Baraga County MIGenWeb

MIGenWeb Project 

Baraga County

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.

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THIS county was known to the French explorers from the earliest period of their travels along the north shore of Lake Superior. In the history of the martyred Mesnard, descriptions point out the shores of that bay which lends its charms to the county as the home of savage peace and plenty. Evidence of the missionary's presence there have been brought to light; also that little doubt remains of the district being visited by Pere Mesnard and the other priests who succeeded him in that mission. The story of Mesnard's death, though related by voyageurs, bears upon it the impress of many truths, but the precise location of the spot on which he was murdered is not known. Within a few rods of the second post of the American Fur Company, on the east shore of the bay, a silver cross was found long years ago by Peter Crebassa, which Indian tradition pointed out as once belonging to the martyred Frenchman.

Some years after the death of Pere Mesnard, the missionaries from the La Pointe visited the bay, and even down to the period of the American Revolution the locality was known to the couriers des bois. Again the place seems to have been forgotten by white men, until the enterprise of the American Fur Company brought it into notice. Some years later, the Methodist Mission was established; immediately following, the Catholic Mission was established, and next came the American pioneers to build villages and mills, to draw forth all the resources of the land. The beginning promised success; but on account of miscalculation, or ignorance, of the true means to carry on the mines and quarries, and a total neglect of agriculture, many of those great beginnings never bloomed.

These facts were made clear in the history of the slate manufacturing industry—an industry in which there lies more wealth, if properly conducted, than in the most productive of the Western gold mines.

The Clinton and the Huron Bay Slate quarries, northeast of L'Anse, were begun in 1872 by Thomas Brown and P. Wetmore, with John J. Williams as superintendent, under whom the quarries were opened. He was succeeded by H. A. Downs, in 1875. The works closed down in 1877, and were not reopened until 1881, with N. A. Litchfield in charge. The name was changed to the Michigan Slate Company. The slate is a dark blue of first-class quality. It was first used on the M. E. Church at L'Anse, in 1874, when that edifice was built.

The Lloyd & Roberts quarry was started in 1877. This is located about two miles southwest of L'Anse, and is supposed to possess the most extensive slate strata in the county. The quarry is at present unworked.

The Shields quarry shows a marbleized or blue gray slate well adapted to the mantel-piece and table manufacturers. The sum of $15,000 was expended on this quarry; yet this valuable deposit is unworked at present.

The Silver River Slate quarry was worked for graphite and silver. This industry is now closed down.

There are two brown stone quarries near L'Anse, on the property of Peter Crebassa, and one opened by T. T. Hurley, of Marquette, in 1874.

The following notice of the Bay Slate Company's quarries from the State reports, for 1882, says: It will be remembered that the Huron Bay Slate Company which began work in 1872, ended its career, as did also that of its neighbor, the Clinton Slate Company, in complete ruin. The panic came on soon after the companies were fairly started, which, with previous unfortunate management, caused the disaster of what should certainly be a successful undertaking.

Subsequently, the property owned by the Huron Bay Slate and Iron Company, the Clinton Slate and Iron Company, and the Superior Slate and Mining Company, was purchased by a party of gentlemen from Jackson and Lansing, Mich., who have organized the Michigan Slate Company, and transferred to it the lands and property formerly possessed by the three previously mentioned companies. This estate comprises 6,300 acres of land in Town 51, Range 31, and extends to the shore of Huron Bay. The capital stock is $500,000, divided into 20,000 shares. Of this capital stock, $400,000 has been paid up, leaving $100,000 to be called in as the needs of the company may require.

The officers are: James M. Turner, President, Lansing, Mich.; W. K. Prudden, Secretary and Treasurer; J. M. Turner, S. F. Seager, S. L. Smith, Lansing, Mich.; C. R. Knickerbocker, W. D. Thompson, Jackson, Mich., Board of Directors.

The new company began work at the quarry in the fall of 1881, and have thus far built a new stone engine house, and placed in it a seventy-five horse-power engine, for hoisting and pumping; have built a small saw mill to obtain, for immediate use, the timber and lumber required for repairing the buildings and erecting new ones, etc. The tramway has been overhauled and repaired, and on a portion of the way heavier rails put down to replace those formerly used. The dock has also been rebuilt, and the quarries are supplied with modern slate tools and machinery. In fact, a good degree of preparation has been made to get out a considerable product the coming year.

The company claim to have orders from New Orleans to the Pacific for this slate, to be used in covering public buildings where first class slate is required. The new State capitol building of Texas is to be covered with it, and several other important edifices, including the new University Library building at Ann Arbor.

