St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-12

necesSare, such as eliXer of life, club
house bon, rock and rye. etc, in a
capaci0us grip. and accompanied me to
the lodge-like home of Bill Bicksner.
As we neared Bills home. | directed
IoOt's attention TO it, and remarked
about its primitive appointments.
Great Scott, Hal, caWn't yOn con-
sidah me station in life? Wits awfully
embawahassing, you known, to be
sharing our sport, you know. with such
an uncOuth. ill-bred. unread specimen
of Iougerdom"'
''NOw come, Pants. don't be weighing
scruples against willful cOntanimity of
your conpuscles at this late moment"
said /. as pushed him into Bill's back
yard and closed the air gate with an
anxious gesture.
Another rough-and-tumble do-as-you-
please re ptlon such as Bill extended
on this occasion would have evapOrated
my friend Loot. who stood aghast al the
sight and conduct of the place and Bill.
The formaitv of an introduction was
banished. since Bill had displayed him.
self SO courteously without il. and while
the avenue god glOated about the apart
ment, absorbed i'll the possibility of
things, | helped Bill with his traps.
These consisted of belt filled with re-
volver shells, two murderOuS-loOk
Colts pistols, 44-calibre, a dirk, flask
and geological hammer. His costume
was the ordinary habit worn by men
whose wardrobe is never encumhert
with more than single suit of COARSE
spun jeans. Without further ceremony
we left Bill's home. bent upon diSse,
ing the great GOgebic iron range, by
means of rail, Stogie. caual or horse
back. The rich experience before us
could be tasted in the cool wind which
blew upon the streets of Ashland from
the blue bay of Chequameg0n. The
spirit of ompanionship soon displaced
the shock of wonder of the avenue god,
and the fever for exploit and discovery
moved US to jOvial mood. We board
ed the train and struck out for
Mellen, small town at the west
ern extremity Of the great iron
spine. Arriving at Mellen, we met at
What all this congregation was for we
could not imagine. Loot suggested TAX
ing an inventory of the place and send
ing some statistics as to the death and
birth rates, etc., to E. V. Smalley. of
this city; but Bill diSSuaded him with
Two spicy remarks, uttered in tone of
voice which simply meant do We
desired to visit all the great mines and
observe their detail and clear their
technical mysteries. The great PenOkee
mine lies two miles east Of Mellen, and
to it we directed our steps. The scenery,
so deS0late and seemingly abandoned to
the quaintness of the elements. beggars
all description. The mine was in full
blast, and the greasy. red-fact d miners
Swarmed about the ledge like bees. TO
the right of the Penokee lay the Erie
and dozen other working mines, reach
ing to the town of Benjamin.
five miles east. From there. OH
a ridge-the core of the range,
lay in successive order, within a par
allel one mile wide, the great iron
mines of this country. The Pence IL
Snyder. Akron, BeSSemer, Kakagon,
Nimikon. Hurley. Little Colby, Super
iOr, and the Ashland and Colby, which
lie near the town of Hurley, once the
terror OF all that country. A week of
the hardest life. and toughest joys, we
ever experienced brought us to Hurley.
Bill had made the scenes and observa-
tiOn of the mines most interesting. He
pXpOunded the miners theory upon ore
deposit, and how the geological banner,
compass and magnetic dip needle, aided
him in discovering the find" The
machinery used by the great Colby and
Ashland mines might we'll have been
our marvel. The largest CorlisS en-
gineS in this section of the country were
lifting the metallic stuifs from the Colby
pit. Stock piles of ore. half a mile
long and twenty feet high, containing
thousands upon thousands of tons of
crude ore, were visible everywhere.
Immediately about the mines the land
was cleared of timber and formed a
breathing snot in those dense forests.
But let the traveller venture 10 the right
or left of the mile width of this great
ridge and he plunges into black anu
painless jungle of pine, birch and tam
arack.
At night we found hospitality in the
small mushroom towns along the ridge.
The notorious characters which we Iuet
while under Bills wing played US a
civil tongue, perfOrce of our escort.
The saloon is an established necessity
of rangers life and next to his lease
hOld-he loves that beSt-then his pipe:
wife, and pick and pistol occasionally
browning the luXury-of cake of soap.
If he fails in his toilet for a year
or fifteen months. the thought of
the last then will suffice-to make him
shudder. Whether it is born of the
chime OF the pick or the profane ac-
compartment which comes with every
expression of the miner. he is being
whose soul leaps into glory land the
whisky barreD at the sound OF music.
1t doesn't soOth his savage breast. but
burst rebellion therein! a town with
''pianer'' was in those progressive days
destined to immortality. The midnight
revel on beer bestained grOg-shop floors
was the repose which mining bachelor
hood found after the days toll. The
iron craze in general, and the spirit
with which Eastern capital was cast
upon the mining interest. had a tend
ency and did develop a perpetual eX-
element. The people of the range
We're loud class as rule; made money
easy, spent it freely, and wholly disre-
garded the mode of gratifying passion
and lust.
1t was about this time of the year 1888
that Mrs. Ward proclaimed her TRADE
against the lawless communities of the
mining regions, and the vile dens which
prOspered in them: hell holes which
bred to practice shocking immOralities.
and from which the prOcuresS pro-
ceeded like she wolf after tlocks of in
nOcence. The press gave free Vent TO
Mrs. Wards tale of discoveries made in
the mines and pineries of Colorado and
Michigan, and her stories of the dives
and their manner Of fostering crime and
the treatment and incarceration of in
mates by means of canine terrorism
We're read and commented upon with
imprisoned pen.
This star of moral reform pointed out
snch state of wickedpess and profit
gacy in these remote communities as
Jared the belief of the mast credulouS.
She did Hurley the honor of le-
Vealing its wretchedness and in
iquity, and gave detailed accounts
of the bawdy huts which sucked
everything like godliness from the
bosom of its inhabitants. To verify
these open allegations of depravity, and
to experience an actual observance of
such inconceivable groveling of hu-
manity, burst the fame of ambition
within me. Calling Bill into counsel, l
suggested an intrusion upon what l
found to be the most lecherous mortals
shall ever care to deal with.
1t was on Saturday afternoon that
we returned to Bessemer, after having
spent five days visiting various point of
interest in the range, including Gogebic
lake, the BrothertOn mines. the Palucs