The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1898-01-08
DRINK RUINED A NINE.
TIE COAL BOAT CAPTAIN WENT on A
SPREE AND FAILED TO RETURN.
L.AKE sUrERIOE Steamboat cal

L-AlNI@ OOI - A''s 81
n tain took several drinks too many.
allie he was enjoying his intoNication
his boat was tied up. Wien he rccov-
cred from it his boat was frozen in the
ice. The managers of the richest sill
yer mine in America waited patiently
for the captain to come with the thou
sand tons of coal which the boat had o
board for the operation of the mines
engines. The engines ran out of fuel
and had to be shut down. The pImps
stopped, the mine filed with water,
several hundred wOrk1nen We're
thrown out of employment, n village
was d%epopulated, and 4 scene of life, ac-
tivity, and industry was turned into a
desolate group of decaying houses and
rusting machinery. For 10 years the
water has stood in the shafts, the levels
and the wines of the mine. And all be-
cause a boats captain would take TO
drink.
1t is the story in a nutshell of the
abandonment of the Silver Islet mine
off Thunder Cape, on the north shore
of Lake Superior, which in Il years
produced 3.OGO.OOO ounces of silver, val
ued at $3,5O0,G0O.
The history of the mine dates back
50 years, when Joseph Woods took ont
n location which included the site of
Silver islct. Il barren little rock. which
was to become famous rs the richest
spot in the world. This location was
transferred to the Montreal Mining
company in 1915, which in 1870 trans
ferrcd it to an American company
composed of many men of national
fame. They were f. Il. Ward. of De-
troit. the famous millionaire whose
daughter has figured 80 s~cnsatiOnally
in European life: Edward Learned, of
Pittsficld. Mass: Alexander II. Sibley,
of Detroit; Charles \. Trowbridge. of
New York; Peleg Hall. of New York:
William T. Frue, of HoughtOn, Mich;
George S. COe. of New York, and Ed
ward Prentice, of Montreal.
The Americans had not bought n
mere prospect, either, for under the
direction of an agent named Thomas
Macfarlane, the Montreal company had
done enough work on the islet TO show
hat the vein was surprisingly rich. in
the summer of 1SCS Macfarlane had
been exploring all the locations of the
Montreal company, and while at work
on the Woods location n surveyor
named Brown found a vein OF metal on
the rock that has since been called Sill
yer islet. Macfariane examined it
himself, and set two men to work I'M
covering the lead. 1t was found to be
90 feet wide on the north side of the
island. and on the south it divided into
two branches, each of which was seven
feet wide. \ member of the party 10
discovered some silver nuggets in
the west branch of the vein. \ single
blast was sufficient to dctaCh all the
vein rock carrying ore above the sur
face of the water, but the ore was
traced some distance out into the lake,
where the scattered nuggets of silver
were replaced by large patches CT
limestone. rich in galcna, intermiXed
with small particles and large nuggets
of native silver. The vein varied in its
richest part from two feet to a few
inches. Some rich pieces of ore were
broken off with crowbars under the
water. A shipment of 1886 pounds of
ore which was shipped to Montreal was
found to contain 2,OS7 ounces troy of
silver to the ton.
No more work was done on the islet
in the season of 1865, but the next year
saw operations in earnest, though the
.-.z--ou. ,-o-a lo-,Doro1 Ir- tho SifTIO-
ton and extent of the islet.
The American company was about to
begin operations at the islet in 1870,
when a certain James Seymour, of To-
ronto, undertook to jump the mining
claim and caused them much trouble
before he was quieted. Capt. Frue,
having been appointed superintendent
of the mine by the American company,
left Houghton, Mich, on August 80,
1870, with a boat load of mining i'm
plements and machinery and "a men,
arriving at the islet On September 1.
As soon as the supplies were unloaded
the islet and its surroundings were ex-
amined, plans were laid, and the con-
struction of cribs was begun. The
island was so small that it was neces-
sary not only to build cribs to protect
the shaft, but to get n foothold for the
various structures which the successful
operation of the mine entailed. As de-
| scribed by Frue, the islet was "a small
barren rock, the greatest width Of
which was 20 feet and length so feet,
and in no place rising more than eight
feet above the water; its position be-
ing about three-quarters of Il mile from
the mainland and being exposed to a
sweep of zoo piles ofLake Superior"