Author: Kevin E. Musser
Date: 10/18/97
Horace Greeley visited the Keweenaw in 1847 and in 1848 aboard the Independance. He had an investment in the Pennsylvania copper mine near Eagle River [, MI] and went there to check it out. He put to shore in 1847 in Eagle Harbor [, MI] and stated that for lack of a pier the cattle was [sic] just tossed overboard into the icy water and left to swim ashore. They at least got a small boat.
>From Angus Murdoch's famous Boom Copper I relate the follow [sic]:
"According to his own account , a total stranger named Bailey wrote asking Greeley to serve as a director in a projected copper mine in the Keweenaw and offered a block of stock as an inducement. He not only accepted but traveled all the way to Eagle River [, MI] and spent considerable time running the affairs of the Pennsylvania Mining Company during 1847 and 1848. All he accomplished in the course of two years was "coaxing several assessments from unwilling stockholders." His single success in the Copper Country had little to do with mining (his statement on "go west young man" I believe what he is refering [sic] to). During his spare time he solicited subscriptions to his New York Tribune from mining officials' wives.
In his misguided enthusiasm for the Copper Country, Greely [sic] waited until the last boat of the season before he embarked for home. There was no dock at Eagle River and he put out in an open boat to board ship. A heavy sea was running, and the little craft was tossed like a toy in the waves. The great Greeley was pulled aboard just before Superior dashed his boat to pieces."
He left the Keweenaw and "moved west" to Colorado to dabble in mining there.
Also from The Cliff by Donald Chaput
"Horace Greeley left his editorial duties with the New York Tribune in the summer of 1847 and visited more than [ten] mining companies on the Keweenaw - he was financially interested in the Delaware and a few other properties. Greeley was no mining expert, as he admitted, but his comments on these early operations are perceptive."
