A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MAN

Lucy Terrell Ellis

Ironwood, Mich., Oct. 12.—The statements from New York that J. M. Longyear of Marquette, Mich., and Brookline, Mass., is a beneficiary to the extent of twenty-four million dollars from the J. J. Hill ore lands deal with the United States Steel Corporation, have been interesting to northern Michigan people, but they have not occasioned surprise.

The stories emanating from southern Michigan, that these ore holdings have been escaping taxation in this State, are confusing for the reason that the lands concerned are not located in the Wolverine commonwealth—they lie on the Mesaba range, which is in Minnesota. Whether the lands have been taxed anywhere near their cash value by the Minnesota authorities is another matter. Probably they have not, largely for the reason that with few exceptions the various tracts are undeveloped.

In town 57—32, west of Corrigan, McKinney & Co.'s big Stevenson mine on the western Mesaba range, and between that property and the village of Nashwauk, there are about fifty tracts on the formation, each containing forty acres, all of which are the property of J. M. Longyear in association with Pillsbury and Bennett.

On these tracts there have been operated for a long time a total of twelve diamond drills, which have shown up forty million tons of ore, but it is estimated that before the exploratory work is concluded the lands will have been found to contain a total of two and one half times the amount already proved up.

Aside from this, Mr. Longyear is interested in lands elsewhere on the Minnesota ranges. He has, too, extensive interests in Michigan, these letter, however, not figuring in the Hill deal. His most valuable holdings in Wolverine territory are located on the Gogebic iron range. He controls here, among others, much of the fee to the big Norrie mine, operated by the United States Steel Corporation, and which nets him, as royalties on the ore produced, some hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

The Norrie mine, or group, is the greatest property of its kind in Michigan. Since their opening the various mines of the Norrie group have produced nearly twenty-two million tons of ore, and are mining now at a rate of better than one million five hundred thousands tons per annum.

Mr. Longyear is interested in the fee of other Gogebic range lands, developed and undeveloped, and he has similar though less extensive possessions on the Menominee and Marquette ranges, the exact descriptions of which are not available.

The value of much of these holdings is of course largely prospective—it remains to be determined just how much ore will eventually be taken from the lands—but to judge from the basis figures made public in connection with the Hill deal, so-called. Mr. Longyear is the wealthiest man in Michigan, or rather was, he having transferred his place of residence from Marquette to Boston's aristocratic suburb, although still retaining his business headquarters at the former place.

A decade and a half ago Mr. Longyear built a mansion at Marquette, which is said to have been the most palatial in the State, its value being estimated at upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and subsequently, a few years ago, he created astonishment by causing the house to be demolished, stone by stone, shipped to Brookline and there re-erected.

Longyear's business is still conducted from Marquette, being in charge of a confidential man there, but much of the time during later years has been spent by the family in Europe.—The Boston Globe.

I am led to speak of the new Christian Science church here in Boston. I had heard and read much about it before coming East, but no product of the imagination can excel its beauty. The dome is larger than the beautiful golden dome of Boston's State House. You can see it from all parts of Boston. Inside it is the most beautiful symphony in gray and gold, the only touch of color being found in the rich crimson of the pulpit furnishings. The organ, soft-toned and mellow, like the touch of a hundred harpstrings, rolls and swells through the long galleries and the spacious corridors. This is midsummer in Boston—an unusually hot one. Every one who possibly can go is off to the beach or the mountains. Yet each Sunday morning this church is crowded to its utmost. I attended one Wednesday evening service. There were over four thousand people present. After an opening hymn, a reading from the Bible and its interpretation from Mrs. Eddy's Key to the Scriptures, and the Lord's Prayer in unison, the meeting was handed over to the people. Dozens were on their feet ready for testimony. Many were still standing when the Reader at nine O'clock announced the closing hymn. Strangest of all, some time before its dedication, requests were sent out over the country that no more contributions be sent in. Everything was paid for; the church could be dedicated free of debt. There were no entertainments given to raise money, simply individual offerings, each from his own purse. I have been to other churches. Not one has been half filled, and if full to overflowing the number might be put in one gallery in The Mother Church. I questioned much with myself. I cannot understand its meaning. I have nowhere else seen so many intelligent and splendid looking young men in an audience. I have found since coming here that the first meeting Mrs. Eddy held in Boston was in my aunt's parlor, the very home in which I lived while here in school.

Lucy Terrell Ellis.
The Phoenix (Arizona) Republican.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit