FRED SMITH

FRED SMITH, superintendent of the Wolverine and Mohawk mines, located near Calumet, Michigan, and one of the practical mine men of the copper country, was born in 1835 at Baden, Germany, where he was reared and received his education. In 1855 he came from his native land directly to the Lake Superior region of Michigan, locating first in Keweenaw County and later in Ontonagon County, where for some years he was engaged with the Minnesota Mining Company. In 1868 Mr. Smith removed to Houghton and engaged in a mercantile business as bookkeeper for the Huron store and then went to Copper Falls, where he accepted a clerkship with the Copper Falls Mining Company. He located in 1876 at Allouez, where he filled the clerk's position for one year, and after that was agent of the Allouez Mining Company until the suspension of its operations in 1892. Three years ago he erected a fine modern residence at Wolverine, where he has since made his home. Mr. Smith has the supervision of both the Mohawk and the Wolverine mines, the companies controlling them being the Wolverine Copper Mining Company and the Mohawk Mining Company, the officers for both being identical, viz.: John Stanton, president, and J. R. Stanton, secretary and treasurer. The Wolverine mine had been indifferently operated for some years, but was practically started under the present management in 1890, and now has about 350 employees. The Mohawk mine was started in the fall of 1898 and employs some 450 men. It is largely due to Mr. Smith's successful management that this property is in such a satisfactory condition, the output of the Wolverine being about 500 tons per month, and the Mohawk in the neighborhood of 400; it is expected that the output of the latter will be materially increased in the near future. The stamp mills of the companies are at Traverse Bay, both of them being erected in 1902, with about 1,000 tons capacity, which capacity may be increased by the Mohawk Mining Company in the near future. The ore from these mines is smelted at the Dollar Bay smelter. Few mines in the locality are now better equipped with modern machinery and appropriate shops, and very much of this development is due to the business acumen and energy of the superintendent. His whole time is devoted to the interests of the mines, and the results show that Mr. Smith is very evidently the right man in the right place.

Source: Biographical Record, Houghton, Baraga and Marquette Counties.  Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1903.