The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-02-23
Mining by the Indians Who Ante
dated the Mound Builders
In This District
After Forty Years There Are Only
oozen Dividend Paying Mines

rho great state of Michigan is rich
+, legendary lore, Il great part of II
a1ouhtedly more truth than fiction,
-, ,bere is no part Of the state richer
IN stories of the early struggles of
nan than the great copper mining re-
TN If the Northern Peninsula the
roweenaw point district. From the
,,,iring by the Indians who antedated
80. ,,otnd builders, down through the
limos Of the early British and French
raiders to the present day has this
,.a,, of the great American continent
hosn a center of great interest be-
oouse of the fabulously rich copper de
nosits And only within the past fifty
,ears forty years, one might say,
hive these deposits been developed to
any extent. have they repaid in any
measure for the great amount of labor
and capital expended on them. And
roU there are perhaps "A dozen mines,
perhaps only ten, that pay dividends
:, their shareholders A great many
millions have beei sunk into the holes
driven into the earth to find rich cop
nor DEPOSITS and. in the great majority
of cases these developments have re-
suited in almost total loss To the in
yeslcrs. OF course some of the big
dividend -paying mines have made rich
returns to the shareholders. mines
such as the calumet q Hecla. the COP,
prr Range Consolidated and the Quin-
ry. These are the only three notable
exceptions, however although Ahmeek,
Mohawk, Osceola and one or two
others have paid dividends and thee
are hopes that two or three of the
others will. Wolverine has paid rich
dividends hut the end of the Wolverine
is al hand, almost, as "A dividend payer
and within a short space of years this
mine will he numbered with the ADAM
.oned and useless workings complete
ly exhausted
The Early Copper Workers.
But to so back To the early days:
Al a period probably thousands Of
Of Lake Superior an Industrious and
busy race of copper miners. probably
copper hued warriors, perhaps white
men, but no one knows which. Curl
Gus samples of their work have been
found in various parts of the Ameri-
can continent. That these people were
partially civilized, were probably as
FAR advanced as any people of their
day, is certain, JUDGING from traces left
by them. In all parts of the copper re-
gon of Lake Superior are found traces
Of their work. From the ancient
workings left by these people on Isle
Royalc, away out i'm Lake superior. IS
evident that these people of n very re-
mote period had considerable knowl-
edge Of navigation and the finding Of
their way over trackless waters from
land To land. One great mass of cop
per- taken from Isle Royale and show
Ing all over it's surface that it had
been operated on with fire and stone,
and copper hammers were shown a.
the Centennial exposition at Philadel-
phia
ON Isle Royale these people. who
must also have had a considerable
knowledge of mining engineering, sank
llis only on the richest deposits and
olloWed the courses of none but the
rue veins. Many of the richest copper
mines of the Lake Superior region
AVE been located by exploring on the
lles Of these ancient workings.
Sought Only Mass Copper.
These ancient copper workers used |
ne copper in manufacture of kettles.
Nes' spear and arrow heads. beads, |
nlves and other implements with
mich to supplement their supply Of |
tone and wooden tools. They lacked |
+ propped up the hanging WALL just |
$ the most modern miner of today |
Oes, with heavy timbers or with pill |
trS of rock, which were not hewn out |