On This Date in Minnesota History: March 25

March 25, 1884 – Elisha Morcom was born in Gwenap, Cornwall, England, in 1835. When he was 15, he began working in the copper mines in that area. Four years later he traveled with an uncle to America, and began working in the copper mines of the Upper Peninsula in Mich., where “he made a name for himself” with the Keeweenaw Company, and held various management jobs with other mining companies.¹

In 1884, he was appointed manager of the Tower mine by the Minnesota Mining Company. “Being a practical and thoroughly up-to-date mining man of his day, he opened and successfully worked the Tower mine for four years. In this Capt. Morcom won for himself great distinction for this was the first mine opened in the State of Minnesota.”¹

“Mining captain Elisha Morcom's 350 Michigan men, women and children arrived at Minnesota Mine by train to Superior, Wisconsin, and then crossed harbor ice at Duluth in open sleighs and headed north along the Vermilion Trail [arriving in Tower on this date]. Morcom's Vermilion miners were described as ‘the finest crew ever assembled in one place.’"<sup>2

1</sup>Tower Weekly News; “Capt. Elisha Morcom Passes To The Great Beyond Saturday Afternoon at 3:15. 73 Years of Age.” Nov. 27, 1908; p.1.

²http://www.thehistorypeople.com/data/docs/timeline-part1.pdf

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=MOR&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=25&GScntry=4&GSsr=601&GRid=72893280&

 Birth: May 1835, England

Death: Nov. 21, 1908; St. Louis County, Minn.

Burial: Lake View Cemetery, Tower, St. Louis County, Minn.