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

DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 575
tain N. D. Moore. Meantime, Frank Hibbing reported a discovery of ore on
the w. half of the sw. qr. of section 31, of 58-20. These discoveries were made
in rapid succession and furnished undisputed evidence of the existence of
vast deposits of iron ore in the taconite formation, and the great possibilities
of the Mesabi range, and did more to establish the Range solidly in the
minds of the people throughout our country than all that was said and done
previous thereto. It then became everybody's game, and everyone for himself,
to do the best he, or they, could in acquiring options and raising money
for developments, and explorations along the range became general. In the
meantime Captain Edward Florada, who was left in charge of the explorations
on the Cincinnati when I started work at Virginia, took an option on the
Missabe Mountain from the Merritt brothers, and succeeded in interesting
the late Harry Oliver in the option. The entry of Mr. Oliver on the range
further stimulated explorations, and thereafter proved the nucleus of the
Oliver Iron Mining Company.
Another record reads : "The first ore actually discovered in the
district (Virginia) was on the Missabe Mountain mine, now known
as the Oliver, by Captain John G. Cohoe." Supporting- that statement,
Mr. Fred Lerch, who has resided in Virginia since 1892, writes:
"The first ore discovered in the Virginia district was by Capt. John
G. Cohoe. He was conducting exploration work at Biwabik." Captain
Cohoe, by the way, was sent to Biwabik in August, 1891, and in
ten days "had ten pits in ore" at the Biwabik mine. He might possibly
have gone over to the Virginia district soon afterwards.
Captain Florada was a mining man of experience in the Michiganranges
at the time ore was discovered on the Mesabi, and presumably
\yas in the Biwabik district in 1891. However, a review written in
1909 of his activities in Minnesota mining includes the following paragraph
regarding his part in pioneer mining in Virginia district
In 1892 he turned his attention to prospecting on the Mesabi range, where
a few deposits of ore had been recently located. Here he met the late Henry
W. Oliver, by whom he was engaged to locate and open an iron mine. A
series of brief investigations on the part of Mr. Florada sufficed to convince
him that the property now known as the Missabe Mountain mine was what
he was seeking, and he proceeded to strip and develop the same, in which he
retained an interest for several years.
The same 1909 publication makes the statement quoted below,
as to the coming of John Owens to Virginia:
Early in 1892, Mr. Owens went to Virginia, and engaged in exploration
work for Mr. A. E. Humphreys and associates. He took charge of a force,
which by test-pitting located the famous Commodore mine, then known as
the New England.
Another, and an earlier review of Mesabi mining states, regarding
the Commodore, or New England, mine:
The Commodore mine * * * has the distinction of being the first
property in the Virginia group on which actual development work was done.
It was explored in 1891-2 by A. E. Humphreys and associates.
So that the records arc somewhat conflicting. The fact is. all the
prospectors were more concerned in finding and developing ore properties
than in keeping the historical record correctly, in those exciting
and strenuous early years on the Mesabi. So, we will now pass on to
brief reviews of the individual mines of the A'irginia district, beginning
with the ^^
Missabe Mountain Mine.—This mme is situated on nidcmnity
school lands belonging to the state." The first pit on the property was
sunk on the se. qr. nc. qr. of section 8, by Captain Cohoe. "and discovered
ore at a depth of 13 feet" in March, 1892. Captain Cohoe was
employed by the Merritt brothers, who had secured the mineral lease
: