Marquette Co. MIGenWeb

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MINES AND MINERS.

Source: History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: containing a full account of its early settlement, its growth, development, and resources, an extended description of its iron and copper mines: also, accurate sketches of its counties, cities, towns, and villages ... biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers. Publication Info: Chicago : Western Historical Co., 1883. Pages 391-401.

Having treated the general history of the county, we shall now consider its immense mining industries. The data and statistics upon which the various sketches are based were collected by Dr. Kayner from the State Reports by Commissioner Wright; the written descriptions, by Mr. Swineford; accounts by the Mining Captains and from other sources. The entire copy was compared with the latest reports, revised and edited; so that it must be considered as precise in statement as it is complete in detail. The history of each mine is arranged in the order of its name letter.

The Argyle Mine (Humboldt Range) was formerly the Edwards Mine. It is located contiguous to and immediately north and west of the Humboldt, and was first opened by the Pittsburgh & Lake Angeline Company in 1865. This company worked the mine successfully, under the local management of Alfred Kidder, until 1873, when it surrendered its lease and sold the mine machinery to J. W. Edwards, who was the owner of the land. Subsequently, the mine was sold to W. W. Wheaton and others, by whom it was wrought until 1877, when it was again abandoned.

In the spring of 1881, it was purchased by some Detroit capitalists, who organized the Argyle Iron Company, with the following officers: Don M. Dickinson, President; Sigmund Rothchild, Vice President; Alexander H. Dey, Treasurer; David R. Shaw, Secretary; and W. W. Wheaton, General Manager.

The mine not having been wrought for a year previous to its purchase by the Argyle Company, the new owners found the pits full of water, the pumping out of which occupied the greater part of last summer, actual mine work not being commenced until late in August of last year. The mine being unwatered, an examination showed it to have been subjected throughout to the "gouging" process, and in the worst possible condition for the resumption of mining operations. The skip-roads were in bad shape, and instead of there being any stopes, the bottom levels had actually been gouged out several feet below the level of the tramways, and the Superintendent found many unexpected obstacles in the way of an accomplishment of profitable results in the immediate future. From that time to the present, operations have been mainly confined to sinking, drifting and opening up stopes for future work, in the course of which, however, more than enough ore has been raised to meet the expense, which has been fully as great as that ordinarily attendant upon the opening of a new mine. Capt. Bale has made his work tell to good advantage, however, and an examination of the mine shows it to be now in a condition to assure a fairly profitable season's work.

The product of the Argyle was for 1866 2,843 tons; for 1881, notwithstanding the bad condition of the mine and the fact that the most of last summer was consumed in unwatering the shafts and pits, 4,584 tons of ore were mined and shipped before the close of navigation. The total yield up to that time had been 228,091 tons.

No. 2 Shaft is down to the fifth level, and No. 3 is working on the sixth level, and the product of the year may be expected to be a large one.

The Allen Mine belongs to the Negaunee Range. This old mine, lying east from the Green Bay, was being explored in 1881 by Thomas Tracy with some others. They selected a place where formerly some work had been done, and sunk a shaft in a ledge of mixed ore.

The Bay State Mine, in the Negaunee Range, is the name under which is known what was formerly called the Green Bay and latterly the Indiana Mine. The property is the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 8, and is controlled by Allen & Blake, of Negaunee.

Considerable milling has been done on this location, but not much good ore obtained. The ore that was shipped in 1872, 1873, etc., was of a very low grade, a jasper hematite that could not now be sold at any price.

The new company, the Bay State, was organized, some 10,000 shares of the stock were sold, and work was begun May 1, last, and they are now employing eighteen men engaged in sinking a shaft near the east line, in some of the earlier workings. This pit is down about twenty feet in mixed ore; they have a small engine hoisting. To the northwest, on the other side of the high knob that intervenes, they are making a long cut to reach a body of ore into which a shaft has been sunk a distance of sixteen feet. This deposit they have crossed, showing a width of thirty feet, and have tested its length for about one hundred feet.

This land was leased in 1879 by William J. Allen, and himself and Mr. Blake have since worked it, and called it first the Indiana; but learning there was already a company having that name, changed it recently to the one above given. Mr. Allen directs the work; he is an old worker in his vicinity, and has done a good deal of unavailing exploring about Negaunee, but is now confident of success. In 1872-73, he operated what was called the Allen Mine.

The Barnum Mine, in the Ishpeming Group, together with the Salisbury, Foster and Section 12 Mines, is owned by the Iron Cliffs Company, and adjoins the Lake Superior, the line running east and west between them through a portion of their workings. The old mine is situated on the southeast part of the north half of Section 9, Town 47, Range 27; the new is located on the north half of the northwest quarter of Section 10. The first test pits were sunk in 1867 by A. W. Maitland, and work was commenced in 1868. when further explorations were made by Capt. James R. Gray, who was in charge of the work about two years. He was relieved by Capt. P. Tracy, who in 1872 was superseded by Capt. W. H. Murray. In 1873, Capt. William Sedgwick was placed in charge, and has remained to the present time.

At one time, the mine fell off in product, and showed signs of giving out, when a change of base was decided upon, and the diamond drill set to work, when at a depth of 585 feet a body of ore fifty feet in thickness was discovered. This deposit has been traced under the drift and rock a distance of 3,800 feet. The "A" Shaft was commenced in December, 1879. and was completed in January, 1882. It is 10x14 feet inside the timbers, divided into two compartments, lined with sawed pine timber twelve inches square. In April following its completion, ore was commenced to be taken out, and about twelve thousand tons were shipped in four months.

In sinking "B" Shaft, at the depth of forty-one feet, a vein of quicksand was encountered, which came in so rapidly that further progress was precluded. The shaft was started twelve feet square. An iron caisson ten feet in diameter was sunk inside the shaft, and was got down seventy-two feet, but the men could not get within ten feet of the bottom, as the sand came in as fast as it could be removed. The company are determined to "pump it out," and get down at that point, and if their success proves commensurate with their energy and determination, the quicksand will be barred out, and the shaft will go in. A pump capable of pumping out 1,500 gallons a minute has been decided on, and the shaft must go down.

The "A" Shaft struck the ore at a depth of 424 feet from the collar; its total depth is 485 feet, including the sump, which is fifteen feet wide, thirty feet long and fifteen feet deep. The shaft passes through forty-six feet of ore, the vein of deposit dipping forty-five degrees to the south. This would give thirty-two feet of ore at right angles to the dip. To open up this deposit, two main drifts or galleries twelve feet wide and sixteen feet high are being driven east and west from the shaft, and will be continued indefinitely, or as long as ore is found. Fifty feet from the collar, on each side, cross-drifts will be driven north and south, leaving a block of solid ground 100 feet square around the shaft. Other cross-drifts from the main gallery will be made, so as to prepare as many large stopes as may be deemed advisable, leaving, of course, as many pillars of solid ore as may be necessary to support the roof. In this way a large extent of ground can be kept open ahead of the miners, and there need be no limit to production within the capacity of the single cage on which the ore is to be raised to the surface. The shaft is supplied with a cage lift.

"B" Shaft, which was referred to last year as being something new and novel, has been temporarily abandoned. An effort was made to sink an iron caisson ten and one-half feet in diameter through the quicksand to the ledge, and well nigh succeeded. When, however, it had been forced down to within seven feet of the ledge, the immense pressure crushed the bottom sections into an oval shape and out of line, and it had to be abandoned. It is now the purpose to put in a timber shaft around the iron caisson, which will then be taken out. Work on this timber shaft will be commenced very shortly, and here Capt. Sedgwick proposes to prove that a Worthington pump, at least, can be made to work under forty feet of water, and he intends to unwater the shaft with the one which is now at the bottom. The total product of the mine from 1868 to 1881 was 487,906 tons.

This mine gives employment to about one hundred and fifty men, and can be safely counted on for a product of from forty-five to fifty thousand tons this year under the able management of Capt. Sedgwick.

The Beaufort, in the north range, so called, comprises the north half of the northwest quarter of the same Section 22, Town 48, Range 31. Here about the same amount of exploration has been made, with about the same results as the Webster Mine.

The Boston belongs to the north range. This range of mines lies north of the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad and the mines above mentioned, and in some respects the most important is the Boston, situated about two miles north of the village of Clarksburg, a station on the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad. The Boston Mine Company was organized in the latter part of the year 1879 by some Marquette gentlemen, who had purchased of the railroad company the eighty-acre tract on which the ore had been discovered, and where the mine was immediately opened and has since been worked. The land comprises the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 32, Town 48 north, Range 28.

The mine proper has a length of about four hundred feet and a depth of 140 feet. It is really an open pit, but floors have been made by placing cross stulls from foot to hanging and lagging them over, leaving openings for the hoisting bucket. The strike of the vein is north 75° west and the dip is, with almost perfect regularity, 80° to the south. The hanging wall is a firm gray quartzite, and the foot a banded jasper. The rocks here are found to be identical with those of the Champion and at other leading hard ore mines of the Marquette iron district. The mine is situated upon an elevation of land close to the west line of the property, and the mine is opened through into the Sterling, which joins it on the west.

This high ground is of limited extent, the remainder of the company's land being a level plain, terminating in a small lake, Lake Boston, in the southeast corner.

The owners have undertaken to determine the extent of their ore deposit in some degree during the past year, and the result has proven very satisfactory to their interests. These explorations have been made with a diamond drill; four borings have been made across the formation, and cutting through the ore vein several hundred feet below the surface. They have thus proved the vein for a distance east and west of 1,140 feet.

No. 1, the west hole, is 300 feet east of the line, and cut the vein at 225 feet below the surface, passing through a width of No. 1 ore ten and one-half feet, measuring at right angles with the walls, and subsequently perforating a hematite belt twelve feet in thickness of good ore. An analysis of the ore of the former gave metallic iron, 67.12; silica, 1.62; phosphorus, .006. Analysis of the hematite gave, iron 59; phosphorus, a trace only.

Three hundred feet to the east No. 2 drill hole was bored, passing directly beneath what is called the west shaft. This shaft was sunk soon after the organization of the company, and has until recently been used to furnish the water for the boilers and for the use of the location. In No. 2 was found at a depth of 189 feet thirteen and one half feet of specular ore, and the drill subsequently penetrated after passing through a belt of jasper, twenty-seven feet of hematite ore.

No. 3 hole is 500 feet east of No. 2, and at a depth of 192 feet vertical a thickness of thirteen and one-quarter feet of hard ore was found.

From the west line of No. 3 hole is 1,140 feet, and it is thus reasonably certain that the company has a continuous run of ore the entire distance. The value of the Boston rests upon the fact of the great regularity and steepness of the vein, and the almost phenomenal richness and purity of the ore. An average of five analyses made by different chemists at different times, and from average samples collected by different persons gives, metallic iron, 67.79; phosphorus, .018; silica, 1.27.

Each of the analyses gave above 67 per cent in metallic iron, and all but one as low as the average above given in phosphorus. Other analyses since made of the drill cores gave, phosphorus, .006, and equally high in metallic iron. These analyses show, and the working of the ore has practically proven, that the ore is valuable for Bessemer steel pig iron. It is sure to be in demand however dull the times may be. As some one remarked, it is a good "panicky" ore, finding a market even in time of panic. Added to this, the company owns the fee simple of the land, and thus has no royalty to pay, and otherwise is not restricted. A branch from the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad connects the mine with the main line. The shipment from the mine in 1881 was 14,824 gross tons, and will probably be increased to 20,000 tons for 1882. The total to the close of the year is 21,302 tons. The mine is provided with hoisting and pumping engine, and four four-feet winding drums; also with a suitable number of dwelling houses and other buildings.

Mr. Fred A. Wright, the agent of the Boston, is a newcomer in the iron region, but is a very competent, genial gentleman, and is devoting his energy and excellent business qualities to bringing the affairs of the company and the mine into the shape they are entitled to assume. Two changes have been made in the local management within the year, resulting in leaving Capt. P. T. Tracy as Captain of the mine. Sixty to eighty men are employed. The Jasper Shaft, described in the statistical report for 1880 as 387 feet east of the boundary line, was sunk eighty feet and then discontinued, has recently been sunk to 140 feet, intersecting an eight-foot vein of hard ore, five and one-half feet of which is first-class specular slate ore. This now find is widening, and is no doubt a continuation of the same lens upon which they are now mining in the main workings, seventy-five feet to the west.

The method of mining now pursued is to sink No. 2 Shaft and the jasper continuously, and to stope each way from these shafts. No. 2 is 131 feet east from the west line. They will thus always have scopes to work. The sinking and stoping will go on simultaneously. Among the notable improvements are an ore pocket over the railroad track, and an elevated water tank, ingeniously contrived to wash the ore.

The Baraga, which showed considerable promise in 1881 has been temporarily, if not permanently, abandoned by the present holders of the option, though it has not by any means had a fair test in the way of exploration. Some few pits and a shaft were sunk on the east side of the track, but that part of it lying nearest the newer developments of the Manganese and New York Hematite has never been examined. It is a general belief among mining man that a very little money judiciously expended is all that is necessary to develop something of value on the Baraga tract.

The Orion is idle, as is also the Tracy. These are good properties, and arrangements have been concluded by which work will be resumed and actively prosecuted at the Tracy. These mines belong to the Negaunee Range.

The Bessemer Mine, of the Teal Lake Range, comprises the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 35, adjoining the Cambria on the west, which latter mine in following out a find on their own property mined it up to the line of the Bessemer, disclosing a large deposit passing on to that property, which was partially uncovered in 1881.

Work was commenced in the fall of 1875 by W. C. McComber, who subsequently, in company with Alexander Bengley and Delon Patterson, organized the Bessemer Iron Company, which filed articles of association February 29, 1873. Two or three years later, from non-payment of royalty, this company forfeited its lease, when the leasehold passed into the hands of J. H. King, of Painsville, Ohio, and C. M. Wheeler, of Marquette, who are the present owners.

At the east pit, on the Cambria line, the large deposit partially uncovered last year is being further stripped, and every preparation is being made to open it upon an extensive scale. This deposit is at least eighty feet wide, and has been traced in test pits nearly if not quite two hundred feet toward No. 1. Looking from the Cambria pit No. 5, there is a stope of the width named above at least thirty feet high, and we can see no reason why this one pit should not afford a product this year equal to the whole output of the mine in 1881. The ore is principally a fine blue hematite, more nearly resembling the best Bessemer ores of the Menominee range than any other yet found in this district. Indeed, there are few comparatively new mines in this region that present a more promising outlook than the Bessemer.

The Chicago Mine, so called, is situated on the southeast corner of Section 7, in the Negaunee Range. The lease held by Mr. J. F. Stevens and W. C. Calhoun, the proprietors of the mine, covers the south half of the southeast quarter of that section. The work now in progress is being prosecuted in the bottom of an open cut at a depth below the surface of about eighty feet. This pit has a vein of soft brown ore of the color and apparent texture of rotten stone, greatly mixed with jasper, so that the ore has to be picked out piece by piece. In this manner several thousand tons have been selected of ore of a medium quality. In the bottom of the pit at the southeast corner has appeared a vein of a much softer ore and of better quality, which is looking remarkably well. A shaft is down in the old bottom fifty-five feet, from the bottom of which the miners are raising another on the underlay of the skip-road. When the last is completed, the ore will be stoped out in all directions from the one first referred to, which is apparently near the center of the deposit. The ore body, so far as is at present positively known, is about one hundred feet long and sixty-five feet wide, but it is more than probable that it will be found extending eastward to a connection with the newly discovered Star Mine. Like the former mine, it will undoubtedly improve in quantity as it goes down.

The Cleveland Mine belongs to the Ishpeming group. The estate of this important company comprises 2,200 acres, situated mainly in Sections 2, 3, 10, 11, Town 47, Range 7, but the principal workings are in the north part of the east half of Section 10 and west half of Section 11, adjoining the Lake Superior and the New York Mines.

These lands were first taken by a "permit" from the War Department by Dr. Cassels, of Cleveland, in 1846. This gentleman visited Lake Superior in the interest of the Dead River Silver & Copper Mining Company of Cleveland. Dr. Cassels was directed to the locality by Mr. Everett and party, who had previously secured the Jackson Company's lands, lying adjacent to the east. Other parties subsequently entered upon the lands, and instituted a pre-emption or mining right claim, but the title was finally accorded to the Cleveland Company.

Although the association was previously formed, the company did not do any business on Lake Superior until 1853, at which date the present Cleveland Iron Company was organized, and in the following year the company mined 4,000 tons of ore, which was made into blooms at the several forges in the country, and in 1855 the company shipped 1,449 tons of ore down the lakes to the furnaces to be made into pig iron, anticipating the shipments of the Jackson Company one year, and thus becoming the first company to ship from the region any considerable amount of iron ore. This small beginning grew from year to year till the annual product exceeded 150,000 tons, affording at the present time an aggregate of shipments of over two million tons of ore of a quality which has been ranked with the best in the market, and perhaps no mine in the district affords a better assurance of continuing to yield in the future as in the past than does the Cleveland.

It is the second oldest mine in the district, and the very oldest so far as lake shipments are concerned, and came to the front last year with a larger product than ever before. The fact that this old mine should, in the thirtieth year of its existence, and after having yielded over two million tons of first-class ore, present such a magnificent array of figures, is the best evidence that can be adduced that the iron ore deposits of Lake Superior are practically inexhaustible. This evidence may be further strengthened by an expression of the well founded belief—a belief that is justified by the present outlook as well as by past results—that none of the old mines (excepting possibly the Jackson) have yet reached their maximum of production, and that, their yield for the next thirty years will certainly exceed that of the thirty years last passed.

The product for 1880 was 212,748 tons; for 1881 it was 198,569 tons, making the total yield since it commenced working foot up at the close of 1881 at 2,381,959 tons.

They are now working and raising ore from No. 3 and from the Incline pit, the Saw-Mill Mine and from I and K Shafts. Extensive explorations with the diamond drill are being made in the Incline Mine. I and K Shafts have been opened up this year, and 2,416 tons of fine ore have been taken out of K since spring up to August. It has not yet been put down to the ore bed, which was struck at 215 feet by the diamond drill, which cut fifty-five feet of ore.

The company are working 550 men, all told, and are making an output of thirteen to fourteen thousand tons of valuable ore per month. No. 2 is yielding a grade called Scotch ore, but the largest part of the production is steel ore

On the location is a machine shop, carpenter shop, etc. The company also operate two locomotive engines, and possess an ore dock at Marquette, which is furnished with 114 ore pockets and six steamboat pockets. The officers of the company are: Samuel L. Mather, Esq., President and Treasurer: Fred Morse, Secretary; J. C. Morse, Agent, Marquette, Mich.; D. H. Bacon, Superintendent, Ishpeming, Mich.

What was formerly known as the Cleveland Hematite Mine, was leased to Robert Nelson, and by him opened in 1876, and worked as a separate mine until last May, when he surrendered his lease to the company for a valuable consideration, and it is now being worked as a part of the Cleveland Mine.

Adjoining the last named is the Norwich, which promises to become one of the most valuable hematite mines in the district. A shaft is down some twenty-five feet, from the bottom of which a drift has been run north over fifty feet, all the way in cleaned ore, full as good as has yet been found in the Teal Lake Range. A test pit about one hundred feet east shows ore of the same quality, while a second shaft, about one hundred feet west of the one first spoken of is likewise in clean ore, which undoubtedly lies in a large body. The property consists of forty acres, and is owned in fee by the Norwich Iron Company.

East of the Cambria, an exploring force is at work for Andrews, Hitchcock & Co., of Youngstown, Ohio, with a very fair prospect of developing something of value.

Crystal Falls Mine is in the Paint River District. This mine is the joint property of the Crystal Falls Iron Company and the Youngstown Iron Mining Company. It was discovered by the veteran explorer, John N. Armstrong, while in the employ of Edward Breitung, who held the first option from the original owner of the fee, T. M. Davis. The property includes Lot 3 in Section 20, Town 43, Range 32.

W. F. Swift and Messrs. Coon and Maltby next purchased the option to the property, retaining it till the spring of 1881, when it passed from their hands into the control of the present owners of the lease. The work of exploring was commenced under the superintendency of Capt. George Runkle in the fall of 1880, who remained in charge till the fall of 1881, being succeeded by Capt. F. P. Mills. Under the charge of these gentlemen, test pits were sunk, and active five mining operations commenced, and the first shipments were made during the month of June, 1882, upon the completion of the railroad to Crystal Falls.

The workings consist of a single shaft located on the west bank of the Paint River at the foot of the falls, sunk to a depth of eighty-five feet, with short drifts from the bottom east and west. The mine is not yet sufficiently developed to comment upon its actual value. Up to this time, 1,500 tons of ore have been raised, some of which are very rich in metallic iron.

The officers of the Crystal Falls Iron Company are: President, N. K. Fairbanks; Vice President, J. H. Howe; Secretary and Treasurer, F. H. Head; Superintendent, F. P. Mills, Jr.

Chicagon Lake Mine.—This mine is yet undeveloped. It is located on the west half of Section 26, Town 43, Range 34, and it is reported showing a remarkably fine ore deposit.

Explorations are now being conducted by N. Boardman, of Fond du Lac, Wis.

The Champion Mine, in the Republican Range, is situated in the south half of Section 31, Town 48, Range 29, and is owned by the Champion Iron Company, which was organized under the general mining law of the State in August, 1869, with a capital stock of $500,000, with shares of the par value of $25 each. The original shareholders were Joseph S. Fay, of Boston, Edwin Parsons, of New York; T. C. Foster, of Cambridge, Mass., and S. P. Ely and Peter White, of Marquette. The first opening was made in 1867, though very little was done in the way of mining or exploration until the following spring, when, just as the first cars were being loaded, the burning of the docks at Marquette caused a suspension of operations until the following October, in which month the first shipments were made, the product that year being 6,255 tons. In 1880, it had reached 112,401 tons, and in 1881 the yield was 145,427 tons, making a grand total for fourteen years of 975,907 tons, and placing the Champion third on the list of the great iron mines of the Upper Peninsula. The workings are in what are known as the North and South Deposits, and cover a length of nearly eight hundred feet on the trend of the formation. The general formation is unusually regular, the ore belt lying between the quartzite on the north and a metamorphic diorite on the south. These walls are from three to four hundred feet apart, the ore-bearing rocks between them consisting of chloritic and talcose schists and masses of banded ore and silica, the whole forming a highly inclined strata of uniform dip and strike. The ore occurs among these rocks in segregations, having the form of flattened lenses. Until a few years ago, mine work was wholly confined to the deposits directly underlying and contiguous to the overhanging quartzite; at least such was the case until the discovery of two new lenses by the driving of a drift through what then appeared to be the foot-wall in the south level from a point about one hundred feet east of No. 2 Shaft. These two last mentioned lenses are known as the "Southeast" and "Old Man's" deposits, though they come together, and are practically one deposit on the fifth or 300 foot level.

The shafts at the Champion are seven in number—1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and "A" shaft, the latter being the most easterly. Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are on the north deposit, and Nos. 4 and 5 on the south, while No. 7 and "A" Shafts, which are located at the extreme east and west ends of the workings, appear to be distinct and separate lenses. Both the last have been to all appearances exhausted. Neither are at present being wrought, though not less than 10,000 tons were mined from No. 7 before it was abandoned. In this last mentioned pit, the shaft was sunk to a depth of 150 feet, the width of the ore at the first level being sixteen feet; but at a distance of sixty-five feet west from the shaft a diagonal crossing of rock was encountered, beyond which the diamond drill failed to discover anything of value. East of the shaft, on the same level, the ore narrowed down to a width of only four feet, and on the next level below the deposit pinched out altogether. No. 7 is about eight hundred feet west of No. 5 shaft, and between the two there is a run of ore about thirty inches wide on the surface, the intervening ground never having been explored to any considerable depth. "A" Shaft is about four hundred and fifty feet east of No. 1, and so far as its history is concerned is a repetition of No. 7.

In part of the mine, or at the No. 3 Shaft, they are down 540 feet, and stoping from the eighth and ninth levels. The ore is both magnetic and specular in different portions of the mine, and is of an excellent quality.

Since No. 7 was abandoned, an important discovery has recently been made with the aid of the diamond drill. A drill hole bored at an angle of forty-five degrees cut fourteen feet of ore at a depth of 100 feet under and rather to the northward of the old bottom, in which the ore had pinched out altogether. The thickness of the lens thus discovered is given with due allowance for the dip of the formation, and it is altogether probable that further borings soon to be made will reveal the existence of a large ore body at this point. Its exact character and location will be further determined as soon as practicable, with a view of ascertaining the most feasible plan for reaching and mining out the ore. In the meantime, the ground between 5 and 7 will be similarly explored, and, it is most reason—able to anticipate, with good results. The company keep in constant operation two of Bullock's diamond drills, one of which is a "Little Giant," for underground work, and the other a large machine kept for boring from the surface.

No new machinery has been added during the past year, but a Rand 20x48 duplex compressor is now being placed in a separate building, the intention being to cast off those now running in connection with the main hoisting plant, and thus avoid the delays to underground work in case of accident. The mine gives employment to a force of about four hundred and fifty men, and commenced the shipping season with stock piles closely approximating 50,000 tons. The management continues in the same hands, Mr. A. Kidder, Agent, and Capt. Jim Pasco, Superintendent.

The Columbia Mine, located on the Republic Range, formerly known as the Kloman, was first wrought in the fall of 1872, though no ore was shipped till the succeeding year. The fee of the lands on which the mine is located is owned by the Kloman Iron Company, which was organized in December, 1872, with Andrew Kloman, William Coleman, Thomas M. Carnegie, Jacob Houghton and T. B. Brooks as corporators. That company operated the mine till the spring of 1875, when it was abandoned and the several pits allowed to fill with water, in which condition it remained till the spring of 1880, when it was leased to Messrs. Shumway, Wicker & Co., under whose auspices the Columbia Iron Company was organized August 16 of the same year, with A. B. Meeker, W. L. Brown, P. B. Shumway, S. C. Bartlett, W. H. Bartlett and C. M. Wicker as corporators. The present officers of the company are P. B. Shumway, President; B. H. Jones, Secretary and Treasurer; C. M. Wicker, General Manager; A. B. Meeker & Co., Chicago, Sales Agents.

The company's leasehold embraces 437 acres of land adjoining and lying northwest of the Republic, on both sides of a branch of the Michigamme River, in Sections 1 and 6, Town 46, Ranges 29 and 30.

During the second year of the new management, this mine nearly doubled its yield. For the five years in which work has been done, 82,033 tons of ore have been produced. Work is now being prosecuted in earnest; the shafts are being put down deeper, and the diamond drill is busy in exploring for the deposits that are to be worked out.

The Clancy Iron Company, recently organized in Grand Rapids, has a force of men exploring on Section 28, 47—26, just north of the Grand Rapids tract, but thus far has found nothing of value. The management is confident of finding the Wheat vein, the present trend of which is in that direction. The officers of the Clancy are John Clancy, President; M. W. Bates, Secretary; I. M. Watson, Treasurer.

The Mexican Iron Company, which was organized some time during the past winter, holds a lease, with an option for the purchase, of the old Carr Mine, which embraces the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 33, Town 47, Range 26. Some exploration work has been done during the past winter, and, it is claimed, a promising deposit of hard hematite has been found. No work is being done at present. Some work was done on this location, and 2,380 tons of second class ore mined and shipped in 1872. The officers of this now company are: W. F. Swift, President; George W. Hayden, Secretary and Treasurer; George Berringer, Superintendent.

Some explorations are being made on Section 32 by Mr. Judd and others, of Cleveland, Ohio, where, it is said, hematite of good quality has been found, with excellent promise for enough of it to insure a paying mine. The Clancy and Mexican are in the Cascade Range.

The Cambria, in the Teal Lake Range, is the most easterly of the three belonging to the range, and the one which, though opened in 1874, is but just entering upon, it may be said, the first stages of practical development, having in 1881 very nearly doubled the product of any preceding year. The product of the Cambria in 1874 was 2,610 tons, in 1881, it was 19,245 tons, and the total yield for seven years was 55,703 tons.

It is located on the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 35, and west fractional half of Section 36, Town 48. Range 27. Ore was first discovered here in 1874 by 11. P. Harriman, Esq., who leased the property from the Teal Lake Iron Company. In 1875, Mr. Harriman associating himself with J. H. McDonald, John Q. Adams and Lewis Corbett organized the Cambria Iron Company. The present officers of the company are: W. H. Barnum, President; James Rood, Jr., Treasurer; John Q. Adams, Secretary; A. W. Maitland, General Manager, and Capt. G. Murray in charge.

Five pits have been opened, but the work is exclusively confined to Nos. 1 and 5, from which the great bulk of ore was mined in 1881.

No. 1 is the most easterly pit, and is now worked on the underground plan, the ore being raised through an inclined shaft, the angle of which is forty-five degrees to the east. This shaft is now down 200 feet, and sinking to another level is in progress. On the present level there is a stops fifteen feet high, behind which there is a vein of ore 100 feet in length west of the shaft, and it is expected that in sinking another lift a stope equally as large will be obtained to the eastward. This working is a large open pit, nearly, if not quite, 100 feet square, the bottom of which appears to be nearly all in ore of good quality, while a drift sixty feet south shows good ore all the way, with some patches of poor ground.

A force of about sixty men is employed, with Capt. Gordon Murray as Superintendent.

It has been worked up to the dividing line between it and the Bessemer, where it presents a solid face of ore, but as this pitches rapidly to the east, it is probable the lens can be caught on the Cambria property by sinking to a sufficient depth.

Cleveland Hematite, of the Teal Lake group, located on the northwest quarter of Section 2, is the most westerly of the Teal Lake Range of hematite mines, the Bessemer, the Cambria, etc. It has heretofore been worked on a lease by Mr. R. Nelson, of Ishpeming, but since May 14, 1881, has been worked by the Cleveland Company, to whom the mine belonged, and who have purchased of Mr. Nelson the mining plant, etc. The mine yielded about nine thousand tons of ore the past year. The company bored diamond drill holes south of the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad track, near the Superintendent's house. Six holes have been bored, and they are now engaged on the seventh, in which latter they have just struck ore at a distance down of 300 feet. The holes have all been bored since January last, and are from 400 feet to 450 feet in depth. In two of these holes, 105 feet apart, ore has been found at a distance down of 308 feet and 215 feet, respectively, of a thickness of fifty-six feet and of sixty feet; of this, thirty-seven feet is first-class ore in the one hole, and fifty-two feet is first-class in the other. In one of the other holes, fifteen feet of ore was found. These shafts, 90 feet, 165 feet and 190 feet, respectively, are down, and, the prospects of the industry appear favorable in every particular. As has been stated, the mine is the property of the Cleveland Iron Company, and is managed by the same officers.

The Cheshire, in the range of that name, formerly known as the Silas C. Smith Mine, is located on the southeast quarter of Section 18, Town 45, Range 18, though the original opening was in Section 20, where the ore was first discovered by the veteran explorer in whose honor the mine was named. Mr. Smith had entered about one thousand five hundred acres in that locality, and after the discovery of ore sold an interest in the lands situated on Sections 18 and 20 to Gen. Pierce, of Sharpsville, Penn., and Henry Fassett, of Ashtabula, Ohio, in connection with whom he organized in November, 1871, the Silas C. Smith Mining Company, which became the owner of 412 acres of land in Section 18 and 386 acres in Section 20. Shortly after the organization of the company and commencement of work, operations were 'transferred from the original opening on Section 20 to the southeast quarter of Section 18, where the ore was believed to exist in greater bulk, and where the ground presented better advantages for economical mine work. Operations were, however, entirely suspended in the fall of 1873, owing to the general blow-out of the Chenango Valley furnaces, and particularly those at Sharpsville owned by Gen. Pierce, to supply which he had purchased the controlling interest in the mine. Subsequently, the company went into bankruptcy, and the property was purchased by the Cheshire Iron Company, the officers of which are as follows: J. J. Pierce, President and Treasurer; David Agnew, Secretary; J. F. Stevens, Agent; Alex Wood, Superintendent.

It has been practically idle during the past year, though a shaft is being sunk some distance north of the old workings, and near the Swanzey line, which is in black slate. It is probable the ore bed will be found extending in this direction to a connection with the Swanzey. The product for 18'72 was 13,445 tons; for 1881 7,449 tons, making a total yield for nine years of 87,179 tons.

The Cascade Company's Mine lies some four miles south from the city of Negaunee, and takes its name from that of the stream which makes its way in a succession of beautiful cascades through a gorge in the mountain range in which the ore formation is found, and near the point where the first openings were made under the auspices of Waterman Palmer, Esq., in 1864. In that year, some four or five hundred tons of lean ore were mined, but organized efforts for the development of the range was not made until the organization of the Cascade Iron Company, which succeeded to the ownership of the Palmer tract in 1870, and began mining operations on an extensive scale the following year. A branch line of the Chicago & North-Western Railway was secured, and the first shipments made in the fall of 1871, the Cascade Company continuing operations until the fall of 1874, when it was forced into bankruptcy, and M. F. Saulsbury, William Bagaley and Joseph Kirkpatrick came into possession, as agents for the bond-holders. Under the very able and efficient management of Mr. Kirkpatrick, the old Cascade has not only been made to pay all its indebtedness but has likewise absorbed the lands of the Pittsburgh & Lake Superior Mining Company through the purchase of all the stock of that corporation, and its reorganization with Ralph Bagaley, Esq., of Pittsburgh, as President, and Mr. Kirkpatrick, General Agent and Manager. What was once the Cascade Mine, more recently the Palmer, therefore, now includes what was formerly the Watson and Pittsburgh & Lake Superior Mines, and the whole, constituting an estate of 26,450 acres, is now called the Pittsburgh and Lake Superior Mines.

The Dalliba Iron Mining Company are operating on the south half of the northwest quarter and north half of the southwest quarter of Section 29, Range and Town 48, in the North Range. There is at present a large body of hard hematite and brown iron ore, which has been stripped and is being raised and shipped, working it out from four pits which are all operating. Behind 1 and 2 is a body of ore which will be stoped out. West of No. 3 is also good ore. The monthly production is 7,000 tons and can be raised to 8,000 if necessary. Another engine and two winding drums have been added, making three engines and eight drums. They have now two forties on the north on the line of Jim Pasco. A branch of the M.. H. & O. R. R. has been built to both of these mines. About ninety men are now employed about the mine. Walter Fitch, Esq., Agent; John Foley, Mining Superintendent.

Alexander H. Dey Mine is a new mining industry in the North Range. Very promising discoveries were made in 1881 on the northeast quarter of Section 3, Town 47, Range 28. The improvements so far effected consist of a series of drill holes, each of which gives evidences of considerable deposits of ore.

The Dexter, which cannot yet be called a mine, lies directly west of the Dey, in the North Range, and embraces the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 3, Town 47, Range 28. As yet nothing of value has been found on the property, if we except the ore cut by the diamond drill immediately on the east line, of which mention is made in our reference to the Dey. The company is now sinking a shaft at a point about 125 feet west of the Union drill hole. This shaft is going down on an angle of 45 degrees to the north, in quartzite, the intention being to carry it down 160 feet, and then drift from the bottom, through the hanging-wall to the ore. The Boston vein is believed to lie about 300 feet north, where considerable drift ore, of the variety known as slate, is found, but as yet the ledge has not been reached. This property will be further explored with the diamond drill, as indeed it should be before any considerable further expense is incurred in sinking for ore the position or extent of which is not positively known.

The East Champion Mine, in the Republic Range, after a checkered career, has at last fallen into the hands of men who know and will prove its value as a mining property. The mine was opened in the winter of 1872-73, under the superintendence of Capt. John Sweeney, an experienced miner, who mined and shipped 10,426 tons the first year. Capt. Sweeney was not allowed to exercise his own good judgment in the opening of the mine and its subsequent operation—the shareholders, who were furnacemen, bought the ore at a price which, had it been paid, would have covered all the outlay for buildings and cost of operation and left a small surplus from the first year's earnings. The panic coming on in 1873 induced the shareholders who had bought the ore, and who held a controlling interest in the mine, to "settle with themselves," at a price below that originally agreed to be paid, and a burden of debt was thrown upon the company from which it has never been able to recover.

The product has been, for 1873, 10,426 tons; in 1880, 10,217 tons and, in 1881, 3,408 tons; 14,495 tons has been its largest yield in one year, and 227 tons its smallest, the total for nine years footing up at 64,264 tons.

Acting under the advice of Messrs. A. Kidder and Capt. James Pascoe, of the Champion Mine, Messrs. Spear and Case secured a lease of the property and at once commenced thorough explorations with the diamond drill, under the direction of Capt. Pascoe, which have demonstrated the presence of valuable deposit of ore.

From the results obtained by the use of the diamond drill, the lessees have organized a company, and the articles of association of the East Champion Iron Company have been duly executed and filed, Messrs. A. Kidder, James Pascoe, J. R. Case, F. B. Spear and R. P. Travers being named as Directors for the first year. Five thousand shares of the capital stock were set aside to be sold for working capital—2,000 to be sold immediately, and the balance as the necessities of the company may require. It is more than probable that the sale of the first two thousand will supply all the working capital required, as it is positively certain the mine can be made to more than pay expenses from the start. Capt. Edwards, an experienced miner from the Champion, is in charge of the work. The mine is fully equipped with the requisite machinery for hoisting and pumping, and is in the hands of an able and energetic management.

The Erie Mine, of the Republic Range, is located on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 28, Town 47, Range 30—about four miles northwest of the Republic, on the west side of the Michigamme River. It was opened in 1875 by Rawle, Noble & Co., together with some Chicago parties, with Capt. James F. Trowell, novice in mining, as local superintendent, who mined from an open cut about 3,000 tons of ore, 1,052 tons of which was hauled out to the Kloman and shipped. The vein in which the original work was done appeared to carry a width of about eight or nine feet of rather mixed magnetic ore, over which the old workings extended a length of about fifty feet, worked out to a depth of eighty feet.

Not being in the hands of a practical miner as Superintendent at the start, numerous errors, in the direction of the work, produced discouraging results.

Last summer, Mr. E. H. Wright. of Toledo, Ohio, secured a lease of the Erie tract and organized the Erie Iron Company, of which himself, W. A. Wright, Peter Pascoe, Byron H. Andrus and F. H. Kearney are the Directors, the officers being: E. H. Wright, President and General Manager; Peter Pascoe, Vice President; W. A. Wright, Secretary and Treasurer.

As a sensible business man, Mr. Wright's first move was to secure the services of an experienced and competent mining captain, whom he found in the person of Martin Welch, whose ability as a miner had been demonstrated at the Republic, in whose service he had held a responsible position for many years. The first thing to be done was the unwatering of the old pit, which being accomplished, a crib shaft was put in, and Capt. Welch, after a close inspection, arrived at the conclusion that the main ore body, if there were any, lay under what the former management held to be the hanging-wall, but which he at once distinguished as the foot-wall side of the vein or deposit. His first work, therefore, was to put a hole into the mixed slate ore and quartz, which, to his great satisfaction, he found to be only from a foot and a half to two feet thick, the first blast revealing an apparently solid body of clean-looking slate ore (very similar in appearance to the Champion and Republic slates), immediately beyond.

Since the present owners took the mine, about 3,000 tons of ore have been mined and stocked, but this will need a careful re-sorting before it is shipped. The necessary shipping facilities can only be had by a four-mile extension of the Columbia Branch. About thirty-five men are employed, with Martin Welch as Mining Captain, the Messrs. Wright being on the ground and giving to the mine and its affairs their exclusive personal attention.

On this same range, explorations are being prosecuted on the Magnetic, Cannon, Standard and Metropolis properties, but so far with little success, except, perhaps, at the Standard, where it is claimed a shaft is down twenty-five feet in a vein or lens of ore five feet thick, but the work has been temporarily suspended on account of the large flow of water.

At the Cannon, which property was recently leased by an Ishpeming company, work is being done at two different points, where there are outcrops of lean ore, but as yet nothing of any value has been found. The developments are just promising enough to induce, and possibly warrant, the expenditure of more money in the hope of finding something better, and it seems hardly probable that well directed explorations can fail to ultimately reveal the existence of a workable deposit on this tract. The conditions are all favorable, but it is yet too early to refer to the Cannon as a mine.

At the Magnetic, several holes have been drilled, in one of which nine feet of ore, which analyzed 57 per cent, was cut, but the others were all barren. The drill is now boring in the old well at the large boarding-house, and if it strikes ore at all will be at a very considerable depth.

Forest City Iron Mining Company.—The location of this mine comprises sixty acres in the southwest corner of Section 35, Town 48, Range 27, lying between the Bessemer Mine on the east, and the Cleveland Hematite on the west, the mine openings being closer to those of the latter, in the Teal Lake Range. Work was begun here in 1880, and about 500 tons of ore gotten out that year, when the lease was sold to Cleveland parties and the Forest City Iron Company organized, in February last, with C. A. Otis, President; T. H. Brooks, Treasurer; F. A. Bates, Secretary, all of Cleveland, Ohio, and George R. Tuttle, General Agent, Ishpeming, Mich.

Mr. Tuttle began work soon after the organization of the company by sinking a line of test pits ten feet apart,

from the south line of the property to the greenstone on the north. This work resulted in finding a deposit of ore a short distance south of the pit already opened, between it and the section line. The vein was uncovered, and early in May the work of mining the ore began with so favorable a result that before the end of the month 1,000 tons had been mined and shipped.

It was shut down after 1,895 tons had been mined from an open pit, the deposit having been apparently exhausted.

The thirty acres lying between the Bessemer and Forest City are under lease to D. F. Wadsworth, Esq., of Ishpeming, who is now engaged in sinking a shaft into a deposit of clean ore, lately found at a depth of seventy-seven feet from the surface by boring with an Ohio coal drill. The drill penetrated twenty-eight feet into ore of very fine quality, but of course the extent of the deposit cannot be definitely ascertained except by sinking and drifting in the regular way. It would be an exception to the rule on this range, barring the Forest City failure, if Mr. Wadsworth's discovery should not result in the development of a good mine.

The Cleveland Hematite has been noticed in connection with the Cleveland Mine.

Fairbanks' Mine is in the Paint River District. The discovery of this mine occurred in the fall of 1880, and the first test pits were sunk during the following winter. Messrs. Sloan and Coon held the original option, which they transferred to the Crystal Falls Iron Company in the spring of 1881.

In March, 1881, Capt. William H. Morrison took charge of the property and conducted further explorations, and one year later active mining operations were commenced, under the superintendency of J. H. Elmore. The workings consist of one large open pit, from which about 3,000 tons have been mined showing an analysis of metallic ore having a quality from 55 to 66 per cent. The end of the formation is nearly east and west and the dip apparently to the south. The mine gives a good showing for the work thus far done, and its development is well assured.

The Farm.—The most easterly of these new "finds," situated in the North Range, west of Lake Michigamme, is the Farm, so called, though it is not, as yet, an organized company, but is controlled by Mr. Ed Wetmore, of Marquette, who has conducted the explorations and who holds the lease. The land comprises the northwest quarter of Section 25, Town 48, Range 31. It is about a mile southeast of the Spurr Mine and three-fourths of a mile from Michigamme. The land has been cleared of trees and brush. The surface rises to a moderate elevation, making a ridge east and west through the center of the property, from which the land slopes to the north end and to the south. The exploration pits are made in this south slope. A few hundred feet to the south of the ore, as thus defined, the ground drops down suddenly to a height of about fifty feet to the level of the land below, through which rapidly runs the Spurr Mountain Creek, having a fall on the property of twenty feet, sufficient for a water-power to compress air for working powder drills, hoisting, etc.

The first pits are about eight hundred feet west from the east line; there are two of them, twenty-five feet deep, thirty feet apart, north and south. It is impossible to see the ledge, but the piles by the side of the pits show good ore, yellow, ocherous, light brown and dark-colored ores, occasionally with crystals of carbonate of iron, spathic ore.

The Grand Rapids Mine, in the Cascade Range, embraces the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 28, Town 47, Range 26, and is a part of the Gribbon tract, upon which some work was done, and 3,599 tons of second-class ore mined in 1872. The forty acres above described were leased to the Grand Rapids Iron Company some time in 1881, since which time explorations have been made and a out carried into a body of silicious ore which rates as second-class.

The officers of the company are: I. J. Whitfield, President; Marcus W. Bates, Secretary; Isaac Philps, Treasurer. Frank Koop is in charge of the property, which is held by the company on an option from H. M. Atchinson, of Negaunee.

The Great Western Mine is in the Paint River District. The honor of the discovery of this mine belongs to S. D. Hollister and Capt. George Runkle. The date June, 1882. Since its discovery, the work of putting down test pits and making preparations for mining has been vigorously carried out. The work shows an ore deposit of excellent quality.

The property lies in the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 21, Town 43, Range 32, the east half of which is owned by the canal company and the other half by Guido Pfister, Trustee. The officers of the company are: Stephen C. Hall, President; Julian M. Case, Vice President; S. D. Hollister, Secretary; George Runkle, Treasurer and General Superintendent.

The Goodrich Mine is the most westerly mine in the Saginaw Range, which joins the Saginaw on the west, the description being the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 19, Town 47, Range 27. The mine was opened in 1873 by the St. Clair Bros., but they soon after abandoned it, when the property was purchased by its present owner, Capt. Goodrich, of Chicago, who, up to 1879, continued to work it with indifferent financial success, but, in 1880, the yield was nearly trebled, being 11,181 tons. In 1881, the yield was 10,245 tons, making in eight years a total product of 41,606 tons. The mining operations are in charge of Capt. Davis, who will, if the necessary means are supplied, make it an excellent paying property.

The Humboldt Mine is the property of the Washington Iron Company, which was organized in the summer of 1864, and under whose auspices it was opened and wrought until 1876, in which year it was leased to Maas & Lonstorf, of Negaunee. The first ore was shipped in 1865, a product of very nearly 80,000 tons having been reached in 1870. From that time on the product steadily diminished until the company became embarrassed and suspended operations. A large amount of money had been expended in driving a tunnel into the deposit, which, owing to unexpected changes met with in the formation, proved to be of little value, and hence the company not only made no money, but after a term of years found itself involved financially, and it then resolved to either sell or lease the property rather than draw upon the shareholders for means with which to cancel its indebtedness and continue mining operations. The lessees have prosecuted the work with considerable vigor since 1876, but have nct, so far, been able to accomplish the results anticipated when they took the lease. A discovery was made in 1881, which promises largely for the future of the mine, and, although it has not fulfilled the expectations of what it then appeared to promise, it has nevertheless enabled the mine to nearly double its production this year, and may yet prove that its value was not at first overestimated.

The product of the Humboldt in 1865 was 4,782 tons; in 1880, it was 14,726 tons, and in 1881 it was 26,302 tons, making a total product in sixteen years of 485,495 tons.

One hundred and sixty men are employed, and, with power drills and diamond drills, the work and explorations are being carried forward in such a manner as will insure a good showing for the future.

Mr. John B. Maas is General Manager, and Capt. John Hosking, Superintendent at the mine.

