LAKE SUPERIOR COUNTRY page-14

Almost every condition of his mining field was new and untried. The magnificent mining machinery and copper smelting works now operating in our northern mines, is, much of it, the creation of native genius, under the spur of necessity. In the mines, as elsewhere, the American citizen possessed the happy faculty of adapting himself to circumstances, or of bending circumstances to his own use. He had a firm grasp and soon came to manage great mines successfully, although his previous pursuits had been of a widely different character. This busy community, with so many wants and necessities, so dependent on other sections for bread and meat, clothing and mine supplies, was, down to the year 1864, totally isolated during the winter season. There were no roads out of the country. The mails were hauled through the woods, from Green Bay, on dog trains. The latest news from the seat of war came by dog express. The local roads were poor and a wagon could be hauled only a few miles in any direction from the chief centres. Foot paths and bridle trails were the only avenues through the forests for long distances. Snow-shoeing was the common thing for the foot passenger to do in winter. The deep snows rendered only well beaten and often-traveled roads at all useful, so that pleasure sleighing parties were confined to the village or beaten and worked tracks on the lake. The turnouts, somehow, were disagreeable. The common way to pass was for each teamster to plunge into the snow and break a road for his horse, leading him through the frozen flood. xx At this time in the 21st century their are hundreds of miles of snowmobile trails in the area. it is one of the areas in the world for winter recreation.

Tagged as: Green Bay