a geologist, H. H. Eames, made a trip to the area, and in his report mentioned the possibility that significant quantities of precious metals might be there also. The result of this report was a veritable gold rush: expedition after expedition was readied, and huge sums of money were spent for machinery and equipment. It was with great difficulty that all this material was brought to the scene, for although it was but some 40 miles as the crow flies from the nearest permanent settlements, the lack of roads made the trip often twice as long. Of course, the equipment could not have been brought to the destination without a road, so a road was built, for no efforts were spared. It has been estimated that thousands of men set out on this search, and for a year or two they searched and dug feverishly - but without results. In all probability there was gold there - and still is - but in such small quantities that it is not worth the effort. The only ones who profited from the Vermilion Lake gold rush were the purveyors of equipment and the boardinghouse keepers. Within a year or two the fever died down, and only the road cleared through the wilderness remained.

Aware that mineral wealth was hidden in the Vermilion Lake region, Stuntz staunchly supported the maintaining of a good road to the area. It was due to his interest, and to General Warren's orders, that in 1869 the Vermilion Trail was made into a permanent road. It was in 1875 that the area received its first white inhabitant, the Indian agent George E. Wheeler, who established himself in what is now known as Tower. In 1880, Stuntz and Professor Chester were in the region, investigating it further, and in 1882 George C. Stone sent a small group to make trial borings there Peter Erickson and Andrew Sandell, and a lad named Thomas J. Walsh. This party of three set out on foot from Duluth, carrying everything they needed on their backs. They bored for lodes in the region which later became the Lee Mine and the town of Soudan. Their work progressed slowly, however, for they had nothing but hand drills, which had to be sharpened constantly, but they did get results : one of them was that the Minnesota Iron Mining Company was organized in Duluth, by Mssrs. Breitung, Lee, Stone, Stuntz and Tower, whose names eventually all became place names in the Vermilion region. Mining operations were begun promptly, on a modest scale at first, but expanding gradually over all northern Minnesota to form the world's major production of iron ore.

In an article on the Soudan-Tower region, the Duluth NewsTribune (4 July 1954) began with the statement that "there are not many regions in Minnesota which have had a history as

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