The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-10-03
RECOVERING COPPER
BOTTOM LAKE HURON
RAISING CARGO RECALLS TRAG'
EDY OF OVER SO YEARS
AGO.

passenger and cargo carrier and had
only been in commission few weeks.
Local interest Is given to the story by
the fact that Mrs. Anna Co 'nran,
Unknown pioneer resident OF TINS
city, was living in Michigan ON the
Lake Huron coast at the time OF the
disaster and vividly recalls all the cir
cllmstances. She saw the PeWablc only
few days before she went down, ana
1t Is through her that the Miner Is
able to publish this graphic accou =:
of the disaster and the recovery of the
long lost treasure:
Copper to Fight the Kaiser.
To fight the kaiser they're treasure
hunting now for copper mined to fight
tho soath and buried since then in
the crumblng hold of the old Pewaplc
IN stormy Thunder Bay.
With some of the trappings Of the
hunt for pirate gold, but al % with
twentieth century machinery, they are
taking out of Davy Jones' locker Il
treasure because the war has t.ade
copper worth 35 to 81 cents p .und
Ii stead of to II.
A great dredging scow, with metal
lar DIS, Is furnished with eyes by diving
suits just invented in which men go
down zoe feet
These modern adventures face
cheerfully an operating expense of
$500 a day because one bite of the clam
brought up out of Lake Huron five
ton chunk of copper worth over $4,000
In two months the Leavitt Wreck
irg company has taken out of nest
o: dead mems bones $4,000 worth OF
copper and other salvage, and expects
to double that
This modern wrecking expedition ir
the graveyard of the Great Lakes
within sight of beach where hun
dreds of ships have been lost, brings
the strange flavor of the ear-ringeC
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
Ptwabic teaches, the great salvager
just as it is turning this worthless
copper into treasure.
The Pewabc, her first paint still
shining white after a short service
sank on the evening of August 8, 1865
in lake of glass.
But to Captain Persons, boyishly &C
tive after two-score years as a govern
ment life saver, the last man to SCI
her before she ran into tragedy, ever,
detail remained distinct as he told m,
the great epic of Thunder Bay.
She took 1876 people to the bottom
Il, four minutes against flaming sun
set
Such a chance as this, that mat
left the brilliantly lighted salon am
the dancers for the twilight shadow
on deck just a minute too soon o
toe late, tells the sinking of the PeWa
bic, rammed by her sister ship Meteor
as Captain Persons recounted 1t t.
me.
"The mate stopped in the salon t
watch the dancers Everything wa
music and lights.
1.-THE wheelsman was taking tn
Pewabic to port past the Meteor-th
wrong way, but safe if the boat
signal
shes closer than you think, sir
advised the wheelsman. The mate
eyes were not adjusted to the chang
In light.
1.-THE boats seesawed into each other
The Meteor rammed the Pewabic. BE
fore she backed out score jumpe'
to the Meteor's deck.
zone father tossed his son acros
ard ran back to die with his wife. TIL
nameless boy was adopted by
Meteor officer, Some, perhaps so il
all, were picked up, But the sinking
of the Pewabic remains the mos
tragic and the worst of Thunder Bay
wrecks"
| stood on the rail of the wreckin
barge as tense as the treasure hunter
themselves. | had seen dive
lowered to $50 feet and then raised
three times, as fast as steam wincl
could drop and hoist him. A 800
pound suit, of manganese bronze, en-
abled him to make in a minute al
ascent which in a rubber suit woul
have taken an hour, to prevent "th
bends" because of change in pressure
The big steel clam was coming ur
"I'll bet it's copper" said workman
you're on for dime" replied tn
man next.
The clam swung free. 1t had a pre-
carious grip on an immense chunk o
practically virgin copper found t
weigh five tons The salvagers hell
their breath while the young FORUM
OF $500 was being hoisted aboard.
Ingot copper slab copper, hides
these are not all. Dead mems bones
the shoes men died in, trunks of WON
ems finery, baby trinkets, bright tin
types--such as the sadder mementoe'
of the peWabic