History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Houghton 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. Pages 302-305.

CALUMET BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

CHARLES BRIGGS, President of the Merchants' and Miners' Bank, and senior partner of the firm of Briggs & Cole, general merchants, was born in Tompkins County, N. Y., in 1837. He received an academic education at Homer Academy, and when fifteen years of age went to Wisconsin, and made his home with an uncle at Geneva Lake. While here he acquired a business education in the store and counting-room of his uncle, with whom he passed ten years; also served one year as cashier in the Bank of Geneva. In 1864, he came to Lake Superior, and located at Rockland, Ontonagon County, Mich.; he engaged with S. D. North, merchant, as bookkeeper. One year later, he became a partner in the business. In 1868, he came to Calumet as manager of the branch store, established by his firm under the firm name of North & Briggs, and in 1872 his firm established a branch store at Lake Linden, also under his management; he continued this connection until 1876, when, his firm having dissolved, he and Mr. H. K. Cole organized the firm of Briggs & Cole. This firm has a well-stocked double store, in which they carry a stock of general merchandise ranging from $50,000 to $90,000. Mr. Briggs is also interested with G. Kloeckner in a general store at the Phoenix Mine, which they established in 1873, under the firm name of G. Kloeckner & Co., and in which they carry an average stock of $45,000. Mr. Briggs has served as President of the Merchants' and Miners' Bank of Calumet since its organization in 1873. In politics, he is a Republican, and represented his district in the Michigan Legislature in the years 1878 and 1879.

ELBRIDGE G. BROWN, supply clerk of the Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, was born in Erie County, N. Y., in 1840; he obtained an academic education, and in 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company F, Fiftieth Regiment New York Volunteer Engineers, and served three years in the late war. On his return from the army, he located at Cleveland, where he was in the employ of the Merchants' Union Express Company one year; he then went to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he served six years in the same business. In 1874, he came to Hancock, Lake Superior, Mich., and was employed in the office of the Sturgeon River Lumber Company till 1880, when he left that company to accept his present position.

CAPT. JOHN CAMERON, second captain of the Calumet Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company since 1870, was born in Argyle, Scotland, and was brought up at mining, and worked at the business nine years in his native country; he emigrated to America in the summer of 1854, and engaged as a miner at the Bruce Mine, Canada; was with that company eight years; went from there to Pennsylvania, where he spent one year at Scranton; he then came to Houghton, Lake Superior, Mich.; was a miner in the Quincy, Albany and Boston and South Pewabic Mines. In 1867, he engaged with the Calumet Mining Company, and was made mining captain in 1871, and has been an employee of the company continuously since to this date.

REV. JOHN CHEBUL, parish priest of Calumet. Father Chebul, a well-known Catholic missionary of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan, was born in the southern part of the Empire of Austria in 1832; he was educated in his native country for the priesthood and ordained in 1855; he came to America in 1859, and was assigned to mission work in the wilderness of Lake Superior and Northern Wisconsin; his field of labor was among the Chippewa and Menomonee Indians, and included both shores of Lake Superior and Wisconsin to the line of civilization below Keshena. Patient, earnest and enthusiastic in his holy calling, he traversed the cheerless, snowbound regions of Lake Superior on foot or with dog trains. In fair weather or in storm, he faithfully performed the duties of his sacred office. Thrown in constant companionship of the natives, he acquired the language of the several tribes with whom he labored. His kindly, genial manners won the hearts of the savages, and his schools and chapels were always well attended and his instructions received with respect and attention. In 1876, he left Lake Superior to enter upon a foreign mission. This time his field of labor lay in Africa, among an entirely different people. After six years of faithful service as a foreign missionary, he returned to Lake Superior, and is now stationed at Calumet.

