Old Mackinaw Part 4

CHAPTER VI.

Lake Superior -- Scenery -- Transparency of its waters -- Climate -- Isle Royale -- Apostles' Islands -- La Point -- Thunder Cape -- Cariboo Point -- A wonderful lake -- Romantic scenery -- Pictured Rocks -- Rock Castle -- The Grand Portal -- The Chapel -- Fluctuations in the waters of Lake Superior -- Curious phenomena -- Retrocession of the waters -- Mirage -- Iron mountains and mines -- Description of -- Products -- Shipments -- Copper -- Immense boulders -- Produce of the mines for 1857 -- Shipment of copper from the Lake for 1858 -- Centre of the mining country -- Iron Mountains -- Copper mines of Great Britain -- Coal -- Mackinaw, a great manufacturing point -- Key to the Upper Lakes -- Commerce of Lakes -- Growth of cities.

Lake Superior, though it possesses not all the vastness of the ocean, is yet equal in sublimity. In gazing upon its surface, whether spread out like a vast mirror reflecting the varying tints of the sky, or ruffled by gently curling waves, or lashed into fury by the tempest, one is impressed with the idea of the Infinite. It is known to be the largest body of fresh water on the globe, being nearly four hundred miles long from east to west, and one hundred and thirty wide. It is the grand reservoir from whence proceed the waters of Michigan, Huron, and Erie. It gives birth to Niagara, the wonder of the world, fills the basin of Ontario, and rolls a mighty flood down the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic.

This lake lies in the bosom of a mountainous region, where the Indian yet reigns and roams in his wonted freedom. Except an occasional picketed fort or trading house, it is yet a perfect wilderness. The entire country is rocky and covered with a stunted growth of vegetation such as is usual in high lat.i.tudes. The waters of this lake are marvelously clear, and, even at midsummer, are exceedingly cold.

Mr. Charles Lanman, who has written a most admirable book, ent.i.tled "Summer in the Wilderness," says, "In pa.s.sing along its rocky sh.o.r.es, in my frail canoe, I have often been alarmed at the sight of a sunken boulder, which I fancied must be near the top, and on further investigation have found myself to be upward of twenty feet from the danger of a concussion. I have frequently lowered a white rag to the depth of one hundred feet and been able to discern its every fold or stain. The color of the water near the sh.o.r.e is a deep green; but off soundings it has all the dark blue of the ocean."

Speaking of the climate, he says: "In midsummer it is beyond compare, the air is soft and bracing at the same time. A healthier region does not exist on the earth, an a.s.sertion corroborated by the fact, that the inhabitants usually live to an advanced age, notwithstanding the many hardships. The common diseases of mankind are here comparatively unknown, and I have never seen an individual whose breast did not swell with a new emotion of delight as he inhaled the air of this northern wilderness."

The largest island in Lake Superior is Isle Royale. It is forty miles in length and from six to ten miles in width. Its hills reach an alt.i.tude of four hundred feet. During the winter season it is entirely uninhabited, but in the summer it is frequently visited, particularly by copper speculators. Near the western extremity of the lake are the Apostles' Islands, which are detachments of a peninsula running out in the same direction with Keweenaw, which is known as La Point. The group consist of three islands, which rise like gems from the water.

There is a dreamy summer about them which make them enticing as the Hesperides of the ancients.

The two most prominent peninsulas are Thunder Cape and Cariboo Point.

Thunder Cape is about fourteen hundred feet high. It looms up against the sky in grandeur, and is a most romantic spot. Cariboo Point is less lofty and grand in its appearance, but is celebrated for its unknown hieroglyphics painted upon its summits by a race which has long since pa.s.sed away. In the vicinity of the bluff are found the most beautiful agates in the world.

