The Minute Man on the FrontierPuddefoot, William George
History
The Minute Man on the Frontier
Puddefoot, William George
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Missions -- West (U.S.)
Above Marquette the scenery changes; there are rocks, whole mountains
of rocks as large as a town, with a few dead pines on their scraggy
sides; we pass bright brown brooks in which sport the grayling and the
speckled trout. Sometimes a herd of deer stand gazing with
astonishment at the rushing monster coming towards them; then with a
stamp and a snort they plunge headlong into the deep forest. Away we
go past L'Anse, along Kewenaw Bay, and at last glide between two
mighty hills the sides of which glow and sparkle with great furnace
fires and innumerable lamps shining from cottage windows, while
between lies Portage Lake, like a thread of gold in the rays of the
setting sun; or, as it palpitates with the motion of some giant
steamboat, its coppery waters gleam with all the colors of the
rainbow.
Just across this narrow lake a royal welcome awaited us from the
pastor of the First Congregational Church of Hancock. This fine church
is set upon a hill that cannot be hid. The audience fills the room,
and pays the closest attention to the speaker. They had the best
Sunday-school I ever saw. Everything moved like clockwork; every one
worked with vim. In addition to the papers that each child received,
seventy-five copies of the _Sunday School Times_ were distributed to
the teachers and adult scholars. The collection each Sunday averaged
over three cents a member for the whole school, to say nothing of
Christmas gifts to needy congregations, and memorial windows telling
of the good works in far-off fields among the mission churches. It was
my privilege to conduct a few gospel meetings which were blessed to
the conversion of some score or more of souls who were added to the
church.
Thirteen miles farther north, and we were in the very heart of the
Lake Superior region. It had been up-hill all the way. We went on the
Mineral Range narrow gauge railway; but at broad-gauge price, five
cents a mile, and no half-fare permits; so we were thankful to learn
the little thing was only thirteen miles long.
Here we are in Calumet. At the first glance you think you are in a
large city; tall chimney stacks loom up, railways crossing and
recrossing, elevated railways for carrying ore to the rock-houses,
where they crush rock enough to load ten trains of nearly forty cars
per day, for the stamping-works of the Calumet and Hecla Company. You
cannot help noticing the massive buildings on every hand, in one of
which stands the finest engine in the country--4,700 horse-power--that
is to do the whole work of the mines. Everything about these great
shops works easily and smoothly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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