1921 Duluth & St Louis County MN, Van Brunt.pdf - Garon.us

704 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
northerly from Prairie River for a considerable distance, examining
the drift ore as i went, and tracmg it to the north l)oundaries of its
source. After five or six days to the east, I returned to Prairie River,
and pitched camp on the south side, between the upper and lower
rapids. That same night, Captain LeDuc, then of Duluth, but a
veteran explorer and mining man of the Michigan ranges, and his
son, Ernest, who had come through the country from 59-14, on the
eastern end of the range, pitched their tent alongside mine, and we all
spent a delightful evening around the camp fire, talking of former
exploring trips, * * * and of the possibilities of the new range.
In the course of our conversation, the captain told me of many places
where he had found drift ore and quartz on the surface, also that in
his opinion some of the largest bodies of hematite ore in the world
would be found in the future somewhere between township 59-14 and
where we were camped. I heartily agreed with him, as he was the
only man I had heard, up to that time, express that view. * * *
"In, about, the winter of 1887, and during the spring and summer
of 1888, Captain John Mailman of Duluth did some exploring on the
east end, in section 11, of 59-14. He w^as the first to start actual
explorations on the east end; and in the exact place, section 20-59-14,
where I found my first drift ore in the fall of 1883. Captain Frank
Hibbing did some work. * * * but none of these explorations
proved a success.
"In, or about, the fall of 1888, I gathered about 500 pounds of
banded magnetic ore and slates from croppings in township 59-14, in
the interest of Judge Ensign, Colonel Gagy, Major Hover, and a Mr.
Peatre. I took the ore to New Jersey (the name of the place I have
forgotten), and had a concentrating test made on a magnetic concentrator
invented by one George Finney— possibly the first of its
kind in existence. The separation was successful ; the ore after treatment
analysed well over 60 per cent in metal, but on account of the
high cost of treating the ore at the time, nothing further was done
by us, in trying to commercialize the magnetic ores of the eastern
Mesabi. In the winter of 1888 and 1889, I did some work in section
11-59-14 on the magnetic formation, with no success."
Mesaba Village Township Organization.—From the foregoing
extracts from the narrative of Mr. David T. Adams, it will be realized
that the thoughts of mining men of St. Louis county were, as regards
the Mesabi range, first centered on township 59-14, which now is the
township of Mesaba. In the early '90s, lumbering operations, and
mining explorations were active in that township, and a community
formed in section 21, it being ascertained that 201 people were resident
there on May 25, 1891, when a census was taken for the purposes
of prosecuting an endeavor to get corporate powers for the community.
A petition, bearing date May 29, 1891, was circulated in
that part of congressional township 59-14, and signed by E. P. Lowe,
F. C. Colvin, and thirty-eight others, praying the county commissioners
to grant the inhabitants corporate powers, under chapter 145,
General Laws of Minnesota, 1885, as a village called "Mesaba," with
boundaries as follows: eighty acres situated in section 21, being the
southern half of the northwest quarter of that section of township
59-14, said eightv acres having already been platted, and the plat
recorded at the office of the Register of' Deeds, on May 13, 1891, and
designated the "Mesaba Central Division."
First Election.—The petition came before the county commissioners
at their June, 1891, session, and meeting with their approval,