WILLIAM A. CHILDS, a New York State boy, came to Copper Harbor in 1853, to live with an uncle, D. D. Brockway, where and at other points in Houghton County he resided until August, 1862, when, at the age of seventeen, he enlisted at Houghton under Capt. Samuel Moody and Lieut. James Slawson, whose Company, B, with two others from the Upper Peninsula, was duly mustered into the United States service with the Twenty-seventh Regiment Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and whose lives were cheerfully laid upon their country's altar—Slawson's, while yet young in service; Moody's, after years of service had attested his soldierly worth (as Major commanding regiment at Wilderness, though sorely wounded, he would not leave the field through all the weary days and nights of trouble at Cold Harbor, when a second wound coming upon a frame worn by excessive fatigue, and feverish from a wound of a month previous, turned the scale, and gave ground for the hospital report—"Samuel Moody, Major, Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry, died of wounds received in action.") Entering the service as a private, William A. Childs served with his regiment three years, rising through various grades, not being absent from duty except when on ten days leave of absence, after cessation of hostilities in the spring of 1865, he was mustered out with his regiment as its Adjutant, being Captain by brevet. The year after the war he occupied in taking a course at the business college in Detroit, and another in the Enniskillen Oil District of Canada; the Detroit experience was the most satisfactory and profitable. In the fall of 1866, he entered the employ of the Hecla Mining Company, being detailed with the engineer corps of George D. Emerson, Captain and Mining Engineer to the Calumet and Hecla Mines, and during the summer of 1867 had charge of construction, under Emerson, of the Hecla & Torch Lake Railroad, upon the completion of which, he was appointed and has to this time, remained its general manager; having also filled during his fifteen years with the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, various town and county offices, serving as Probate Judge of Houghton County eight years. He married in 1868, a girl pioneer of Lake Superior, Susie Brooks, by name, who came to Ontonagon County with her parents, being blessed with (to this date), three lively, handsome girls, handsome like the mother, and good like the father. The social future of this subject bids fair to average well, unless he be nominated to represent his district in Congress.

HIRAM K. COLE, of the firm of Briggs & Cole, general merchants, is a native of Erie County, N. Y.; he was born on the Old Holland Purchase in 1842; he removed to Flint, Mich., when thirteen years of age; received his education in that city, and at the State Normal School at Ypsilanti; he came to Lake Superior on the Government surveys in 1857; about 1860, he became interested in mining in the Ontonagon District, and was in the employ of the old Minnesota Mine for five years; subsequently, he was for a short time in local charge of the Island Mine at Isle Royale; he continued his connections with mining interests until 1876, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Charles Briggs in the general mercantile business at Calumet, since which time he has been a resident of this place, and has applied himself to the building up and maintenance of a very successful trade. (See notice of the store in history of Calumet.)

H. S. COLTON, cashier of the Merchants' & Miners' Bank, was born in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1833; he began his business education as a banking clerk, and served several years as teller of the Hollister Bank, and of the Bank of Attica of Buffalo. On the breaking-out of the late war, he enlisted in May, 1861, as a private in Company D, Twenty-first Regiment New York Infantry; he was promoted to Commissary Sergeant, and subsequently received a First Lieutenant's commission, and was assigned to Company D, Ninety-fourth Regiment New York Infantry; he served with his company and regiment in all battles and engagements participated in by them, and was promoted to Captain; he served his term of enlistment, and was discharged in the fall of 1864; he then came to Lake Superior and located at Houghton, where he served as Deputy County Clerk some years. About 1870, he went to Copper Falls Mine as clerk, and remained there about a year; he then came to Red Jacket to accept the position of cashier of Mr. W. H. Streeter's bank; he held that position until 1873, when he resigned and started the project of organizing the Merchants' & Miners' Bank of Calumet; he was cordially assisted by the leading business men and mining officers, in July, 1873, the necessary capital was secured, and the bank regularly organized under the State Laws of Michigan, and Mr. Colton chosen cashier (see sketch of the bank in history of Calumet). Mr. Colton, while a resident of Copper Falls, served as Postmaster, and while at Houghton and Calumet, served three years as United States Assessor.

JAMES N. COX, clerk of the Calumet Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, was born in Massachusetts in 1844, and was brought up in that State; when eighteen years of age, he enlisted, September 10, 1862, as a private of Company I, Third Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; re-enlisted in September, 1863, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Company G, Fifty-eighth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; he was promoted to First Lieutenant of Company H, same regiment, August 4, 1864, and to Adjutant of the regiment, January 1, 1865, and brevetted Captain in May of that year; he was in active service in some of the hottest campaigns; he was slightly wounded June 3, 1864, at Cold Harbor, and on June 17, before Petersburg, he received a gunshot wound by which he was seriously injured; the two pieces of lead that did the work are preserved by the Captain as to him interesting relics of the war; he was discharged at the close of the war, and proceeded to New York City, where he engaged in the tobacco business which he continued until 1869, when he came to Calumet, Lake Superior, to accept the position which he now holds; he has served as clerk in the same office continuously for thirteen years, a longer time than any of his office associates.

