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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BARAGA (Village).
Baraga Village was settled at an early day. Above the hamlet the American Fur Company located, and named it in honor of the late Bishop Baraga. The location of the village, on the southwest shore of Keweenaw Bay is thirty miles north of Houghton, and four miles by road from L'Anse, being only two miles due west across the bay. Education is served by Catholic and common schools; religion, by the Catholic Church, with Rev. G. Terhaust, Pastor; trade, by twelve dealers and tradesmen; and manufacture, by two steam saw-mills. Lumber, shingles, fish and furs form the articles of commerce.
The lighthouse, built in 1878, is a short distance north of Baraga
Hamlet, and a little southwest of Sand Point. Northwest of this point
are the church, orphanage and schools of the Catholic Mission. At this
latter point, Dubay established the American Fur Company's post at an
early day. When Peter Crebassa, the present Postmaster of L'Anse, was
appointed trader, he removed the post, in 1836, to the east shore, near
the location of his present residence, above L'Anse.
There are some lands in the vicinity of Baraga Village which are held
now at $500 per acre. Some short distance from the village, lands may be
purchased from $3 to $10 per acre. The location is favorable in every
respect for a village, and, like its eastern neighbor, it has its hopes
and aspirations for years of progress.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. BARAGA VILLAGE.
CAPT. JAMES BENDRY, proprietor of steam saw-mill and tug and brick yard. The sawmill, is located at Baraga, and brickyard at L'Anse. The subject of this sketch was born in England June 6, 1822. When a lad of twelve years of age, he went to sea as a cabin boy on a merchant ship in the Mediterranean trade. In 1838, he shipped in the American merchant service, sailed between Liverpool and New Orleans and the West Indies; also sailed to Africa and various foreign countries. In 1845, he began sailing on the great lakes of America. He was shipwrecked off New Buffalo while on the brig Indiana. In 1849, was made master of schooner Chippewa; also sailed the schooners Siskowit and Swallow. He was wheelsman of the first steam vessel that sailed on Lake Superior (the propeller Independence), and steered her from the Sault on her first trip up Lake Superior. In 1850, he located at Baraga and engaged in the tug business. In 1851, he built a saw-mill on Fall River, Houghton County, and began lumbering. The mill had a capacity of 33,000 feet per day of ten hours. This mill was burned in 1878. He now has a saw-mill at Baraga which cuts 10,000 feet per day. He was also a part owner in the steamer Ivanhoe, and subsequently sold out to her present owners. Capt. Bendry has been identified with the marine interests of Lake Superior since 1845, and is one of the most widely and favorably known men of this region. His experience has been varied and full of interest, and if fully written up would make an interesting volume of itself. Our space admits only, of a limited sketch. The Captain has been Supervisor of his town some twenty years, and is the present incumbent. His brick-yards at L'Anse were started in 1864. He is owner and master of the steam tug John Ely, with which he does a general towing business.
J. F. SHAFER, proprietor of Hotel Baraga, and half-owner of the Sheldon Mine and Shafer Mine of the Menominee Range; also half-owner of 7,000 acres of land situated in Marquette and Ontonagon Counties. Mr. Shafer was born in Columbia County, N. Y., February 13, 1825. He is the son of John and Sarah Shafer; moved, with his parents, to La Pere, Mich., in 1835, and resided there till 1846. He then came to Lake Superior; was at Marquette when that place was only a trading post. He explored the Upper Peninsula to the Northwest, receiving the appointment of Commissary to the Indians of the St. Croix country. While in discharge of this duty he spent several years among the Sioux Indians in Eastern Minnesota. At one time, his nearest white neighbor was seventy-five miles distant. He led an adventurous life among the Indians for eight years, during which time he witnessed the butchery and mutilation of prisoners of war, and the performance of many strange and barbarous practices. Returning to Lake Superior, he spent the next six years at Ontonagon, going from there to Houghton, and from Houghton to Baraga in 1866. He has made the latter place his home to this date, 1882. Since coming to Baraga, he has kept the Baraga Hotel. About 1872, he became interested in mining on the Menominee Range, with C. D. Sheldon. They have two valuable iron mines partially, developed—the Shafer and the — Mine. They have a tract of 7,000 acres of land in that region. While at Houghton, Mr. Shafer served four years as Marshal of that place, two years as Deputy Sheriff and Jailor, being the first Jailor of that county. He was married, at Houghton, in September, 1860, to Miss Barbara A. Hart, who was born in Illinois. Mr. Shafer is a representative of the more intelligent class of pioneers of Lake Superior. His varied experiences and adventures, faithfully written, would make an interesting volume of itself. Our limited space admits only of the mention of the more important features of his life.
