The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1907-01-12
Paint Rock

This IL a story Of the early days AS
told by Hon Peter White Of Mar
quette. that ilIustrous pioneer OF the
Lake Superior iron region, during the
course of conversation in which he
comments upon the remarkable growth
Of the iron industry during the past
half century:
Back in 1857. when the iron industry
of the Lake Superior region was prac-
tically in its infancy. a young man by
the name Of Stephen n. Gay arrived
at Marquette from Lime Rock, Mass.
to superintend the erection of the
pioneer furnace at Negaunee for the
old Iron Cliffs company. The fact that
this plant was called the Pioneer has
in later years caused il to be referred
to as the first furnace in the region,
when as matter OF fact 1t WAS not.
Furnaces older than the Pioneer were
located at Collinsville and Forestville.
near Marquette, both settlements long
ago in decay, and had been in opera
tion for years before the foundation
was laid for the Pioneer stack.
Gay had been in Neagunee near
| ly two weeks when an accident occurr-
ed which in effect completely revolu-
tionized the iron industry in the up
per country. Gay was prodigious
worker and after his arrival at Me-
gaunee he was not seen anywhere for a
fortnight except at the furnace site.
On Sunday. however he walked over
to the mine of the jackson Iron COM
pany, which was located within a
stones throw of where he had his men
at work, and struck up an acquaintance
with Capt Henry Merry, mine super
intendent and manager of the property.
who died at Cleveland, Ohio, some
months ago The two men spent
several honrs inspecting the workings
and were engaged in conversation just
outside of the Office prior to Gay TAX
ing his departure.
"How much ore have you in your
stock pilesq" qestioned Gay, looking
toward several big heaps Of yellowish
red material
"Oreg That's not ore, replied
Capt. Merry. That is what we call
paintrock; it's sort Of red clay
mixed with sand and rock and it's so
plentiful that we don't know whore to
dump the stuff after we get it ont.
I've built roads with it, filed in sink
holes and rayines, but we don't seem
90 be able TO get rid OF it,
Gay did not continue his converse
ton and went away The next day he
entered into contract with the Jack
son Iron Company whereby he was TO
pay at the rate Of soc per ton for all
the iron extracted from the pain
troclx that then lay on the surface of
the mine after it had been shipped 20
the furnace. The contract allowed
Gays company 20 years IN which to
remove the so-called paint rock.
The jackson Iron Company, none
OF it's men, nor anybody in the district
for that matter-except Gay, OF
course-had any idea that there was
iron in the ''paintrock, and 1t was
generally thought Gay had forced his
concern into mighty poor deal. To
make a long story short. the paintrock
proved 10 be almost the richest ore
ever mined in the Marquette range. II
was not the richest, but ID assayed on
an average of from go TO 65 per cent In
metallic iron. The contract made with
Gay cost the jackson Iron Company a
great many thousands of dollars, but it
also showed IL the way TO making ad-
ditional thousands in soft ore mining.
At that time nothing but hard ore
was being mined in the Lake superior
country. and nothing whatever WAS
known of soft. or what is now called
hematite. ore. Explorations made in
those days were wholly for hard ore,
and Stephen X. Gay was the first man
TO develop the real wealth of the iron
region. The amount of hematite that
Gay bought for the Iron Cliffs Com
pany from the jackson Company at the
rate Of so cents per ton for the iron
extracted is not known now How
ever. there were hundreds OF thousands
Of tons Of it, and the purchasing com.
pany made several fortunes on the deal.
The so-called paintrock was so plenti-
full that the jackson Company built q
great many roads in the VICINITY. OF
Negaunee and fills as deep as 80 feet in
many places with the ore as 1T came
from the mine At the time of.Gay 9
visit the question of getting rid of the
stuff was serious problem with the
company, and the contract was well
come relief until it discovered what
Gay was doing with the ore and the
result Of the assays became known.
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