The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-08-18
old ROCKLAND
Is INTERESTING
ONE OF ME-coMERs" RE-
COUNTS SOME OF THINGS
WHICH HAD MADE
TOWN FAMOUS.

In commenting on the recent home
coming" To Rockland. Ontonagon coun-
ty. which was attended by many cop
per and iron country people, T.. j. But
Ter, Ishpeming correspondent for the
Mining Journal, who was born at Rock
land and who attended the reunion Of
old timers" this week, says:
During the past few years many Of
the older buildings have been torn
down and Irish Hollow" back of the
Michigan mine, which was the original
Rockland, has been entirely wiped out.
with exception OF two dwellings ana
the mine buildings. The old church.
which was located on the cemetery plat
and of which the late Rev. Father Fox,
who died about a quarter Of a century
ago i'm Republic, was the pastor was
torn down about ten years ago. The
plat for the cemetery was donated by
the late Ben jeff, who died fourteen
years ago. At the time the church was
erected and the cemetery established
it was Mr. Jen's request that his re-
mains be buried in the plat and his
monument is the most prominent in the
grounds.
Irish Hollow" was given its name
because the location was situated be-
tween two high ranges of hills, also
because practically all of the early set
tiers there were Irish people. The old
Methodist church. which was one Of the
first Protestant churches erected i'm
that part of the peninsula, is still
standing on the hill opposite the Mich
igan mine Office and shops buildings.
This hill is one of the highest points
in the district and visitors who take
the trouble to climb To the top of it
can get a good view Of Ontonagon,
twelve miles away, also of Lake SUI
perior.
The original Minnesota store. where
the families of the employees of the old
Rockland mine, now the Michigan,
purchased their supplies, stood on the
side of the hill between the Methodist
church and the present office and mine
buildings, but the doctors office. also
the powder magazine. which were To-
Gated nearby are still standing, i'm
condition. The magazine,
also some of the mine buildings were
erected prior TO 1860 and were con-
structed OF trap rock taken from some
of the first openings at the property.
The principal shop building. erected
OF this stone, is still i'm a perfect state
of repair and was being used when
operations were suspended over two
years ago.
There is perhaps a greater quantity
of trap rock in tlie burrows at the
Michigan mine than at any other prop
erty in the Lake Superior district.
This rock makes the finest of road
macadam and If it were found i'm Mar
quette or Houghton county, it would
be very valuable for that purpose In
the early days of mining at this prop
erty, many Of the worldngmen made
big money on their tribute contracts.
This consisted of picking over the old
rock piles and renewing the native |
copper much of which went TO the |
dumps. II is said that there is a great |
deal of this copper on the old dumps, |
but during the period the mine was
in operation a few years ago, much |
additional rock. all of cleaner mineral |
was dumped on the old piles, |
and 1t would not pay to remove this
rock in order to recover the treasures |
which are believed to be hidden be-
meath it.
Survey Day" important Event.
In the early days of mining at this |
practically all of the miners |
worked under a contract system and |
The mass copper mad to be chissccd by |
hand. Many large masses of copper |
were removed from the workings and !
he great chunks are still to be found |
n the mine above the 1900 foot level. |
)ut below that point stamp rock was
taken out. The old settlers
ell some remarkable tales of the heavy |
copper masses that were removed from |
his mine and Il is said that IL fire.
iuently took the men several weeks |
o cut up the copper in chunks to get |
[ to surface. The officials of the COM |
Dany used to auction the contracts to Il
he miners. At certain times, usually Il
m the first of each month, all of the Il
men would assemble on the road be-
ween the office buildings and the old
tore and bid on the contracts. some
hing after the order of an auction sale
# merchandise. This event was known
IS Survey Day" and it was usually II
ttended by many in addition to those
Employed i'm the mines. as a great deal
depended on the prices at which the
miners would offer to take out the cop
er.
There are at present from a dozen to