OTHER VILLAGES.
Pequaming, or Pe-qua-qua-wa-ming (Point Village), or Cape Point, seven miles north of L'Anse, on the east shore of the bay, was established by the Hebard & Thurber Lumber Company in 1879. Long years ago, this was an Indian village, but there were no Indians there when Peter Crebassa came, in 1836, as they settled, round the Methodist Mission.
The Hebard & Thurber Lumber Company was organized as a stock company, under the laws of Michigan, in 1878, with an authorized capital of $200,000, which amount is fully paid in. Charles Hebard was elected President; Edward W. Hebard, Vice President; and H. C. Thurber, Secretary and Treasurer. The mills and business headquarters of the company are located at Pequaming, Baraga County. This place is situated on the east side of Keweenaw Bay, about seven miles north of L'Anse, the present terminus of the M. H. & O. R. R. The stock of this company is held exclusively within the families of Messrs. Hebard & Thurber. The entire business of Pequaming, with its 500 inhabitants, is the business of this company. They have a large steam saw-mill and shingle-mill, a well stocked general store, post office, telephone, school, church, and system of water works, while the location is lighted by electric lights. They have daily connection with L'Anse by steam passenger yacht during navigation, and by stage in winter. The company's saw-mill is what is known as a double circular and gang mill, and cuts 25,000,000 feet of lumber annually. It is fitted with the most improved modern machinery, and lighted by Weston's electric light, and has the reputation of turning out the finest lumber cut from the Michigan pineries. They have, including stumpage, about one hundred thousand acres of land, situated in Marquette, Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw Counties. The shingle-mill of this company cuts about twenty-five million shingles annually. The total force employed at the mills numbers 240 men, while a force of 400 more are employed in the woods, getting out logs. The company own and operate, in the transportation of their lumber, logs and supplies, two steam barges, two schooners and two steam tugs. The barges and schooners have a carrying capacity of 1,000,000 feet of lumber each.
The proprietors of Piquaming have, in the short space of four years, developed a magnificent business. By good taste and a proper regard for comfort and pleasure, they have built up a tasty little town. The second growth timber has been spared, and all natural advantages made available to beautify and improve their grounds, till they have succeeded in producing a hamlet about their mills that rivals the attractions of many of the watering places of the West. Telephone communication was obtained in 1879. A school now numbering 110 scholars, and a church station where services are held by the Methodist Mission preacher, were established in the same year. A Sunday school of sixty scholars was organized in 1880.
The Pequaming Post Office was established the same year. and E. W. Hebard appointed Postmaster.
In 1881, the Weston electric light was introduced. Further improvements are in progress.
The proprietors are both in the prime of life, and are happy in the possession of a most flattering business and social reputation. Their whole lives have been passed in the lumber business, in Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan. That they understand their business and are possessed of fine executive ability is proven by their success. They have shown their good judgment in the selection of clerks, foremen and overseers, and seem to have the right man in the right place every time.
Summit Village, on the M. H. & O. R. R., is ten miles southeast of L'Anse. Taylor Mine is five miles south of the county seat. Spurr Mountain is west of the Marquette County line. Other settlements crop up at intervals, all telling what the district promises in the future.
Skanee Village was settled in 1871. It contains a population of 125, principally Germans, and is the seat of a Lutheran society and church. The location, on Ravine River, near its outlet into Huron Bay, was well selected, the bay being an excellent harbor. The industries are confined to lumbering, the timber interests there being valuable. The principal settlers in 1881 were D. Newman, W. Breen, A. Gardberg, P. Hawkenson, P. Holmstrom, J. Smith, O. Zellen and Rev. O. Zellen, Lutheran Reformed Church.
Arvon Village was first settled in 1872, now inhabited by a population of 150. The industrial resources as drawn forth consist in the quarrying and shipment of slates. The village is twelve miles east of L'Anse.
Fewsville, Baraga County, was first settled in 1872. A distillery and barrel factory form the manufacturing industries. Education and religion are represented by a Catholic Church, a convent and two schools. The village is located on Black Creek, the same as referred to under the head of the Catholic Mission.