EDWIN T. CURTIS, Superintendent of the Calumet Graded Schools, was born in Painesville, Ohio, in 1841; he was educated at Antioch and Oberlin Colleges, and the Michigan State Normal School; from the latter, he graduated in 1859; he began teaching in Ohio in 1860; enlisted at the first call for troops in April, 1861, and re-enlisted in June of the same year, for three years; he was captured near Carnifax Ferry, W. Va., August 20, 1861, and was held a prisoner until April, 1862; re-enlisted as a veteran in September, 1864, and served until the close of the war. He was married, in 1866, to Delia Lawrence, a student at the Oberlin College, who for several years, shared with her husband the labors of the school-room. He came to Ontonagon County, Mich., and engaged as teacher at Rockland, where he held the position of Principal for two years; he was next employed at Almont, Mich., as Principal of that school three years. In 1872, he came to Calumet to accept his present position. To Mr. Curtis' able management, and the liberal facilities afforded by the school authorities, must be credited the high order of success to which the school has attained. The Calumet School is not only one of the largest in the State, but also one of the best conducted and most prosperous. (See sketch of school in history of Calumet.)

CAPT. WILLIAM DANIELL, first Captain of the Calumet Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, has been in the employ of this company thirteen years, ten of which he has been first Mining Captain. The subject of this sketch was born in Cornwall, England. He began life in the mines when eleven years of age. In 1859, he emigrated to America, and came directly to Lake Superior, and engaged with the Franklin Mining Company, and subsequently with the Grand Portage as pitman. Shortly afterward, he returned to the Franklin in the same capacity. In May, 1869, he commenced with the Calumet Mining Company as Captain, and was made First Captain of the Calumet Branch in 1871, and has held that position to this date.

JOHN A. DANIELSON, surface overseer of the Calumet and Hecla Mines, and proprietor of furniture and undertaker store at Red Jacket. The latter business is conducted by Mr. Danielson's brother (Andrew Danielson). The business was established in March, 1879, and embraces a full assortment of fine and plain furniture and a full line of undertakers' goods. A fine hearse forms a part of the outfit of the establishment. The amount of stock carried averages about $8,000. Mr. Danielson was born near Toronto, Canada. He came to the United States, when six years of age, with his parents, and made his home near Detroit, Mich.; subsequently moved to Detroit, where he spent four years. He then removed to Ontonagon County, and engaged with the Norwich Mining Company. He went from there to Superior City. where he resided one year, and in 1867 came to Calumet and engaged with the Calumet Mining Company. In 1868, he was appointed surface foreman, and has held that position to this date.

JOHN DUNCAN, assistant superintendent of the Calumet and Hecla Mines and general manager of surface and field operations. Mr. Duncan was born in Canada in 1836, and came to Lake Superior in 1859. He engaged with the Quincy Mining Company as foreman carpenter, and subsequently became general surface superintendent. He continued with that company nine years, when he left them to accept his present position with the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company in 1868. He has now filled this most responsible position some fourteen years, with marked satisfaction, both to the company and employees. Some idea of the importance of the duties and responsibilities of this position can be formed when it is known that there are over twelve hundred employees in and about this company's works, and that the monthly product of copper is valued at more than $620,000. Mr. Duncan has always taken an active part in all matters of local improvement and in the interest of good government. He has served as Supervisor of the Town of Calumet twelve years and as Chairman of the County Board of Houghton County ten years. Of his sterling qualities as an executive and mining officer, we are not allowed to speak.

J. L. GARDNER, of the firm of North, Kloeckner & Gardner, general merchants. This firm was organized in 1876, and occupies the original building in which Smith, Harris & Co. opened the first mercantile house on this location. The present firm has largely improved the establishment, until they have one of the most tasty and extensive general stores in the copper region. They employ nine salesmen, book-keeper, etc., and carry an average stock of $50,000. J. L. Gardner, the resident managing partner, was born in Rhode Island, where he resided until he was twenty years of age. He then went to New York City, where he served as banking clerk until 1869, when he went to the Pacific coast, and was engaged in mining in California four and a half years. In 1873, he came to Lake Superior, to accept the position of agent of the Island Mine, of Isle Royale. Having had charge of the mine for two years, he then went to Colorado, and was engaged in mining in that country from 1876 to 1879. He then returned to Lake Superior and located at Calumet, and entered upon his present business.

