|
Remembering Our Ancestors Through
Genealogy |
|
A History of Iron County Michigan by Jack Hill Published in 1955, "A History of Iron County Michgan" gives the history and other interesting facts about this Upper Peninsula county. The book was originally printed in two columns. In order to improve the readability of the pages on a web browser it was converted to single column by combining every two original lines. With this exception the transcription was done without changes or corrections. Chapter 12 - Mineral and Early Mining |
|
Chapter XII MINERAL AND EARLY MINING The existence of valuable iron ores in the Upper Peninsula, un- like that of its copper deposits did not come to the attention of the world until slightly more than a century ago. The native copper of the Lake Superior area on the other hand, was known to the navigators, explorers and mis- HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 51 sionaries as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. Cartier, on his first visit to the St. Lawrence, was presented with a knife made of the metal by the Indians. With the advance of the French to Sault Saint Marie in 1671, a coppersmith was engaged in the manufacture of trinklets, bracelets, candlesticks and novelties from the copper found on the shores of the lake. Exactly one hundred years later, and English company headed by Alexander Henry made an attempt to mine coopper along the Ontonagon River. This enterprise met with failure and was abandoned following operations of one winters duration. The settlement of the boundary dispute between the United States and Canada and the release of the remaining lands of the peninsula by the Indians in the treaty of 1842, paved the way for the cop- per boom. This boom in turn, hastened the discovery and aided in the development of the iron ores. To grasp the magnitude of the search for copper, it is interesting to note that the first three copper mining permits were issued by the War Department in the year of 1843. Three years later, over one hundred mining companies had been organized and over nine hundred leases had been issued. Mining permits at this time were issued for one square mile of land. The rapid expansion of the search and mining of copper made necessary the early completion of the General Land Office surveys. It was on the eighteenth day of September 1844 while engaged in this work that William A. Burt made the discovery of readily available iron ores of good quality near the City of Negaunee. This discovery, which is more fully covered in another part of this work, turned the attention of the mineral seekers to the potential rewards attainable through the exploitation of the iron resources. Among the many that came north to locate mineral lands dur- ing the ensuing year was the agent of a company of Detroit industrialists, Mr. Philo H. Everett. In an interesting account of this journey in the Historical Collections of Michigan, Mr. Everett re- lates how he as a member of a party of thirteen arrived at Mar- quette in 1845. Following the staking of a claim at the site of the new iron dis- coveries, Mr. Everett proceeded to the Houghton area where several copper locations were also made. These, however, were subsequent- ly abandoned in favor of the more promising iron location. Upon his arrival at L'Anse in the early autumn, he was informed of cop- per in the possession of the Vieux Desert Indians and believing this a clue to further discoveries, decided to make the journey to the village at Lac Vieux Desert. Reaching his destination, he found the squaws busily harvest- ing the wild rice crop of the lake and was somewhat astonished at the filth and living standards of the tribe. Failing in the object of his search, Mr. Everett retraced his steps to L'Anse where he am- barked on the first leg of his return voyage to Detroit. With the beginning of mining activities at Negaunee, the Federal government dispatched three of its outstanding geologists, J. D. Whit- ney, C. T. Jackson, and J. W. Foster, into the area to study the deposits and to determine if possible their extent. Messrs. Whit- ney and Foster traced the formation to the vicinity of Michigamme where they turned south in their work to follow the Michigamme and Menominee Rivers into Green Bay. The favorable report of these geologists published the following year, verified the current belief that the iron formations were re- gional in scope and thus had the effect of stimulating wider ex- ploration. To this knowledge was added the discoveries of the Gen- eral Land office surveyors who noted the presence of iron ore in various parts of the lands which eventually became Iron county. 56 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN Thus following the development of the Negaunee mines, we see the explorers and prospectors spreading to the west and south. In 1852, S. C. Smith discovered the ores of Republic. Development of these ores, however, was delayed until 1871. The ores of the Michi- gamme area were discovered by Jacob Houghton, brother of Doug- las Houghton, while engaged in a survey of the Marquette, Hough- ton and Ontonagon railroad in the year 1872. At the termination of the Civil War, the vanguard of mineral land speculators had reached the vicinity of Crystal Falls. Foremost among them was Edward Breitung of Marquette. Others included Solomon S. Curry, R. W. Davidson, H. G. Williams and S. L. Smith. The earliest available record of these land transactions is of July 10, 1866. In the ensuing five years, some twenty transactions were execut- ed on parcels in sections 20 and 28 along the Paint River. Through the inclusion of several Kirby Carpenter Lumber Company land transactions in this group, it appears that the mineral men of the north were met by the lumbermen making their way up the Menominee and Paint Rivers at this point in 1868. Before entering on a record of the mining on the Menominee Range, a brief summary of comparative figures bearing on iron production in general up to this time may be of interest to the reader. Until the year of 1880, the United Kingdom had retained a predominant lead in the production of iron, producing more than all the other nations of the world combined. With the increasing demand for railroad, shipping and general in- dustrialization needs during this period, however, every effort was made to exploit its own resources by the United States. Thus from the modest total of 831,770 long tons of pig iron produced by the United States in the years 1860 to 1865, the industry was sufficient- ly increased to surpass the production of the United Kingdom by two million tons in the five year period ending in 1890, with a total output of 9,202,703 tons. By the year 1901, the United States doubled the output of the United Kingdom with a total of 15,878,- 354 tons. Now let us follow briefly the part our State of Michgian has played in this national achievement. Until the discovery of iron ore in Marquette county, the iron production of Michigan was con- fined to the smelting of minor quantities of imported Ohio bog ores in some fifteen small furnaces of the Lower Peninsula. In an effort to reduce the cost of transporting the ore, three ad- ditional small furnaces were placed into operation about the year 1848, to smelt the bog ores of Kalamazoo, Jackson and Branch counties. In the year of 1881 as the mines of the Upper Peninsula were corning into production, our State produced approximately twenty-eight per cent of the national total while in 1900, it produced slightly more than thirty-six per cent. To carry this analysis still further, it is found that up to the year of 1904, the Menominee Range had produced approximate- ly thirty per cent of the total for the state. While the foregoing figures apply merely to the first half century of iron mining in the state, they do nevertheless, reveal the far reaching influence the industry has had on the progress of the nation and the world at large. First Ore Mined The first iron ores to be mined on the Menominee Range follow- ed the discoveries made by the Breen brothers, Thomas and Bart- ley in the year 1866. The brothers, residents of Menominee, were en- gaged in cruising timber lands near Waucedah when they en- countered the outcrops that led to active mining four years later. when they encountered the outcrops that led to active mining four years later. The favorable outlook for the HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 53 Breen mine and the promise of a railroad extension to the area in- duced others to enter the field. Among these was the Milwaukee Iron Company financed by J. J. Hagerman, J. H. Van Dyke and others of Milwaukee and headed by Dr. N. P. Hulst as local agent. At this time, the Milwaukee Iron Company was engaged in the manufacture of railroad equipment for the rapidly expanding railroad systems. This was the beginning of a series of Milwau- kee financiers who inaugurated systematic exploration and financ- ed many early mining ventures of the range. Mr. Hagerman is re- membered in Iron County by Hagerman Lake where he later acquired considerable timber holdings. This company discovered the iron deposits of Vulcan in 1873 and with the Breen Mine, were the first to make shipments of ore upon the arrival of the railroad in 1877. Concurrent with the Vulcan discovery was that of John Arm- strong and John Buell at Quinnesec. To determine the