Sand Point Light, near Baraga Village, was completed in 1878, and the first light made August 10 that year. It is a fifth order light. J. B. Crebassa was appointed keeper in 1878, since which time he has kept the light. Mr. Crebassa kept the light at Portage Entry from 1865 to 1878.
MINES AND MINERS OF BARAGA COUNTY.
Taylor Mine.--This is the most westerly mine in operation at the present time in Baraga County. It is located on the northwest quarter of Section 9, Township 49 north, Range 33 west. Ore was discovered as early as 1872, but no efforts at mining were made until 1878, when a Mr. Morse and James De Camp had a gang of men at work sinking shafts, cross-cutting and cleaning out the old shaft made at the time of the discovery. Exploring pits to the depth of a few feet were sunk in various places over the property, but the work did not amount to anything practically. Mr. Morse made an attempt to work a vein of banded ore on the southwest of the property, which looks like jasper, but it did not prove profitable.
Mr. John Skogberg, Mining Captain, in charge of the work since 1880, was told by Mr. More to open the east shaft. This work was started on the foot wall side on the north, and worked over toward the hanging wall on the south. A cut was made on a slope, so they could drive in with a team. A pocket, sixty-five feet wide in its widest place, was found under a stripping of six feet. Further to the southwest, they encountered a belt of rock on the top of the vein.
In June, 1881, an attempt was made to strip off the rock and uncover the deposit, but it was found to incur so much labor that for the present it has been abandoned.
A shaft west of the old pit, which had been worked out is down in ore 125 feet. The ore deposit at this place is from forty to sixty feet wide, and has been opened up by drifts and cross-cuts 100 feet, when it turned more to the north. This vein is growing narrower as they go down.
One hundred and seventy-five feet further to the west of south, a shaft has been sunk 147 feet 8 inches, and is found to be about thirty-six feet south of the vein, to which a drift will be driven.
As is seen in the different mines in the iron range, the rocks have been faulted and the regularity of the veins broken up, particularly at or near the surface. One hundred and twenty-eight feet below the surface, the rocks appear more horizontal, getting harder and carrying more lime.
The mine is now being worked on the underground plan, and, with forty men, about six thousand tons was mined last winter. A new plant of machinery has been put in and more men employed, and, under Capt. Skogberg's superintendence, there is no doubt but the product will be largely increased. The ore is a fine bessemer hematite, and is eagerly sought after for manufacturing that metal.
H. E. Warner, Esq., is the General Manager; Jay C. Morse, President; Samuel Schoch, Vice President; James Pickards, Secretary and Treasurer.
The Spurr Mine is located in the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 24, Township 48, Range 31, and is the most westerly opening on the magnetic range. It was organized as the Spurr Mountain Mining Company August 16, 1872, with a capital stock or $500,000. Hon. H. N. Walker. of Detroit, President; and Col. Freeman Norvell, General Manager. Work was commenced in September, 1872, but no ore was shipped until the following year. It was at one time considered a mine of large promise, but, owing to mismanagement, which followed the first two years of its existence, it finally, in 1878, collapsed entirely, and passed into the hands of bondholders, by whom it was subsequently sold to a new corporation, organized under the name of the Spurr Iron Mining Company, with general office at Detroit. Active work was commenced by this new company May 12, 1881, under the immediate supervision of Mr. A. C. Davis, an experienced Lake Superior miner. In consequence of the entire abandonment of the mine for so long a time, the first work was to free it from the water which had flooded every part of the old workings, and, owing to the poor condition of the pumps, a longer time was consumed in this work than had at first been anticipated. The examination of the mine, when un-watered, showed no part capable of producing ore at once, and further, that the mine was in an insecure condition, owing to the robbing of the pillars.
In all their operations, the company are scrimping the funds necessary to develop the property rapidly. Yet, with all this to overcome, Mr. W. B. Davis, the present agent, is doing a large amount of work with the limited means he has at hand. No. 2 Shaft, which had been sunk one seventy-foot level, has been carried down another lift of sixty feet, all in ore. Two winzes had been sunk to the east and west of this shaft from the first to the second levels, the one at the east being seven feet from the shaft, was sunk forty feet before ore was reached; the one to the west, forty feet from the shaft, was all in ore. Both winzes have been connected with the shaft. A cut has been made eighteen feet from the hanging wall, all ore, and, from present appearances, the ore cut in the skip will continue and form a new lens. In order to put in the new skip road, it was found necessary to cut through the jasper, and, at eighteen feet, a body of clean ore fourteen feet was reached, the vein having faulted its full width, and been changed in its course from west to southwest.
