St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-05
MULLEN'S LAMENT.

Adjt. Gen. Mullen sat in his comfort
able Office IN the capitol, surveying with the
eye of skilled connoisseur map of the
iron regions way up in the northern por-
lions of the state. The map was colored
with irridescent hues each shade of the
rainbow, as 1t were, indicating particular
vein OF mineral wealth. And he ruminated
as his eye passed critically from point to
point, and from some geographical marking
to understanding memories of fortunes
won and fortunes lost.
SIT was away back in S. he remarked as
he passed his finger up line almost due
northerly along the tracings that showed the
meander lines of public highway, that we
built this highway OF course he pursued,
musingly. lit was no highway then. and few
there were who were sanguine enough to
even prophecy that 1t would ever become
such. But it fact, perhaps it should be
matter Of poignant regret and confess
that 1t Is in measure, that / helped build
this road, and that l never profited in the
least from it" he continued when he OBJ
served the presence of GLOBE reporter.
''It was in 1865 that we started from Du.
luth for Lake Vermillion. We had an abid
ing suspicion that gold in untold quantities
could be unearthed- there. To unearth it
was our mission. We were equipped with
OK teams. At Duluth, and cold, desolate.
forlorn-looking place it was then, that could
be bought up for a few dollars an acre, we
were obliged to lay in supply of provender
for our oxen. We managed to buy quaint
ty of hay, and after great deal of skirmish :
ing over the adjacent territory, we found an
old and almost dilapidated hand press. We
pressed the hay, and I have most distinct
recollections of how my hands were bis
tered in the work although I was accus-
toned 10 manual labor
"Then we started on our pilgrimage. We
were in quest of gold and nothing but gold
would suffice. But, Great Scott, what a
task We had to cut our way through a
mighty forest. We had to build road to
transport our wagons over sloughs where
the trees were not so heavy. through dale
and valley and over bluffs and cliffs. 1t took
us ten months to go from Duluth to Yer
million lake. Maj. Newsonlwas one of the
gold hunters, and then there was a nice little
party Of Gods noblemen Well, we found
an abundance of iron groupings. and some
gold, too, but the precious was so mixed with
the baser metals that 1t would never pay to
mine it.
y
Two years LATER" he went on, apparently
getting more ana more interested with the
thread of his narrative as he progressed, I'VE
took another trip to the Vermillion country
We went up from Duluth to what is now
Tower, or the Iron Mountains. Charley
Moorhead, of Philadelphia, was in the party
this time. He was an adept in mineralogy
and we considered him Invaluable. If the
gold could be mined at profit we were de-
termined to find it out At Tower Charley
1t was nothing then but rough, uninhab-
ited deserted waste-Charley picked up some
of the ore
This Is mighty rich ore,'' he observed,
and he put pieces in his mouth and tested
the effect of saliva on it. But said he,
what is it worth here, 500 miles from no.
whereT' and / agreed with him.
Richard Rolphe, and no better soul lives.
of the Northern Pacific now, was with us on
this trip. We reached the ST, LOUIS river
and went there in birch bark canoes, convey
ing our supplies as best we could. / forgot
to relate that we had conscripted Vermillion
falls on our previous visit. But it was dis
agreeable trip. The mosquitoes were legion.
and they were hungry and voracious We
fell prey to their nocturnal visitations When
we had come within some considerable dis.
lance of the falls we learned that u number
OF squatters had taken possession of our
lands We held a brief council and Capt.
Wellman, valiant young man, and were
delegated o.push on ana hold parley. We
found the story verified, aud we told the
squatters that the best thing they could do
was to break camp and levant. We explained
that our force was coming, and that they
were strong enough to eat them up. They
listened to our arguments. and they con-
cluded we were right and they quietly de.
parted. although our party would scarcely
have been mouthful for them in real con-
test.
I'VE crossed over the ice in the fall to the
largest island in Vermillion lake, and we
formally christened it EIey island. We
built a log cabin and remained there all
winter, prospecting meanwhile for gold. We
found traces now and then, but there was
apparently no money in it. and we finally
gave up in despair. We found an abundance
of iron ore, but we were not satisfied with
that. See what the result is. The very land
we were on is now worth millions of dollars,
but it is held by other men. And there was
an opportunity lost"