Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1851-09-08
The Lake Superior Country.
BY J. A. HARRIS, EDITOR cLEv ELAND
HERALD.

We spent the last week of July on Lake
Superior. stopping at the several places Of
interest on the American shore between
the Saut and Lapointe, distance, as trav-
eled, Of over four hundred miles. The
weather was calm, COOL and invigorating,
and the trip forms one Of the most interest
ing and delightful 10 be enjoyed in the hot
season on this continent.
The Lake Superior country is destined
10 become very important portion Of the
Republic. Its fisheries, its minerals, its
lumber, and its agricultural productions,
are just beginning to be developed, and al
ready the travel and commerce of the Lake
surprises the visitor who had previously re-
garded the region as almost an inhospita,
Die wild. The feet Of shipping and steam.
ers on the Lake find constant and profita-
BILE employment capitalists, miners, mer-
chants, mechanics, fishermen, agricultur-
lists, and families are Hocking to the healthy
cline, and opening the forest and the mines
TO establish homes and reap harvest Of
wealth, Pleasant villages are springing
up at the several harbors and in tn vicin-
| ity of the mines, and the constant remark
We heard among the old SELLERS was,
every body is doing we'll.
The town Saui Ste. Marie has improved
very much within few years, and must
grow into commanding importance as the
emporium of the Northwest. Government
has too long neglected the construction of
| Ship Canal at this point, by which vessels
| and steamers from the lower Lakes could
enter with their cargoes upon the great in
fb 81 nv,l
pensive process of q land journey over the
Portage; for it should be remembered that
every ship keel upon Superior has been
| thus transported by private energy and en-
terprise. A Railroad across, also the re-
suit Of private enterprise under the drec.
ton offs. McKN1eHr, Esq, has done much
| to facilitate the transhipment of merchan-
disc, machinery, &C., to the ports below.
The best interests of the Republic, with
its extended frontier Of the Northwest, as
we'll as the vast und growing commerce of
a chain Of waters reaching into the heart of
the interior, equal in distance to half the
width of the Atlantic, demand free Ship
Canal of the General Government without
delay.
The settlements on Carp River, in the
vicinity of the richest Iron mines in the
world, are Increasing and fourishing.-
The Marquet Iron Works, and the w orks
Of Messrs EATON, have been demonstrated
the fine quality of the ores and the profit
| of working them. The quantity is inex-
baustible, and ere long Lake Superior iron
! will be common and stand number one in
the market. -=s@..-
Copper Harbor is again looking up, the
mines in the vicinity giving promise Of ul-
innate good pay to the miner. At Eagle
Harbor the settlement is fourishing, and
the Copper mines are becoming quite ex-
tensively worked. The location and har>
bor are fine. Eagle River is hardly wor-
thy of the name Of stream, and affords
no harbor. The celebrated cliff and North
American mines are three miles and half
back from the village at the mouth. The
Cliff Mine is justly the marvel OF the world.
1t is now worked al the depth of 357 feet,
and the deeper the shaft is sunk the richer
the vein. Immense masses of native cop.
per, weighing many tons are found, re-
quiripe tedious labor with the chisel 10 cut
them into movable blocks. Many taken
out weigh from four to five thousand
pounds. Large quantities of barrel and
stamp work are also taken out. The vein
leads toward the Lake, and it is not improb.
4 able but in time the work will be extended
under the bed Of the Lake as the mines OF
Cornwall are beneath the ocean. The
North American, quarter of a mile dis
tant from the Cliff, is yielding richly in
copper, and bids fair to be equally as pro.
duetive TO its enterprisiug owners. The
country IN the vicinity of these mines il