In the northeastern part of the lake is an island situated about twenty miles from the Canadian sh.o.r.e, which has a wonderful lake in its centre, about one mile in length. It is as beautiful as it is wonderful. It is imbosomed in the fastnesses of perpendicular cliffs, which rise to a height of seven hundred feet. It has but one outlet and is impa.s.sable even to a canoe. At the opening of this narrow chasm stands a column of solid rock which has a base of about one hundred feet in diameter. The column rises, gradually tapering until it reaches a height of eight hundred feet. A solitary pine surmounts the summit of this wonderful column. There it stands like the sentinel of this calm, deep lake, whose silence and solitude are rarely ever broken, and whose tranquil bosom has never been ruffled by the slightest breeze.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rock Chapel.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Castles.]

The scenery on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior is in some places of the most romantic character. About one hundred miles west of Saut St.

Mary, a range of cliffs are to be seen, what has been called the "Pictured Rocks." They are a series of sandstone bluffs extending along the sh.o.r.e of the lake for about five miles, and rising, in most places vertically from the water, from fifty to two hundred feet in height. These towering cliffs have been worn away by the action of the lake, which for centuries has dashed an ocean-like surf against their base. The surface of these rocks has been, in large portions, strangely colored by bands of brilliant hues, which present to the eye of the voyager a singularly pleasing appearance. One of these cliffs resembles so much the turreted entrance and arched portal of some old feudal castle that it has been called "Rock Castle." Beyond this is another architectural curiosity, denominated "The Grand Portal," which consists of an arched opening in the rocks. The cliff is composed of a vast ma.s.s, of a rectilinear shape, projecting out into the lake six hundred feet, and presenting a front of three hundred feet, and rising to a height of two hundred feet. An entrance has been excavated from one side to the other, opening out into large vaulted pa.s.sages which communicate with the great dome, some three hundred feet from the front of the cliff. The Grand Portal, which opens out on the lake, is of magnificent dimensions, being one hundred feet high, and one hundred and sixty-eight feet wide at the water level. The distance from the verge of the cliff, over the arch to the water, is one hundred and thirty-three feet, leaving three feet for the thickness of the rock above the arch itself. The extreme height of the cliff is about fifty feet more, making in all one hundred and eighty-three feet. It is impossible, adequately, to describe this wonderful scene.

The vast dimensions of the cavern, the vaulted pa.s.sages, the rare combination of colors, the varied effects of the light as it streams through the great arch and falls on the different objects; the deep, emerald green of the water, the unvarying swell of the lake, keeping up a succession of musical echoes; the reverberation of one's voice coming back with startling effect, must all be seen and heard to be fully appreciated.

Not far from this point is "The chapel" of the voyagers which nature has cut out of the cliff thirty or forty feet above the lake. The interior consists of a s.p.a.cious vaulted apartment. An arched roof from ten to twenty feet in thickness rests on four gigantic columns of rock. These columns consist of finely stratified rock, and have been worn into curious shapes. At the base of one of these pillars an arched cavity or niche has been cut, access to which is had by a flight of steps formed by the projecting strata. The arrangement of the whole resembles very much the pulpit of a church, while the arched canopy in front, opening out to the voluted interior, with a flat tabular ma.s.s rising to a convenient height for a desk, and an isolated block resembling an altar, all fashioned as appropriately as if formed by the hand of man, constantly impresses one that he is within the walls of a church.

In the Geological Report, made by Foster and Whitney, to Congress, we find the following remark: "It is a matter of surprise, that so far as we know, none of our artists, have visited this region, and given to the world representations of scenery, so striking and so different from any which can be found elsewhere. We can hardly conceive of any thing more worthy of the artist's pencil, and if the tide of pleasure-travel should once be turned in this direction, it seems not unreasonable to suppose, that a fashionable hotel may yet be built under the shade of the pine groves near the chapel, and a trip thither become as common as one to Niagara now is."