quality of their ores, Messrs. Armstrong and Buell hauled some fifty tons of ore with horses to the furnace at Menominee and found it to be of good grade. The next step in the advance to the west was the discovery of the Chapin Mine at Iron Mountain. This was in 1878 and was made by the Menominee Mining Company which had secured the leases of the Milwaukee Iron Company. Dr. Hulst being an associate in the new enterprise as well as its agent. The first shipments were made in 1880, the mine eventually be- coming one of the largest producers of the range. The mine has been idle for some years but among the relics of general inter- est may be mentioned the 160 ton Cornish pumping plant which has been retained as a museum piece at its Ludington shaft. While the ores of the Commonwealth Mine were discovered by Charles Whittlesey a Government surveyor in 1859 and those of Florence by Hiram D. Fisher and Nelson Halsey in October 1873, mining did not actually begin until the fall of 1878. The first train to enter the village of Florence was on September 12, 1880. State Geogolist T. B. Brooks visited the lands of Iron County in 1873 and made the following brief report; "Two little is known of the remote Paint River district Ts 42-43 Rs 32-33 to enable me to give anything if interest regarding its geological structure. The Huronian rocks are extensively developed there and contain deposits of hematite ore. I had opportunity to examine only two localities at the Paint River Falls, Sec 20-43-32 and on Sec. 13-42- 33. The ores are identical and unlike any in the more easterly part of the Menominee region, is richer in iron, freer of silica and con- tain more water." By the year 1875 the prospectors began making numerous excur- sions into the wilderness that was to become Iron County in the hope of early development of its mineral resources. The surface geo- logy favored the areas along the Michigamme and Paint Rivers in this work for here the mantle of till was light and the outcrops more frequent. This area also offered more ready access by water or on foot and thus lured the majority of early prospectors to this region. Among those who became active in this work at this time were John Armstrong who had extended his operations to the west from Quinnesec in 1875 and Donald C. MacKinnon of Marquette who came in 1877. Mr. MacKinnon later joined his brother Alexander in the selection of valuable mineral lands now embraced by the City of Iron River. Mr. Armstrong is credited with making the discovery of the first merchantable ores on the east side. This strike was made by tracing the lode from an outcrop near the falls of the Paint River formerly mentioned, the property being subsequently developed by the Crystal Falls Mining Com- 54 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN pany as the Crystal Falls Mine. Shipments of 1,341 tons were made upon the arrival of the rail road in 1882. Mr. Armstrong was also active in determining the extent of the deposits noted by the government surveying crews near Alpha, where Mr. Edward Brei- tung of Marquette, opened the Mastodon mine in 1881 and the Mine shipped 3,477 tons upon the arrival of the railroad the follow- ing year. The location became known as Mastodon, the change in name to Alpha being made about the year 1910. Mr. Breitung was an able geologist who was born and received his geological training in Germany. In addition to his mining interests, Mr. Breitung served several terms in the State Legislature. Other discoveries were made in rapid succession. The Fairbanks Mine was the first of the east side mines to be developed. It was discovered and operated by the Crystal Falls Mining Company which consisted of S. D. Hollister of Milwaukee, George Runkle who constructed a large section of the railroad to the area and oth- ers. The mine shipped 14,560 tons with the opening of railroad facili- ties in 1882. The Sheldon or Columbia Mine made the largest shipment of ore during the first year with a total of 15,948 tons. These ores were dis- covered_ by Jacob Schafer about midway between the original strikes at Crystal Falls and Mastodon. The Youngstown Mine was discovered indirectly by the Maltby brothers when it was found that the ore body of their early Briar Hill exploration extended onto the adjoining property of Robert Nelson, this property being currently under lease to the Tod, Stambaugh, Company. Mr. Nelson was one of the pioneers of Mar- quette County and served as agent for the Cleveland Iron Company before its consolidation with the Cliff Iron Company. We must digress at this point to note that the marriage of Mr. Nelson to Miss Sarah Ann Johnson on December 8, 1850 by Reverend J. Morse, was the first to be solemnized in Marquette County. The Youngstown Mine was operated by the Tod, Stambaugh, Com- and was one of the six mines to make their first shipments of ore in 1882. The Great Western Mine was discovered on lands leased from the Portage Lake Ship Canal & Iron Company by Solomon D. Hollister and George Runkle. The mine was developed by the Great Western Mining Company and shipped 578 tons the first year. While these undertakings were in progress along the Paint River, Doctor D. M. Bond of Janesville and Florence, Wisconsin and later of Iron River was developing the Calidonia Mine on the bank of the Michigamme River at Mansfield where his exploring crews had uncovered promising quantities of Bessemer ore. Other offi- cers of the Calidonia Company were E. E. Keyes, vice president and Adolph E. Guensburg, secretary-treasurer. The latter were also residents of Florence where Mr. Guensburg was engaged in the merchantile business with early branch stores at Crystal Falls and Iron River. The mine was leased by the Mansfield Mining Company in 1889. Four years later the county witnessed its greatest mining disaster when the river broke into the workings with a loss of twenty- eight lives. As an anticlimax, the village of Mansfield that had sprung up near the mine workings was destroyed by fire in the fol- lowing year. In 1896, the Crerar, Clinch, Company of Chicago secured an option on the mine and operating as the DeSoto Iron Company, re- deemed it by digging a new channel for the river. The property came into the possession of the Oliver Iron Mining Company in 1901. Shipments from the mine have totalled approximately one and one-half million tons. Co-existent with all this mining activity on the east side of the county were the tenacious efforts HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 55 of the MacKinnons and Seldens to uncover and develop the ores of the west side. In addition to the search for ore on his own lands where he discovered the Nanaimo and Sheridan ores, Mr. Donald MacKinnon is credited with the discovery of The Spring Valley (Palatka) deposits. He was also interested in the early Paint River mine in Crystal Falls and was instrumental in the discovery of the Chicagoan Mine in 1882. The Selden family made its entry into the district with the ar- rival of William H. Selden in 1878. The Seldens were natives of Connecticut and were currently engaged on railroad surveying pro- jects. On his first expedition, Mr. Selden found that the most desir- able lands were in the possession of Mr. Jay C. Morse of Marquette, Mr. Morse having secured the Isabella lands in 1873 and those of the Iron River Mine (Riverton) in 1875. Mr. Morse it will be remembered was one of the early agents of the Cleveland Iron Company. He was later engaged in Great Lakes shipping as well as being a holder of vast mineral and timber- lands. In the year 1883, he joined James Pickands and Samuel Math- er, the elder son of Samuel L. Mather of early Cleveland Iron Company fame in the founding of the well known Pickands, Mather Company. Following a thorough exploration of the area, Mr. Selden pur- chased several tracts of land and returned to his work of surveying for the winter. In the early spring of 1879 he returned to the area with his father, Richard L. Selden. Upon further investigation of the lands in the area, the senior Selden filed a homestead claim to a quarter section of land adjacent to the noted discoveries of the General Land Office surveyors located on the west side of the Stambaugh hill. That his selection was a good one is manifest through the later development of the Chatham and Hiawatha No. 1 mines. In addition to searching out potential mineral lands for future purchase at this time, they also entered into a partnership with Dr. Louis D. Cyr of Negaunee and Louis Stegmiller an Escanaba jeweler to purchase the local interests of Mr. Morse. On some of these lands was subse- quently built the village of Stambaugh. The first organized exploratory work on the west side was done during this summer by the Metropolitan Iron Company which had active mining interests on the lower end of the range at the time. This work was done on the Isabella property. The efforts were inadequate, however, to disclose the main bodies of ore and faced with the arduous prosecution of the work from the distant railroad terminus at Quinnesec, the company withdrew. Of those stalwart men that came to the area in 1879, only one re- mains. This is Dennis J. Haggerty, the senior surviving pioneer of the county who at this writing is ninety-nine years of age and in addition to enjoying exceptionally good health, retains remarkable powers of memory. His wholehearted