Several hundred men, under written contract to work for the companies, at good wages, for a specified time, i. e., until they should have paid the expense of bringing them to the country, were brought over and distributed, pro rata, over the mines. But quite a number,, more than a majority, of these contract men, refused to work or reimburse their passage money. They were not slaves, they said, their importation was a fraud; it was true they desired to come to America, but now they were here-they would not work; the companies might whistle.
They were given up as a bad lot; but as the country had to fill its quota under the draft, these scalawags were induced to enlist with a bounty of $300 each offered. They filled the places of better men and were thus of some service. But that costly experiment of importing labor from Europe, at company expense,, was never repeated.
The mines of the Portage district are based on stamp lodes, or belts. That is to say, the copper found in the vein stone is, as a rule, fine, like bird shot, or buckshot, not massive, and so intimately blended with the rock that large stamp mills are required for the treatment of the output of these mines. Hence tram-roads, extensive hoisting machinery and great stamp mills are the peculiar characteristics of the Portage mines. Herein they differ from the mass producing mines of other districts. At first grave doubts were entertained as to the success of stamp copper mines. But, all doubts have been set at rest. More than that, we now see purely stamp lodes, giving the richest outpouring of wealth of any copper mines under the sun. The Calumet and Hecla mines have no rivals. Thus, step by step, did the pioneer of Lake Superior have to feel his way.