Beyond the grand portal, the rock, being less exposed to the force of the waves, bears fewer marks of their destructive action. The entrance to Chapel river is at the most easterly extremity of a sandy beach, which extends for a quarter of a mile, and affords a convenient landing place, while the drift terrace elevated about thirty feet above the level of the lake, being an open pine plain, affords excellent camping ground, and is the most central and convenient spot for the traveler to pitch his tent, while he examines the most interesting localities in the series which occur in the vicinity, particularly the Castle and the Chapel.

One who had resided upon the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior for several summers says, "Our attention has been directed to the fluctuations in the level of its waters, and while we have failed to detect any ebb and flow corresponding with the tidal action, we have on the other hand noticed certain extraordinary swells, which appear to be independent of the action of the sun and moon." The Jesuit Fathers in 1670-1, had their attention called to these extraordinary swells. In their "Relations," they say, "We found at one time the motion of the waters to be regular and at others extremely fluctuating. We have noticed however, that at full moon and new moon, the tides change once a day for eight or ten days, while during the remainder of the time there is hardly any change perceptible. The currents set almost invariably in one direction, namely toward Lake Michigan, and they almost invariably set against the wind, sometimes with great force."

Mackenzie who wrote in 1789, relates a very curious phenomenon, which occurred at Grand Portage, on Lake Superior, and for which no obvious cause could be a.s.signed. He says, "the water withdrew, leaving the ground dry, which had never before been visible, the fall being equal to four perpendicular feet, and rushing back with great velocity above the common mark. It continued thus rising and falling for several hours, gradually increasing until it stopped at its usual height."

Professor Mather, who observed the barometer at Copper Harbor during the prevalence of one of these fluctuations, remarks, "As a general thing, fluctuations in the barometer accompanied the fluctuations in the level of the water, but sometimes the water level varied rapidly in the harbor, while no such variations occurred in the barometer at the place of observation. The variations in the level of the water may be caused by varied barometric pressure of the air on the water, either at the place of observation or at some distant points. A local increased pressure of the atmosphere at the place of observation would lower the water level, where there is a wide expanse of water; or a diminished pressure, under the same circ.u.mstances, would cause the water to rise above its usual level."

In the summer of 1834, according to the report of Foster and Whitney, made to Congress, in 1850, an extraordinary retrocession of the waters took place at Saut St. Mary. The river here is nearly a mile in width, and the depth of the water over the sandstone rapids is about two and a half feet. The phenomenon occurred at noon. The day was calm but cloudy; the water retired suddenly, leaving the bed of the river bare, except for the distance of about twenty rods where the channel is deepest, and remained so for the s.p.a.ce of an hour. Persons went out and caught fish in the pools formed in the rocky cavities. The return of the waters was sudden and presented a sublime spectacle. They came down like an immense surge, roaring and foaming, and those who had incautiously wandered into the river bed, had barely time to escape being overwhelmed. A similar event occurred in 1842, when the current set back from the rapids, and the water rose upward of two feet above the usual mark.

In 1845, Foster and Whitney, while coasting in an open boat between Copper Harbor and Eagle River, observed the water rise up, at a distance of a fourth of a mile to the northwest, to the height of twenty feet. It curled over like an immense surge, crested with foam and swept toward the sh.o.r.e. It was succeeded by two or three swells of less magnitude, when the lake resumed its former tranquillity. At the same time the mirage was beautifully displayed, and imaginary islands were seen along the horizon. In 1849, they witnessed at Rock Harbor, Isle Royale, the ebbing and flowing of the water, recurring at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes, during the entire afternoon.

The difference between the temperature of the air and the lake, gives rise to a variety of optical illusions known as _mirage_. Mountains are seen with inverted cones, headlands project from the sh.o.r.e where none exist. Islands clothed with verdure or girt with cliffs rise up from the bosom of the lake. On approaching Keweenaw Point, Mount Houghton is the first object to greet the eye of the mariner. In peculiar stages of the atmosphere, its summit is seen inverted in the sky long before the mountain itself is visible. On the north sh.o.r.e the Paps, two elevated mountains near the entrance of Neepigon Bay, at one time appear like hour gla.s.ses, and at another like craters, emitting long columns of smoke, which gradually settles around their cones.

