Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-02-20
Superior.


This is what the ". Y. Tribune
knows and predicts about 3 probable
future State--in geographical and
statistical way, we mean:
Southwark of Lake Superior, for
more than hundred miles, stretches
wilderness broken by but few Minis
ing settlements or numbering camps.
The eastern half of this region was
most absurdly attached to Michigan
on her admission as a State, with in
tent to console her tor the loss of
Toledo conceded TO the power rath-
er than the right OF Ohio. The west
ern half forms a part of Wisconsin,
Ultimately, Michigan and Wisconsin
will cede it all to form new State
nearly of the size and conformation
of Tennessee. which will probably be
named Superior.
This region Is the seat or the only
considerable copper production az
yet developed n our country-a pro-
duction which has thus far absorbed
many more dollars than it has return
ed A very few companies have
protited by copper mining. but many
mere have lost. We trust that, with
ripened experience and greater &C
feasibility, tho copper district will
yel prove source of wealth. The
product is the finest in the world !;
the copper being quite generally al
loyed with silver, which gives it nu-
usual value. Many specimens Of pure
silver have been obtained, but no sill
yer mines of decided value have yet
been discovered; though just across
the Lake, on petty island near the
shore, there appears to be one of the
richest veins Of native silver ever
yet discovered.
But by far the most important
mineral product of this region is iron.
The iron of the Marquette district is
marvelously pure and abundant. OF
the scant two million tuns of pig-iron
smelted in this country in 1871, very
nearly one third was fused from this
ore: nearly one million tuns having
been mined and sent away. TIE fur
naces of northeastern Ohio and north
western Pennsylvania are largely
supplied with the Marquette ore, tho
it costs them an average of So per
tun, or Sl2 for the ore that makes a
tun of pig metal-the yield being
nearly or quite &c per cent. If the
metal were not remarkably good, and
largely required for conversion into
Bessemer and other steel, 80 high a
price could not be afforded. But Wis
consin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indi-
ara, also largely produce iron from
the Marquette ore, and are rapidly
increasing the product.
But for the railroad from Marquette
TO Escanaba on bay of Lake Mich
igan, it would not have been possible
to export half of this volume of ore.
That railroad, early constructed thro'
pathless and swampy wilderness,
has greatly aided the development of
our iron industry, and has, we trust,
proved good investment to its en-
terprsing stockholders. We learn
that all the iron mines that have vet
been opened have satisfactory orders
for all the ore they can supply thro'-
out 1870.
But south,westward of the Mar.
quette district, on the Menominee
river, which here forms the bound-
airy between Michigan and Wiscon>
sin, there is another iron district
larger than the former aud claimed
to be equally rich, pure, and facile,
which IS 5000 TO be opened by the ex
tension thereto of the Chicago and
Northwestern Railroad, now not
many miles distant. This region is
mainly owned by the Portage Lake
and Ship Canal Company. It's ores
have been thoroughly tested and pro-
nounced entirely free from pbosphor-
Gus. sulphur, and arsenic-in short,
containing the best iron. It is calcu-
lated that large quantities of char
coal pig will be made on the ground,
clearing it of the heavy timber now
covering it, and that the almost fab
ulous growth of the Marquette prod
uct, from 500 tuns of ore in 1855 to
nearly 1000 600 tuns in 1871, will be
eclipsed by the development of the
more accessible and more extensive
beds and hillocks OF the Menominee.
80 let the Northwest duplicate its
blast furnaces at once, and prepare to
supply itself abundantly with the
choicest homemade iron, eschewing
future dependence on either Great
Britain or Pennsvlvania