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 24 - Mastodon Township

122     HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN     Chapter XXIV   MASTODON TOWNSHIP      This Township was the gateway to the vastness of the Iron County wilderness. Here entered the trail followed by hundreds of land- lookers, cruisers, explorers, settlers and others who in the short span of fifteen years preceeding 1880, selected or purchased some sixty per cent of the county's total land area.    The lands embraced in this Township were, by their location, most accessible to the advance from the southeast. They were therefor some of the first lands to be selected and most of the area was released by the government to private ownership in the years 1866 to 1873.    The early trail made the crossing of the Brule River near the south quarter corner of Section 11 and some two miles east of the present crossing of U. S. 2. The trail divided about one mile north of the river, one branch striking westerly toward Iron River and the other taking a general northerly course to Crystal Falls.    About midway on the latter road and presumably at the inter- section of a branch trail leading west to the Alpha area from sec- tion 16-42-32, a Mr. McDermott maintained a halfway house for the convenience of travelers before the arrival of the railroad.    The trail toward Iron River was somewhat outlined by State Geo- logist C. Rominger on his inspection of mining areas in 1880. Mr. Rominger reported a halfway house operated by a Mr. Brown in the vicinity of Stager. The trail led in a northerly direction from this point to the site of the present village of Alpha where he en- countered Mr. Bond and Mr. Porter engaged in exploratory work.    From this point the trail swung in a southwesterly direction to the south end of Armstrong Lake   HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN     123   where Mr. John Singler is reported to have kept a halfway house for the early settlers. No mention however, is made of this house by Mr. Rominger. The trail took a general straight northwest- erly course from this point to the Indian village at the south end of Che-Ko-Gan (Chicagon) Lake where a branch of the Chippewa tribe under the local chieftain John Edwards had a sizeable vil- lage.    Here probably was the oldest hostelry in the county operated by a member of the tribe named Tom King. Mr. Rominger continued his journey now in a westerly course from the village and upon reaching the Iron river valley, he found the Seldens exploring the west side of Stambaugh hill and the MacKinnon brothers engaged in similar operations about the outcrops where later was developed the Nanaimo Mine.    The first recorded logging on Iron county was done in Mastodon Township. This was in the fall of 1875 when Crawford & McKillop constructed a supply road from Badwater to the Michigamme Riv- er and began cutting the local pine for the Menominee sawmill barons.    The first exploratory work in the search for iron in the town- ship appears to have been done by the dauntless mineral seeker, Jack Armstrong. This work was done in the vicinity of the outcroppings of ore discovered by Deputy Surveyor Guy H. Carleton while en- gaged in subdividing the government lands in 1852. These parti- cular lands however, had been selected by Geologist Raphael Pumpelly for the Portage Lake Ship Canal & Iron Company as grant lands for the construction of the canal at Houghton.    The efforts of Mr. Armstrong proved successful in 1879 and re- sulted in the eventual development of the Mastodon Mine by Mr. Edward Breitung of Negaunee. Mr. Breitung came to Michigan upon graduation from a mining college in Germany in 1849 and used his knowledge in the speculation of mineral lands. He also served as Representative from the the Marquette district and Mem- ber of Congress between the years 1875 and 1885.    The property showed great promise in its first years of oper- ation under the Mastodon Iron Company and was one of the larger producers of the time. A small quantity of ore was shipped in 1882 when the railroad was extended to the area. Following the year 1894 however, the gradual depletion of the higher grade ores in addition to the unstable economic conditions forced the com- pany to seek the more promising fields of the west side of the coun- ty. A lease was secured on the Dober property and the mine equipment was moved to the new location in 1896. Shipments of ore from the Mastodon Mine totalled 425,708 tons.    The early success of the Mastodon encouraged other explorations in the area. In 1883, Samuel J. Tilden explored the lands south of the Masodon in section 24 and opened the Delphic Mine. The mine failed to produce in sufficient quantities to warrant con- tinued operations and was also abandoned. Only 33,770 tons were shipped from this mine.    Another property explored at this time that showed indications of becoming a large producer was the Alpha Mine. Exaggerated claims by the exploring parties of discoveries of high grade ores in excess of 10,000 tons were made in 1884, that only awaited the rise in the currently depressed Iron market. These claims failed to be realized as the mine produced only 1,370 tons during its lifetime.    During this period some exploratory work was carried for- ward by the Sheldon interests and Luke Welch some two miles north at the Mastodon in the northeast quarter of section 1. This work al- so followed the outcrops reported in the early surveys. In 1884, an option was taken on the property by the Cherry Vallen Iron Company and under the direction of Captain William Dunn of   124     HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN   Houghton, was developed into a leading early producer.    Several years later the property came into the possession of Ferdi- nand Schlesinger who also owned the Briar Hill (now the Bristol) Mine in Crystal Falls. With the failure of the Schlesinger mining ventures in the panic years, the lease went to the Corrigan, Mc- Kinney Company. Shipments made from the Dunn Mine totalled 2,- 208,511 tons.    Mastodon Township came into existence under the same Legis- lative Act (Act 35, P. A. 1885) that authorized the organization of Iron County. At this time townships 42-31, 42-32 and 42-33 were detached from Crystal Falls Township and fractional townships 41- 31, 41-32 and 41-33 were taken from Breitung Township of Meno- minee County to form the new Township.    Following the election of officers held in the offices of Hughitt & McIntyre in the early part of July of that year, an organization meeting was held on July 17 when the following officers were seated: J. H. Buddle, supervisor, P. C. Butts, Clerk and J. S. Buddle, J. H. Hughitt, Thomas Wills and C. F. Yeaton one to four years in that order respectively as justices of the peace.    At a business meeting held three days later, action was taken to establish the renumeration of members of the board which was set at $2.00 per meeting and also the payment of Harry Roberts, R. D. Perkins, C. F. Yeaton and P. C. Butts at four dollars per days for their services in conducting the registration of voters and holding the first election. Action was also taken to en- gage surveyor Fay G. Clark to make a legal survey of the road leading from the Mastodon Mine to the Delphic Mine. The Masto- don Mine offices were also designated as the place for holding future elections.    