The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1898-11-15

A LAKE SUIEhlOR cap
~ tain took several drinks tool many.
While he was enjoying his intoxication
his boat was tied up. When he recov-
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 on
Loard for the operation of the mines
engines. The engines ran out of fuel
and had to be shut down. The pumps
stopped, the mine filed with water,
several hundred worklnen were
thrown out of employment, a village
was ~depopulated, and a 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 q nutshell of the
abandonment of the Silver Islet mine
off Thunder Cape, on the north shore
of Lake Superior, which in IA years
produced 1900, 900 ounces of silver, val
ued at So 100000.
The history of the mine dates back
SO years, when Joseph Woods took out
a location which included the site OF
| Silver islet, q barren little rock, which
was to become famous as the richest
spot in the world. This location was
transferred to the Montreal Mining
company in 1S45, which IN 1870 trans
ferred it to an American company
composed of many men of national
fame. They were r. b. Ward, of De-
troit, the famous millionaire whose
daughter has figured SO sensationally
in European life; Edward Learned, of
Pittsield, Mass; Alexander II. Sibley,
of Detroit; Charles A. Trowbridge, of
New York; Peleg Hall, of New York;
William B. Frue, of Houghton, Mich;
George S. Coe, of New York, and Ed
ward Prentice, of Montreal.
The Americans had not bought q
mere prospect, either, for under the
direction of an agent named Thomas
Macfarlane, the Montreal company had
lone enough work on the islet to show
that the vein was surprisingly rich. III
the ummer of 1868 Macfarlane hat
been exploring all the locations of the
Montreal company, and while at worl
on the Woods location a surveyor
named Brown found q vein OF metal OF
the rock that has since been called Sill
yer islet. Macfariane examined j
himself, and set two men to work nm
covering the lead. 1t was found to b.
90 feet wide on the north side of TIL
island, and on the south it divided int
| two branches, each of which was sever
feet wide. A member of the party 500
discovered some silver nuggets il
the west branch of the vein. A singl
blast was sufficient to detach all tn
vein rock carrying ore above the SUI
face of the water, but the ore wa
traced some distance out into the lake
where the scattered nuggets of silve
e were replaced by large patches Q
limestone, rich in galena, intermixe
with small particles and large nugget
6 of native silver. The vein varied in ii
richest part from two feet to a fe'
inches. Some rich pieces of ore wer
u broken off with crowbars under tn
D water. A shipment of 1896 pounds {
t ore which was shipped to Montreal wa
found TO contain 2,067 ounces troy {
e silver to the ton.
6 No more work was done on the ISLE
\ in the season of 1868, but the next yes
saw operations in earnest, though II
workers were hampered by the situi
l ton and extent of the islet.
ri The American company was about
T. begin operations at the islet in 1877
81 when 81 certain James Seymour, of t
ronto, undertook to jump the mimi
claim and caused them much troub
"a before he was quoted. Capt. Fru
having been appointed superintendei
of the mine by the American compan
? left Houghton, Mich, on August +;
) 1870, with q boat load of mining il
plements and machinery and "a me
re arriving at the islet on September
" AS soon as the supplies were unload
m the islet and it's surroundings were c
amined, plans were laid, and the &C
. struction of cribs was begun. T
: island was so small that it was nee
- sary not only to build cribs to prott
O; the shaft. but to get q foothold for
S, various structures which the success
S. operation of the mine entailed. As
n scribed by Frue, the islet was "a SIN
4. barren rock. the greatest width
: which was 20 feet and length so fe
and in no place rising more than Gig
- feet above the water; its position
rs ing about three-quarters of n mile FRI
J. the mainland and being exposed I,
ne sweep of 200 miles of Lake Superior.