The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-08-15

deposits of Minnesota as developed
so far. It's ore is among the best
mined in the Superior district. The
country between the tw oranges is
wild and rugged and as the Vermil-
ion range is approached it becomes
very rugged and picturesque.
Many years ago l was exploring
on the Gogebic range. had a help
er on my shift named Sullivan who
had had two great adventures up to
that time of life. One was having
helped on the diamond drill that put
down the 10OO-foot hole on the Nor
RE mine property which determined
the existence of ore under the dikes
and the other the carrying of a pack
in the first EXPEDITION, led by Charlie
maigne Tower from Two Harbors
through the wilderness to the site of
the Vermilion range. AS we caught
glinpses of the character of the
country-even in these times when
the major portion of the timber had
been removed-we realized the hard
ships the party went through in its
long tramp through the wilderness
and cancelled the grudge we held
against Sullivan for eternally pest
ering US with tales of that trip.
Through the Forest Reserves.
''At Ely we entered the wilderness.
At least, we were given to under
stand that we were doing so bur be-
fore we got through we were COM
pletely disillusioned. We turned east
and took the cross road from Ely to
Finland, the latter place being on
the direct highway along the west
shore of Lake Superior to Port Ar
thur.
"We had gathered information on
this highway from every person we
met who had any experience in that |
section of the state. One man at
Grand Rapids told US he travelled it |
frequently. He picture region |
as infes-e ed with wild animals so that |
we expected to meet bear, deer,
wolves and all other species of sni- |
mails existant in Minnesota. We saw
nothing more ferocious than a por-
cupine and but few of them.
"The road is narrow and has very
sharp curves, but it is hard and
smooth and can be travelled with abb
solute safety at speed of twenty
TO twenty-five miles per hour if one
Keeps watch for coming cars. 1t
was Sunday and we met lot of cars
on the road. In all but one case
we passed. the cars we met easily. |
The exception was when we had to
back up a ways in order to find a |
turning out place.
''The big forest reserve is crossed |
by this road and at intervals there
are lodges where the rangers live
These rangers are connected by tele-
phone with each other and with the
outside world. We met several of
the rangers patrolling their beats.
We didn't notice any watch towers,
such as are being installed by the
Michigan conservation commission.
.'The timber of this preserve is vir-
gin. We saw much pine, such as it
is. There is no hemlock nor any
maple worthy of the name in that
section. At various points we saw
a few maple trees but they were
small and scrubby. The pine is all |
very small-like pike poles-and
desn't seem to grow as rapidly as
does the pine in this section. There
is lot Of birch, cedar, spruce and
balsam and the underbrush is very
thick.
''The soil is rocky, not the glacial
drift rock we know, but the ledge
rock, hungry and sparcely covered
with soil. There is no agricultural |
land in that part of Minnesota. If
it's all like the country we passed
over the government did wise thing |
in making forest reserve out of It |
"The elevation is great, especially |
at the peak of the divide and there
are numerous lakes that one can see
through the underbrush. Some
parts of the country had been lum-
bered of its white pine, especially
the section nearest Lake Superior.
''The descent to Superior is quite |
gradual On the Superior end con-
siderable road work has been done
and about ten miles from Finland |
we commenced to meet settlers cab
ms that increased IN number until
we came TO the settlement where |
the cross-road meets the trunk line |
between Duluth and the north-the !
place called Finland" and whose |
only claim to stopping point is a |
store building with big sign Sin
nish Cooperative Association
Northern Minnesota farmers are
almost all Firms. The same is true
of What farmers we W IN Canada
These hardy northern Europe people
seeYa tn choose the lands of this