The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1919-08-02
OPENING UP OF THE McGOvERN
PROPERTY A COSTLY AFFAIR
MADE EXCELLENT RECORD
In the Sinking of the Shaft Under
Very Trying Conditions Due to
Surface Water

Few people In Iron county know
OF the very difficult shaft work that
has been done within the past year
upon what has been known as the
''McGovern" property OF the Wick
wire Mining Co Most OF our people
know OF what has been done and
what is now being done at the Rogers
property OF the Rogers-Brown inter-
ests where fortune has already been
spent in opening up body OF ore
under very trying conditions.
The wickwire people have a propo-
sition fully as difficult II not more diff
ficult than was that at the Rogers,
and are proceeding along original
lines for its solution.
Location OF the Property.
The property which has been
known as the "McGoyern". but which
will. in the future, 20 under the name
OF the "Cardif mine" comprises the
Sc OF Ne and Ne OF Sc of Section %,
T 43n OF R 35 W. II Is owned In fee by
Peter McGovern OF Florence, Isaac
w. Byers and Nelson r. Fisher OF Iron
River each owning "a one-third inter
est. Within the past month when Mr.
McGovern sold a part of his interest
TO John T.. McGillis OF Iron River.
The property adJoins the Homer
mine on the west and is another lens
In the same general formation kno-n
as the north formation" of the Iron
River Stambaugh district.
The Homer mine is a producing
property having been upon the ship
ping list for several years. II is OPP
Grated by the Buffalo Mining Co., g
subsidiary OF the wickwire Steel Co.,
Buffalo iron organization OF long
standing and OF prominence in the
iron world
But little difficulty was met with
in the opening of the Homer mine and,
while It was expected that the Nc
Govern would present a somewhat
harder proposition than did the HON.
er such great obstacles as did APP
pear were not anticipated.
Electricity Saved Day.
The Homer is electrically equipped,
the only steam in use being for heat
ing purposes at the changing house.
Captain Duff. who supervised the
opening of the property from the
grass roots, says that an average OF
y pounds OF steam is all that is car
ried. which is much different from
the days gone by when thousands o.
tons OF coal were consumed each
year at each mine.
When time came to open up the Nc
Govern II was decided to use as much
electric power as possible and. TO use
Mr.. Duff's words, 1T was the cleo
tricity that saved the day" meaning
that had he been compelled to depend
upon steam he couldn't have placed
enough pumps In the shaft TO take
care of the water.
The frst 2s feet OF the sink was
comparatively dry and no difficulty
was encountered In getting the shaft
down that far. The type OF shaft was
the ordinary drop shaft. OF solid tim
ber. led down from the top by the re-
moval OF the sand beneath the shoes
and IN the opening. timber being
added al the top as fast as the hulk
moved downward.
The volume of water ;ha, was met
with surprised the management. and
IL soon became apparent 10 them that
only by the concentrating OF great
pumping capacity could the shaft b.
put down 10 the ledge.
i.so0 Gallons Per Minute.
Ed Bowers Is general manager Of
the wickwirc interests In the county
and he ia gentleman who takes a
large view OF affairs in general. lie
sized up the situation as one requir.