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• ■* VOL. i, NO. ii. MONSTERS. *pondence Dated Ely, Minn-, to the St. Louis Globe Democrat, Tells a Fishy Tale. A NINE-FOOT FATHER. A Five-Foot Baby, Very Young. Found Be side the 8-foot, 4-inch Remains of Its Mother. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for some Duluth reporter to work off a little superflous gas. he seats himself and proceeds to write some fishy story dated Ely. to spring on the unsuspecting public. The scene for the narrative is usually laid as far away from civilization as possible to preclude all possible possibility of anyone ever looking up the statements made. Thus an article dated Ely. Minn., made its appearance in the St. Louis Globe Democrat. The article is al most pure fiction and plainly to be seen as having been the handiwork of some enterprising reporter. Never theless. considering the absurdity of originating the article in this city, laying the scene at Ely and thenmak ing the find at the mouth of Little Fork river, about 120 miles from here, it is well gotten up. After a preliminary introduction pretaining to the country in general the writer savs: The country around Ely is particularly rich in relics of the past, judging from the many finds made by various people since farms have opened up here. Scarcely a day passes but some new discovery is made, and the relicts are particularly interesting to those who have delved into the records of the musty past to any extent. There is evidence to show that at one time this country was peopled by men of tremendous size, and by animals in comparison with which the elephants of the cir cus of today would seem like pigmies. There is also evidence to show that the people who then ruled the country 1 / were not mere hewers of wood and 1 drawers of water, but possessed skill in various directions. Thomas McKinster has recently taken up a farm near the mouth of the Little Fork river, in Itasca \ i county. At one corner of his farm v stood a knoll, possibly 150 yards •across. covered with a heavy growth I i of pine. On top of this knoll was a t / huge bird, or rather the outlines of one. made of stone not found in any other locality in the state so far as known. In digging into this knoll it / was found that the place was once a i burying ground of a prehistoric race. 7 Human bones of great size were found. ( and the positions indicated that the 1 V original owners thereof bad been I buried in sitting posture. It was an / easy matter to distinguish the bones * of the male from those of the female, for they were larger, more massive, and had preserved their shape better. • ' In some cases the bones fell to pieces F at the slightest touch, while in others y they were soft and spongy, the earth / seemingly having entered the cavities formerly occupied by the marrow, and furnished a support for the shells. In one grave were found the bones / of what were once probably father, mother and child. The huge bones of the male were about a foot distant ” from those of the women and child, which were locked in a close embrace, as though the mother had drawn the | / infant to her bosom just before death y ’ came. The larger bones were those * of a man who. in life, must have been nearly, if not fully, nine feet in height while those of the women showed that she had been no dwarf, measuring as they did 8 feet 4 inches from the bottom of the bones of the foot to the / skull, which was larger, flatter and /considerably heavier than the skulls 4 of the people today. . 2 The child must have been very * young, for its bones went to pieces as soon as exposed to the air and covered the bones of the mother with a fine, white powder. By measuring the out lines of the bones of the child it was , found that the infant had been nearly live feet in height, which is really not i so bad for a child of tender years. In | the skull of the women was a big dent. 1 between and slightly above the em, showing that she had met death in a violent manner. By the side of the man lay a stone weapon, shaped some t thing like an egg, with a depression / cut around one end, i> which a thong f— %. JK I - 7/ THE ELY MINER. might have been twisted. It was of the same kind of stone as the bird on top of the knoll or mound, a hard, blue-colored granite, almost as close grained as steel. Some feet from where these bones were found were the bones of a man, alone, and in a standing position. The right arm was broken and hung by his side, while the left was raised aloft, as though to hurl something from him. At the foot of this skeleton, if skeleton it could be called for the bones were little more than dust, and held in place only by the clay with which they were surrounded, were several pieces of peculiarly color ed pottery. Some of these pieces were broken to bits, but the edges were as sharp?as though the vessels were of modern construction and freshly broken. Two of the vessels were intact and were preserved by the finder. One was a dainty pitcher, almost as thin as an egg shell, and