The slate is receiving high praise everywhere. Good architects and judges pronounce it the strongest, clearest in color and the most durable of any produced in this country. Its cleavage planes are very true, so that the slates lie very perfectly and oven, forming a smooth, durable roof.

There is no reason to doubt the existence of a practically inexhaustible deposit of most excellent slate rock, so situated as to be readily mined and manipulated, and got into market as cheaply as can be done elsewhere.

The company is said to be composed of gentlemen who possess almost unlimited capital, and who are likewise thoroughgoing, practical business men, who are nearly certain to carry on the business successfully, and in the not distant future to make the Huron Bay Slate product one of the chief industries in the Upper Peninsula.

The discoveries of mineral during the year 1882 in Baraga County seem to corroborate the statement that a legitimate bed of ore, of considerable magnitude, exists in a portion, at least, of that county, and is probably distinct from any of the ranges classified among the "Marquette ranges." A careful perusal, however, of the very best geological reports fails to discover any mention whatever made in regard to the formation, indications or general strata of that section, and the inquiry is naturally prompted as to the reason of this silence. If geologists have traveled that country through, as they claim to have done, it is very strange that an encouragement has not been given to explorers by them. After the mines are found and partially developed, machinery put in and shipments commenced, it will be an easy matter for a geological party to describe the various indications and tell how favorable that country always appeared from a mineral standpoint. This may not be done, but if the Farm Mine does not, within one year, prove to be a Chapin in magnitude, and the Webster and Beaufort strong rivals for the supremacy of that range, there is little faith to be placed in geological evidences.

In August, 1882, the Churn drill bored through fourteen feet of ore at the Baraga, striking what is believed to be the footwall of a workable deposit. The drill was then moved some distance north, and at last advices was boring in rock which corresponds with the hanging of the several mines on that range.

It would not be a matter of surprise to see this non producing county of the present take rank among the greatest mining ranges of the future.

In September, 1882, a vein of plumbago was discovered near L'Anse. It is said to be twenty feet in width, and of a very superior quality.

Apart from the wealth of mineral which is hidden beneath the soil, there is enough on the surface to give every hope for progress. The county, particularly along its water front, is exceptionally beautiful. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the Bay Shore would be the Baraga and Methodist Missions. There, following the steps of the martyred Pere Mesnard, Rev. Frederick Baraga began the organization of a Christian congregation, and laid the foundations of all that excellence which now pertains to the west side mission. The beauty of location, the church, the convent, orphanage, schools and residences; the homes of the Indians, the beautiful bay opening into the great Superior; the church and buildings of the Methodist Mission; Sand Point lighthouse, Pewaquaming, and the two villages near the foot of the bay, all offer a coup d'oeul of unexcelled splendor—leading the thinking man to conclude that the Indians had their heaven here, even as the venerable Baraga, the Christian Pitezell and other missionaries made it one for themselves.

In the Indian history of the Peninsula, reference is made to the settlement of the Keweenaw bands. The first Indian farmer was Charles Carrier. D. D. Brockway, now of Eagle River, was the Indian blacksmith, and C. M. Johnston the Indian carpenter. Among the best known chiefs of the bands were Pinnisha, who died in 1867, and whose son is now the chief of the band at Baraga. David King, who died in 1880, was chief of the band at the Methodist Mission. William Owen is the present chief of that band. Peter Maxwell and others long connected with the John Sunday Indians are still living in the county.

The first birth and death among the English speaking settlers of Baraga County, and perhaps in the Upper Peninsula, with the exception of Mackinac County, was that of one of Charles Carrier's children. Carrier was an employee of the Indian Department as farmer at the Indian Mission. Miss Sarah Brockway, daughter of W. H. Brockway, was the second white child (of English speaking parents) born in the county. The following references to the first American settlements in the county are taken from Mr. Brockway's reminiscences:

D. D. Brockway, agent of the Cliff Mine, and President of the Atlas Mining Company, settled at L'Anse in 1843, as Indian blacksmith in the employ of the United States Government, under the treaty with the Indians. July 17, 1844, Sarah L. Brockway, afterward Mrs. Scott, was born. C. T. Carrier was the farmer and carpenter, whose wife had a child born some three months previous to the birth of Mrs. Scott, which only lived about two years. Cornelius M. Johnson, the carpenter, died while on a visit to his brother beyond Ontonagon in 1846. Rev. G. W. Brown was at the mission when Mr. Brockway and family arrived. The mission was established in 1833-34 by Rev. John Sunday, a native who preached there in 1833, and Rev. John Clark in 1834.

The Brockway family were detained at the Sault six weeks and three days, waiting for a vessel to take them to L'Anse; they were met at the Sault by Mr. Carrier and family and went on together.

