The Ely miner., 1923-03-02
THOMAS BARDON.

we puDISn the following from
Skilling's Mining Review relating
to Thomas Bardon, a man well
known in this section and where
he was prominently identified in
the early history of mining. The
Review says:
''The late Thomas Bardon was
about feet 2 inches in height, a
man of commanding presence. 1t
is said of him by Henry Turrish, a
Duluth lumberman, that Thomas
Bardon in his prime was the finest
looking man that he has ever seen.
Thomas Bardon in his teens worked
on the survey of the Northern
Pacific railroad, and a few years
later, about 1872, removed from
Superior to Ashland, where ne was
an early day teacher in the public
schools. This was the stepping
stone to land and insurance bust
ness, and this again was the step
ping stone to increasingly bigger
things. Later. came the develop
ment of mineral resources of the
Gogebic and Vermilion ranges, the
establishment of the Ashland Ma
tional Bank, and then the de-
velopment of copper mines in Ari-
zona. Mr.. Bardon dealt heavily all
his life in natural resources, and
these included large timber holdings.
in the Lake Superior region and on
the Pacific coast. He had been a
multlmillionaire for many years be-
fore his death, and the romance of
mining entered largely into his busy
career.
The late Thomas Bardon was a
man of singularly buoyant DISPOSE
ton. He was one of those men
whose hearts continue young de-
spite the encroachment of years,
he was a man of extraordinary
business acumen, and possessed a
fine sense of humor.
lit is recalled that the late Mr..
Bardon was prominent in the early
development of both the Gogebic
iron range in Michigan and the Yer
million iron range in Minnesota. He
was president of the Northern Chief
Iron Co., the oldest, and one of the
largest, fee owning iron companies
of the Gogebic.
MIR. Bardon was the moving spirit
of the old Pioneer Mining Co.,
which developed the famous Pioneer
iron mine on the Vermilion range,
one of the greatest iron mines on
Lake Superior. Associated wit h
him in this venture were u. S. Sen
ator John c. Spooner, T. j. Hum
bird, Jimmy James, DIR. Ellis, and
James Gregory. All of these men
are now dead except Mr.. Gregory,
who is now in Tacoma and is a
prominent lumberman. The develop-
ment of the Pioneer mine was one
OF the several very large projects in
which Mr.. Bardon was conspicuous.
The Chandler mine had been
discovered, and was operating and
under further development, at the
time that the Pioneer Mining Co.
began n developing the present
Pioneer mine ground in the early
eighties. The latter company met
encouragement for a long time, but
work was persisted in and Mr.. Bar
don cheered up his associates one
a1ter the other as fast as they be-
came discouraged. Came a day
when they all seemed to become
discouraged at about the same time.
They had invested what seemed a
great deal of money. But Mr.. Bar
don was convinced that success Law
Just ahead. His confidence was
successful once again in reassuring
his associates, but some of them had
seriously talked of taking some legal
steps to prevent Mr.. Bardon ex-
pending further company money on
the mine development. Then came
the great day that drift from the
shaft entered the wonderful body of
iron ore which has since done so
much to make the Vermilion range
famous, and of which the Chandler
mine was the beginning. Had Mr..
Bardon been man who was easily
afflicted with cold feet in a bust
ness sense the development of the
Pioneer ore body would have been
left to other people. The Pioneer
iron mine is today one of the great
est single iron mine assets of the
Steel Corporation.