around the outside was traced a deli cate vine in a raise blue figure, which could not be scratched with a sharp bladed knife. The other vessel was a shallow pan, about seven inches across the bottom, and a trifle less across the top. with pictures of strange-look ing birds traced in relief on the bottom. In a few of the graves have been found copper and bronze implements of various kinds, showing a finish which cannot be surpassed by the most skilled workman of the present day. The absence of jewelry and other articles of personal adornment shows that the people who were buried there differed in some respects, at least, from the common North American Indians, who were and still are buried with their jewelry upon them and all their treasurers by their side. The knowledge that the red men are buried with their money and treasures upon them has been the means of furnishing many of the guides and woodsmen of this section with a good living for some years, and probably will for some years to come, until all the Indian graves have been despoiled. After locating an Indian cemetery, the rest is easy. The men dig into the graves—those of the high priests or chief medicine men preferred, on account of the richer treasure found in them —and, without disturbing the bodies or the bones, as the case may be, in the least, remove the money, which is generally in silver dollars, and the jewelry, which is often quite valuable, from its resting place. The money the men use as they want it, but t4ie jewelry is sold to whoever will pur chase it. and it is but fair to say that more than one Minnesota belle is wearing around her neck a gold chain which once reposed in an Indian grave. Thus far no jewelry has been found in the mounds near the mouth of the Little Fork, but the coppar and bronze implements and the pottery discovered are even more valuable as historical relics than the things of actual money worth found in the localities inhabited by the Indians of modern times, for they show that the people of the bygone race knew a tiling or two, such as tempering copper until it would take an edge of exceeding sharpness; that the work ing of granite was no secret, and that there was a written language of which the present age knows not a thing. ORE MARKET. 84.25 and 84.50 for and 84.75 and 85.00 for Hard Ores. The important development of the week in iron ore was the definite an nouncement by Marquette range mines whose men began work in the tenth week of their strike, that it would be impossible for them to make full shipments on their contracts for Bessemer ores, says the Iron Trade Review. In view of the hardship likely to result to certain furnacemen who had depended upon Marquette ores to make up their necessary quota, the matter was taken up by ore firms who were parties in the early spring agreement, concerning old range Bessemers. It was found that a few mines would be able to get out more ore than they had counted on, and these will undertake to supply in part the wants of furnacemen who are short. This, it is estimated will pro vide for something over half the shortage, which -amounts in all to ELY, MINNESOTA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1895. several hundred thousand tons. Whether there will ultimately be an absolute shortage, after all shifts have been made, including larger per centages of Mesaba. and other altera tions in mixtures, cannot lie forecast. Some sales have already been made in accordance with the new arrange ment. and $4.25 to $4.50 is the basis for No. 1 Bessemer hematite and $4.75 to $5 for hard ores. The question of lake freight figures not a little in the case, and it is questionable if higher than $1.25 will be paid on ore included in the new contracts. There is too little tonnage involved to induce ore shippers to push to push up freights on themselves, on ore yet to come down for which the early spring prices were secured. There is special hard ship in the situation to Marquette shippers. In addition to the loss of business from the strike, much of their contract tonnage has run out and they are compelled in many cases to pay nearly a 50 per cent advance for wild tonnage to move stockpile ore at low prices. In the past week there has been further sales of Mesaba ore at $1.25 a ton above early sales, and inquires are plentiful. The steady movement of non-Bessemer ores that have been on the dock one, two and three" years, is another feature of the situation. Special Agent LeSueur of the in terior department returned this noon from a month's trip through the northern part of Cook county, which is the most eastern county of the state and of which Grand Marais is the seat. The object of his visit was to ascertain whether the large number of claims taken up were genuine. He found they were not. In twenty days he didn’t see a soul and in twenty townships he failed to discover trace of settlement being made. Yet thousands of acres have been entered as claims in the land office.