Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-12
MINES OF |SHPEM|NG
Yearly Output of 3,500,00
Tons of Ore.
FORGE BUILT IN 1847
First Iron Made in the Lake Super
ior Region in 1S48. :. =.
DISCOVERY BY P. NJ. EVERETT
Story Of Hardship and Danger-Ex-
ploration Constantly Going On.
The Twin Towns.
DISCOVERY BY P. NJ. EVERETT
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

| BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
| Chicago ordHerald.
ISHPEMING, Mich. October 4, 1907.
The scene OF the first iron mining on
Lake Superior is between the twin towns
Ishpeming and Negaunee. fifteen miles
west of Marquette, which Is their shipping
point. The Jackson and the Cleveland
mines were the first opened in this coun-
try by Cleveland people. who still own
the largest interests. Peter White Of
| Marquette, the first citizen OF northern
| Michigan and a pioneer of pioneers, In
| his autobiography says.
In 1857 quite a settlement had grown
| up about the Jackson mine, and it was de-
cided to give 1t a name A council was
held with the Ojbway Indians and the
name Negaunee was chosen, which sig
| nif1es In their language the first or
pioneer 1t was quite appropriate, as the
| first mine was opened there and the first
furnace, the Pioneer, established there.
| The following year the growing town
| about the Cleveland mine demanded a
| name. The citizens appealed to Samuel
White
The ridge of land upon which the
Cleveland mine is located" quoth Peter
| White. lis the highest ground between
! Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. 1t is
| the divide where one may see the waters
of the Carp river flowing into Lake Su-
| perior and the waters of the Escanaba
flowing into Lake Michigan. Ojibway for
| an altitude of this character is Ishpeming.
" Let's call 1T 1shpeming,' exclaimed
Ely. 1t is a beautiful word
" 1T also means heaven in an abstract
sense added Peter.
" That's better than ever replied Ely.
And so the town was christened Ish-
peming''
Twenty Mines in the Group.
There are about twenty mines in the
1shpeming group. two-thirds of them pay
ing dividends and producing annually
about three and a half million tons of
hematite ore, which is shipped from Mar
quette to Cleveland and other Lake Erie
ports and distributed among the furnaces
OF Ohio and western Pennsylvania. The
Cleveland-Cliffs Company a comprehen-
sive corporation, which operates mines,
furnaces. charcoal ovens, paper mills saw
mills. fish hatcheries. summer resorts,
model farms, town sites, agricultural colo
MES and various other diversified indus
tries under the direction of William G.
Mather of Cleveland, owns eight of the
mines; the Lake Superior Iron Company
owns four and the rest are scattered be-
longing to individuals and other corpora
tions. The United States Steel Company
owns a controlling interest in several and
one outright and ships the ore to Its own
furnaces in Ohio.
All of the companies are foreign except
that of the Mary Charlotte mine. which is
owned by Marquette people Most of the
others are owned in Cleveland and Pitts
burg, although considerable stock IS dis
tributed among the people here. The
Cleveland-C Cliffs Company encourages it's
employees to invest in its shares. That Is
the policy of the steel trust also.
Not much eastern capital is invested in
7 oh. +,:xl ~,
Nearly all the copper mines on Lake Su-
perior are owned or controlled in Boston,
but eastern people do not seem to have
taken kindly to iron, with a few excep-
tons. The late Samuel ]. Tilden made a
large part of his fortune in the Iron Cliffs
mine, which was owned by the late Will
liam II. Barnum of Connecticut, chairman
Of the democratic rational committee dur
ing the Hayes ilden campaign, and him
self. Two of the pits are still called
The Barnum'' and THE Tilden."
Experience of Samuel J. Tilden.
One of the mine captains named Dunn.
who discovered the Baltic mine tells
graphic story of his experience with Mr..
Tilden, when the latter made visit here
many years ago. They had gone into the
wilderness to look at some prospects that
had recently been discovered and were
camping out in the woods when Mr.. Til
den became seriously Ill and insisted upon
getting back to town Immediately. There
was no vehicle to carry him and no road.
They had come on horseback, but Mr.
Tilden was too weak to ride. So. Capt
Dunn packed the great democrat on his
back twelve miles over a trail through the
woods to 1shpening. Mr.. Tflden was of
diminHtive stature and did not weigh
more than a bag of meal, and Dunn is a
brawny giant, but it was an experience
that neither of them would care to repeat.
The manager of the Cleveland-C Cliffs
Company in these parts is Mr.. NJ. NJ. Dun
can. a granddaughter of the late W. W.
Corcoran of Washington, a grandson Of
the late Commodore Morris, U. S. NJ, and
a son of the late Rev. DR.. Duncan, who Is
we'll remembered In the Capital city.
Exploring for Deposits.
The mines are increasing in number in
this district and the land owners are ex-
ploring all the while for new deposits.
greater part of the area in this section
is underlaid with ore, but it lies in spots
and the only way to find 1t is to inquire
below by means Of drills, which drive
holes several hundred feet into the ground
and bring up samples of the material of
which the earth is made. This explains
the number of derricks that may be seen
in the neighborhood. One company has
drilled forty miles Of such holes during
the last five years. Another company
keeps fifteen drills at work all the time
1t drives them down several hundred feet,
and If evidences Of ore do not appear. the
derricks and the engines are taken up
and moved elsewhere. Some Of these long
holes in the ground have cost ten. twelve
and fifteen thousand dollars, but the aver
age expense of sinking test hole Is about
four dollars foot
Mr.. Duncan, with Prof. Henry Lloyd
Smythe Of Harvard University, drove me
| out to see the place where the first iron
| mine in the Lake Superior country was
opened, just on the edge of the town of
Negaunee. monument has been erected
| to commemorate that important event and
| 1t bears this inscriptions:
This monument was erected by the
Jackson Iron Company in October, 1904,
to mark the first discovery of iron ore in
| the Lake Superior region. The exact spot
is 800 feet northeasterly from this monu-
ment to an iron post The ore was found
| under the roots Of fallen tree in June,
1s45, by Marji Gesick, a chief of the
Chippewa tribe Of Indians. The land was
secured by mining permit and the prop
erty subsequently developed by the Jack
son Mining Company, organized July o.