JAMES GRIERSON, surface foreman of mining of the Calumet Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, which position he has held since 1868 to date. He was born in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, March 15, 1821. He emigrated to America in 1843, and spent a few months in New York, and then moved to Detroit, Mich. He resided in that city until 1847, when he removed to Ontonagon. He worked with the Ohio Trap Rock Mining Company thirteen months, and then went to Copper Falls. He worked for a short time at the Copper Falls and the old Northwest Mine, and then went to the Bruce Mine, in Canada; worked one year at that mine, and then moved to the Minnesota Mine, Michigan, and worked as a miner two years. He also worked at the Toltec, Algomah, Evergreen Bluff, Aztec, Penn and other Ontonagon mines until 1868. During this time, he was either miner, mine captain or contractor. In 1868, he came to Calumet, and accepted the position he now holds, and has held that position continuously for fourteen years. Mr. Grierson has been a resident of the Lake Superior country thirty-five years. He has sons, men grown, who are holding positions of responsibility under the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company.

CAPT. THOMAS HOATSON, chief mining captain of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, was born in Scotland, at Wanlockhead, Dumfrieshire; he was engaged in mining from his youth. In 1852, he emigrated to America and accepted the position of mining captain at the Bruce Mine, Canada, situated on the north shore of Lake Superior. He continued with that company four years, or until the property changed hands; he then came to Portage Lake, Mich., and engaged as captain with the Quincy Mining Company for one year; he left the Quincy Mine to accept the agency of the Ridge Mine in the Ontonagon District; he held that position for five years, and resigned it to accept his present position, May 1, 1871. During the eleven years that he has discharged the responsible duties of his position, he has proven himself a most competent and worthy officer.

CAPT. J. D. HOSKINS, mining captain of Centennial Mine, was born in St. Ives, Cornwall, Eng., in 1846; he began working at mining when ten years of age. In 1866, he came to America; coming directly to the Upper Peninsula, he engaged in mining at the Copper Falls Mine, under Capt. A. P. Thomas. One year later, he went to Marquette, where he spent one year in the iron mines, and then went to California in 1868, where he spent several years in gold mining; from California he went to Virginia City, State of Nevada; from there to Colorado, then to Montana; thence to Silver City, Idaho, and spent several years in the mountainous country; then from Nevada to New Zealand, and spent one year in that country, and then proceeded to Australia, where he spent one year. While in this country, he took the longest walk of his life, which was a matter of 900 miles through an almost unbroken wilderness; from Australia he returned to California, where he spent a few months mining, and then went to Virginia City, State of Nevada; then returned to Lake Superior, and spent two years with the Osceola and Ahmuk Mines, and, in August, 1881, accepted his present position.

ADOLPH F. ISLER, who is in charge of the Calumet and Hecla Hospital, came to the United States in 1854; resided at Detroit until 1858; attended the Bishop Union School for four years; came to Hancock, Lake Superior, in 1858; went to Detroit again in 1861; was in the employ of H. S. Biddle, druggist, for one year; returned to Hancock, Lake Superior, in 1862; went to Marquette in 1868, at which place he was in the employ of H. H. Stafford, until 1871, when he opened a drug store on his own account at L'Anse, which business he continued until 1877, when he removed to Calumet, Mich., continuing the drug business there until March, 1882, at which time he sold out his stock to M. J. Canning, in order to take charge of the Calumet & Hecla Company's Hospital, a position of considerable responsibility. Mr. Isler is also a great collector of Lake Superior minerals. The scientific tourist visiting Calumet will be amply repaid by examining his collection of fine copper and silver specimens.

DR. HENRY ISLER, of Calumet, was born in Switzerland, in 1806; received a collegiate education; studied medicine and became a practicing physician and surgeon. He emigrated to America in the spring of 1854, and spent one year at Quebec; went from there to Detroit, Mich., and practiced medicine in that city about four years. In 1858, he came to Hancock, Lake Superior, Mich., and practiced his profession till 1871; he then went to Marquette, and from there to Calumet in 1875; he shortly afterward went to Europe, but returned to the United States to attend the Centennial Exposition of 1876. Dr. Isler is an enthusiast on the subject of Lake Superior and its great mineral resources. He has written extensively on the subject for Western German papers, as well as for papers in Europe. He has prepared quite an exhaustive description of this region, which he contemplates publishing in the German language, with illustrations.