—Common wealth. We do not believe Agent LeSueur made the statements accredited to him in the Commonwealth. LeSueur and A. W. Kuehnow. with Andy Hutchins as guide, returned a week ago from their northern trip. In con versation with a Miner representative the gentlemen stated they were on their way to Port Arthur and in the travels were to look over some claims, but on arrival at Sagnaga lake, on the border, lost their way in the rice beds and were forced to return. The agent informed the representative that Cook county was full of fraudulent entries and that he was going there shortly to examine the claims. He aiso stated that the settlers were not at fault, but that he thought the homestead law could be changed so that homesteaders would not be obliged to perjure themselves in order to secure a piece of land. ‘ The law,” said he, “does not give a man a chance. Every homesteader who takes up a claim is bound to perjure himself, he can't help it, notwithstanding the fact there are many honest ones, who try to live up to the law. The mem bers of congress and others should see that the law would be changed. Give the homesteader a chance to buy the land—pay so much per acre, they would be winners in the end, as it usually costs more to homestead a claim, with the attendent contest that follow the securing of a valuable claim, than it would to buy the land outright. We agents receive our in structions from the department and must live up to the same or loose our positions. We find, in many cases, a perfectly honest homesteader who lives as far as possible to the home stead law. but in the majority of cases they do not. The agent secures all the blame when he report? con ditions as he finds them and the claimant never believes it is his own fault.” Hematites The state has lost in six swamp land contests. The successful contestants are Herman A. Degler, lands in 25, 47-20: Frank M. Hall. 13 and 24. same town. Chas. E. Gregory, 5. 57-12; Alex Hill. 5, 47-20: Maggie McGrade, 25. 59-12; Frank Devine, 28, tio-10. The last was a portion of the Duluth & Iron Range grant, The ladies of the M. E. church have made elaborate preparations for a sociable to take place in the Kinney building on Tuesday evening, Oct' 8. Ice cream, cake auu coffee will be serveu aua everyone is invited. Law No Good. State Loses. Morrison Wins. Commissioner Lamoreux of the gen eral land office has decided the case of Finley Morrison vs. Peter Murphy and Levi Edwards, involving lots 1 and 2, and si of nei of section 3-66-19. in favor of Morrison, sustaining the register and reversing the receiver. The decision is somewhat peculiar from the fact that upon reading it one would believe it was entirely in favor of Murphy until the last few lines are reached when it decided for Morrison. Morrison is the timber and stone claimant, and Murphy tne pre emption claimant. Edwards failed to appear when cited to do so and is not considered as having any claim. The testimony of witnesses on the char acter of the land was directly con tradictory. Murphy was absent from the land most of the time, but the commissioner finds excuse for this. Murphy's son was murdered in September. 1892, (being one of the victims of Frank Houck) aud the care of his widow and three children fell on Murphy. The commissioner says: “Murphy's circumstances are pecul iar and unfortunate. His wages were small, he had four persons to support besides himself, and in addition, had to pay off a mortgage or satisfy cer tain demands against the house and lot where his daughter-in-law lived, to prevent her from losing her home. He claims that he never abandoned the land, and hired one Thompson to keep up his improvements. From the testimony it appears that Murphy's residence on the land consists of visits only. His improvements were meager and he cultivated but little of the land. However, there are mitigating circumstances. He was old and poor, the land was a long distance from a base of supplies and almost inaccess ible and several persons were de pendent on him for sustenance." After this the decision says abrupt ly: “The decision of the register is affirmed and the land awarded to Morrison.” Morrison is the man whom the Tower people led to the train with a rope around his neck along with Harry Mee about two years ago and told him never to return. The re ceiver who found for Murphy said in his decision that it was his opinon that Morrison was a pine land spec ulator who had sold many millions of feet and coveted Murphy's land because there was some nice timber on it. The case of Gilbert A. Scarlett and Finley Morrison vs. Levi Edwards and James McClue. involving the sei of section 3-66-19 is also decided by the commissioner in favor of the timber and stone claimants, Morrison and Scarlett. The land is held to be more valuable for its timber than for agricultural purposes. Steamer Burned. The mail steamer “Comfort,” ply ing the waters of Lake Vermilion was burned to the water’s edge during the night of Friday and Saturday, at its dock at Tower. The boat was loaded with about 30 tons of hay belonging to Geo. Wakeley on its way