In the spring elections of 1886, Frank Scadden became the Super- visor and the failure of the newly elected clerk to qualify, Thomas E. Holmes was appointed clerk for the year.    Township road construction was placed under way during this year under Road Commissioner Thomas Wills. The electors hav- ing failed to provide funds for this purpose, Commissioner Wills certified that the sum of $5,000 was required for this purpose. This amount however, was officially reduced to $3,850.    During the early summer, P. C. Butts was awarded two contracts for road construction following surveys made by Fay G. Clark. One was the construction of the Mastodon Mill to Stager road, a distance of three and one-half miles, part of which was to fol- low the former Holmes supply road and for which he was to re- ceive the sum of ninety-seven and one-half cents per rod. The other was the construction of slightly more than five-eights of a mile of road beginning at the quarter corner between sections 12 and 13 and running north through the present Village of Alpha to a point some ten chains northwest of the center of section 12. For this contract, Mr. Butts was paid $740.    Other road projects in addition to general maintenance conducted by commissioner Wills were the contracts let to Thomas E. Holmes for repair of approximately 130 rods of the Crystal Falls road and for which he would receive seventy-five cents per rod and the repair of the road leading from the Mastodon Mine to the Railroad for the sum of seventy five dollars.    The specifications in the contract of Mr. Butts for the road that traversed the present village of Alpha may be of interest to some as they describe the roads constructed at this time and are here copied from the record.    "Said roadway to be chopped out two rods wide along the line of the survey and a graded road one rod wide to be constructed through the center of the two rods cut out in such manner as to leave about eight feet of the space cut   HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN     125   out on each side of the graded highway. It is distinctly under- stood that said graded highway will run straight through the cen- ter of the survey, neither varying to the right or to the left in order to avoid taking out certain stumps or trees in the course of said road; such a variation of road from survey may be regarded as a breach of this contract."    "After said road is graded one rod wide and all stumps and stems removed, said road will be ditcher on the upper side throughout its length, said ditch to be one and one-half feet wide at the top and about one foot deep and the dirt from the said ditch to be thrown into the middle of roadbed and leveled off in such a manner as to make roadbed somewhat crowning in the center of the road. Cul- verts consisting of three or four cross pieces with a few poles laid across them and covered with boughs and dirt will be put in at intervals along the road wherever in the judgement of the Highway Commissioner such culverts will be deemed necessary. Also to do all the corduroying, covering the same with dirt, making a smooth roadbed the same width of other parts of the road."    Educational facilities were started while still under Crystal Falls Township control and the first school was established near the Mastodon Mine. Very little is known of this school, however.    With the separation from Crystal Falls Township, the respon- sibility of the schools became a more local matter and on the seventh day of July in 1886, a meeting was held by the District Board of School District Number One to certify to the Township Clerk that the following taxes had been voted for their District for the coming year. Teacher's wages, $175, building purposes, $75, re- pairs, fuel and incidentals, $50. This school district embraced sec- tions 16 through 21 and 28 through 30 in T 42 R 33 and the members of this district school board were H. J. Hughitt, moderator, William R. Godshall, Director and D. McIntyre, Assessor.    In a like action by the District Board of School District No. 2 which included all of the northeast quarter of T 42 R 33, a total of $1,000 was provided and was divided as follows: teacher's wages, $500, fuel $100, repairs, $100, apparatus, $100, incidentals, $100 and janitor $100. The members of this school district board were Frank Scadden, Director, P. C. Butts, Assessor and Thomas Holmes, Clerk.    On the twelfth day of July 1886, the Board of School Inspectors formed a new school district to be known as School District No. 3. This district comprised all the area South of section 13, 14 and 15 to the Brule River. This district was created for the purpose of a school at the Delphic Mine and school board meetings for the dis- trict were held in the Delphic Mine offices.    With the abandonment of the mine in 1887, this district was dissolved and District No. 4 was organized from territory in the northwest part of the township and some from District No. 2, to serve the needs of the Dunn Mine area. Meetings for this district were held at the Dunn Mine. In 1903, there were two schools in the township. One was situated near the Dunn Mine in the south- west of northeast of section 1-42-33 and the other near the north- west corner of section 18-42-32 along the old trail by the great eastern exploration.    The population of early Mastodon Township was subject to radical changes with the rise and fall of mining ventures and it is interesting to note that in 1890 when activity in the mines was at a standstill, the population of the township stood at 111 The assess- ed valuation of the township at this time was $553,290.    The insecurity of local mining throughout the years has com- pelled many of the residents to take up lands for farming purposes and many fine farms are now successfully operated. A large source   126     HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN   of additional revenue is received from the recently established hydro-electric installations of the Wisconsin-Michigan Power Com- pany along the Paint and Michigamme Rivers. Much of the land area is inundated by the reservoirs, the waters of Peavy Dam alone covering an area of 3,100 acres.    No attempt appears to have been made during the operation of the early mines to incorporate a village. Housing for the miners was provided by some private homes  and boarding houses while the mine supervisory personnel were provided with individual homes by the companies.    With the large scale operations undertaken by the Pickands, Mather, Company following the year 1910 however, a village was platted north of the new workings on lands originally acquired by H. H. Porter in 1873. Mr. Porter was an official of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and was also interested in Menominee lum- ber mills. He had extensive land holdings in Iron County.    The newly platted village became known as Alpha.