No. 1 Shaft has been worked, and thirteen feet of ore found there. The sixty-foot skip road has been put down, and Mr. Davis expects to take out 2,000 tons a month. The shaft has been straightened, a new sweep and gutter put in, and an underground winding engine and safer ladder-ways added.
Above ground, the improvements consist in additions to the plant of a new boiler, a compressor, and the painting of all the buildings. Six power-drills and pumping improvements have also been added.
The annual product of the Spurr Mine has been as follows, in gross tons:
In 1873, 31,933; in 1874, 42,068; in 1875, 23,004; in 1876, 20,276; in 1877, 22,801; in 1878, 2,225; in 1879, 1,409; in 1881, 2,746; and to August 1882, 5,489; giving a total of 152,101 tons.
Explorations have been made with the diamond drill on the Stewart property, known as the Orleans Mine, adjoining the Spurr on the west, by Mr. B. M. Caldwell, but, thus far, no valuable results have been obtained. He is working on the north divide, which gave out on the Spurr, their south divide continuing. Previous to 1879, 2,987 tons of ore had been shipped.
NEW MINES.
First and most notable among these is the Wetmore find, on the northwest quarter of Section 25, Town 48, Range 31, which looks as if it might be the largest body of iron ore ever discovered in this district. The first explorations were made last summer, under the immediate supervision of Mr. E. A. Wetmore, who had made a careful study of the geological formation, and was satisfied that the conditions were most favorable to the existence of merchantable ore in the near vicinity. His opinion was verified by a comparatively small amount of work, ore being struck within a few days after explorations were commenced. The first discovery was made on the south half of the 160-acre tract, in a pit located about nine hundred feet west of the east line.
The Wetmore Mine is located to the south and west of the Spurr. An extensive deposit of hematite ore has been discovered, and stripping is going on at the rate of 500 yards a month on the vein. Some thirty or forty exploring shafts have been sunk on the vein down to the mineral. The vein, which is 200 feet between walls, has been traced sixty rods, and test pits have been sunk on it every 200 feet across the tract. This discovery was made on the northwest quarter of Section 25, Town 48, Range 31, on a farm which had been sold by the M. H. & O. R. R. Co. for $3,000, but who had reserved in the deed all minerals, and the right to strip the surface for them. A suit has been instituted to test the title. In the meantime, Mr. Wetmore has bound himself to account for all ore removed, and the work is being rapidly pushed forward. From the present outlook, "there are millions in it."
There are two kinds of ore in the deposit-a yellow ochre lying next to the hanging wall and under it, and constituting the larger part of the whole, what would at first glance be called a hard hematite. This last is, however, in the opinion of Mr. Swineford, really a first-class specular, partly hydrated. This opinion is based on the fact that in every piece examined we found a bright crystalline ore in the center, incrusted on the outside with a hydrate most probably formed by the water which has been leaching through the broken-up part of the ledge for ages past. The further fact that the proportion of bright ore increases and the incrustation decreases in going down, encourages the belief that an exclusively hard red specular ore will be found when the solid ledge is reached. An analysis of this bright ore gave 67.60 per cent of metallic iron, 1.90 silica and .065 of phosphorus, while another analysis made from samples taken at random, and without selection, ran from 59 to 63 per cent in metallic iron.
The property is most advantageously situated for rapid and economical mining. The outlet of Three Lakes, a stream of very considerable size and steady flow, courses along the west line to a point near the southeast corner of the tract, whore it makes a sudden bend, and flows along the base of the hill, in the brow of which the ore body lies at an elevation of from fifty to seventy-five feet above drainage. The river falls from thirty to forty feet in passing around the tract, and can most readily be utilized for the propulsion of all the machinery that will ever be necessary in the operation of the mine—though the elevation is such that no machinery of any kind is likely to be required for several years. It is likewise easy of access by railway, and can be reached by a branch from the Spurr Mine in a distance of less than one mile, over a route that will require very little grading.
The fee of this property is in the Michigan Land and Iron Company, which recently became seized of all the lands embraced in the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad land grant, which have been patented, and from whom Mr. Wetmore and his associates have secured a lease. At the very least, it may be considered a most valuable property, with all the probabilities in favor of its development into a very large mine. No company has yet been organized to work this property, but Mr. Wetmore is proceeding alone in the work of development, stripping for two large open cuts, and making every preparation for the commencement of active mining as soon as a branch railroad track is secured.