co-operation has there- for been of extreme value to the writer in bringing together the unrecorded history of early activities on the west side of the coun- ty. Mr. Haggerty was born in Madison on December 25, 1854 and hails from Irish descendants who had recently settled on a farm near that city. His early education was received in the local Paro- chial school and upon graduation, he studied for a period of three years. Following various kinds of mechanical work he made his way to the thriving mill town of Menominee. Here he made the acquain- tance of a mill-wright named Alexander MacKinnon whose friendship was to vastly influence the future course of his life. In the late summer of the year 1879, a severe depression in the lumber market brought about a complete suspension of opera- tions in the mills and Mr. Haggerty was persuaded by Mr. Mac- Kinnon to join his party in the development of their recently ac- 56 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN quired lands in the valley of the Iron river. This group consisted of the MacKinnon brothers Alexander, Donald and Archie, Mr. Haggerty and a young gentleman of French descent named Joseph LaMere. Following preparations for an extended stay in the wilderness, the party entrained for the railhead at Quinnesec. At this point the supplies and equipment were loaded onto ten Indian ponies equipped with travois, each pony being burdened with a load of ap- proximately one hundred pounds for the journey on foot of some forty miles into the interior. Several miles from Quinnesec, the party bypassed the railroad construction crews the van of which had now reached the mid- way mark between the latter village and the newly opened mines at Florence. Upon leaving these mines, the party kept to the trail along the south side of the Brule River until it intersected with the trail of the Indians leading south from Chicagoan Lake whence they forded the river and made their way to the settlement. Here they found some seventy-five natives who treated them hospitably. Arriving in the valley of the Iron river on October 15, 1879, they met the Seldens, Richard L. and his son William H. whom they immediately joined in the building of the Seldens homestead and prospecting cabin. This was a temporary structure and was situated some four hundred feet west of the river and of the form- er Stambaugh depot of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad near the site now occupied by the Cozier Lumber Company of- fices. Upon completion of this cabin the party moved to the westerly end of the Alexander MacKinnon lands where they built the first MacKinnon homestead cabin near the site of the Beta Mine. The only other lands of the area that were occupied at the moment were these of Fred Mueller, a bachelor and Frank Hammar who lived with his mother, who had filed on homesteads east of the river during the preceeding year; Matt and Nick Buckholtz who had a cabin to the west of the MacKinnons and Henry A. and John H. Stanley who had settled on the east and northeast sides of Stan- ley Lake. The cabins completed, the party engaged in exploring activities throughout the winter and following summer when ample ores had been uncovered and the work was temporarily suspended until rail- road facilities were assured. During this work Mr. Haggerty was in charge of all blacksmith and tool maintenance, there being con- siderable drill sharpening as all drilling was done by hand. In his later years Mr. Haggerty continued to follow mechanical work and upon the development of the mines was promoted to master mechanic. Exploratory work on the Iron River Mine (also later known as the Stambaugh and Riverton mine) was begun in 1880 and results were sufficiently encouraging to induce the Emmet Mining Com- pany, an organization formed by Kimberly & Boyce Company of Sharon, Pennsylvania to undertake development of a mine in the spring of 1881. Stambaugh Heads Iron River Co. In a reorganization effected during that year, the Emmet Com- pany gave way to the Iron River Company headed by John Stam- baugh of Youngstown, Ohio as president, George Boyce, vice- president, R. McCurdy, secretary-treasurer, and J. P. Jones of Florence, Wisconsin as general agent. A lease on the Isabella pro- perty was also negotiated by this company at this time. State Geologist C. Rominger in his report of 1880 relates his visit into the area during that year. Making the crossing of the Brule River about four miles north northwest of Florence, he followed the early trail to the vicinity of Stager where a man named Brown maintained a halfway house. Following the trail north from this point, he entered the Alpha area HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 57 where he encountered Mr. Porter and Mr. Bond, (Presumably Dr. D. M. Bond) engaged in exploratory operations. After a brief examination of other workings south of Crystal Falls, he returned to Alpha and continued his journey west to the Iron River district. Upon arrival he found the Seldens exploratory crews engaged in digging test pits along the west side of the Stam- baugh hill. Following an inspection of those workings and those of the McKinnon's to the north, he traced the section line south from the Isabella workings for about a mile where he struck east to the Baltic area and to the trail for his return trip to Quinnesec. 2,480 Tons Of Ore Shipped Progress was also made by the MacKinnon brothers in the de- velopment of the Nanaimo Mine on their lands by the Nanaimo Mining Company in 1881. This company was headed by John S. MacDonald, a large land owner in the area as president and trea- surer and John Spencer as secretary, while Thomas Luxmore as superintendent, directed the work. At this time, the mine showed promise equal to that of the Iron River Mine. Upon arrival of the railroad in the late summer of 1882, some 2,480 tons of ore was shipped. The Iron River Mine had an advantage in shipments of sever- al months, the rail line terminating at that mine until the bridge over the river and the grade were prepared to the more distant Nanaimo and thus shipped a total of 29,115 tons during the year. On the east side, the rails reached Crystal Falls in the month of May of the same year an initial shipments from the six active mines of the area totalled 42,111 tons, exceeding by 10,500 tons the total of the two west side mines. With the coming of the mining companies, most of the exploratory work was assumed by them and following the year 1900, private exploration practically ceased. Since the beginning of mining, the county has witnessed the development of some seventy producing mines with the center of activities gradually swinging to the west side where it now rests. The small local company and independent producers have large- ly given way to the large corporations who in turn have effected consolidation of their holdings with the M. A. Hanna Ore Com- pany and Pickands, Mather, Company leading in the list of active mines at this time. With some exceptions, like the small quantity of Bessemer ore mined at Mansfield, the ore of the county has been a high phos- phorus, moderately hard red hematite with market value for grades of fifty percent iron content or more. A 1950 estimate by State authorities places the county reserves of this type at fifty-five million tons. Various reserve estimates ranging up to one billion tons have been made of the lower grade ores of twenty-five to fifty per cent iron content which are not in demand at this time but will some day be utilized. The greater part of this low grade ore lies on the east side. The following statistics on the compensation of miners and other employees in the Upper Peninsula is taken from the report of the Assistant Commissioner of mineral statistics of 1881 and may be of interest. Miners received $2 to $2.25 per ten hour day and worked one week days and one week nights alternately. Contract miners re- ceived $2.50 to $3.50 and surface laborers, $1.70 to $2.00. Furnace labor was paid $2.00 to $2.25 while the founder received $1,500 to $1,800 per year. Railroad labor received $1.80, teams $5.00 per day and farm hands $1.50 to $1.75 exclusive of board. Carpenters were paid $3.00 per day as were the painters while masons received $4.00 and wood choppers, $1.00 per cord. Board of single men cost $18.00 per month and was about one third more than in the Lower Peninsula. 