Actually it seems that a guy named Collum may have invented the roller mill for the Huron. Red Metal, p. 43-45 goes into that history in some detail. And how for a time just about everyone thought rolling the copper rock was going to revolutionize mining up there. Even Quincy Shaw believed it was the hot setup and the local newspapers also trumpeted it as a triumph. Apparantly it did work okay with the softer amygdaloid rock in the Huron, but was a disaster later with the harder rock at Calumet. But who was to know until they tried it?

The affair seems more of a fiasco with new un-proven technology than any one person being at fault; altho like we said, later most everything got heaped on Hulbert.

Here’s the link again: LINK

I don’t know if your all catching it, but I add hot-links to my sources if their on line, just click on the name of the source I mention.

Agassiz was really down in the dumps even after they installed Ball stamps at Hecla and at first they didn’t work well, and even advised possibly selling the entire property he felt so gloomy, but then rapidly things turned around.

The Agassiz recollections book sounds excellent. I don’t own it and can’t recall ever reading it. Will have to look into it.

Thanks for all your hard work explorer! Great stuff!

A lot of those original letters from Agassiz area also in that “Letters and Recollections of Alexander Agassiz”, several of which recount the whole Calumet Mill / Rollers fiasco. He never takes blame for the installation of the rollers but worries a great deal about their ability to do the job. BTW, its a very interesting book and everyone should go check out the link. Gives a good understanding of the man I think.

Interesting note about “Hodge” which is also mentioned in my sources as well. If he was the same Hodge, his success must of meant he as a great salesman as well as a machinist. This could also explain why Agassiz was “convinced” about the rolls when Hodge arrived to the mine. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any reference to a “Hodge” roller anywhere, so he might not of been as big in the roller business.

Gordy…

Gordy comes through again! I was leaning to the Wolverine as it was one of the first in the area. That makes perfect sense, and would no doubt account for those sands. (Scales creek starts up near the Wolverine location). You get an A!!

Jay…

Glad we’re all good. You know me and my ego like to think of a time far in the future - when both you and me are no longer around - that this website and all our comments and discussions will be used by future explorers as sources for their Copper Country History websites. Who knows…

It’s all good. We’re all here to learn more because it’s a subject we’re passionate about. That and we’re all kinda dorks about it.

And you’re right about the multiple sources stating multiple “facts”, just look at the Italian Hall disaster. But I guess that comes with the territory.

BTW, I’m easy. Just look for the smileys

You are raising so many questions in so short a time that it is almost impossible to do all the deep research to give definitive answers. And like we all know and you stated, different sources all spin it their own way.

I prefer to use the most original sources obtainable and as close to the date the actual events occurred as possible. But even they are not 100% reliable.

It looks to me that Hulbert made mistakes but he also became Agassiz’s scapegoat to some degree as well. But nobody had any idea how tough that conglomerate rock would be to mill. That was a new type of ore in the Calumet mine never encountered before.

On p.63-65 (Red Metal) it tells how Agassiz continued trying to get the roller mill to work after arriving and assuming charge of operations. Very good stuff from orig. letters sent to Mr. Shaw in Boston in 1867. He says: “be prepared for the worst…if this infernal roller business don’t swamp Calumet….I feel perfectly frantic and so helpless…no machinery on which any dependence can be placed, nobody on the ground or in the country who has any idea what can be done with rollers…The time, expence, fussing it takes to get Hodge’s machinery in running order is fearful…”

Incidently, I marked that page because it mentioned “Hodge” as constructing mining machinery [at Hancock?] in 1867. Now, it was also a guy named Hodge who 20 years earlier had built the first smelter on Keweenaw Point on Gratiot River for the Albion Mine. Was this the same Hodge in both cases? I wondered that but couldn’t prove it either way. If the same guy, he started early and had a long career and invented new mining machinery, Hodge “jig”, etc.