Iron River Mine is in the mining district of that name. This mine is the leasehold property of the Iron River Iron Company, the fee of the tracts embraced in the lease belonging to L. Stegmiller, of Escanaba, Dr. Cyr, of Negaunee, and others. The officers of the company are: President, John Stambaugh; Vice President, George Boyer; Secretary and Treasurer, R. McCurdy; James N. Porter, Superintendent. It is one of -the new discoveries in what is known as the Iron River District, and embraces the west half of the northwest and the west half of the southwest quarters of Section 36, and the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 35, Town 43, Range 35, the present workings being on the first-named subdivision of the section. The work of exploration shows a very large body of ore which can be traced for a distance of nearly one mile and a half from northwest to southeast following along the face of the hill, which gradually rises to an elevation of 100 feet at its highest point above the east bank of the Iron River. The test pits show the ore belt to be at no place less than 100 feet, with no foot wall in sight.

Transportation facilities are supplied by the Iron River Branch of the Chicago & North-Western Railway, just completed to Iron River, an extension ten miles north of Florence, and the mine promises to develop into one of the most important mining industries of the Menominee Range.

The Jackson Mine is located on Section 1, Town 47, Range 27, within the corporate limits of the city of Negaunee, the whole of the section belonging to the company, and comprising the original entry made under a permit from the Secretary of War in 1845. But little progress was made in the way of development, however, until the opening of the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal, and the completion of the railroad to the "Jackson Mountain," as the locality was then called, some ten years afterward.

In one particular, this celebrated mine outranks all the others in the district; it was the first discovered iron ore deposit in the region, and the company is the oldest corporation, and the mine was the earliest worked, and from the ore of the Jackson the first iron was made ever obtained from the deposits of Lake Superior. In many other particulars is the Jackson Mine entitled to eminent consideration. The excellent quality of its product early served to establish the reputation of the Lake Superior ores, and the magnitude of its shipments, and the great financial success of the company stimulated mining enterprise, practical exploration, investment of capital, immigration, and the settlement and improvement of the country.

The company derives its name from the city where in 1845 the association was originally formed. The parties to this organization were Abram V. Berry, P. M. Everett, S. T G. W. and F. W. Carr, E. M. Rockwell, F. W. Kirtland, W. H. Munroe, A. W. Ernst and F. Farrand, of Jackson, Mich. In 1848, a re-organization of the company was effected under an act of incorporation passed by the Legislature of Michigan, and the name assumed was the Jackson Mining Company of Michigan. The present title of the company is the Jackson Iron Company. A short time previously, however, a forge had been constructed on the Carp River, in which the first iron ore was made into blooms. The daily product of this forge when in full blast is about three tons of iron. The manufacture of blooms in this forge was abandoned in 1856.

In 1850, about five tons of this ore had been taken to Newcastle, Penn., and there worked up. This small shipment was followed two years later by one of seventy tons, taken to Sharon, Penn., which was smelted in a blast furnace. The first regular shipments from the mine began in 1856, the company shipping that year 5,000 tons. The aggregate shipments since that date amount to upward of 2,000,000 tons of ore, being nearly the same as the Cleveland, which also began about the same time, and until 1864 the Jackson, Cleveland and Lake Superior were the only companies which shipped ore from the region. Geologically, the formation at the Jackson possesses great irregularity, and the occurrence of the ore deposits is largely a matter of conjecture, and their continuance when formed is only determined by the working. Extensive explorations are constantly made in the mine by means of trial shafts, crosscuts, and drifts made here and there, seemingly, to the novice, at random, but really located with the greatest care by Capt. Merry, whose twenty years' experience in charge of the mines and the company's interests have given him a degree of familiarity with all the difficulties to be encountered, and a knowledge of the peculiarities of the formation.

The ore has always been in the greatest demand, bringing the highest prices, owing to its superior quality, and the care which has been observed in selecting it. In the east end mine, No. 7 and old No. 1 pits, the product is the best grade of hematite, possessing a percentage of manganese, and also of chromium. Even here occur veins or pockets of hard ore, alternating with the soft ore deposits. The formation is exceedingly contorted and broken up, the veins doubling and folding in a manner nearly defying definite determination. The somewhat friable, disintegrated character of the rock has added an element of perplexity to the problem of how best to find and to win the ore. The success of the company however, and the condition of the mine sufficiently indicate that the difficulties have been understood and economically overcome. The Jackson is the most easterly mine in the district, producing a first-class specular ore. The South Jackson is the most westerly pit of the Negaunee hematite openings, and is in the southeast part of the company's property; the section corner post stands upon the edge of the south pit, and the line west from it crosses the opening, cutting off the north part of the Iron Cliff, and the line from the stake south cuts off a portion of the pit to the east, belonging to the McComber Company. The openings of the pits at the South Jackson extend about a quarter of a mile in length, and are about sixty feet in width. The hoisting is done from three pits by a separate engine for each pit. During the summer, a sad accident occurred at this mine, by which two miners, one a Finlander and the other a Welshman, lost their lives. The rock on the hanging wall side of the westerly pit, which had been undermined in taking out the ore, being of a loose, shaly structure, gave way, and filled the pit to a depth of some fifty feet, burying two men under the debris. At the time the historian visited the mine, ten days had elapsed since the accident, and all that had then been done toward recovering the bodies consisted in sink ing and cribbing a small shaft to the bottom of the pit. The bodies were taken out some time during the next week. Up to 1856, the product reached 30,000 tons. In 1880, it was 120,620 tons, and in 1881 it was 118 939, making a grand total for over thirty-one years of 2,105,162 tons.

The product of the South Jackson is about twenty-five thousand tons of an excellent quality of soft hematite, corresponding with the McComber, Grand Central, etc. The ore is carefully picked, and although somewhat mixed as it comes from the mine, the rock is all sorted out. The drilling is all done by hand; the company has no compressor, and uses no power drills. Capt. Merry does not regard their use as likely to prove economical or advantageous in this mine; neither is the diamond drill used to any great extent, at least to a degree at all comparable to the extent in which it is used in some of the great mines in the district. The difficulties attending its use arise mainly from the peculiar nature of the rock; the small, loose pieces of hard jasper wear out the diamond so rapidly that it is almost impossible to proceed.

The Jim Pascoe Mine, in the north range, adjoins the Dalliba on the east. It was opened in 1881. It has been opened 1,200 feet, with a width of fifty to seventy-five feet. Some idea of the extent of the deposit and its position for being worked may be gathered from the fact that a dozen men working night and day shift are now mining and raising 150 tons daily.

A plant of machinery, embracing two boilers and four thirty-inch interior gear drums has been added.

The Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad Company thought they could not overcome the grade to run the track on the foot wall side, so they have placed it on the hanging wall side, which will necessitate the carrying of the ore across the mine by bridging the pits and tramming it over, or placing the hoisting apparatus at a disadvantage, and raising the ore "left handed." The shipments for 1882 will reach 20,000 tons. The force at present employed numbers thirty-five men. Mr. Fitch, the Agent of the Dalliba, also has charge of the Pascoe.

The Key Stone Mine is located about one-half a mile east of the Champion in the North Range. It was first opened by the Keystone Iron Company during the winter of 187273, and in 1873 12,701 tons of ore were shipped. For the next three years, owing to the panic, the mine was not energetically worked, but in 1877 it shipped 14,496 tons of Ore.

It has since been worked by the Saginaw Mining Company, under lease from the Keystone. The ore is similar to that of the Champion, but contains more phosphorus, and will not average so high in metallic iron.

Kloman Mine.-This mine is located about three hundred feet northwest of the Kingston pit of the Republic. Its workings are on the southwest slope of a side hill, and are 1,320 feet in length. The general trend of them is north 40' west. The mine was first opened in 1872 by the Kloman Iron Company, and was worked by that company with considerable vigor until 1874, when operations were suddenly stopped. The mine was allowed to fill with water, and nothing more was done there until last winter, when Messrs. Campbell, Wilkinson and Spear, of Marquette, obtained a lease, and began pumping out No. 1 pit. Shortly after this, however, they sold their lease to Messrs. Shumway, Wicker & Co., who continued the work of unwatering the mine, and began mining ore. Subsequently, the Columbia Iron Company was organized.