58 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN It is also interesting to note the ratio of the various nationalities represented at the Marquette District mines in the year 1873 as reported by State Geologist T. B. Brooks. They included: Irish, 31; English, 27; Swedish, 18; French Canadians, 5; Americans, 5; Ger- mans, 4; and Norwegians, Danes and Scotch, 10. The distinction of being the oldest and also the largest early producer of iron ore on the west side of the county goes to the Iron River Mine. The mine has been known to have various names, for at the turn of the century it was referred to as the Stambaugh Mine and later under the operation of the Oliver Iron Mining Company as the Riverton Mine. The mine workings are situated one-quarter mile due west of the initially platted village of Stambaugh. It was on the south end of the workings of this mine that the first iron ore was noted on the west side of Iron county. The discovery was made by Harvey Mel- len a surveyor of government lands while engaged in the sub- division of the townships into sections. Preliminary exploratory work was done by the fee holders in the spring of 1880 and the outlook being favorable, the Emmet Mining Company that was currently operating mines in the Wacadah area was induced to carry on the work. In a reorgani- zation effected in the year 1881, the Emmet Company gave way to the Iron River Mining Company. This company later became known as the Florence-Iron River Mining Company. Officers of this company were John Stambaugh, President, George Boyce, Vice President, R. McCurdy, secretary- treasurer, and J. P. Jones, general agent. In his annual report of the Iron River Mine for the year 1881, Commissioner Charles E. Wright wrote the following brief sum- mary. "Of the mines which have been opened in this vicinity, the one attracting the largest share of public attention and which shows at the present time the greatest amount of ore, is the Iron River Mine, controlled by Mr. John Stambaugh, the president of the company, who is also president of the Youngstown Iron Company. The Iron River Company holds under a lease, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 36 and the east half of the north- east quarter of section 35. The mine openings which are in sec- tion 36, show a very large body of ore, perhaps a hundred feet and upwards in width, which have been traced for upwards of a mile in length. Sufficient work has been done on the location to establish the certainty of the existence of a large body of shipping ore on the property, and it may become one of the most considerable mines in the state. The ore is said to average about 60 percent in metallic iron; to be free from lime and and low in silica, but as yet show- ing too much phosphorus for Bessemer. The mine openings are at a considerable elevation affording great advantage in opening the mine, and for cheaply handling the ore. James N. Porter is superintendent of the mine." In the annual report for the year 1887, Commissioner Charles D. Lawton describes the many improvements and progress of the company's Isabella Mine and continues the report on the Iron River mine as follows: "- - -The north mine is also looking excellently well. There has been so little change in the past year that it is scarcely worth mentioning. If the Iron River mine were pushed it could produce a great deal of ore-200,000 tons, but the company seems to produce all it can sell by working the mine only part of the year. No. 1, the main shaft, is down to the 300 feet level where the cross cut to the ore, 80 feet, has been made. - - - There are some new features in No. 2. Southeast, the ore has gone 300 feet from the shaft in the 200 foot level. In point of fact the run of ore is all the way from the engine house to the HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 59 north line, a distance of 1,600 feet. The ore varies in quality, however. In No. 3, north, the ore is lower in iron and higher in phos- phorous. The company has a laboratory and employs a chemist at the mine and the ore is constantly sampled and analyzed. The annual product of the Iron River Mine has been as follows: 1882-29,115 tons; 1883-100,369 tons, 1884-52,584; 1885-55,693; 1886-78,591; and 1887-82,464 tons for a total of 398,816 gross tons." Offices On River Flats It may be mentioned that the desire of the mine officials to ship the stocks of ore on hand hastened the completion of the railroad in the fall of 1882. To reach this objective, all mine employees were impressed into the task of grade construction and the laying of rails to the mine in the late summer of that year. While immediate ship- ment of ore was undertaken, the railroad terminated at the mine for several weeks until the bridge over the Iron river was completed, whence it was continued on to Iron River and the Nanaimo mine. The ore in this mine was situated at a high elevation along the hillside thus affording easy removal to the railroad cars. When this method was not workable due to depth, derricks were placed into operation and the ore was raised to surface level in buckets. This quarrying method of mining accounts for the vast pits as we see them today. When the opening workings attained a depth beyond the advantageous use of the derricks, the three shafts mentioned were sunk along the lode. The early engine and boiler houses were situated at the south end of the workings but in later years were moved to the extreme north end of the property. The offices, machine shops, ware- houses, stables, carpenter shop and laboratory were situated on the river flats near the Chicago & Northwestern railway depot while the change house or "dry" was on the west bank of the river. The mine became inactive about the year 1906 and the buildings served the Oliver Iron Mining Company who had secured a lease on the mine in 1901, in the operation of their Dober and Isabella properties until 1919 when new buildings were erected at the new Dober mine shaft. Approximately one and one-half million gross tons were shipped from this mine to the time of its abandonment. The men in charge of the mine during the tenure of the Oliver Iron Mining Company were Superintendents James S. Wall 1901 to 1921 and Victor D. Laing, 1921 to 1935. The following annual report of the Commissioner of Mineral Sta- tistics, Charles E. Wright, written in July 1883, has preserved for us the most complete account of the early workings of the Iron River and Nanaimo mines with a fair picture of the general life of the community. "The Iron River Mine is one of the most interesting and prob- ably, one of the most valuable of the new mines that have been re- cently opened in the upper peninsula. The location is a very plea- sant one, and very advantageously situated for rapid development of mining work. Until recently the Iron River district has been an inaccessible region, to be reached only by a journey of thirty miles on foot or by vehicle over a most execrable road from Florence; but now since the completion of the railroad connecting with the Crystal Falls extension of the Menominee branch of the Chicago and North- western railroad, the arrangement of trains is such that one may leave the Marquette district on the Chicago express train and arrive in Stambaugh the same evening. Back from the river, where the mines are situated, the country is sufficiently level and heavily covered with fine hardwood forests. Outcrops of rock are rareIy seen, the surface being every- where covered deeply with a strong, loamy soil, excellently well adapted to yield in abundance such products as the climate of the country will admit to be cultivated. There are two villages 60 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN which have started on their career, each with the determination to outdo the other. Stambaugh, situated high on a bluff to the east, looks down upon its rival, Iron River, built in the valley, scarcely half a mile away, upon the opposite side of the river. But it cannot be claimed with any degree of truth that the denizens of the newly-created hamlet in the valley of the sparkling river look upward with bless- ings upon the equally self-esteem fortunate dwellers of the hill. The upward glance to their rival, if not accompanied with animad- versions, must at least be only taken in a physical sense, and has in no wise a social of a moral application. Apparently, however, Iron River has the advantage; the village is the most accessible by railroad, and it has a large hotel, an institution yet wanting in Stambaugh, but one which steps are being taken to speedily reme- dy. Besides, Iron River will be at the intersection of two railroads, since the Ontonagon and Brute River road has surveyed its line through that town and located its depot there. It is said that the contracts are already let for completing the road to the State line the present season, and that the Wisconsin and Northern, with which it is to be consolidated, is rapidly advancing to meet it, so that in the not distant future there road from Ontonagon harbor to Milwaukee. Stambaugh has the advantage, probably, in the matter of mos- quitoes; its elevation should tend to lessen its suffering in this re- spect, and also it is greatly the superior in fine residences. The elegant dwelling of Mr. Porter, the superintendent. would be an ornament anywhere, and Dr. Carpenter has the pleasure of watching the building of the commodious tasteful dwelling which he is constructing at Stambaugh and happily anticipating the rapid- ly accruing time when he may remove his family from Ishpeming, and, reliquishing the bachelor miseries which he is now endur- ing, again gather together his house hold goods beneath this newly made roof tree. It may be pleasant to the many friends of the doctor to know that he is greatly esteemed at his new location. The people congratulate themselves on their good fortune in possessing in their midst so re- putable a physician, who is so kind hearted and high minded a gentleman. It is unfortunate that the name of the village and mine were not the same. It will be observed that Stambaugh was laid out by the Iron River company, while the village of Iron River is in the vicinity of the Nanaimo mine. It is at the Iron River mine that the greatest activity prevails, and this company holds the most promising deposits of ore, and has thus far made the greatest advance in opening its mines. The natural situation of the ground is such as to enable the company to open its mine and locate its ore docks and railroad tracks, etc., so as to secure the greatest facility and economy in the work of mining and handling the ore. The company holds the west half of the west half of section 36 and the east half of the east half of the northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 35, all in town 43 north, range 35 west. The line dividing the two sections runs along the west slope of the hill that extends down to the margin of the Iron River and rises to a height of 50 feet to 100 feet above it. The north section corner is situated in the west bank of the stream, and the corner on the south end of the line is also on the west side about a hundred feet distant from the river. Between these points the river has a general north and south direction west of the section line and distant from it from 50 to 300 feet. It is along this hill-side, near the section line, that the ore has been discovered, the chief deposits, as HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 61 far as is known, being on section 36, and near the north and south ends of the sections. Where they are now mining is midway between the quarter post and the section corner, in the north half of the section and just east of the section line. The forties are owned by different parties and are held on leases by this company which run 20 years, and for which the consideration is a certain sum per ton royalty to be paid for the ore mined. The ore has been stripped for a length of about 800 feet, and shows a width or clean ore of from 30 to 80 feet. The railroad track has been built between the river and the mine with a down grade, so that the cars left standing on the track to the north are run down as required, by the force of gravity, to the dock, and when filled with ore are, in the same manner, allowed to run down to the south to be hauled away, each morning, by the locomotives to Escanaba. The ore dock is no near the mine that it is but a brief run of 50 to 100 feet, with the tram cars and horse carts to convey the ore from the stopes to the cars. In this manner, at this point, they are now mining and loading, each day shift, 75 to 100 cars with ore, with a force of about 100 men. There is no machinery of any kind on the ground, no engine, no boiler, not even a derrick or bucket. In lieu of a steam whistle the men are called to their work and notified when to leave off by the musical vibrations of a triangle hanging in front of the office. No mining could be simpler or more intelligently planned; all the advantage due to the conformation of the ground and the situa- tion of the ore has been taken, and it is probably that at no mine in the peninsula is the ore at the present time obtained at so small a cost per ton. Of course there has been considerable preliminary expenditure preparatory to mining, simply as it is done now; and by and by when it becomes necessary to sink below the level of the dock, to a depth greater than will admit of hauling out with horse carts or tram cars, the introduction of machinery will be in order and thus a further expenditure must be inevitably incurred when the time comes for meeting the same conditions that prevail in other mines, and the work must be proceeded with in the same manner here as elsewhere. But for the present season, to furnish a production of 100,000 tons, no machinery will be necessary. The ore at this time is a moderately soft, brown hematite, of a rich umber color, yielding an average of 60 per cent and upwards in metallic iron, and about .175 in phosporus. At the southwest part of the section, the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 36, the company has partially de- veloped another, apparently, very large deposit of ore (Isabella) both at this point and where they are working the ore slightly outcrop- ped and the fact is found noted in the U. S. survey. At this south mine the conformation of the ground will admit of the same arrangements being made for opening the mine and handling the ore as are adopted at the mine now working. A side- track has been surveyed from the main line along the foot of the hill in front of the mine, giving a grade of one foot in a hundred. A dock will be built along the side of this track, and the earth removed from the ledge, leaving the elevation of the out-crop of the ore above the level of the dock a sufficient degree to afford the opportunity for mining out a large amount of ore before the use of machinery will have to be resorted to. A drift commencing in the side hill at the end of an open cut extends east diagonally across the ore 150 feet to the foot wall, the graphite as it is called a black, slaty rock, easily fractured, and disintegrating on long exposure to the atmosphere. Test pits and trenches have been made, showing the ore for a distance of 1,000 feet along the line of the formation 62 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN South of the section line, on section 1, some test pits have been made which are bottomed in ore. To the north near the quarter post of the section, a good showing of ore is made in a trench that is being dug. Also west of the line in section 35, at several points, the ore has been uncovered in quantity sufficiently large to in- sure the existance of paying deposits. The company operates a steam sawmill, located at the southwest corner of section 36, and have just added a planer, etc., for the con- venience of those wishing to build. Upon the hill east of the mine is the village of Stambaugh, named after the president of the company. The town has been laid out and platted and lots are sold to those wishing to buy; a number of good houses, stores, etc., have been built, and the town has a flourishing, promising look. The gentle- men who own and operate the mine also control the Youngs- town mine at Crystal Falls, and have large mining and metallur- gical interests elsewhere. Mr. F. P. Mills, the manager of this and of the company's Crystal Falls mines, etc., is proving himself thoroughly qualified for the responsible duties that devolve upon him. He has the integrity, energy, education, intelligence, and practical experience and training that will insure his position among the first mining men in the country. Mr. J. N. Porter, the local superintendent, is a gentleman of con- siderable practical experience in the Ohio coal mines and in the lead mines of Missouri; he has been on the ground for the year past, and endured the mosquitoes and sand flies in a shanty by the river through one season, while clearing the ground and directing the preliminary work of bringing order and civilization out of the roughest wilderness, until now he may enjoy the satisfaction of ob- serving the change which he has aided in perfecting, and partake of the comforts of domestic life in the elegant domicile which he has erected, and into which he has recently removed. The company began shipping ore last October and before the close of navigation sent out 29,115 gross tons. About a mile northwest from the Iron River mine is the Nanai- mo mine, which is situated in the northwest quarter of the south- west quarter of section 26 Township 43, Range 35. In its course between these two mines the Iron river makes a bend so that at the Nanaimo its direction is east and west and the mine is near the riv- er on the south side of it. Here as at the mine just described, there is, apparently, a large amount of ore. The mining work thus far comprises an open pit about 200 feet in length, east and west, and 90 feet in width in the widest place. In this pit they are stoping, the ore being hoisted and transported to the cars in buckets, which are raised with two derricks. The ore is of good quality some of it somewhat harder than that found at the Iron River mine, and averages 60 per cent to 62 per cent in metallic iron and about .18 per cent in phosphorus. Below the open pit they have opened underground, the shaft go- ing down 120 feet at an angle of 65 degrees, westerly dip. These underground working are not very extensive; they consist as yet, merely of several drifts about 50 feet or so in length, extending in different directions, in some of which they have begun stoping ore. Altogether they are mining and shipping about 25 cars of ore per day. The shaft has a skip road and the ore, which is hoisted in it, is run out and dumped into ore pockets, which stand over the railroad tracks. There is a small engine house, supplies with a pumping and hoisting engine and two drums by which the water and the ore are raised from the mine. The mine shipped in 1882, 2,250 tons of ore, which was done late in the fall after the railroad was completed. HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 63 About midway between this and the Iron River mine is the village of Iron River, which grew last summer very rapidly and con- tains many good dwellings, stores and a large hotel. However, there is very little doing in the village now. It is expected that, possibly, before long the Ontonagon and Brule River Railroad will be built through this place and consolidate with the Wisconsin and Northern, which is also, it is said, rapidly building north, and has already crossed the State line with its preliminary work. Iron River being at the juncture of the roads, the fact may add somewhat to its business and