to market. The loss on the boat is estimated at about $4,000. with no insurance, while Wakeley loses the hay. The fire is reported of incendiary origin. The boat was owned by Geo. Wheeler and man aged by I. A. Felter. Open for Entry. Saturday morning townships 66-15 and 64-14 were thrown open for entry. There was not much competition. There were thirteen applications, of which only seven were allowed, as three were in conflict with Indian al lotments and the same number in con flict with homesteads. One-Legged Railroad. W. E. Seeleye, the gentleman who has in view the construction of a railroad from Tower to the boundary has made his plans public. The pro posed road is a novel one and is attracting considerable attention among railroad men and machinists generally. The track of Mr. Seeley's road will consist of a single rail instead of two, and the papers of this section are already referring to it as the one legged road. The great advantage claimed for this road is its cheapness, it costing less than one-half as much as a regular double track, standard gauge road in construction and opera tion. A row of piling is drivem and $2.00 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE. the single rail is laid on top of this piling, seven or eight feet from the ground. The cars are to be construct ed so that the floor is about five feet below the level of the rail, and each side of the cars will be loaded as nearly equal as possible, so that the vehicle will ride easily and smoothly. That the cars cannot lie upset will be seen at a glance, as the weight in them will be below the rail. The piles are to be set ten or twelve feet apart, and will be capped with heavy wooden beams, upon which the single rail will rest. It is claimed by Mr. Seeley that such a road has already been operated successfully, and that he has demonstrated by models that the plan will be a success in this case. FeU Down the Shaft. Frank Sternot. an Austrian employ ed at the Pioneer shaft house, fell down the shaft a distance of about 600 feet Tuesday morning and was in stantly killed. It seems that Sternot was to push a car from the cage that had been hoisted but under which the chairs had not settled. The brake man thinking of course, everything was all right, let down the cage to settle on the chairs, instead of which it went down the shaft and Sternot followed after. The cage was caught before it had proceeded more than 25 feet. Sternot was picked up in a badly broken condition, bis body being literally smashed. Coroner Vail, after examining several witnesses deemed an inquest not necessary. He was buried this morning from the Catholic church. Rev. Bilban. officiating. Deceased was a man of about 40 years, with a wife and family in Austria. Tuesday evening at the residence of the bride's parents. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wagner, Judge Samuel IT. Owens, of Tower, united in marriage. Mr. Joseph J. Soklich to Mrs. Mary Orpiere. The wedding was private, only a circle of relatives being present. The couple left this morning for a trip through Wisconsin and southern Minnesota of several weeks after which they return and take up their residence in the Orpiere building at the corner of Sheridan street and Second avenue. The Miner joins hosts of friends in wishing the happy pair a long and prosperous married life. The cut-off road to Winton was finished last evening. The road is one of the best in the county, turn piked throughout, and was finished at a cost of $1,500. Jno. Densmore, had charge of the work for Com missioner Whiteside and the way Mr. Densmore handled the job, showed very plainly bis capabilities in that line. Nothing remaining to be built now on this road, but the bridge across Shagawa river. Rev. E. H. Bull will arrive Thurs day evening from Tower to remain several days. Friday evening at 7:30 a prayer meeting, called a preparatory service to the Lords supper, will be held. Sunday evening communion services will take place. Opportun ities will be given all after the meet ing Friday evening and before service Sunday morning for any one who may desire to unite with the church either by their profession of faith or by letter. D. H. Bacon will arrive this eve ning and tomorrow look over the Whiteside property on which the Minnesota Ore company have an option. The company will explore the property and begin work in a few days. Manonfi at Tower. A party of Ely Masons went to Tower Saturday evening on special train to see Dr. Wunder ride the goat in the third degree. The party was composed of R. S. Miller. Herb. Kelly. W. T. James. John S. Bawden. Nels Hillman. Jno. Cowling and Dr. Wun der. A good time was had. Rev. E. L. Jaquish left this morn* ing for Minneapolis in attendance of the M. E. conference. In all probab ility Mr. Jaquish will return to Ely as the congregation are very much satisfied with him and during his residence in the city has endeared himself to his congregation. MINNESOTA Hisrcmi SOGit.iV- Soklich-Orpiere. Road Finished. Church Services. Work to Begin.