SILI LENZI, dealer in wines, liquors and cigars, was born in Italy. When seventeen years of age, he went to France, where he spent twelve years, and in 1872 emigrated to America. He came direct to Calumet, Mich., and engaged as a miner with the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. In 1878, he withdrew from the mining work and engaged in his present business.

C. E. LYON, dealer in general hardware, stoves and tinware. This business was established in the fall of 1872, under the firm name of Lyon & Dolf. Mr. Dolf retired in the spring of 1875. In the fall of 1879, Mr. Lyon removed to Detroit, to assume the superintendency of the Michigan Carbon Works; since which time his business here has been under the management of his brother, Mr. F. B. Lyon. Mr. Lyon makes a specialty of the Jewell stoves and ranges, of which he sells a large number. The store contains a well assorted stock, valued at $8,000. Under the judicious care of its popular manager, the business is in a prosperous and healthy condition.

FREDERICK MACKENZIE, supply clerk of the Calumet branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company since July, 1869. Mr. Mackenzie was born in London, England; emigrated to America in 1865; spent a few months in Illinois, and in the fall of the same year he came to Lake Superior; landed at Eagle Harbor, and worked for the Pennsylvania Mining Company. The following year, he went to Hancock, and engaged with Mr. C. E. Holland, then a hardware merchant at that place. He continued with Mr. Holland three years, and in July, 1869, came to Calumet to accept his present position, which he has held for thirteen years. Mr. Mackenzie was elected Township Clerk of Calumet in 1870, and has been re-elected each consecutive year since, having held the office in all twelve years.

WILLIAM E. MANN, lessee of the Calumet Hotel, was born and brought up in New York City. He received a liberal education in the local schools, finishing with a business course at the Eastman National Business College, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Mr. Mann came to Calumet, Lake Superior, in June, 1882, to take the management of the Calumet Hotel, of which he is now the lessee. He has made a very successful season, notwithstanding a serious illness. His house is not cut up into cells, like too many of the hotels of this region, but has large, airy rooms, wide halls and is supplied with the most modern conveniences. He designs making some valuable improvements at an early day, so that his facilities for entertaining the traveling public will be equal to the best to be found on the Upper Peninsula.

JAMES MERTON, engineer in charge of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company's Water-Works, was born in the south of Scotland in 1830, and learned the trade of machinist and mechanical engineer in his native land, and emigrated to America in 1857; located at Montreal, Canada, where he worked at his trade eight years. He then moved to Newburg, N. Y., where he resided until 1866; from there he went to Oil City, Penn., and spent one and a half years in that country, and in 1867 he came to Lake Superior and engaged as foreman of the machine shops of the Franklin Mining Company. One year later, he came to Calumet and erected the first stamp mill for the Calumet Mining Company. He was with that company five years. He left there to accept a more lucrative position at the Phoenix Mine, but this only lasted a little more than a year. He then went to the Island Mine, of Isle Royale; there he spent one year. He then returned to the employ of the C. & H. Company, and was placed in charge of the water-works at the mine. He erected the Worthington Pumping Engine that is there. The Leavitt Pumping Engine was erected by the company that built here. Everything about the water-works is kept in splendid working condition, and bears evidence of the ability and fidelity of the person in charge.

JOHN S. MORRISON, foreman of the blacksmithing department of the Hecla branch of the Calumet and Hecla Mine since 1870, was born in Invernesshire, Scotland, in 1842; emigrated to America in 1855; made his home in Upper Canada until 1863, where he learned his trade. He then came to Hancock and engaged as foreman of the blacksmithing department of the Quincy Mine; continued to fill that position until 1869, when he came to Calumet and accepted a similar position with the Calumet Company. Thirteen months later, he was assigned to the Hecla Mine, and has since served as foreman of his department of that branch of these works.

CHARLES W. NILES, M. D., associated with Drs. R. H. Osborn and E. H. Pomeroy, as physician and surgeon to the Calumet & Hecla Mine. Dr. Niles was born in Central New York. He graduated at the Detroit Medical College in 1872, and commenced practice as assistant mine physician at Ishpeming, Mich. In January, 1874, he came to Calumet to accept his present position.