its prospects. The Nanaimo mine is unquestionably a good one, as they have depth of ore in sight of 92 feet, and a width at the bottom of 67 feet. They are now rising from the bottom of the open cut excavations and then the whole body of ore, 92 feet deep will be stoped away, affording a great breast of ore each way. Captain Luxmare has an admirable plan for supply air to his confined underground drifts. The water pumped from the mine is conducted in a launder of distance of about 50 feet north, where it discharges on a narrow overshot wheel, 12 feet in diameter; to the wheel is attached a rope pulley which is connected with an inter- mediate pulley, and this in turn by a belt, with a blower set at the mouth of the shaft. The water affords ample power to give the blower a motion of 1,400 to 1,800 revolutions per minute, giving all the air that is neces- sary in the mine. As the flow of water from the mine is constant, the blower can be kept in constant motion and there is no cost. The officers of the company are, John S. McDonald, president, Thomas Luxmore, superintendent. The region of country in which these mines are located is a very fine one. The surface is tolerably level, generally covered with a heavy growth of timber. Very little exploring is now being done here; not from any sup- posed lack of mineral, but from the uncertainty regarding the title to the lands. The Ontonagon and Brule Railroad grant covers this country, and the claim of the railroad company to these lands has not yet been confirmed. Not a little of it has been taken by "homesteaders", and also some of the even sections, that have been sold by the government, have been settled on by parties under the homestead law, so that there is likely to be considerable conflict of interest. Until there is a permanent settlement of this matter of titles, there will not be much exploring done or any great improvement in the territory." The first mining company to actually enter the Iron River- Stambaugh area for the purpose of exploration appears to have been the Metropolitan Iron Company, which at the moment was operating mines on the lower end of the range. In the year 1879, this company did some work along exploratory lines on the site which was later to become the Isabella Mine, but failure to locate any ap- preciable quantity of ore, combined with the difficulty of main- taining this forward enterprise from the nearest railway point at Quinnesec, brought about its retirement. In the year 1881, following their acquisition of the larger Iron River Mine property to the north, the Iron River Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Tod, Stambaugh Company, took over these explorations and opened the mine. To this property was brought the first mining machinery to enter the district. This machinery con- sisted of a small upright boiler and hoist and the same was trans- ported from Florence on stone boats drawn by horses and mules boats drawn by horses and mules. The first ore was thus removed like at the Iron River Mine, by working into the sidehill and when greater depth was reached, the derricks were used to hoist the ore to the surface level. Rernains of the early dock are still visible at 64 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN this time where the shallow railroad cars were filled. Directly south of the waste rock pile and on the original river bed (the stream now follows a man made canal further south) are the remnants of the sawmill dam that flooded the river bottom to the vicinity of the roundhouse and beyond and afforded the local boys a favorite trout fishing spot. The saw mill was in operation at this time. In the year 1887, Commissioner Charles D. Lawton describes the progress of the mine in the following manner: Ore Is Clean "The Iron River Company has a fine new plant of machinery at the Isabella Mine; it consists of three 5 feet Lane drumbs, engine, Rand compressor, eight power drills, two steel boilers, 5 feet x 16 feet, all in a good commodious building. The Isabella has turned out remarkably well, having produced 39,493 tons the past year, and is opened to give still more and coming season. It is an open pit 150 feet deep, 77 x 65 on the bottom, all ore, be- sides a drift in south 15 feet is ore. At the north side is a stope of ore 26 feet high, 18 ft. long, where a second stope is reached that is 38 feet wide and extends north 85 ft., coming then to a third one that is 21 feet x 18 ft. and goes north 62 feet. The ore is clean and goes 60 per cent without any sorting. It requires no watching for rock. With the new hoisting machinery the mine is in good shape." The bodies of ore near the surface however, proved to be minor ones and the mine failed to be a large producer in the early years of its operation. A total of 65,000 tons were shipped prior to 1904. A large amount of ore found at greater depths was removed through the adjacent Dober Mine shafts by the Oliver Iron Mining Company to bring the total product of the mine to 1,036,728. The Namaino Mine is the second oldest shipper of iron ore from the Iron River district. It is situated near the west end of the lands of Alexander and Donald C. MacKinnon on the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 26, town 43, range 35. The ores were discovered by the MacKinnons in the outcrops along the riv- er in the year 1878 and early development was done concurrently with that of the Iron River Mine. Evidence of the mine workings which at its height was of sizeable proportions, has been somewhat obliterated in recent years through the removal of the waste rock piles and the filling of the pits with debris. The best history of the mine and the furnace which was an auxi- liary project attached to the mine is provided by the annual reports of the state commissioners of mineral statistics for the years 1881, 1883 and 1885. In the year 1881, Commissioner Charles E. Wright made his first report. "The Nanaimo Mine is on the west half of the southwest quarter of section 26, T. 43, R 35, being northwest from the Iron River Mine a distance of about two miles. The work done here has discov- ered the ore deposit in magnitude equal to that shown in the Iron location, and the ore is entirely similar. The mine is on the west side of the river and in comparatively wet ground. Preparations are rapidly being made for mining and ship- ping a large amount of ore as soon as the railroad shall be com- pleted to the mine. The village of Iron River in the vicinity of this mine, is rapidly growing. The officers are: John S. McDonald, president and treasurer; John Spencer, secretary. The work is under the supervision of Thomas Luxmore, Superintendent. The land is owned by D. C. MacKin- non." In the month of July 1883, Commissioner Wright made the follow- ing report. "- - - The mining work thus far comprises an open pit about 200 feet in length, east and west, and 90 feet in width in the widest place. In this pit they are stoping, HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 65 the ore being hoisted and transported to the cars in buckets, which are raised with two derricks. The ore is of good quality, some of it somewhat harder than that found in the Iron River mine, and aver- ages 60 per cent to 62 per cent in metallic iron and about .18 per cent in phosphorus. Below the open pit they have opened underground, the shaft go- ing down 120 feet., at an angle of 65 degrees. westerly dip. These underground workings are not very extensive; they consist as yet, merely of several drifts about 50 feet or so in length, extending in different directions, in some of which they have begun stoping ore. Altogether they are mining and shipping about 25 cars of ore per day. The shaft has a skip road and the ore, which is hoisted in it, is run out and dumped out into ore pockets, which stand over the railroad tracks. There is a small engine house, supplied with a pumping and hoisting engine and two drums by which the water and the ore are raised from the mine. The mine shipped in 1882, 2,250 tons of ore, which was done late in the fall after the railroad was completed. About midway betwen this and the Iron River Mine is the village of Iron River, which grew last summer very rapidly and contains many good dwellings, stores and a large hotel. However, there is very little doing in the village now. It is expected that, possibly, before long the Ontonagon and Brule River Railroad will be built through this place and consolidate with the Wisconsin and Northern, which is also, it is said, rapidly building north, and has already crossed the State line with its pre- liminary work. Iron River being at the juncture of the roads, the fact may add somewhat to its business and its prospects. The Nanaimo Mine is unquestionably a good one, as they have depth of ore in sight of 92 feet, and a width at the bottom of 67 feet. They are now rising from the underground workings to the bottom of the open cut excavations, and then the whole body of ore, 92 feet deep, will be stoped away, affording a great breast of ore each way. Captain Luxmore has an admirable plan for supplying air to his confined underground drifts. The water pumped from the mine is conducted in a launder a distance of about 50 feet north, where it discharges on a narrow overshot wheel, twelve feet in dia- meter; to the wheel is attached a rope pulley which is connected with an intermediate pulley, and this in turn by a belt, with a blow- er set at the mouth of the shaft. The water affords ample power to give the blower a motion of 1,400 to 1,000 revolutions per minute, giving all the air that is neces- sary in the mine. As the flow of water from the mine is constant, the blower can be kept in constant motion and there is no cost. The officers of the company are. John S. McDonald, president; Thomas Luxmore, superintendent." In the year 1885, Commissioner Charles D. Lawton made the fol- lowing progress report on the mine. "Annual report of the Nanaimo Mine, which is a small hematite mine, the ore being about the same quality as the Iron River ore. The pit which they were working in 1883, at the time I last describ- ed the mine, has since been suffered to fill with water and were wholly idle until recently. In September last, the north pit was pumped dry and the sinking of a shaft begun in the bottom preparatory to stoping ore. The old pit is about 140 feet to the bottom and Captain Luxmore states that the ore in the bottom remains as favorable as at any time previous- ly. The new "find" was opened in 1884 and is about 500 feet to the south of the former. The deposits are very similar-simply large irregular pockets of hematite, lying directly in contact with the overlying drift. 