The Webster Mine is immediately west of the property last described, on Section 26. The explorations thus far made reveal a body of ore similar in character, and nearly, if not quite, as large as the Wetmore, with which it is undoubtedly continuous. The vein is 175 feet between walls. In exploring pit has been put down in solid ore, which still continues. No. 1 pit is an open cut, nearly an acre stripped, and ore is being taken out. No. 2 is stripped ready for mining.
It is the property in leasehold of the Webster Iron Company, the officers of which are as follows:
President--G. N. Northrop.
Secretary and Treasurer—E. B. Palmer.
Directors—G. N. Northrop, Daniel H. Ball, E. B. Palmer, E. M. Watson.
As soon as they can secure the necessary transportation facilities, by a branch track of the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad, less than a mile long, which will pass close to the Wetmore, they will be ready to ship ore in large quantity.
The Beaufort embraces the south half of the northwest, quarter, and the north half of the southwest quarter of Section 22, Town 48, Range 31, and is the most westerly opening on the upper hematite range, if we except the Taylor Mine, a continuous formation, not having yet been traced that far. This mine is on the lands leased by John Thoney, George Thoney and John McEncroe to B. M. Colwell, who subsequently transferred his lease to the Beaufort Iron Company, of which last Mr. Sol Curry is the General Manager-the controlling interest being held by Milwaukee capitalists. The original explorations consisted of a series of test pits covering a length of about six hundred feet, and a width of 100 feet on the ore-bearing formation, and a shaft forty feet deep, with a drift of twenty feet, the whole exposing an apparently very large body of high-grade mill ore. This deposit has been stripped 500 feet in length and 150 in width, and other preparations for active mining have been energetically carried on, while a large boarding house, barn and other necessary buildings have been erected. A branch track has been located and constructed to enable the company to ship all the ore that can be raised the present season.
The Titan Iron Company.—On Section 21, west of the Beaufort, the Titan Iron Company have sunk a number of pits on the same ore vein as the Beaufort, and have commenced in earnest the work of stripping.
The Clyde Exploring Company are sinking exploring pits on Lot 3, Section 21, with what success was not learned.
The same belt of ore has been found in the southwest quarter of the same section, on lands which are under lease to Dr. Northrop. It is, however, impossible at the present time to give more than a general idea of this upper hematite formation, and of the associated rocks, owing to the superficial character of the explorations thus far had. No true geological survey has ever been made, nor, in fact, any examination looking further than the mere finding of the ore. West of Michigamme, the first work on this range was commenced less than a year ago. East of the lake, while probably of the same age, certain local causes seem to have modified the formation somewhat as to dip, position, etc.; at the west, the ore belt lies above the black clay slates marked in the Brooks Report (XV) and conformable with it. These slates are highly charged with iron pyrites which decompose and form a hard cement or hardpan wherever found in the drift. Between this slate and the ore often occurs a schist varying from a few inches to several feet in thickness, which is in places plumbaginous, carrying quartz and pyrites and again a true actinolite schist. The ore is a limonite, either resulting from the decomposition of a hematite or else associated largely with hematite. The whole surface of the vein or deposit is loose and decomposed, making it impossible to decide absolutely what the condition of the ore may be below the effects of this surface action. Where the vein is well defined, we have on the foot wall a compact black ore, with dull luster and yellow or brownish streak. This ore is extremely hard and brittle, and shows the same evidences of decomposition going on. A marked characteristic of this ore is the small amount of silica it carries, ranging from to 11 per cent. It varies in phosphorus from .2 to .4 per cent, metallic iron about 60, and chemical water as high as 10 per cent. The expulsion of this water by heat leaves an ore carrying from 65 to 68 per cent metallic iron. On the hanging wall side, the ore is a soft yellow and red hematite, higher in iron and silica than the black ore, and lower in phosphorus. Through this soft ore, either as detached fragments or as seams (the seams increasing in number and thickness with depth) is a bright specular ore which, analyzed separately, gives 67 to 68 per cent metallic iron, 2 per cent silica, and from .060 to .065 phosphorus. From the presence of such different ores in the same vein a marked change may be expected in sinking. A friable quartz rock, in places almost a true quartzite, and again a silicious limestone, forms the immediate hanging wall and constitutes the foreign material in the ore. This quartz when it occurs in the ore is distinct in seam and easily separated. Above this quartz occur certain decomposed schists and a greenish slate.