The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-07-04
THE BEGINNING OF ELY

In the cornerstone of Ely's new City
Hall building. the laying of which was
noted in last weeks Miner, a short
history of Ely's beginning was placed.
The few pages of the city's past were
prepared by Fred B. James and Peter
Schaefer AS the original was placed
in the stone and may not come to
light in the lives of those now living
in Ely, we print the same herewith
knowing that it will prove of interest.
The history was entitled 1.-The Begin
ming of Ely" and was accompanied by
copies of the original petition of in
corporation with the names of the So
signers and copies of the minutes of
the first meeting of the newly named
Village Council. One of these meet
ingS was held at Tower in the Office of
w. G. Bonham, Attorney for the newly
incorporated village who after the or
ganization was succeeded by A. j.
Thomas. Minutes of the last meeting
of the year 1929 were also included
showing the variance in expenditures
per capita since the organization of
both the village in 1888 and the in
corporation of the city in 1901, up to
the end of 1929
In brief, the history as placed in
the cornerstone is as follows:
The Beginning of Ely.
The discovery of ore here and the
coming of the railroad necessitated a
town and in 1888, early in the year
steps were taken to organize the Viii
lage of Ely. The organization was
completed and the first meeting of the
new Village Council was held on JUNE
%, 1888. The minutes of that meeting
will be found attached and are copied
verbatim, spelling and all. The petit
ton for the organization signed by
SO citizens of the new village to be
created is also attached Among these
signers will be found the names of
some of our people who are yet here
in the business and professional world.
The petition for organization was
favorably acted upon by the Board of
County Commissioners then composed
of Alfred Merritt, H. P. Weiland, M
Heisler, F. r. Hill and John Mckinley
who ordered an election on the IN
corporation of the village. This
election was held at the old postofice
building situated in the rear of Fen
10 where FenSke'S Undertaking build
ing is now located and the proposition
was carried.
Previous to this the townsite of Ely
had been established in 1887 by Mr..
Hinton of Duluth who surveyed the
proposed town with a crew furnished
by Capt. H. r. Harvey in charge of the
explorations of the Pioneer and Zenith
properties. The crew furnished by Mr..
Harvey was composed of ChaS Bow
man, Mike Hines, James Banville and
F. B. James. At the first election of
officers for the new village of Ely the
following were named: John Pengilly,
Jas. Thompson, August FenSke with o.
G. Korb as Recorder. (See attached
Minutes)
Capt. H. r. Harvey is credited by the
u. S. Geological Survey Monograph
$50 P. Al as follows: "Prospectors were
busy in the years prior to the opening
of the railroad in prospecting the dis
trict to the East of Tower, and in 1883
outcrops of ore were found by H. R.
Harvey in Sec. 81. T. SO N. R. IL w.
near the present town of Ely"
The first building erected in the new
village was by Capt. Harvey who was
at that time chairman of the Town of
Morse. The building was built on Lot
IL, Block 10 where A. j. Fenske's
undertaking parlors are now located.
Joe Banville was in charge of the
erection of the building. The same
was to be used as a postoffice. At that
time the postoffice was named Florence
and the first postmaster was Fred
Fifield, nephew of Ex-Governor Fifield
of Wisconsin. This was in the year
1887.
The postoffice name of Florence was
shortly thereafter changed to Ely in
honor of Samuel P. Ely of Michigan,
who was a personal friend of Capt.
Harvey. In the fall of 1887, Fred FL
field resigned as postmaster and Ed
ward Atwood of Tower was appointed.
Atwood. appointed F. B. James as
deputy. Shortly after the postoffice
was opened, a general store was opened
in the same building by James r. Cor
mack of Chicago. Henry Gujer of
Tower was installed in the store as
manager.
This was the beginning of the now
prosperous City of Ely Following the
postoffce building in 1887, buildings
were erected by Dan Trump, Sam "
Brown, Pioneer Hotel by r. B. White
side and Robert Decker and others
Later Atwood & James built a build
ing and during the winter of 1887 and
1888 Ed. Cram built the Exchange
Hotel.
The Chandler mine had sunk shafts
No. and and the railroad spur from
Tower to Ely was in the course of con-
struction. Early in the summer of 1885
the Duluth & Iron Range was COM
pleted into Ely and the first ore was
shipped that year. The first ore
shipped from Ely was from the oper
pit of the Chandler. This pit was
located on the west end of the Chand-
Ter property and only few rods north
of the site of the present depot
The Chandler while in the process
of development, also put in a sawmil
in which was sawed the lumber ano
timber used in the development of the
mine and also lumber was sawed fol
many of the buildings constructed, and
in the succeeding years, by private
parties. Alex Mcdonald was in charge
of the sawmill Mcdonald was onl,
here a short time and was succeeded
| by Cyrille Fortier, now resident o
this city.
John Pengilly was in charge of thu
| explorations at the Chandler and ais,