The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-06-13
X. c. RAILROAD
ISSUES FOLDER
STRATE
BOOKLET DESCRIBES CoUN-
TY-TELLS EARLL HIS
TORY OF COPPER.

a glance at the map Of the United
States shows an apparently tiny mark
pointing, finger-like, across Lake SUI
lperior, and one from the relatively
small place il takes up. sort of forgets
| il. and thinks il a mere point on the
map. This apparently small point Is
known ass keweenaw peninsula, and is
over sixty miles in length and it's mar
IoWed part is seven miles across. For
many miles its unbroken forests with
narrow trails. lakes and streams mark
! this spot as one of the ideal places
where old dame Nature has been al
lowed to revel i'm all her primeval glor-
les. The wild. rugged beauty of Ke-
WCenaw scenery has its counterpart
nowhere else i'm the world except possi-
| bly, amongst the fjords of Norway or
/ i'm the almost inaccessible passes of
the Canadian Northwest, and this, cou-
pied with the cool and cxhllarating
climate. and its remorsenoss from the
cares and distractions of the busy and
busting outside world, makes it par
adise for the weary and the lover of
out of door life.
The foregoing language is from
beautiful folder just issued by Fred
! w Taylor general passenger agent
for the Keweenaw Central railroad.
The folder is one of the most instruc-
/ tive publications on the history and
scenery of the copper country that has
been put out in recent years. 1t con-
tains a brief resume of the early his
tory of copper mining in Keweenaw
county, the original copper country Of
Michigan, ana some of the nforma-
ton is here printed:
Copper was one of the FIRST metals
extracted from ores by man. The his
tory of early copper mining on the
American continent is the early history
of Keweenaw. and whatever may be
said of mineral discoveries elsewhere
those of copper in Upper Michigan were
not made by white men. but by the
aboriginal predecessors of the Indians.
As the Lake Superior copper was found
in metallic masses, it required no me-
tallurgical skill To make it an article
of commerce.
The French had done some prospect
ing as early as 1870, but the first ac-
tual COPPER mining at Lake Superior
was begun in 1874, and the first product
secured was few tons of black oxide
loo copper ore-not native copper-tal,-
Cu from a lissurc vein near Copper
Ilarbor keweenaw county. There are
lCvidonCes that a prehistoric race i'm
America possessed the art of putting
"a keoner and more lasting edge on
}, copper tools than is now possible and
many valuable collections of tempered
copper implements ana tools are pos
scssed by Eeweouaw residents.
The upper peninsula of Michigan
was regarded as of little value by the
white population i'm the early days of
statehood. II was inhabited by the
Chippewa Indians, with a few scat
tered fur traders Copper was known
To exist there. thanks To the cxplora-
tions of the Jcsuits. in the seventeenth
land eighteenth centuries. but no at
tempts We're made to turn this knowl-
edge 10 profitable use until the efforts
tof Dr Douglass IIoughton, who visited
the peninsula in 1880 resulted i'm the
appropriation of small sum for cx-
ploration
The Clin was the first copper mine
opened in the Lake Superior district
since the prehistoric days of the mound
builders. This mine was a magnih-
Gently profitable property and the first
dividend payet II was opcned i'm 1871
and has been practically idle since
1873. Exploration at the Clin is now
under way. and there is good pros
pect that successful mining on one Of
the copper bearing beds on this prop
erty will soon be realized once more.
Actual mining at the Phoenix was
begun oct. 30. 1Sii, and from it was
taken the largest piece of native silver
ever found. II is now in possession
of the mint at Philadelphia and weighs
eight and two-thirds pounds Here
was also produced the largest mass of
native copper ever found Weighing
upwards ofc 500 short tons.
The Central was opened I'm 1854 and
for nearly forty years was steady
dividend payer. The mine losed down
in 1898, after producing copper to the
value of nearly 100000 900 The COM
pany's extensive lands now controlled
by Calumet & Hecla interests probably
contain paying copper deposits.