66 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN Each pit has a skip road running down into the bottom, and they have a good plant of hoisting machinery, also ore pockets by the railroad track, etc. The mine is on the south side of the Iron river and near the north line of the property, so it is fortunate that the ore is found in the south. The ore, a soft hematite, averages 58 per cent to 60 per cent in metallic iron, 2 to 3 per cent in silica, and 20 per cent to 40 per cent in phosphorus; it also holds 5 per cent of water. The estate comprises 40 acres, which is held on lease from the MacKinnon brothers, and is held on a lease by the company. Ship- ments made from the mine to date are: 1882-2,250 tons, 1883-29,221, 1884-38,766, or a total of 70,237 tons (gross). Mr. J. S. McDonald and other gentlemen who control the mine, have also organized another important enterprise in connection with the mine, which is the Iron River Furnace Company." "The purpose is to smelt the ore on the ground, and with this view they have built a charcoal furnace 1,700 feet north of the mine. The ore will be run over on an elevated tramway, extending from the mine across the river valley to the top of the furnace. The cars will be operated with an endless rope, worked from the engine-house near the furnace. The ore will dump from the tram-car to the crusher, passing over an inclined screen, which will admit of the passing through of the find "dirt" into the ore bin below, upon the top of which the crusher rests, as does also a small engine to operate it. The ore will be drawn from the bottom of the rock bin into the car standing on the scales, when the weight will be taken, and then it will be run up to the top of the calcining kiln, and its contests dumped into the kiln. When roasted, the ore will be drawn out at the bottom in a con- dition heated to redness, the weight again taken, and then it will be again immediately elevated to the top of the furnace, and dumped into the stack to be smelted. The arrangement is known as Fayette Brown's calcining attachment to furnaces. The plan is said to be in use in a number of furnaces, and to give satisfactory results. The patentee charges $1000 per furnace for the right to use it. The skip roads for elevating the ore will be operated by wire ropes from the engine house, running up over the stack, on the top of which the pulleys are fixed. The arrangement is such as to make the pres- sure as nearly vertical as possible, thus to prevent a horizontal thrust at the top of the stack. The rope runs from the engine house to the bottom of the stack, thence up over the pulley at the top and down the skip road to the opposite side, thus in a measure making the resistance of the as- cending car on one side counteract the pull of the rope on the other. The height of the stack is 56 feet, with 11 feet bosh. In the cal- cining kiln it is expected to use slabs for fuel, largely, to be brought from the Mastodon mill, together with the charcoal braze. The furnace and other building essential to its working are at the foot of the hill that rises sharply on the north. Along the top of the hill a railroad rack is laid on a level with the top of the kiln. To secure foundations, piles were driven in the soft ground, so that sufficient stability, it is thought, has been secured. Four boilers are in place to furnish steam, as also the blowing, hoisting and pumping engines. The work is supervised by Mr. J. T. Jones, who has had charge from the beginning, and is an experienced furnace worker. Mr. Jones expresses great confidence in the success of the undertaking, and states that he shall be greatly disappointed if the furnace does not turn out, at a profit, 70 tons of pig iron metal per day. It will probably be in operation about February or March next. This furnace is in a fine hardwood region, affording in abun- HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 67 dance in the timber for any amount of charcoal. But unfor- tunately the region is in the limits of one of the contested railroad grants a grant long since forfeited, though still claimed by sanction of Congress. Much of this land-the even sections-has been purchased by the government, and the same lands have been preempted by oth- ers under the pre-emption laws, or settled on by "homesteaders" under the homestead law, the last claiming a sort of "squatter sove- reignty," hoping that finally the government would concede their right to the lands in preference to all other claims. Of the "homesteaders," there are several hundred in the vicinity of Iron River, and it was largely from these men that the company expected to obtain its coal. If the settlers were secured in their title they would, in clearing their lands, turn the wood into charcoal, un- der contracts with the company, at such a price as would pay them for their labor in clearing their lands. The company would thus secure its charcoal cheaply, and be re- lieved of much of the labor and of the investment of capital that would be otherwise required in operating the furnace. If the "cash entry" titles are confirmed, which includes very many of the even sections, and the railroad should secure the odd sections, the home- steaders would be thrown out and the furnace company will fail to realize their supply of charcoal from this source. They will be compelled to buy lands or to buy the timber and manufacture their own charcoal. All this will necessitate the build- ing of roads and houses, the keeping of a force of charcoal burners, woodchoppers, teamsters, etc., etc. All these men will have to be brought on the ground and be supplied with work. They will mostly have no interest in the country except to get employment at wages; whereas, if there is a population of farmers homesteaders-they are interested in clearing up a farm, in break- ing roads, in improving the country. They raise products from the soil-potatoes, grass, oats, etc. and the furnace company gives them support, that is, buy their wood or charcoal, and they make their living in doing the work, and in the end have their lands cleared. It is a region of no only good timber, but of excellent soil also, and would make a good farming country. Of course, it's cold in winter and the summers are short, but they can raise good crops nevertheless. The company has about 150,000 bushels of charcoal on hand, and has also a row of kilns on the bank above the furnace, where they are adding to the stock. All the arrangements seem to be ex- cellently well made for economical working. The estimated capa- city of this kiln is 150 tons of ore per day, which amount will suffice for the furnace. I should judge the hot blast oven would scarcely suffice; it is one of the old ox bow pipe ovens that are too much out of date. The furnace was brought from Munising, where it once stood but was burned; it has been repaired and much new material and machinery added, but will certainly require an additional hot blast. The working will be watched with a good deal of interest. The roasting kiln for the ore is a new thing in charcoal iron making and theoretically is an advantage. Not only will the ore go into the fur- nace in a heated condition, but with moisture and oxygen driven off. So the ore thus prepared should contain only its silica and metal- lic iron-say 58 per cent of iron and 3 per cent of silica-thus its weight will be reduced, and the burden which would otherwise be a 100 lbs. would be reduced to 61 lbs. It should effect a great sav- ing in coal and should also cause the iron to smelt more rapidly. The fuel for roasting the ore will be slabs and charcoal braise, which posses but a nominal value. 