The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-03-13
The Civil War and Lake
Superior Copper Mining
BY L. A. Chase NJ A. instructor In History Economics Hancock
High School,

~ one of these mines the quincy
Exceeded one thousand tons of cop
per and the five mines Just mentioned
| gave forth nearly two thirds of the
whole product Of The thirty -four
mines In 1864 their output ran thus;
| Minnesota-79 tons
| tranklin-60i toms
| Pewahic-7ls tons.
Quincy-l.s col tons
! Clin-G15 tons go
IL appears from the report of the
| commissioner of mineral statistics.
/ 1852. that Of the thirty four mines.
eight Were in the keweenaw district.
! eight in the Houghton district, and
no less than eighteen in the Ontonag-
on district But most of the Onton-
ason mines We're small producers, soon
tn cease altogether Thus the National
| Rockland and Minnesota mines made
good showing all through the war.
while IA few tons came from EACH
CD Annual report of the commission
ar Of mineral statistics of the state of
Michigan for 1882 Lansing. 1883
from the Aztec. Hilton. Norwich Vic
toria and other mines and the roltec
shows no yield after 1866 The Port
age Lake district had better mines,
though fewer al them: and turned out
about half of the Michigan product.
The Quincy. which made It's first re.
turn--one oi six tons-in 1856 was the
leading producer in the war period,
yielding i,124 tons of copper, 1861 Ia
1865 inclusive The old Hancock mine
brought forth 202 tons. and the Huron
and Grand Portage were among the
light producers. and the Peninsula
made scarce a showing till the last
year Of the war. on the other hand
the Isle Royale. the Franklin. the
Pewabic all maintained a steady con-
siderable production throughout the
period. In the Keweenaw region, the
old Gin was in its best days. It's pro.
duct ran around the thousand ton
point till 1864, when il definitely de.
clined. The other mines in this dis.
trict were rather light producers, in.
GLIDING the Madison and the 81. clair
which got into operation AT the end of
the war period the Ash Bed and Del
aware which did slightly better: ana
the Central. Copper Fails, and Phoc-
nix which made a fair showing. ca
The first year of the war marked
disarrangement of business and of
prices. The copper industry did not
escape. The price of copper accord.
ing to the editor of the Marquette
Mining Journal. stood at 81 and one
half cents i'm 1860; but fell off four
cents per pound when the war came.
(5). This had some effect on the pro-
duction Of Michi-CD. These Stats
tics are based upon the report of the
commissioner of mineral statistics
tMich), 1882. CD A. L. Swineford'
Iron, Silver, Slate and Other Material
Interests of the South Shore of Lake
Superior; Marquette. 1876; p. ~. Also
a report of the L.. :. Senate commit
tee on military affairs and the militia,
April 80, 1862, Senate reports attn
Congress, second session, No. 40. y. >
gan copper, for the year 1862
showed decline of "a million
and half pounds in the output. But
general business conditions adjusted
themselves to war necessities; and
from 1862 on To the end of the war
there was a steady demand for cop"
per, as shown both by the output and
the market price. IT,. as the Senate
committee averred, the price of 1861
was the lowest since 1850, it referred
to the July price-the month of Bul,
Run. In December IL found copper
held at twenty seven cents. Swineford.
Of the Marquette Mining Journal, puts
the 1856? price at 22.5 cents: the next
year at 81 cents, and In 1864 at the
unprecedented figure OF 80 cents. We
must not fall into the mistake how
ever, of attributing these extraordn-
airy prices for copper as due solely
TO the condition of the industry. The
average price of one hundred dollars
in gold at New York In January, 1861,
was sixty-four dollars, according to
tables presented in Dewey's Financial
History of the United States" in July
and August, when Grant failed To take
Richmond, il stood at thirty-ninc doll
lars-the greatest depreciation of the
war; while i'm December, IL rose To
forty -four dollars. The average price
of currency for the year was about
fifty cents in gold. This means there
fore, that hfty-five cent copper. when
compared with present prices. should
be rated at less than twenty-eight
cents. Even so, the price was sufficient
To warrant activity at the Lake Super
Tor copper mines throughout the war.
Annarap,iy ouotiny n statement by