R. H. OSBORN, M. D., senior physician to the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. Dr. Osborn was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, on the old Western Reserve, in 1823. He received his medical education in the Medical Department of the Western Reserve College at Cleveland, and was granted his diploma in 1849. He practiced his profession in Ohio until 1852, and then came to the Upper Peninsula and located in the Ontonagon District, where he was employed as mining physician and surgeon for several mines in that locality. Dr. Osborn was one of the pioneer physicians of the copper regions, and has been in constant practice here for a period of thirty years. He spent the first nine years at the mines adjacent to Maple Grove. He then accepted the position of physician and surgeon to the national mine, and remained in that locality six years. In 1868, he came to Calumet as assistant physician and surgeon to the Calumet and Hecla Mines. In 1874, be became the senior physician and surgeon of the company. Since the organization of the relief society, under the title of "The Calumet & Hecla employees' Aid Fund," Dr. Osborn has been, as senior physician, one of the members of the Executive Committee and its acting Secretary. He has also, for the past ten years, filled the office of School Director of the district, and for several years was elected as Township Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Osborn is ably supported in his department by Drs. C. W. Niles and E. H. Pomeroy, of Calumet. In addition to his arduous professional duties, the Doctor finds time to interest himself somewhat in politics, and during the years 1877 and 1878 he represented the Thirty-second Senatorial District in the Michigan Senate.

E. R. OSTRANDER, of the firm of E. R. Ostrander & Co., proprietors of the meat market at Calumet. This firm is composed of E. R. Ostrander and Charles Briggs, and was organized September 1, 1881, successors to George W. Shears, who opened the meat market about the time the mine was opened, and has operated it until the present firm bought him out. Mr. Ostrander was born in Monroe County, N. Y., in 1834, and moved to Geneva Lake, Wis., in 1858, and from there to Grand Rapids, Wis., in 1860. While at this point, he was engaged in lumbering and the manufacture of shingles until 1875. He then came to Calumet and engaged with Briggs & Cole as book-keeper, and continued with them until 1881, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Briggs in the meat market. This firm has a large and tasteful market, the only one on the location, and are doing an extensive business.

REV. FABIAN PAWLER, resident priest of the Church of the Sacred Heart. Father Pawler was born in Silesia, Prussia; was educated in Germany; studied theology, and was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy in 1874. He came to America in 1875, and directly to Lake Superior, and from January, 1875, till July, 1878, was in charge of the Church of the Sacred Heart at Calumet. He was then assigned to the church at Houghton, of which he was the resident priest from July, 1878, till May, 1880. In June, 1881, he returned to Calumet, to his former charge. He has lately been assigned to the Polish church at Red Jacket.

B. PENNIMAN, chief clerk of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company and Secretary of the Hecla & Torch Lake Railroad, was born in Massachusetts, received an academic education, and engaged in the real estate business. He was also interested in whaling. During the late war, he served as Quartermaster of the Third Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was employed, in 1876, at the general office in Boston. In 1878, he was assigned to the responsible position of chief clerk at the mine. He was also elected Secretary of the Hecla & Torch Lake Railroad, a railroad operated exclusively in the interest of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company.

CAPT. FERDINAND PETERMANN, one of the Under Captains of the Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, is one of the pioneer miners of Lake Superior of 1858, and an employe of the present company twelve years. The subject of this sketch was born in Wurtemberg, Germany; came to America in 1852; made his home in Buffalo, N. Y., till 1858, when he removed to Ontonagon County, Mich., and engaged as a miner at the Evergreen Bluff mine. A portion of the time while at this mine he served as surface foreman. He continued with the Evergreen Bluff Mining Company till 1870. He then came to Calumet, and engaged at the Hecla mine as Under Captain.

E. H. POMEROY, M. D., physician and surgeon of the Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. Dr. Pomeroy is a native of Lockport, N. Y. He received his medical education in the Medical Department of the Michigan State University, and graduated in 1870. He practiced his profession in Central Illinois a short time, and then went to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he was in practice till January, 1874, when he came to Houghton County, Mich., and accepted the position of physician and surgeon of the Osceola Mining Company, which he held until April, 1878, when he was appointed to his present position with the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. Dr. Pomeroy ranks among the leading surgeons of the Upper Peninsula, he having successfully performed a number of the capital operations in surgery.

JAMES RAMSAY, chief engineer of the Calumet Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine, was born in Inverarity, Forfarshire, Scotland, in 1844; has been fourteen years in the employ of the said company.

