dence here of some of us, Michigan was largely dependent on Ohio for provisions, for beef, pork, flour, butter, etc., but now and for many years, that state of dependence has been changed for one of independence. Now Ohio is dependent on Michigan for her lumber supply; her home supply for salt having failed, she is obliged to come to Michigan for her supply of that very necessary article, and the same is true of Indiana, who was interested with Ohio in robbing us when we were in embryo. In view then, of our advantages as briefly alluded to, our extended and abundant resources, the rapid growth of our state in population, and in all the elements of prosperity, and permanent improvements, our freedom as a state from debt, and enjoying so largely the blessings which our beneficent Creator has lavished upon us, may we not cherish a just pride in the reflection that we are citizens and pioneers of so noble and prosperous a state.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERY OF IRON ORE ON LAKE SUPERIOR.

BY PHILO M. EVERETT.

In 1844 the copper interest of Lake Superior got to fever heat, especially in Boston, by the reports of Professor Jackson, of Boston. A friend of his in Detroit, whom I was then doing business with, gave me the history of Jackson's work in exploring on the shores of Lake Superior, and in the spring of 1845 I determined to visit Lake Superior and see for myself, if possible, what all that talk amounted to. I proposed to some of my friends to join me in a speculation of that nature, and I soon collected thirteen members. The association papers were made out and signed by all the members, and our company was called the Jackson Mining Company of Jackson, Michigan. I then sent to our Senator at Washington, Mr. Norvel, asking him to procure a number of permits from the Secretary of War, giving permission to locate a mile square each any where on the south shore of Lake Superior, for mining purposes, and as the season was advancing I made ready at once to leave for

Lake Superior on receipt of my permits. Our permits were issued on the 16th of June, 1845, and I believe that was the last day permits were ever issued, the transaction of the Secretary of War being declared illegal; but Congress legalized the act and gave permission for any person to locate a mile square on the south shore of Lake Superior by leaving a person in charge of the location. I received our permits on the 19th of June, and on the 20th of June, 1845, I left my home in Jackson for Lake Superior, bought my supplies in Detroit, and took a steamer for Mackinaw, as there was no boat then running direct to the Sault as now. I purchased a coasting boat at Mackinaw and put it on board the General Scott, a small side wheel steamer, making three trips a week from Mackinaw to the Sault. It was said no boat could go up the Sault river then, drawing over nine feet of water.

I was somewhat surprised on arriving at the Sault to find such an immense warehouse for traffic with the Indians of the northwest. My first duty was to transport my coasting boat over the portage of three quarters of a mile and ship the most of my supplies to Copper Harbor, that being copper headquarters. We struck our tent at the head of the portage preparing for a start. The next thing in order was to procure a coaster, one that was familiar with the lake. The thought of coasting along the rocky and desolate shores of Lake Superior, not knowing at any time what we were to meet with next, was not a pleasing one, especially in passing the pictured rocks. It was well known that there were long stretches of coast there where no boat could land and that Lake Superior often got very angry in a few minutes. Louis Nolan was recommended to me as the best man for that purpose in the Sault. He was a large, stout man, well acquainted with the lake and all the northwest. I found him engaged with a trader gathering in fish. He was a little over six feet high, well proportioned, a Frenchman with a slight mixture of Indian blood, with an intelligent countenance and pleasant address, and very polite. I made my business known and inquired if he was well acquainted with the lake. He replied that he had coasted the length of the lake many times, on both sides, and also had traveled many times to Hudson's Bay and had been employed by the fur company for many years as a clerk. Now we think of a clerk as one sitting in any easy chair in a warm office, writing at a desk; but a fur company's clerk is quite a different thing. He must be able to write a fair hand, be a good accountant, and be able to take a ninety pound pack on his back and travel all day from one Indiam camp to another, collecting furs and living entirely on wild meat, mostly rabbits, for the fur companies only supplied bread food enough to last their clerks to headquarters. The ninety pound pack consists of Indian goods, and that is the standard weight of all fur companies' packs. Knowing these facts

He made a proposition

before I was at once satisfied he was the man for us. for the season to pilot, pack and cook for us. The bargain was then concluded, but he wanted two days in which to prepare for the summer trip. It was granted. He now remarked: "You say you are going to Copper Harbor for copper ore; you don't want to go to Copper Harbor for-ore, there is plenty at Carp River. There is more ore back of Carp River (now Marquette) up at Teal Lake than you can ever get away-two mountains of itonly two or three miles apart." I inquired what kind of ore it was. "Don't know much about ore;" and having a few specimens of ore with me, I spread them out and requested him to point out the ore like the ore at Teal Lake. He shook his head, putting his finger on a piece of Galena lead ore saying that was the most like it, but that wasn't it. "It looks like rock, but it wasn't rock, several bowlders lay beside the trail, worn smooth, and shined brightly." "When did you see this ore last?" I inquired. "Thirty six years ago I went from Carp River to Menominee with some Indians, and never having seen anything like it, I distinctly remember it." "How old are you?'' "Most sixty." His description of the ore two or three miles further on was equally surprising. The trail ran along the north side of a bluff, fifty feet high, of solid ore. This description greatly surprised me, for I learned he was a christian man of the Roman Catholic faith, was perfectly truthful and reliable, never used profane language and never got drunk. What could it be? It was not copper, that was evident, for I showed him copper specimens, and that was not it, as he termed it. I had never heard of iron in this district, and therefore thought nothing of its being iron.

