The Ely miner., 1915-07-30
on the way back and see if that
isn't the life" said one who
made the trip yesterday.
Makes a Suggestion

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of the beginning of steel making a:
the big plant of the Minnesota
Steel company adjoining Gary and
New Duluth have been numerous
and some very good ideas have
been advanced. Among the best
are those of T. ]. Walsh, who
would have special honors paid to
the pioneers in the iron mining in
dustry of Minnesota, with floats in
the parade representing scenes in
the early history of exploration and
development. Mr.. Walsh says:
For the celebration and com
pletion of the Minnesota Steel
company's plant in this city why
not go back to the employees of
George c. Stone & Co., which
company did the first exploration
work for iron ore in Minnesota?
Bill" Bassett and John Mailman
were the first cruisers and located
the lands for the Soudan mine,
which was the first mine in this
state to ship ore. Also include in
the list Col. c. H. Graves of Du-
luth and Edward Lynch, who pre-
empted the lands which contained
the Lee mine, where the first ex-
pioration work was done. These
are the only two whom 1 know of
who are now left of the original
re-emptors. There should also
be included in the original list of
employees John Smith, John Ander-
son and Mrs. Jack Armstrong OF
Madison, Wis. The latter was the
wife of the first mining captain and
was the first white woman to walk
from Duluth to where Tower is
now.
l would further suggest that
the procession of the day be headed
by John Mailman, Bill" Bassett,
Mrs. Armstrong, John Smith and
John Anderson. This would repre-
sent George c. Stone & Co. Next
should come Charlemagne Tower
of Philadelphia and Thomas l..
Blood of St. Paul, who were re-
spectively president and first pay
master of the Minnesota Iron COM
pany; next the boys of 81 and '82,
who packed over the old Vermilion
road. They were Rdbt. B. White
sides, Martin Pattison. Dick Ryan,
John Gonska, Lon and Alfred
Merritt, Louis Rouchleau, Joseph
Roy, Louis Murray, Alex Fraser,
Sam Owens of Eveleth, James w.
Goss, Teddy Wheeler and J. H.
Murphy of Tower, and Paddy Nc
Donnell of Duluth. These / be-
lieve include about all of the boys
of the year above mentioned.
Next should come w. A. Nc
Gonagle and George Washington
Loftkins, two of the engineers who
surveyed the Duluth & Iron Range
railroad. Next in line should be
Thomas Owens who ran the engine
which hauled the first train load of
ore in Minnesota. Put with him
as fireman, Roadmaster John Shea,
who worked on the construction
work of the railroad for John S.
Wolff & Co. If you furnish these
boys with sufficient coal they will be
sure to make the grade. Capt.
Con Flynn, who ran the Minnesota
Iron company's first tug boat; d.
H. Bacon of New York and Capt.
Ed. Ball of Alabama to represent
the Federal Steel company, which
was the successor of the Minnesota
Iron company, should come next,
and then follow up with the
officials of the Oliver Mining com
pany, present owners.
4 would suggest two floats.
The first one should be a horse
and cart, an old stump with piece
of steel driven into it to represent
an anvil, few picks and shovels,
bars of steel, hammers and a cedar
bark house about five feet high,
which would represent the mining
outfit and the sleeping camp at the
Soudan mine in 1882. The second
could be the skeleton of the first
boat on Lake Vermilion, which is
lying along the river at Tower,
the lumber for which was sawed
with cross-cut saw out of logs
suspended in the air by Bob Nc
Coy and Peter Jordan. This
would represent the first saw mill
at Lake Vermilion. The nails for
this boat were made out of bar
steel in the blacksmith shop by
Andy White, and the boat was
built by Andrew Refer. This
boat was built for the purpose OF
hauling to the mine the machinery
left at the old gold diggings in '65.
R. B. Whitesides, Martin Patti
son, Archie Chisholm, DR.. Conan
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