The mines and minerals of the northwest const.i.tute the most striking feature of the country, and at the present time one of the great sources of its wealth.

The centre of the mining country is called the Superior country, or the northern peninsula of Michigan, but there is no reason to believe it is confined to this region. Coal and iron, the most valuable of all minerals are found in various places in the northwest. The princ.i.p.al and most valuable minerals found west of Mackinaw, are iron, copper, and lead. A general view of the mineral region may be found in Owen's Geological Survey of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Superior. Great beds of iron are found in ridges or cliffs, some of which rise up to an immense height. Some of these ore-beds of Lake Superior are fifteen feet in thickness, and one of them contains iron enough to supply the world for ages. Above them are immense forests, suitable for charcoal.

The discovery of the iron mountains and mines of Lake Superior was made in 1846, but they were not fully developed until the year 1855, when the ship ca.n.a.l at Saut St. Mary was completed. The mines are from three to sixteen miles from Marquette, a thriving village of upward of one thousand inhabitants, overlooking the lake, about one hundred and forty miles above the Saut. The mine nearest the lake is about two and a half miles distant from Marquette, and bears the name of Eureka. The ore is said to be of surpa.s.sing richness, and yields an iron of the best quality, adapted to cutlery. The Jackson iron mountain, and the Cleveland iron mountain, are fourteen and sixteen miles distant. They send to Marquette an aggregate of one thousand tons per week. These mountains rise gradually to the height of six or seven hundred feet, and are a solid ma.s.s of iron ore, yielding from 50 to 60 per cent. of the best iron. The New England iron mountain is two and a half miles beyond the Cleveland mountain, and abounds with ore of equal richness.

A mile or two further is the Burt mountain, and the same may be said of this, both as it regards quant.i.ty and quality, as of the others. A railroad has been constructed from Marquette to the iron regions, and immense quant.i.ties of ore and iron are transported over it daily.

All the hills and mountains surrounding Lake Superior, abound in valuable minerals of which copper is the most abundant. It exists in every variety of form. According to the opinion of the lamented Houghton, this region contains the most extensive copper mines in the known world. The native copper boulder discovered by the traveler Henry in the bed of the Ontonagon river, and now in Washington, originally weighed thirty-eight hundred pounds. A copper ma.s.s of the same material, found near Copper Harbor, weighed twelve hundred pounds. At Copper Falls, there is a vein of solid ore which measures nine feet in depth, and seven and a half inches in thickness. At Eagle river a boulder was found weighing seventeen hundred pounds. The number of mining companies in operation on the American sh.o.r.e is upward of a hundred.

The Minnesota mine, fifteen miles from Ontonagon, during the year ending January 1, 1857, produced 3,718,403 pounds of copper. The Cliff mine during the year, produced 3,291,229 pounds of copper. The Portage Lake District, including Isle Royale, Portage, Huron, Quincy and Pewabic shipped 539 tons of copper in 1857.

The Lake Superior miners estimate the total shipment of copper mineral from the lake during the year 1858, at 6,008 tons, of an average purity of 67 per cent--making the product of ingot copper about 4,000 tons, worth in the market at present $1,840,000. Estimating the population of the copper region at 6,500 persons, this gives an annual product of about $280 for each man, woman and child. The shipments were as follows: From Keweenaw Point 2,180 tons; from Portage Lake 1,152 tons; from Ontonagon District 2,676 tons; total 6,008 tons.

