. Number of Pages: 558

Author: Evening News Association (Detroit)
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Detroit : Evening New Assoc.
Number of Pages: 558