New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-09-23
LAKE SUPERIOR
First Year OF n Mine

s.me notes of confab with Mr. Merryweather, super
iDtepdent of the Magnetic and Gogebic Mines IN when
he ha, been giving particular account OF the e.s
and bDdrances and little miseries attendant upon get
ting the miners 10 work upon the veins whlch cross
the two locations omit bis account OF the long ana
dreary winter passed upon the locations by the
pre-emptors and also Of the dlrculfy attending the
formation of companies TO work the VEINS lie mas
done all he coad and vet il cannot be said that the
veins are opened sufficiently 10 exhibit more than
suriace show" 1t il the first time have been aoie
to form lively idea Of the impediments winch tne
want of roads, and a means OF regular communicate
with the settled country below, throw in the way OF
the development Of this rich mining region Inere is
story OF man who gave quarter OF DOLLAR 10 tne
heathen and called back the solicitor OF the dona'on
10 give him dollar 70 get il to them. Some such pro-
portion seems TO exist between the wages PAID miners
IN proving I'D veins and the preliminary expenses The
next time Congress grants lands 10 enable some Legree
10 get dozen bales Of cotton 70 market II 10 70 De
hoped an appropriation will be tackled to 1t Tor the ra
oad which must some time or other connect LAKE ou-
peIiOr with Green Bay -
Ii seems that the original preemptOrs OF the present
Magnetic and Gogebic locations placed their ands III
the hands Of Mr. Merryweather, he being well known
to the business Of Detroit and being familiar WIN
the tracts Themselves having surveyed TINS section u"
country originally The formation Of the Companies
and other preliminary steps do not belong 10 'nls
sketch Suffice il to say, that capitalists were found
willing to risk trial Of the veins, and one year ago
Mr. NJ returned to the Ontonagon empowered 10 pesih
operations ,.., III -; +;
Here he engaged few men, and started wth tx ID
September following the old trail to the Ohio rap ocA
Mine there being direct route to the place "here
be was bound They Travelled in true Lake superior
stve all on foot and laden with their blankets proy
sions axes, mining tools, powder, &c. They maze
twelve miles the first day and slept at night under
rude bush hut, thrown together in few minutes ne
second day they passed the aforementioned NINE bu'
were again obliged to encamp as before 1ney were
no beyond any Of road but the woods are oot
very difficult to traverse this route, AMI the thrd
day they reached their journeys end IN good season
having but eight miles TO CO. and being guided IN ther
by the range Of bluffs on which the mines are
situated
Two months were wholly occupied by the men in the
erection of lOghouse sufficiently large and comfort
able to answer for the party during the winter in en-
lareiDQ the clearing made by the phempt0r, renov-
ing and burning logs, telling trees and burning them IN
cutting out and clearing horse track through the
woods eight miles, 10 the Norwich Nine and In paca-
ing provisions in the Old labOrOus manner IRON
OntOnagon upon their backs. The bill OF fare all TN
time was follows Pork, beans flour, bread ana COZ
fee and only by changing the order of these did they
secure variety The packers of the provisions were
anxously looking forward to the freezing Of the On
tonaqon and the fall Of to relieve them, as Mr
NJ intended to have full supply brought up by hired
trains Snow came and the river did not freeze ana
for several weeks his subsisted upon provisions
borrowed from the Norwich and other mines II has
been no uncommon thing for the upon locations TO be
driven off by starvation, and at earlier date TINS
might have been the case here About Christmas, how
ever Mr. NJ. succeeded in purchasing yoke OF oxen
somewhere in the neighborhood for an exorbtant
price and some two tuns of hay (twenty miles OH to
feed them with, at $50 per tun About half ot TINS
was drawn to the location upon q sled over road or
rather track, part OF the way cut for the pirpoSe
through the understanding on the whole rather
costly load Of hay. Their track soon filled up with
snow to be impossible and the rest OF the nay
rotted where it lay While the load lasted, however
the diligently employed in hauling prov lsIons
to the list of which certain Injuries were added
butter, sugar dried apples and-that Yankee Deces
sity-a keg Of molasses The loads brought averaged
about half tun and each occupied the team tour days
two TO reach the mouth of the OntOnagon and two
in returning After three or four trips, the load
Of hay gave out and what with teamlng drawing logs
&c the oxen cave out also but they were IN good
condition and as the men could not feed them, they
ate them Pretty good beef they were too, was t"d
and while they lasted pork and beans boiled were AT
discount The rest of the supplies were drawn by
hired teams at 81 per BARREL or = per cwt. by this
time two miners were at work each location, blast
ing here and there upon the veins discovered IN the
trap aud the rest of the men were employed IN ex
tending the clearngs. Notwithstanding the dlsadN an
tages attendant upon the want of team, the men be-
inc obliged to move all the logs to heaps for burning by
main strength, nine acres of land ready when
spring opened for potatoes and turnps At the end OF
SIX months this land four small Lighthouses three or
four mineral bearing vens exposed to the depth OF nj
teen or twenty feet all that could be shown IN re-
turn for an outlay of some $4,000
The difficulties of Mr.. NJ, in dspOsing of sufficient
stock of these Companies below to raise funds to meet
these constant Observation-Disclosures arising from the
detective laws of Michigan al the time, and the want
OF faith in the mineral resources OF tins particular
reCon-iorm a chapter of which have nothing to say
here Success attended his efforts, however, and he
returned from Ncw-York and Detroit about the end OF
May last.
As opened, the roads dried up,and the beant-
full Lake Superior summer on prospects bright
ened and may be supposed that things began 10 go
smoothly and real progress 10 be made To some ex-
tent this is trpe and if there capital sufficient IN
the country or could Eastern capitalists be induced to
open system of plank railroads, which should run
along the foot of the mineral ranges and connect with
a trunk road to OntOnagOn on the north, and here
after with road across the State, the south-one
winters labor of fifteen twenty hands would b. sui
cent to enable real mining operations to begin the EN-
suing summer Twelve miles of trunk road from
Ontonagon and 80 or 30 OF branches, would sccommo-
date all the mines of this district at present and would
undoubtedly pay good dividends But there is no such
system Of roads and the best Mr. Nerryweather could
do on his return was to purchase two small Canadian
horses, one for each location 10 pack his suppeS-and
thus far since, all things needed at the mines for man
and beast have been brought upon their backs from
the river Take the history OF barrel of -four as an
example Of the expenses attendant upon feeding men
upon a new location
This article costs on an average at Detroit 81 %
per barrel Freight to the Saut 30 cts hauling across
The portage 10 Lake Superior IL IL cts. freight to
Ontonagon 90 cts There being no harbOr here, IL IL
cts is the charge for landing in boats. and II l2 cts
when landed is charged for storage From Ontonagon
il ascends the river 10 Ceilings Lsnding on large Nat
boats dozen miles, at cost of 81 - cts ana again
II IL cts is paid for storage The barrel OF flour has
now cost Sc II - Now to get this to the location
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