The extent and importance of the copper mines of Superior, in relation to the general trade in that metal, may be estimated by the following account of the amount of pure copper produced in other parts of the world. The United Kingdom of Great Britain 14,465 tons, Norway 7,200 tons, Russia 4,000, Mexico 500, Hesse Ca.s.sel 500, Hartz Mountains 212; Sweden 2,000, Hungary 2,000, East Germany 443; making a total, out of America, of 30,820 tons. The single District of Ontonagon can produce as much copper as the entire Kingdom of Great Britain. The copper mines of the United States, are doing their part as effectually in adding to the solid wealth of the country, as the gold mines of California, or the silver mines of the Arizonia. The copper mining countries are another ill.u.s.tration of the principle upon which success is based, namely, that concentrated talent, effort and capital are necessary to a development of the resources of a country.

When we look into the manufacture of this article, we shall find a new element in the future growth of towns to arise in this region. At present, a large portion of this copper is shipped abroad to be smelted. But is there not every reason, as well of economy as of material, for carrying on smelting, and all other manufacturing processes, at the point of production? The cost of transporting the raw material is greater than that of carrying the manufactured product. But when all the elements of successful manufacturing exist where the raw material is found, then the economy of the process is doubled. Of metals, of navigation, of food, we have shown there is an inexhaustible supply. But there is also coal near enough to supply the last and only material which might be supposed wanting. Coal is found in the Southern Peninsula of Michigan, in abundance and of good quality. This coal is found at Jackson and at Lansing. This was a matter of so much importance that Prof. Douglas, of the State University, proceeded immediately to a.n.a.lyze it.

The following are the princ.i.p.al results of his a.n.a.lysis. It was made chiefly in reference to the manufacture of gas:--

"The coal was of the bituminous variety, having a jet black color and slaty structure. It was readily ignited, burning with a dull flame and smoke, the fragments comminuting more or less by the heat. It had a specific gravity of about 1.25.

"100 parts gave volatile matter 50.780, sulphur 4.028, iron 4.400, ash 8.400, carbon (not volatilized) 41.600.

"The value of coal for the manufacture of gas is usually estimated by the amount of volatile matter it yields at a full red-heat."

Of ten samples of English coal, this had more volatile matter than six. Of American coals, it had more of the burning principle than any, except one. The quality of this coal is unquestionably good, and its distance from Mackinaw is no objection, since access can be obtained both by water and railroad. Both the coal and iron used in the manufactures of Cincinnati are brought from places distant from one hundred to five hundred miles; and yet scarcely any place in America has prospered more by manufactures than the Queen of the West.

Mackinaw has more than the advantages of Cincinnati for manufactures.

It not only has iron and coal, but copper and lead, near enough for all the purposes of successful manufacture. Favorable indications of coal exist within fifty miles south of the Straits, and indications also exist of lead. When we consider these facts, and the vast extent of country, of inland oceans, and of streams around it, why should not Mackinaw be a point of concentration for manufactures, as well as of distribution for commerce?

Mackinaw is centrally situated in the mineral region, and with coal and hard wood for charcoal in perpetual abundance, and the cheapest possible mode of transportation, will become a great manufacturing point, and be able to manufacture innumerable articles, which are now made in Europe, and which our people have been compelled to import for use, simply because the material hitherto employed has been of a quality unsuitable for such purposes. Besides the healthful and bracing temperature of this locality, when compared with Ohio and Pennsylvania, whose summers are found to be exceedingly enervating, especially to those employed in the manufacture of iron, affords advantages, and offers inducements which cannot be overlooked, since in the physical strength and comfort of the workmen, is involved the all-important question of economy. If it should be asked, is the site such that a great city can be built upon it, without imperial wealth, like to that of St. Petersburg, or with the artificial foundations like to those of Chicago, or bankrupting successive companies like Cairo on the Ohio,--the answer is at hand and decisive. At Mackinaw there are no marshes to fill up or drain, no tide sands, no flood-washed banks, no narrow and isolated rocks or ridges, to intercept the progress of commercial growth and activity. On the contrary, the lake rises under the heaviest rains but little, and breaks its waves on a dry sh.o.r.e rising gradually far above its level.

