The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-07
SILVER GALORE.
Richest Mine On a Small
Island in Lake Superior.

and Guanajuato but on a mere reef in
that greatest Of fresh-water seas, Lake
Superior. Far-famed as is the Lake
Superior district for its iron ore and
copper its mines Of these baser metals
being the most extensive in the world,
! 1t has been forgotten by all but a few
of the older residents that only a quar-
ter of a century ago the richest silver
mine in the old or new world was oper-
ated under its waters
me story OF Its discovery, its devel-
opment under the most trying condi-
tons and against the power of all the
elements, and the final triumph of ma
ture over man, affords romantic chap
ter in the drama of real life equaling
IN apparent improbability some Of the
tales of Baron Munchausen, but all the
details of which are verified by authen-
tic records and the memories Of men
now living.
In the excitement attending the open
ing of the pioneer copper mi 4 IS of the
Lake Superior country, then a wilder
ness, In the latter forties, mineral To-
cation was made on the north shore of
the lake, off Thunder Cape, that natur-
al fortress Of granite which rises sheer
fourteen feet from the blue waters of
the great lake Included in the loca-
ton was a reef of rock, unnamed and
nearly overlooked by the surveyors
A Canadian mining company held the
ground for quarter or a century, but
in 1870 transferred the property to
Detroit corporation, which began sys-
tematic exploration of it's lands. For
tunately, their agent, one Thomas Mac
farlane, possessed the Scotch thorough
ness, and among other explorations he
set foot one calm day upon the name
less roef, now known as Silver Islet
4r1r H..
feet long by sixty in width, rising but
few feet above the water on calm
day, and entirely submerged by the long
swell from the east in stormy weather.
Most men would have ignored it, for
the islet was nearly a mile from the
mainland and the most unpromising
place imaginable for mining work
To the surprise of Macfarlane, who
was perhaps the first white man to ever
set foot on that little speok Of solid
ground encircled by the deep waters OF
the lake, q plainly defined vein carry
ing small nuggets Of silver was
seen. Miners with drills picks
and blasting powders were trans
ferred.. to the reef on the
first calm day following the discovery,
and 1t took but little work by them
to prove the existence of q bonanza
upon that Insignificant ridge Of trap
rock which exposed few square feet
Of it's apex above the water.
So small was the island that the MI
ners waded into the lake and followed
the seam until the water grew toe deep,
picking up nuggets of virgin silver
from the vein.
TONS OF SUBMERGED SILVER.
Five tons of rock was secured by
this exploring party, mich of it tax
en- from under the water by miners
working to their waists in the lake,
the water Of which IS always intensely
cold, even in the warmest summer day.
The returns from the five tons Of rock
shipped to the smelter were far richer
than had been dreamed, giving more
than $1,000 to the ton, or sixty cents per
pound, in refined silver.
Encouraged by this result the work
of development was begun in earnest,
under, perhaps, the most z1ovel and dis
couraging circumstances that have
ever attended the making of mine.
1t was necessary to shelter
both mine and miner from the
angry waters, which threats
ened to swallow them, and the
mine was started, not by digging into
the ground, but by building a substan-
tial crib or blockhouse over the spot
where it had been decided tc sink a
shaft. This was imperative for the
sdlSIy Ol the WOTkUlGH, ctuu, dlSO, 10
keep the waves from dashing into the
shaft on their passage over the'-islet.
The crib was built very solldly, on
the plan of lighthouse, with accom-
modations for the miners in the upper
part, above the pillows Of the lake, but
not above the spray, which, on stormy
days blew over the top Of the structure.
Protected by this shelter d beginning
was made, and shaft was sunk for
lcrv 1NVrf
ter percolating through the rock strata
from the lake, but a few feet distant,
and the water which found it's way in
from surface during storms, despite all
precautions, it was found impossible
to proceed with the primitive means
at hand, all the time of the men be-
ing taken in an unequal battle with the
water, which would fill The shaft.
Thus matters stood until the fall of
1870, when Capt. William Frue of
Houghton, Mich, an experienced
miner and man Of bulldog persist
ence, was put in charge. 1t required all
his ability and all his courage to con-
quer a foothold upon the reef. Capt.
Frue brought with him from Houghton
a large supply of mining timber, food,
blasting powder and tools, with forty
miners.
1t was realized that the islet must
be anchored If miners were ever to
work safely under it, and work was be-
gun and pushed diligently on the ar
mor-plating of the reef. To the south
east the blue lake rolled for full two
hundred miles without a break and
| the force of it's waves can be compre-
hended only by those who have seen
the power of the ocean when dashed to
fury by the storm.
The first work was for carpenters,
not miners, and every man in the force
was impressed as a builder after the
| cargo had been unloaded in safety,
| though with a narrow escape from
gale, which rendered the island danger
Gus for both vessel and crew. Heavy
cribs of hewed timber, bolted together
with iron rods and filled with rock
were sunk on the more exposed faces
of the island.
1t was necessary to make more
ground than the islet afforded for the
mine buildings, and the cribs were sunk
several rods off shore, and a Golfer
dam constructed inside them inclosing
the outcrcp of the vein for the full
length of the island. When the dam
was rendered water-tight, the water
was pumped out and mining begun.
All went well until late in October
when storm carried away all the
| cribbing exposed to it, and the Golfer
dam was ruined, thus flooding tho
" - hAti6S' s'llu IeHuSriH5 II Imperative
that the work be done all over and
rapidly, else winter would set in before
the mine was secured.
The efforts Of Frue and his brave
workmen were redoubled and within
less than a month the broken cribs
were not only replaced, but built of
twice their former strength. A week
later the vessel was sent away with
the rock mined during the few weeks
that the men had not been engaged IN
hand-to-hand struggle with the lake.
Short as the time had been, the re-
ward was a rich one, the cargo netting