JACOB REUTHER, foreman of machine shops of Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. He was born in Germany in 1843, and came to America in 1850, when seven years of age. He was a resident of Manitowoc County, Wis., till 1860; he then came to Eagle Harbor, Lake Superior, and spent a few months in the employ of the Copper Falls Mining Company. He also worked at the Northwest, Amygdaloid and Madison Mines for some time; he next went to Niles, Mich., and from there to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he worked as a machinist. In March, 1865, he enlisted in the Fifth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and served till the close of the war. After his discharge from the army, he returned o Pittsburgh, and, a few months later, removed to Wisconsin. Here he engaged in the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds, at Centerville. From there he returned to Lake Superior in 1867, and engaged as machinist with the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, and has continued in this company's employ to this date, October, 1882. Since 1879, he has held his present position.

CHARLES RUPPRECHT, foreman blacksmith of the Calumet Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, was born in Germany July 6, 1838; came to America in 1854, and made his home at Buffalo, N. Y., where he learned the trade of blacksmith. In 1858, he went to Sheboygan, Wis., and worked at his trade one year. He then came to Lake Superior, landing at Eagle River in 1859; he worked with various mining companies on Keweenaw Point; first with the Cliff Mining Company, and subsequently with the Phoenix, Amygdaloid and Old Northwest. In the spring of 1861, he came to Hancock, and engaged at the Quincy Mine, where he spent one year; he then changed to the Franklin, and subsequently to the Bay State Mine; he also opened and operated a blacksmith shop at Houghton for a while. He then traveled for some time in New York, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, and then returned to Lake Superior and worked at the Portage Lake and Franklin Mines. In May, 1868, he began work as blacksmith, and the same year changed to the Calumet Mine. In 1871, he was appointed foreman, and has held that position to this date, 1882.

CAPT. WILLIAM STEPHENS, second Captain of the Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. The subject of this sketch was born in Cornwall, England, in 1826. He was brought up at mining from boyhood; emigrated to America in 1852, and came at once to the Lake Superior copper regions. Here he engaged as miner at the Albion Mine under Capt. Richard Edwards. From the Albion he went with Capt. Edwards to the Columbian Mine. He was employed at that mine and those adjacent—the Isle Royale, Huron and Quincy. He was made Captain of the latter mine, and served four years. In May, 1868, he engaged with the Hecla Mining Company, and was soon afterward made Captain, and has continued with that company and its successor—the Calumet & Hecla—to this date, 1882. Capt. Stephens has now been a miner of this Peninsula over thirty years.

CAPT. THOMAS WILLS, first Mining Captain of the Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, under Capt. Thomas Hoatson. Capt. Wills was born in Cornwall, England, in 1828. He was brought up at mining from boyhood, and emigrated to America in 1849. He came directly to the copper region of Lake Superior, and located in the Ontonagon District; he was employed at the Bohemian Mine as a miner, at the Toltec Mine as Captain, then at the Caledonia & Aztec as a miner, and to the Hilton as Captain, then at the Minesota as miner, and at the Adventure, Flint, Steel and Superior as Captain. In 1868, he came to the Hecla Mine and engaged as Mining Captain. Since 1871, he has held his present position. Capt. Wills is known as one of the most experienced and reliable mining captains in the copper region.

L. S. WOODBURY, mechanical engineer, has charge of the machinery at the Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company; was born in New Hampshire in the year 1839.

JAMES N. WRIGHT, General Superintendent of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, is a native of Connecticut, and was born in 1839; he received an academic education, and then came to Lake Superior in 1859; he soon became identified with the mining interests of the copper region, and was employed as clerk of the Minesota Mine between three and four years. From the Minesota he went to the Quincy Mine as clerk, and was subsequently promoted to the agency of the mine, and continued with that company ten years; he then, in 1872, came to Calumet to accept the position he now holds.

Includable Page Index History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: Houghton County
Index
 Pages 250 - 256 | Pages 256 - 264 | Pages 264 - 272 | Pages 272 - 276 | Pages 276 - 279 | Pages 279 - 283 | Pages 283 - 286
Pages 286 - 291 | Pages 291 - 299 | Pages 299 - 302 | Pages 302 - 305 | Pages 305 - 311 | Pages 311 - 316 | Pages 316 - 320
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