Now, as I had two days to wait, I took a stroll about the town. Passing down the portage, I noticed several canoes in the rapids, two Indians in each canoe, standing erect as steadily as if on land. I watched them for several hours, for I had never seen or heard of such a way of taking fish. The man in front soon dipped in his scoop net and took out a large whitefish. It was strange to see how that frail bark canoe could be shot into the foaming rapids, as white as milk, and could be managed by that Indian. The forward one, when he saw a fish, would lay down his setting pole, take up his scoop net, dip up his fish, and again take up his setting pole with surprising ease, and the canoe would again be shot into the foaming rapids still further. Few white men could stand erect in this canoe a single moment. the shore for a long time, scarcely thinking of the passing hours.

I sat on

I next visited the fort, a beautiful site for a city-such a handsome plat of ground on every side. Not far from the fort was the Baptist mission, under the charge of Rev. Mr. Bingham, a very pleasant gentleman. He told me he went on board of a schooner at Buffalo, with his family, bound for the Sault,

if I remember rightly, in 1833, to take charge of the mission. He had a lovely family-his girls were like roses in a wilderness. He told me much of his labors with the Indians; he thought he had done them much good, and I had no doubt of it. He had taught them to read and write, and from my long acquaintance with the Indians in Oneida county, New York, where they had every facility for school and church, I knew that was about all that could be made of them. They seem to lack a capacity for anything further. After they get that far, as soon as they are out of school they will join a dog feast, according to the old Indian custom.

But the two days were now wearing away. Louis reported at our tent for duty with his pack of blankets and tent cloth, together with a shot gun, having the appearance of being manufactured in Queen Anne's time, but it was a deadly weapon, dangerous at both ends, as one of our party could testify a few days afterwards. He ventured to fire it at some game, was knocked sprawling on the ground, and went with a lame shoulder for many days. He said it kicked like a mule. No one of our company had the courage to fire it afterwards during the whole summer.

When we

He was sup

We were not long in finding out that we had made a wise choice in our coaster. He knew every point and every stream that entered the lake. When it came time to camp, he would run the boat ashore at the mouth of a stream where we could catch all the speckled trout we wanted for supper and breakfast. He never left his seat on the stern of the boat. sailed, he steered, and when we rowed he paddled and steered. plied with trolling line, as well as gun. The first day I said to him, "Can't you catch some trout by trolling?" "No trout here; too much sand beach," he said; but one day as we were passing a rocky point he took out his trolling line, saying, "May be we can catch trout here." He threw out his line and a big trout took it before the hook was twenty feet from the stern of the boat, and I saw several others after it. He took in several fine ones in a few minutes and went to winding up his line. I asked him to let me take it and catch a lot. I shall never forget the look he gave me, saying; "What you want of them? you have now more than we can eat; do you wish to waste the Indians' food?" That was a break-down argument. I admitted he was right, and said no more.

On arriving at Teal Lake, we found the ore just as he had described it. There lay the boulders of the trail, made smooth by the atmosphere, bright and shining, but dark colored, and a perpendicular bluff fifty feet in height, of pure solid ore, looking like rock, but not rock, and on climbing a steep elevation of about seventy feet, the ore cropping out in different places all the way, we came, at the top, to a precipice many feet deep. Hundreds of

It

tons of ore that had been thrown down by the frost lay at the bottom. was solid ore, but much leaner than that on the other side. From all that could be seen, it seemed that the whole elevation for half a mile or more was one solid mass of iron ore. No rock could be seen, and all that visited it came to the same conclusion, until the mine was fairly opened. By measurement, the outcrop was found to be three quarters of a mile southwest of the southeast corner of Teal Lake.

The other outcrop, two miles further on, was a beautiful sight. On the north side of the hill it was a pependicular bluff of about fifty feet of pure iron ore and jasper in alternate streaks, but more jasper than iron.

Another small outcrop appeared a mile further on, for several years known as the little location (now known as Lake Superior mine). With all its beauty, that high bluff proved worthless; but the Cleveland mine, near by, only a few rods from its base, was soon discovered, and proved one of the best mines in the country.

On arriving at Copper Harbor, I found the government mineral office on the island opposite the harbor, which in fact formed the harbor. The white tents on the island appeared like an army encampment. Presenting my permit and description, the officer looked it over, saying, "Where is Teal lake? It is not on my map." I told him the Indians called it twenty five miles southwest of Carp river, and it took us a day and a half to go there. That was all I knew about it. He said to me: "Mark the lake on the map." I refused to do so, saying that it might work us an injury, as it was pretty certain to be wrong. He measured off twenty five miles on his map and marked out Teal lake with our permit on the south side, as given in the description. I did not lay a permit on what is now known as the Cleveland, believing, as Louis said, we had all the ore we could ever get away, of the very best quality and nearer the lake, preferring to let some other party take it and help to open the country. I had only seen this kind of rock ore once before. That was twenty miles from Black river in Oneida county, New York, between that place and Lake Champlain. That ore was precisely the same as the specular ore of Lake Superior. At Copper Harbor I met Professor Shepard, of New Haven, Connecticut, and I showed him the iron. He said it was as fine ore as he had ever seen, but thought it nearly worthless as it was so far away; it would be like lifting a weight at the end of a ten foot pole. But when I parted with him in the fall he said he had thought much about that iron, and believed I had better take care of it; the time might come when it would be worth something.

We made explorations in various directions, locating several permits about Houghton, but never paid any attention to them afterwards, turning our