Vermilion Lake Iron Range

A copy of this rare map of the Lake Vermilion Iron Range was published in the Compendium of the Tenth Census of the United States by the Department of the Interior. The Tenth Census was completed in 1880 and details of the census were published over the next eight years. It is believed this map was originally printed in 1886. The map was designed to depict the outcrops of iron ore comprising the eastern end of the Vermilion Iron Range.

This map is particularly interesting in that it depicts and labels the body of water now known as Stuntz Bay as Morrisons Bay and what is now known as Jasper Peak is labeled Chesters Peak. In what is surely a transcribers error, Ely Island is labeled Eley Island.

Chester’s Peak was originally named to honor Albert Chester. Chester was a noted geologist who traveled to the Vermilion Iron Range to explore and report on the commercial potential of the iron located there to his employer Charlemagne Tower.

The toponymy of Morrisons Bay remains unknown.

In the southwest, the map depicts the West Two River and East Two River, a portion of Pike Bay, HooDoo Point and the Tower narrows.

(Lake Vermilion Archives item No. 20161202a)