After the troops were sent in, they had one mail a month; but the first eleven months after their arrival, they had no mail. The Chippewa was the first vessel to bring the mail. Mrs. Brockway was out getting some wood when the vessel hove in sight, and was so rejoiced, she exclaimed, in the Indian dialect, Nahbequan, Nahbequan, which means a sail vessel, a sail vessel! This cry was immediately taken up by the Indians under the hill and the joyful shout went round. Miss Anna M. Brockway, daughter of the Indian blacksmith, is studying medicine at the Michigan University, where she purposes to graduate as the first female M. D. from the Upper Peninsula.

ORGANIC HISTORY.

Baraga County was organized under authority granted by act of Legislature, approved February 19, 1875. The act is summarized as follows:

That Townships 50, 51, 52 and 53 north, of Range 30 west; Townships 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 north, of Range 31. west; Townships 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 and 52 north, of Range 32 west; Townships 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, and that part of Town 52 north lying east of Sturgeon River, of Range 33 west; that part of Town 47 north, lying east of the South Branch of Sturgeon River; Townships 48, 49, 50 and that part of Townships 51 and 52 north, lying east of Sturgeon River, of Range 34 west; that part of Townships 47, 48, 49 and 50 north, lying east of the Sturgeon River, or the South Branch thereof, of Range 35 west, is hereby detached from the county of Houghton, and is hereby organized into a county to be known and designated as the county of Baraga. The county seat of said county is hereby established at the village of L'Anse.

Nothing herein contained shall be construed as conferring upon the county of Baraga the lands belonging to the county of Houghton, but lying within said county of Baraga. But the vacant lands belonging to the county of Houghton, whether lying within the county of Baraga or elsewhere, shall be apportioned between the counties of Houghton and Baraga, in the same manner as the other property of Houghton County is to be apportioned under existing laws.

There shall be elected in said county of Baraga at the next annual meeting in the several townships in said county, to be held on the first Monday of April, in the year 1875, all the several county officers to which by law the said county is entitled, and said election shall in all respects be conducted and held in the manner prescribed by law for holding elections for county and State officers, and said officers so elected shall, after having duly qualified according to law, enter upon the duties of their respective offices on the first Monday of May following, and hold the same until the first day of January, 1877. The county officers of Houghton shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties now devolving on them, in the territory taken from said county until the county officers of Baraga shall be elected and qualified.

And the Board of Canvassers of said county under this act shall consist of the presiding Inspectors of Elections from each township therein, and said Inspectors shall meet at the village of L'Anse, in said county, on the second Tuesday after the election, and organize by appointing one of their number Chairman and another Secretary of said board, and shall thereupon discharge all duties of a Board of County Canvassers for county and State officers.

The said county of Baraga shall have concurrent jurisdiction on Lake Superior with the counties contiguous thereto, and shall form a part of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit.

L'Anse, the county seat, as above indicated in Section 5, is now the western terminus of the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad. It was named by the early French discoverers L'Anse, signifying "the bay " or arch.

The first meeting for election of county officers was held April 13, 1875. Walfred Been, Supervisor of Arvon; James Bendry, of Baraga; William H. Morrison, of Spurr, and E. L. Mason, of L'Anse, with James Bendry, Chairman, and E. L. Mason, Secretary, were present. The statement of votes is as follows:

 The first election for President held in the county was that of 1876. The vote for Tilden and Hendricks was 232; for Hayes and Wheeler, 218.

The officers of the county since its organization are named as follows:

It is said that now there is not a lawyer in the county to represent the office of Prosecuting Attorney, all having left for other fields.

The four townships of the county are L'Anse, Baraga, Arvon and Spurr. They were organized previous to the organization of the county as towns of Houghton. The following named Supervisors have served since 1875:

The total valuation of Houghton County previous to the detachment of Baraga was $3,401,705; after the division, $2,838,182. The valuation of Baraga County in 1875 was $563,523.

Baraga County received one-sixth of the total swamp lands, or one-sixth of 39,600 acres, the number of acres granted to Houghton County in aid of State road.

The taxable property of each township as equalized in October, 1875, was as follows: L'Anse, $272,590; Arvon, $120,865; Baraga, $143,240, and Spurr, $196,895, or a total of $733,500. The taxes levied in 1875-76 amounted to $11, 003.85.

COUNTY COURT HOUSE.

The question of erecting a county court house was brought before the people in the summer of 1882, and a vote taken on raising a loan of $10,000 for building it. The project was sustained by a vote of 158 against 95. As there is a sufficient sum in the county treasury to meet this expenditure, the question of issuing bonds has not yet been decided. The proposed site is near the house of Capt. Bendry, which is now the county building. This house was moved down the bay from Hancock in 1872.

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