man. Deers ta en in the snow, their sharp hoofs penetrating,
and men chasing em in show-shoes, throat cutting the result.
Porcupines caught and esteemed by miners delicate eating, like
pork, albeit a grass eating animal. Miners Cornish men,
Germans and French, get paid according to their work. / At
1 1/2 reached Michipicoten Island, nigh the north east shore
of the Lake. Some eighteen miles in length, huge tree covered
mountains rising to a height of 700 feet, rocky everywhere.
Folks ashore, and owing to missing boats in two several occasions,
I did not go this time, but remained aboard in no very good
temper for two good hours, at the expiration of which time
the stragglers were got aboard, with damaged boot soles from rock
rambling & no agates. On coasting beside the island for some
miles, then general disembarkation at about 5. Three or
four huts, and adjacent the shaft of a silver and copper
mine, After pumping a supply of air below, I with others
descend a perpendicular and very dirty ladder for 60 feet,
adown the shaft, a strange misty light from the opening above.
At the bottom a lighted candle stuck in the rock. A steep,
narrow passage winding onwards, two miners with picks and
us visitors. Ascent, and rambling about, getting specimens
of minerals &c, listening to the Mine Superintendant, who told
of a strange amalgamate metal, copper, silver and an unknown
metal combined, the identity of which puzzled him. Specimens
given. Rambling to the huts, and agate purchasing by
many. A sturdy miner, communicative bade us walk on
to where, by the lake side, we spy an Indian council, bark
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Six: page ninety-seven |
| Description: | Describes arriving at Michipoten Island in Lake Superior on the ''Sam Ward,'' and visiting a copper mine. |
| Date: | 1853-08-21 |
| Subject: | Great Lakes (North America); Gunn, Thomas Butler; Mining; Native Americans; Sam. Ward (Ship); Travel |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Ontario, Canada] |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-02 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Six |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of Gunn's writing and drawing work in New York, a visit to the Catskill Mountains, attending the wedding of his friend Charles Damoreau (Brown), a visit to the Crystal Palace in New York, his friend Lotty's difficult marriage to John Whytal, a sailing trip around Lake Superior, a visit to Mackinac Island in Michigan, a visit to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and a journey by horseback from Kentucky to Louisiana with friends. |
| Subject: | African Americans; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Marriage; Native Americans; Publishers and publishing; Slavery; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Michigan; Wisconsin; Ohio; Kentucky; Mississippi; Alabama; Louisiana |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
