The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1899-04-08
IL is a .GREAT NINE.

IT is a GREAT NINE.
STORY OF SILVER lsLET ON
$780,. LAKE SUPERIOR. ....
Stormy Waters . Made !. It's Working
Dangerous-The Storm King Event
ual1y Caused Its Abandonment-Fnled
With Water. .<.,." q. e.
A Houghton, Mich, correspondent
writes: The richest silver mine ever
opened by man was not in Peru or
Mexico, far famed as are the mines Of
Potosi and Guanajuato, but on mere
reef of that greatest of fresh water
seas, Lake Superior. Far famed as is
the Lake Superior district for it's iron
ore and copper, it's mines of these
baser metals being the most extensive
In the world, it has been forgotten by
all but few of the older residents that
only quarter of a century ago the
richest silver mine in the old or new
worlds was. operated under it's waters.
The story of it's discovery, it's develop
ment under the most trying conditions
and against the power of all the ele-
ments, and the final triumph of nature
over man, affords romantic chapter
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 op-
enlng of the pioneer copper mines of
the Lake Superior country, then a.
wilderness, in the latter forties, min
eral location was made on the north
shore OF the lake, off Thunder Cape,
that natural fortress of granite which
rises sheer fourteen hundred feet from
the blue waters of the great lake. In
cluded in the location was a.. reef of
rock, unnamed and nearly overlooked
by the surveyors. A Canadian mining
company held the ground for quar-
ter OF a century, but in 1870 transferred
the property to a Detroit corporation,
which began systematic exploration
OF its lands. Fortunately their agent,
one Thomas Macfarlane, possessed the
scotch thoroughness, and among other
explorations he set foot one calm day
upon the nameless reef.
NOW KNOWN AS SILVER ISLET.
The little island was but Is, feet. lone,
by 90 in width, rising but few feet
above the water on a calm day. and
entirely submerged by the long swells
from the east in stormy weather. Most
men would have ignored it. for the
'slet was nearly a mile from the main
lana, and the most unpromising place
imaginable for mining work. To the
surprise of Macfarlane, who was per-
maps the first white man to set foot
on that little speck of solid ground en-
c1rcled by the deep waters of the lake.
plainly defined vein carrying small
nuggets of silver was seen. Miners
with drills, picks and blasting powder
were transferred to the reef on the
first calm day following the discovery.
and 1t took but little work by them to
prove the existence of a bonanza uDon
that insignificant ridge of tran rock
watch exposed few square feet of it's
apex above the water. So small was
the island that the miners waded into
the lake and followed the seam until
the water grew too deep, picking mug
gets OF virgin silver from the vein.
rive tons of rock was secured by this
exploring party, much of it taken from
under the water by miners working
to their waists in the lake, the water
or which is always intensely colo, even
on the Warmest summer day. The re-
turns from the five tons of rock ship
ped to the smelter were far richer than
had been dreamed, giving more than
Sl,20o to the ton, or sixty cents per
pound, in refined silver.
Encouraged by this result. the work
OF developing was begun in earnest.
under perhaps the most novel and dis
couraging circumstances that have at
tended the making of a mine. It was
necessary to shelter both mine and
miners from the angry waters, which
threatened to swallow them, and the
mine was started not by digging into
the ground, but by building a substan-
tial crib or block house over the spot
where it had been decided to sink a
shaft. This was imperative for the
safety of the workmen and also to
keep the waves from dashing into the
shaft on their passage over the islet.
The crib was built very solidly, on the
plan of a lighthouse, with accommo-
dation 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
a beginning was made and shaft was
sunk for some twenty feet, but be-
tween the water perculating through
the rock strata from the lake, but
few feet distant, and the water which
found its way in from the surface dur
ing storms, despite all precautions, it
was found impossible to proceed with
the primitive means at hand, all the
time Of the men being taken in an un-
equal battle with the water which
- -R.0I .s.