The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-12-19
Sc PER YEAR IN ADVANCE

Lea, 400 tons. And more than that,
this dock is but one of a group Of
| -four ore docks comprising the lake
shipping terminal of the Duluth &
Iron Range Rail Road. They have
a total of 768 pockets and stor-
Iage capacity of 12,000,000 tons.
From 1884 to 1928 inclusive the
Duluth & Iron Range shipped the
lgrand total of 194,333, 948 tons.
Old Time Names of Stations.
1T may interest the reader to
know that many of the now familiar
names of stations on the Duluth &
Iron Range Rail Road were proceed
ed by names that are now all but
forgotten except by some of the
Ipioneers like w. A. McGonagle and
Thomas Owens Two Harbors was
Originally known as Agate Bay.
Allen Junction was known as Okla
wanim. Skibo- was known as Bin
lisibi, Breda was known as Wissa-
kode, Crimson was known as Mata-
wan, Drummond as Gakadina and
Waldo as Wabegan. The old names
were selected from names of tradi-
Itional interest among the Chippewa
Indians.
Days of H. II. Porter and Associates.
The Minnesota Iron Company,
after it had demonstrated the great
possibilities of the Vermilion range,
passed into the hands of New York,
Chicago and Cleveland interests,
and it was then that H. n. Porter,
Russell P. Flower, H. H Bishop,
Benjamin Brewster, C. p Coffin, P.
d. Armour and Marshall Field were
heard in this connection, all of
them names to eonjure with in the
world of business and finance The
Minnesota Iron Company then ac-
quired the Duluth & Iron Range
Rail Road from the Tower family
and others interested. It viii be
lrecalled that the group of men here
named were accustomed to visit Du-
luth and the range every summer
to hold the annual meetings of the
mining company and railroad.
Under the new ownership, Don
II. Bacon, then a well known min
ling man of the Marquette iron
range, in Michigan, was made gen
eral manager of the Minnesota Iron
company, in 1887, and in subse-t
Iquent years, and at the time the
company was acquired by the Steel
Corporation, he was president.
Many Distinguished Visitors.
Charlemagne Tower, Jr, never
visited the Duluth & Iron Range
Rail Road and the Vermilion range
but once after the properties were
turned over to the new interests.
That was In June, 1895. He was a
member. of a large and distinguished
party of business men, iron and
steel men, vesselmen, fnanciers and
mining and professional men who
came to Duluth on the Steamship
North West of the Great Northern
Railway, and who visited the YER
million and Mesabi ranges, the latter
then in its infancy. They visited
the mines of the two ranges in a
special train consisting of 26 PR
vate cars and diners, run in two
sections. This party comprised the
largest and most notable group of
men that ever visited the Minnesota
ranges at one time The party
numbered about 800, and included
Harvey 81. Brown, P. D. Armour,
Marshall Field, H. C. Frick, John ".
Gates, Robert T. Lincoln, Samuel
and William Mather, E. w. Oglebay,
Henry W. Oliver, H. H. Porter,
Colonel James Pickands, and U. S.
Senators John C. Spooner and Phil
etus Sawyer and other equally
well known and prominent people.
George R. Stuntz and the Vermilion.
Historians of the early days of
Northern Minnesota unite in giving
George r. Stuntz much credit for
making the possibilities of the Yer
million range known for iron ore.
That he was entitled to it is accept
ed by. everybody. Mr. Stuntz was
a civil engineer of note and was
keenly interested in the showing
of minerals in the territory common
| ~ described as Northeastern Mime
sofa
1t appears that N. A. Posey, son
of fur trader, and blacksmith by
trade, was the first white man to
know that iron ore existed on the
Verniiion range. He was instruct
ling the Chippewa Indians in his
trade, and was in the employ of the
government. The Indians had Oh
lserved the iron ore outcrops on the
Vermilion and they brought samples
~ III i Occy, anu uc III Turn showed
them te Mr.. Stuntz That was as
far back as 1863 or 1864.
Mr.. Stuntz later investigated some
of these ore outcrops,- and was much
Impressed, but nobody that he dis
cussed the matter with seemed
greatly interested. The impression
was widely held in those days that
all important iron ore deposits of I
the Lake Superior region were locat-
led on the Marquette range in Mich
igan. Stuntz in later years, how
ever, did interest George C. Stone
IN the showing at the present Sou
dan mine. 81. H. and r. NJ. Eames. |
biologists, also were early day in
vestigators of the Soudan outcrops, /
and they too were impressed with
the possibilities.
| Officers of Oliver Iron Mining Co.
| The mines formerly owned by the
Minnesota Iron Company, on the
Vermilion range, are now owned by
the Oliver Iron Mining Co., Of which
w. j. 0lcott is president, John H. |
Mclean IS general manager and
John 81. Hearding is assistant gem
eral manager Charles Trezona of