The workings of the old company consisted of four open pits and two shafts, which were numbered from southeast to northwest, the shafts being at the northwest end. The southeast end of No, I pit is at the south line of Section 6, Town 46, Range 29, and is 1,300 feet east of the southwest corner of that section. On the surface, the pit is about two hundred feet long and twenty feet wide. Last summer, it was 100 feet long in the bottom by seventy-nine feet deep, and there were about nine feet of first and second class ore Since that time, they have sunk some thirty feet deeper, and report an increase of the width and an improvement in the quality of the ore. No. 2 pit is forty-seven feet northwest from No. 1. It is a small opening only fifty-five feet long, with a short run of ore in the bottom. No. 3 opening, 140 feet northwest from No. 2, is 218 feet long and 110 feet below the surface. Veins of ore are said to vary from five to thirteen feet in thickness. Nos. 3 and 4 pits are only twenty feet apart, and are separated by a pillar of mixed and good ore. No. 4 pit is 113 feet long by 200 feet deep. In the bottom is only five feet of ore. From No. 4 to No. 5 Shaft is 462 feet. The shaft is 133 feet deep. On the southeast side of it, little or no work has been done, but on the west side it is stoped away from twenty to thirty feet. The vein varies from two to seven feet in thickness. No. 6 shaft is 142 feet northwest from No. 5. The lens of ore in this shaft pitches to the northwest on an angle of 40°. The workings extend northwest of the shaft: for 150 feet and under the bay. The lowest level is about one hundred feet below the surface of the bay. In the southeast end of the bottom level is reported ten feet of ore.

Explorations to the northwest of No. 6 Shaft have demonstrated that the same vein of ore upon which they are now mining extends in that direction for nearly three-fourths of a mile, but as yet they have not found the vein of sufficient thickness to warrant opening it for mining operations.

In their main openings, which we have just described, the present lenses are apparently becoming exhausted, but they will undoubtedly find others near at hand, and with this view they are now boring some diamond drill holes in the vicinity of the old pits. The ore is a fine-looking specular slate variety, resembling that of its near neighbor, the Republic, though not of quite as good a quality. Possibly other lenses of it which they have not reached may be fully as good as the Republic.

The officers of the Columbia Iron Company are as follows: President, P. B. Shumway; Secretary and Treasurer, B. H. Jones; General Manager, C. M. Wicker; Sales Agents. A. B. Meeker & Co.

The Lake Superior Iron Company was organized in 1853 with a capital stock of $300,000, which was afterward increased to $500,000. Its original estate, located within the corporate limits of Ishpeming, consisted of 120 acres in Sections 9 and 10, Town 47, Range 27. Additional purchases from time to time since the organization of the company have increased the estate to a total of 6,551 acres.

Though organized in 1853, mining operations were not really commenced until the summer of 1857, and the first shipments were made the following year. The yield for 1881 was 262,235 tons, making a grand total since 1858 of 2,666,456 tons. The monthly product for 1882 is exceeding that of the year previous, which will swell the total product to nearly $3,000,000.

The workings of this company are on a very extensive scale. Their numerous pits and shafts leading to immense underground caverns made in stoping out the ore, the miles of levels and drifts from which the king of metals has been removed, and the many lenses of fine ore upon which the large body of miners is actively engaged at work, and these large pits illuminated by brilliant electric lights forms a picture at once grand, wierd and entrancing, and unfolds some of the possibilities of the human intellect, and of the grand results of labor backed by capital and enterprise.

While it is one of the oldest mines in Marquette County, it enjoys the distinction of having last year achieved the largest product ever reported by any one mine in America, and by which she still further widened the difference in her favor in the amount of aggregate product during the thirty years' history of iron mining on Lake Superior. The first shipments were made in 1858 of 4,658 tons. In 1880, the product reached 204,094 tons, and in 1881 it was 262,235 tons, making a grand total of 2,666,456 tons in twenty-four years.

The company are working in seven shafts, and working in levels from the 280-foot to the 400-foot level.

They have now the largest hoisting drums on Lake Superior, except those of the Calumet & Hecla Copper Mine, which are twenty-five feet in diameter.

The ore is of the hematite variety, and is graded high and low in phosphorus from the different workings.

Under the able management of Mr. C. H. Hall, the gentlemanly Agent, with Mr. Charles Howe as Mining Engineer, and Mr. John McEncroe, as Mining Captain, the continued prosperity of the Lake Superior Mine is fully assured. An average force of about five hundred men is employed.

Officers: J. J. Storer, President; Joseph S. Fay, Jr., Treasurer; A. C. Tenney, Secretary.

Lake Superior Hematite Mine, Ishpeming Group, is owned by the Lake Superior Iron Company; it lies to the south of the main mine. Here is a double skip shaft, down 200 feet below the surface. The opening underground is 450 feet in length and fifty feet wide. About forty thousand tons of ore are raised annually from this mine. A lower level will be started this summer. The pumping engine here pumps also from "A" Shaft and the water for the city of Ishpeming, the water for the latter purpose being drawn from Lake Angeline. The steam for the pumping engine is brought from the boilers at No. 2 Shaft.

Seven diamond drill holes have been sunk during the past year, the deepest being the one on the base ball ground, north of "A" Shaft, down 960 feet. Two other holes struck good deposits of ore.

The electric Bell telephone is used in the mines, and it is the intention to use the electric light also. Among the other important improvements made during the past year, not previously mentioned, is a commodious stone machine shop, supplied with lathes, etc., and run with an engine; also a new Rand's double compressor, which drives the drills in all the mines; sixteen power drills are used. Side tracks connect both with the Chicago & North-Western Railroad and the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad. The mine employs about five hundred men. The officers of the company are: Joseph S. Fay, President; Richard S. Fay, Treasurer; A. C. Towns, Secretary; C. H. Hall, Agent

The Lake Angeline Mine, in the Ishpeming District, is situated on the south side of Lake Angeline, in the north half of Section 15, Town 47, Range 27, and is the property of the Pittsburgh & Lake Angeline Iron Company, which filed its articles of association in 1865. This company owns 1,376 acres of land, purchased of George E. Hall, Esq., under whose auspices the mine was opened in 1863. The officers of the company are: James Laughlins, President; J. H. Outhwaite, Secretary and Treasurer; Alfred Kidder, General Agent; Harvey Diamond, Superintendent. The shipment from this mine in 1864 amounted to 10,500 tons; in 1881 it was 18,060 tons, and the total for seventeen years reached the sum of 525,637 tons.

The workings at the Lake Angeline cover a length of about one thousand feet on a lens of ore having a nearly east and west trend, with a slight dip to the north and an unmistakable pitch to the west. These workings constitute what are really two large open pits, which are separated from each other by a pillar which has been left standing from the surface, and in which the pump shaft is located. Nevertheless, that part of the workings west of the pump shaft are, for better convenience, designated as Nos. 1 and 2, and the ground east of the shaft as Nos. 3 and 4, the designation having reference to the skip roads and derricks rather than to the openings. No. 4 has been entirely worked out while in No. 3 the ore is narrowed down to a comparatively small compass, and owing to heavy falls of rock can no longer be profitably be wrought as an open pit. The plan now is to go under the present bottom from No. 2, and thus secure whatever ore may yet be found in No. 3. In No. 2, there is yet a good show of ore in the bottom, while in No. 1 there is a very marked improvement both as to quantity and quality. There is here a body of ore of the average width of forty feet, extending over a length of about two hundred feet, with the west heading in ore, and the lens apparently making larger in that direction; the ore body in No. 2, which is simply an eastern extension of No. 1, carries a width of about thirty-five feet, and the two together constitute an open pit about five hundred feet long. In the west end, the hard ore is giving way to a soft hematite of excellent quality, and it can be truthfully said that the mine as a whole presents a more promising outlook than at any previous period in its history. The shaft 250 feet north and west of the west end of No. 1 pit, to which brief reference was made in our last annual review, will now be utilized for hoisting purposes. This shaft was sunk through nearly one hundred feet of sand drift into blue hematite, which, however, was not entirely clean. A drift south thirty feet struck clean ore, into which it had been driven at last advices; ten feet. The indications are that the lens either widens out very rapidly in going west, or else takes a turn to the north, as the south end of this drift is at least 100 feet north of a line drawn due west from the open pit. It is the intention to drop the shaft forty feet, and then open up an underground mine.

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