The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-01-17
LAKE SUPERIOR COPPER
HOW It WAS DISCOVERED
CALUMET 4 HEcLA HAS PAID
s15o,ooo,ooo DIVIDENDS AND
$3oo,ooo,ooo IN WAGES.
tBy Homer Guck in Mining and scien-

in the United States is as synony-
nous with the operation of the CAL
umet & Hecla as 1t is with the ex-
pansion Of electricity. How the great
Calumet conglomerate lode was dis
covered is. still a matter of dispute
People In Michigan continue to be-
lieve that SO years ago old man Roy
ale's boarding house pig stuck his
snoot into the Indian pit in the back
yard of his road house and unearthed
a cache of copper. That was the story
as told by E. j. Hubert, the discov-
erer
The fact remains that the discovery
of the great conglomerate was due to
mere chance Hubert was surveying
state road from Copper Harbor, the
most northern point in the state OF
Michigan, to the south west limit of
what Is now Houghton county. Roy
ale's boarding house was on the site
of the Miscowaubik club. 1t was a
halt for overland passengers from
Houghton to Eagle river, then the
two larger towns. Centuries before,
the Indians having dug their mass
copper from Isle Royale, started south
for the winter Desiring to avoid Ke-
weenaw point, they went overland
through the peninsula and were caught
by an early winter. They dug pit
and buried their copper. Their pit
happened to be right on the hanging
wall of the conglomerate lode of the
Calumet & Hecla and the present To-
cation of No, shaft, Calumet mine,
still in operation. The surmise is
that George Agassiz, son of the late
Alexander Agassiz, for many years the
president and directing head of the
property. The Indians never returned
for their copper.
In the 18th century French explor-
ers found copper on the Ontonagon
river. This district was virgin for
est 70 years ago when the Chippeway
Indians coded it to the United States
Twenty years before the civil war
there was a copper BOOM which sub
sided and left a few small mines in
the forests then covering this part OF
Michigan. The search then was for
mass and boulder copper. 1t was IN
1858 that Hubert made his discovery
At first he thought he had an old
Indian mine In examining the sur
face he found the conglomerate out
crop just south of the cache at what
Is now No l Hecla shaft, This big
block of conglomerate was wonderful
ly rich. Hubert was unable to buy
the tract at Hecla, but, keeping his
discovery quiet, secured the Calumet
property. He sank his first shaft at
what Is now No. 4 Calumet, and in
the middle of September, 1864, opened
the congomerate. Later he associated
himself with Quincy A. Shaw of Bos-
ton. That gentleman furnished the
funds by which the property was Sc
cured from the st. Mary's Mineral
Land company
AT the time of the civil war the
production of copper in the world was
insignificant, the Rio Tinto mines of
Spain producing the largest part of it. !
The metal sold as high as 81 cents
per pound. At that time Michigan
was just coming into prominence. the
output being confined to so-called |
float copper and masses found near
the surface and handled directly in a
The Quincy mine was then
our largest producer 1t got out two
million pounds in one year. The CAL
lmet & Hecla produces that much in
-hree days now. BY the way, the
quincy has paid dividends to its
shareholders continuously from that
line to this, missing just one year
Turing the western federation strike
n 1913.
With the discovery of the Calumet
the whole system of get
ing out copper changed. In this dis
rict the conglomerate carries the
Upper in its pure state in particles
rom as small as pin point to the
ize of fist The Calumet conglom-
rate lode has paid at least $3.50. O00,-
90 in dividends to the shareholders
the Calumet 4 Hecla corporation.
nd over s300,0O0,OO in wages to thou
ands of employees and indirectly for
and operation. In the
arly days the Calumet & Hecla ore
as very rich. Each year il is be-
,ming leaner. Some idea of the in =
lstrial problems this corporation has
et and overcome may be gained from
brief explanation of the operation. :,
irst you sink your shaft, equip your =
ant, build your stamp mill and
nelters. All these things cost mill
ms. But forget them They are up
NJ operating Now to get copper
i of the ground the miners go down
mile from the surface then as much
half a mile from where they left the SO
Up to the place where they operate pr
drill for six hours, punching holes to
% the copper bearing rock. The sa
les are filed with powder and the TT
blasted down. This ore, locally to
led rock is put into cars. push alb
to the shaft. and dumped into the fee
sting car or skip. to be hauled ~
e to surface. At the top of the rel
ft the skip is dumped again and wi