There is no better natural site for the foundation of a city in the world, nor one possessing more inviting or beautiful surroundings, and when we consider its available resources, it is evident that nothing can prevent its rise and progress. The straits are so completely the key of the Upper Lakes, Mackinaw must, as in the days of the fur trade, unlock the vast treasures of the entire northwest. The sh.o.r.e of Lake Superior, being but about fifty miles north of Mackinaw and dependent on a ca.n.a.l navigation, annually navigable sixty days less than the straits, on account of ice, to say nothing of breakage, it is perfectly obvious that there can be no competing city further north.

The following from the Toledo Blade shows the immense importance of this point as a key position:

"The immense commerce of the lakes, the growth of which has been unparalleled by anything in the history of the world, and the vast mineral, timber and agricultural resources of their sh.o.r.es, which are even now, only beginning to attract attention, may well awaken a desire on the part of enterprise to get possession of the key position which is to command and unlock the future treasures of this vast empire. Already, six important commercial cities, with an aggregate population of about 350,000 inhabitants, have sprung up on these island waters, and are the most flourishing of any away from the Atlantic coast. Others are struggling into notoriety on the borders of Lake Superior, and must, at no very distant time, become important and active places of business. But the place of all others, where we would expect a city to spring up and grow rapidly into importance, is still undeveloped.

"The Straits of Mackinaw, four and a half miles wide, make the only natural ferry communication between the great peninsula, enclosed by the lakes and the rich mineral region lying on the southern border of Lake Superior; and must, hence, be the terminus of all the great railroad lines that traverse Michigan longitudinally and compete for the trade north of the straits, now rapidly growing up into importance. It must therefore be the point of radiation, eastward, through Canada; westward through the mineral region; and southward, through Michigan. Canada has already made grants of land for several important roads which must ultimately reach the straits; and lines are also provided for by government grants, from the straits through the Northern Peninsula, and from the straits southward to Fort Wayne by the way of Grand Rapids, and to Toledo, through Lansing. The culminating point being thus settled for several roads, all others will naturally centre at the same crossing, even if the coast line had not made such a thing inevitable.

"The point which projects northward into the lake, from the Michigan Peninsula, to form this strait, is admirably located for a great city.

It is the site of old Fort Mackinaw, and in health and commercial position, can have no rival in those southern waters. This point has been selected by a company of capitalists, on which to plant the commercial city of the north; the Venice of the Lakes, foreshadowed in the extract which we have placed at the head of the article. This new city is to bear the name of the ancient fort and strait, and to be called Mackinaw. It will hold the key of all the northern lakes; and should its growth be marked by energy and enterprise, will command the trade of the greatest mining region in the world; be the chief depot of the northern fisheries; the outlet of an immense lumber trade; and the focus of a great network of railways, communicating with tropics on the south, and stretching out its iron arms, at no distant day, to the Atlantic on the east, and Pacific on the west.

"The proposed city will have the advantage of the most salubrious climate to be found in the temperate zone, and will be the resort of those seeking health, as well as those seeking wealth. It has a northern position, being on the same parallel as Montreal; but the winters are equable, and the summers though short, are mild and pleasant, being modified by the great body of water which stretches out on every side, except at the south. As a manufacturing point it may well command universal attention. The Lake Superior iron is known to be the best in the world, and coal and wood are at hand in the greatest abundance; while communication by water is so wide as to leave nothing to desire on that head. It should be as famous for smelting as Swansea, in England, for it must have unbounded supplies of iron and copper ore.

"But we have no s.p.a.ce to speak of its commercial position. It must be seen at a glance that, as all the produce which flows through Chicago, Milwaukee, and the great West must sweep by on its way to the East, and all the goods and merchandise of the East, must be borne by its wharves on their way to the West, that it cannot fail to be a point which must spring at once into importance. The government, too, must have a fort, a light-house, and customhouse there, which with the fisheries, must supply a large profitable business to its earlier population."

CHAPTER VII.