68 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN On the north side of the river (the river runs east at this point) just opposite the Nanaimo mine, Mr. John Schipkin has explored on his land with a churn drill and claims to have drilled in 20 feet in ore. The MacKinnons have also done some exploring on the south side of the village and state that they have discovered ore. The plant structures which were situated on the site of the present Jean woodworking plant consisted of a large casting building, a com- bination engine and compressor room and the boiler house and some eight kilns with a base diameter of twenty-four feet for the making of charcoal. Additional kilns were operated on the Manville Waite farm lands near the Bates School and at the Frank Gamins farm lands north of Iron River. French-Canadian axmen were employed to provide the necessary wood for these kilns. The blooms produced in the furnace were four by four by twenty-four inches in size. The venture proved unprofitable however, and was abandoned following a short period of operation. Some years later the work- ings were occupied by Mr. Paul Minckler who dismantled the fur- nace and erected his sawmill in the casting room. The mill and buildings were destroyed by fire some time later and the kilns gradually disintegrated, several remaining intact until about the year 1905. The only known survivor of the furnace employees at this time is Mr. Andrew Erickson of Bates Township. Following the development of the Iron River Mine and the Isa- bella Mine on lands held jointly by the Seldens and Messrs. Steg- miller and Cyr, the Seldens continued their explorations on their own adjoining homestead lands to the west. These efforts soon prov- ed the existence of good ore. The position of these ores, however, did not afford the conditions of ready removal by the quarrying methods employed in the early stages of the two former mines and development was de- layed for ten years. On these lands was later opened the well-known Hawatha and Chatham Mines. About the year 1891, Mr. William Selden and Mr. Findley Mor- rison of the Iron River formed a partnership to develop the more promising find at the Hiawatha location on the Selden lands. Fol- lowing some further exploration, a shaft was sunk in 1892 and ship- ments of ore totalling 1,683 tons in 1893 and 1,201 tons in 1895 were made. In the absence of a railroad leading to the mine, this ore was hauled by teams of horses to the Chicago & Northwestern rail- road depot for rail shipment. Most of the early mines operated very irregularly and nothing appears to have been done here until 1899 when the Victor Schlitz Mining Company of Milwaukee was induced to take a lease on the mine. Under the supervision of Mr. G. W. Youngs, of Iron River, the mine became a consistent producer. The railroad was extended to the mine that year but the want of power driven loading equipment still made necessary the loading of the first stock piles onto the railroad cars by hand labor and the use of wheelbarrows. About the year 1905, the property came into the possession of the Thomas Furnace Company of Milwaukee and two years later into the holdings of the Munro Iron Mining Company, a Buffalo, New York concern. This company improved the underground work- ings and brought the mine to a uniformly high annual production for the ensuing two decades. With the arrival of the M. A. Hanna ore company into the dis- trict, the interests of the Munro Company including the Hiawatha Mine, were acquired by this new concern. Extensive improvements were immediately inaugurated on the surface structures and under- ground workings by the new company. The mine, however, has justified these expenditures through its continued high produc- tion. HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN 69 The ore in this mine is a moderately hard hematite and is mined mainly by the open stope method. The ore bodies that have been worked have been found to lie in a highly inclined position extend- ing from several hundred feet of the surface to the mine's present depth of 2100 feet. To facilitate the safe removal of supporting ore pillars in the underground Stegmiller workings to the east, the company undertook the task of filling the worked out stopes with gravel. This work which was begun in 1934 along the southwest side of the Stambaugh hill has proceeded currently as the underground workings would permit. Work of a like nature has more recently been undertaken near the main shaft of the mine and is in pro- gress at the moment. The mine has produced eight million tons of ore in the past fifty years. Local officers of the company during the tenure of the Munro Iron Mining Company were George L. Wood- worth, general manager and David H. Campbell, superintendent. Hiawatha Mine No. 2 This mine is situated on the lands that were originally granted to Mr. Alois Dober through homestead entry. The early exploratory work on this property was done by the Mastodon Iron Company in the years 1896 and 1897, and was confined to the area adjoining the former workings of the Isabella Mine. Five thousand tons of ore were shipped in 1898 and thirteen thousand tons in 1899. During the latter year the Mastodon Iron company surrend- ered its lease to the Oliver Iron Mining Company. This company developed the mine extensively, shipments of ore totaling 1,194,523 tons for the ensuing ten year period. Two shafts were used, No. 1 being a vertical shaft which was used primarily for the convenience of the men, and No. 2, an inclined shaft where two skips were used for the ore. Both headframes were of timber construction until the year 1904 when the present steel frame was erected over shaft No. 1. Much credit is due the supervision in meeting the exigencies encountered in the advancement of the work in this mine. The lo- cation of the ore body which was found to extend beneath the Iron River, made necessary the diversion of this stream to a point approximately one quarter mile to the west. This "Canal," as it was called, is about one-half mile in length, was undertaken in the year 1900 and brought to completion the fol- lowing year. No power equipment was used on this project, all the work being done with horses and scrapers. The northern extremity of this canal is immediately east of the bridge on the main line of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. Upon development of the underground workings, the company was put to additional expense when it was found that the ore body extended to the overlying till and within twelve feet of the sur- face. To accomplish the removal of this ore it became necessary to strip the burden from the area. Exposure of sulphur bearing slates in which the early develop- ed ore body was confined resulted in combustion in the under- grounds workings in the year 1915 The fumes of sulphur blanketed the area for months, killing much of the surrounding vegetation and were a source of annoyance to the residents of the district through their disagreeable odor. Attempts to check the "burn" meeting in failure, operations of the mine were discontinued and in 1916, the workings were flooded by diversion of water from the Iron river. Following several months of inactivity, the workings were unwatered and production resumed and was continued until the new shaft begun in the year 1918 was placed into service. A large amount of the Isabella ore lying beneath the former workings of that mine was removed through the shafts of the Dob- 70 HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN er mine. In 1899 and 1900, the operators of the mine had four homes con- structed along the west side of Selden Road for the convenience of the supervisory personnel. A year later, five large two story houses were erected on the south side of Nineteenth street of the present city of Stambaugh for the employees. This became known as the Dober location and twenty addi- tional homes were later built to accommodate individual families which were fast replacing the former boarding house type of employes. These houses were all sold in the year 1934, the greater number being purchased by their occupants. In the year of 1934, the interests of the Oliver Iron Mining Com- pany were taken over by the M. A. Hanna ore company. The new operators have been successful in maintaining a continued high pro- duction. With this change in ownership the property became known as the Hiawatha No. 2 while the original Hiawatha mine was re- named the Hiawatha No. 1. They are at this time the deeper mines of the district, the No. 2 mine attaining a depth of 2300 feet. Dur- ing the tenure of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, the properties o£ the company in this district were under the supervision of James S. Wall from 1899 to 1921 and Victor D. Laing from 1921 to 1935 Sheridan Mine The Sheridan Mine lying on the southern fringe of the City of Iron River and on the site now occuplied by the Proksch Construc- tion company was discovered by the MacKinnon brothers on their lands in 1884. The property was developed by the Pickands, Math- er Company in the late eighties and shipped a total of 116,299 tons. Beginning with the turn of the century, mining activity in- creased and new mines were opened practically every year for the ensuing two decades. Following the Baltic mine which was developed in the year 1900 came the Caspian in 1903, the Youngs, 1904. the James, 1906, the Fogarty, Zimmerman and Chatham in 1909, Bates 1910, Wickwire, Davidson and Konwinski (Wauseca), 1911, Forbes, Cortland and Rogers, 1912, Bengal 1913, Homer, 1914, Cottrell, 1915, Spies 1916 and the Delta in 1920. The distribution of operating and formerly operated mines but now idle or depleted is evenly divided between the east and west sides of the county, each having thirty- five mines to its credit at this time. |