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

CHAPTER XXIV
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF VIRGINIA
"Queen City of the Mesabi"
By reason of its geographical position fundamentally, but for
other reasons also, the city of Virginia rightly is termed the "Queen
City of the Mesabi Iron Range." She has since the 'nineties been the
centre, the metropolis, of the range, one might say of the ranges, for
she is recognized as the business metropolis of the Vermilion as well
as the Mesabi range. Hibbing is becoming increasingly conspicuous,
and is notably aggressive, but the general impression a stranger
in Virginia gets of things municipal, social and civic is that Virginia
is, and long has been, the established leader among the communities
of the range territory.
Mining.—As is the case of course with all communities of the
Mesabi range, the history of Virginia begins with mining explorations,
and it is therefore proper to review the history of mining in
the Virginia district before writing about civic affairs.
Among the early explorers of the Mesabi, those that are known
to have passed over and noted the Virginia "loop" and suspected its
mineral value in the 'eighties, were members of the Merritt family,
David T. Adams, and John McCaskill. It is hardly possible now
to decide who was the first to begin actual explorations, in the way
of test-pit sinking. One record indicates that "the first exploratory
work (in the Virginia group) was done on the Ohio" by a company
in which Dr. Fred Barrett, of Tower, Thomas H. Pressnell,
of Duluth, and others were interested. Winchell states that "the
first pit in ore in this township, 58-17, was sunk on the southeast
quarter, northeast quarter sec. 8, by Captain Cohoe, and discovered
ore at a depth of thirteen feet. This was in March, 1892, and was
the Missabe Mountain mine." It is generally supposed that the
first ore discovered in the Virginia district was at the Missabe
Mountain mine, but David T. Adams writes:
In the winter of 1890-91, I made a trip into township 58-17, in the interests
of Humphreys and Atkins and myself, and camped for ten days on
section 4 * * * north and east of the present city of Virginia. During my ten
days' stay in that township I located every deposit of ore in the Virginia hills,
from the Alpena and Sauntry, in section 5, down to the Auburn, in section 20.
and I brought back the minutes with the deposits well marked, including the
minutes of the lands where Virginia stands. All of the lands containing deposits
that could be acquired in some way were acquired by Humphreys, Atkins
and myself, including the lands upon which stands the city of Virgmia.
In the spring of 1891 I engaged the services of John Owens, then of
Tower, to erect exploring camps on the nw, qr. of the nw. qr. of section 9,
now the Commodore, which was the first exploring camp built in tov^nship 58,
range 17. Explorations on this property ensued, with Mr. Owens in charge
of the men, and in the second test-pit, of a series which I had located to be
sunk, the first ore in this township was discovered. A little later, I discovered
ore on the s. half of the sw. qr. of section 4, now the Lincoln mine, but the
discovery was in the low lands, and, on account of the water, the work, was
abandoned for the time being.
The next discovery in that township was made by the Merritt Brothers,
on the ne. qr. of section 8, now the Missabe Mountain mine, and the next discovery
was by me, on the sw. qr. of the nw. qr. of section 9, now the Lone
Jack. Next following were the Norman mine, by Louis Rouchleau; the Minnewas,
by the Merritts; the Rouchleau Ray, by Louis Rouchleau; the Moose,
by John Weimer; the Shaw, by Gridley and Hale, and the Auburn, by Cap-
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