The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-08-26
Steel CLAIMS Bring Up $500
at Bite From Davy
Jones' Locker.
CIVIL WAR COPPER
TO HELPU. S. NOW
Metal Mined to Unshackle
Slaves Will Have Part in
Freeing the World.

Alpcna. Mich.-To fight the kaiser
they're treasure hunting now for cop
per mined to fight the south and
buried since then in the crumbling
hold of the old Pcwabc in stormy
Thunder Bay.
With some of the trapplngs OF tho
hunt for pirate gold, but also with
goth century machinery, they are TAX
Ing out OF Davy Jones' locked n treas
Ire which becomes a treasure because
the war has made copper worth IS to
81 cents pound. instead Of to Il.
Men Go Down 200 Feet.
A great dredging scow. with metal
hands, is Furnished with eyes by div
Ing suits Just Invented in which men
90 down zoo feet.
THESE modern Adventures face
cheerfully nm operating expense Of 5000
4 day because one bite Of the clam
brought up out OF Lake Huron a five
ton chunk OF copper worth over $4,000.
In two months the I.eavitt Wrecking
company mas taken ont of n nest OF
dead mems bones $4,000 worth of
copper, and other salvage. and expects
to double that.
This modern wrecking expedition in
the graveyard Of the Great Lakes"
within sight Of a beach where hun.
dreds Of ships have been lost, brings
the strange flavor of the ear-ringed
romantic days Of buried treasure into
the matter of-fact present Of steam
shOvels.
The story stretches from war to
war; War, the great destroyer is also,
the Pewabic teaches. the great SAL
wager, just as it is turning this worth
less copper into treasure
Sank on Evening Of Aug. 9, 1865.
The Pewabic. her first paint still
shining white after short service.
sank on the evening Of August Q, 1865
lin a lake of glass;
i But to Captain Persons, boyishly ac-
tive after two-score years as a gov
eminent life-saver. the last man to
sae* her .hefase ssha Ran into tragedy,
every detail rcmained distinct as he
told the great epic of Thunder bay.
For with hi mthat evening had been
etched on the fresh mind of a Young
ster out after the cows in his ia
Tiers lighthouse pasture on Thunder
Bay island.
Meeting Place of Storms.
Whenever Americas inland seas
rock anywhere, there is ea-madness
IN Thunder bay. 1t is the meeting
Place of the storms.
The Pewabic. in her short life as the
classiest packet freighter and pas-
senger boat Of her day. had conquered
the gray ghosts of Octobers sleeted
winds from Manitoulin and plowed,
blind through the SHOWS from the
stretches of Canada that ride over
Huron from Goderich. Fogs blanketing
out from the 500. gales from Owen
sonnd-all the lakes threats she had
lcfied.
But she took 1876 people to the bot
tom In four minutes against flaming
sunset
Such chance as this, that n mate
left the brilliantly-lighted salon and
tho dancers for the twilight shadows
on deck just n minute too soon or too
late. tells Of the sinking of the pewa.
bic. rnmmed by her sister ship Me-
teor. as Captain Persons recountcd It.
The mate stopped in the salon to
watch the dancers. Everything was
music and lights.
The wheelsman was taking the Pc
wnbic to port past the Meteor-thc
wrong way. but safe If the boats sig
nal.
Port your wheel" ordered the
mate. to pass the Meteor starboard.
"'She's closer than you think, sir.
advised the wheelsman. The mates
eyes were not adjusted to the change
in light.
THE boats seesawetl into each other.
The Meteor rammcd the Pewabic. Re
fore she backed out n score jumped to
the Meteor's deck
"One father tossed his son across
and ran back to die with his wife. Tho
namclcss boy was adopted by a Meteor
officer. Some. perhaps so In all were
picked up. but the sinking of the
Pewabic remains the tragic and the
worst of Thunder bays wrecks"
One stands on the rail of the wreck
ing barge as tense as the treasure
hunters themselves. He has seen a
diver lowered to $50 feet and raised.
three times, as fast as a steam winch
could drop and hoist him. A 300
pound suit. of manganese bronze. en-
abled him to make in a minute an as
cent which in n rubber suit would have
taken an hour to prevent "the bends
because of change In pressure.
Watchers Bet on Result.
The big steel clam was coming ur
''lll bet it's "copper"" said workman
You're on for a dime replied tn.
man next.
The clam swung free. 1t had pre-.
carious grip on an imense chunk o
practically virgin "copper" found t.