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Dissecting the Wall of Silver

By Rex A. Crouch

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Copyrighted © By Rex A. Crouch 2008

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The book “Wall of Silver” published by Avery Color Studies, INC alleges that a Wall of Silver exist in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The publisher rightfully adds a disclaimer regarding the factual accuracy of the book Regardless of the publisher’s disclaimers, the author writes the books as if it were a true story leading us to ask, where is the “Wall of Silver”? Along the Cliff Drive area I have found small pieces of silver like many other people have. The mines in the area have produced some very beautiful silver samples and there is no doubt in my mind that there is more and probably large masses of silver (fist sized at best). What I am saying is, I do believe there is silver in them thar hills but I we shouldn’t believe everything we read. Most people who sit down and read the book “Wall of Silver” read it from the perspective of the author who presented the text as a nonfiction documentary. And these people want to believe it as fact—to believe in the lost treasure is romantic and captivating. Some people read the book and bum-rush the Cliff Mine area looking for the Wall of Silver. I kept hearing people refer to The Wall of Silver book as if were a documentary so I sat down and read the book with an open mind. I really thought the book was written with the grace of a bull in a china shop and the eloquence of stammer while inebriated. For those of you who bum rushed the Cliff Mine area, let me rephrase that, the book was poorly written and difficult to read but it had the qualities to make it a good fiction story. A good fiction story is one in which there is enough truth to make it believable. This book does have enough truth to suspend disbelief but there were numerous discrepancies and oddities as well as some things that were just too convenient to be believable. The truths were enough to draw me in but the discrepancies and oddities inspired me to dissect the text—well actually—what really inspired me to dissect the text were all of the people who read it, ignored what wasn’t true, and claimed the book to be the gospel of silver in the Keweenaw area of Michigan. Maybe it is the gospel but let’s do some homework first.

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When the author began writing the book he went to the Seaman Mineral Museum at Michigan Technological University (Formally the Houghton School of Mines). He asked the curator of the museum if he could take some photos of real silver samples from the Keweenaw explaining to the curator that he was writing a book that was part fiction and part truth. So the author confessed that part of the book is fiction and part is truth; we will begin this examination by discerning what part of the book is true and what part is fiction. While we do this, ponder why a person who had access to the greatest silver mine in the world needed to go to a museum to take photos of real silver. Just a couple of these oddities were the discovery and the rediscovery of the mine. But also, a common theme throughout the book, the author refers to himself in the third person. I suspect something is wrong with what is being said or the person saying it when they refer to themselves in the third person. When people refer to themselves in the third person they are disassociating themselves from the event being described or they have another issue which I will address later. A synopsis of the discovery and rediscovery of the mine. English miners and a Crown geologist, who stood seven feet tall, stopped in Canada in 1770, had a 40 ton boat built for them by 1771 (just one year, mindful that people work outside only half a year this far north), hiring three experienced sailors they sailed around the Great Lakes without maps because experienced sailors do that. They had to sail because the book says the natives were too unfriendly to allow them to cross by ground so they had to go by water. Based on rumors of gold from a site not sourced, the English Crown Geologist discovered silver (go figure – silver and gold are close on the periodic table) existed in the region by way of a pure silver belt presented to him as a gift from an Indian Chief for marrying his daughter the Indian princess (because the natives were too unfriendly to cross by ground if you didn’t forget what the author just told you). Off sailing again with a silver belt and an Indian Princess, they landed at Eagle River (a river too small to accommodate a 40 ton boat and the same location where Douglas Houghton and two others drowned{another much more interesting story}), established a mining camp, and within a day’s walk found the mother lode of all silver in the world that missed getting reported in history. Didn’t we say

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that they had to go by boat because the natives were too unfriendly just before saying they were on land receiving a belt of pure silver and an Indian Princess as a bride? These accounts contradict each other – we have to say one part of initial discovery of the mine is false. If I sound like I am being redundant I apologize but some people need to have these little facts reiterated several times over. Also we have to wonder where the Indians found the metal smith to make the belt of pure silver as Michigan Indians did not have metal smith skills in the mid 1700s. So which part of this initial discovery do you believe? The rest of the book depends on this initial discovery being legitimate… Besides that initial mine discovery, the rediscovery is strangely picture perfect. In the summer of 1927, the main character in the book Jake Stockard, rediscovers the mine. Times were hard leading up to the depression and Jake is out looking for mineral samples to make a buck, he is camping by the Cliff Mine, he sees a glitter by the light of his campfire and finds silver, he notices that his campfire smoke is going toward something, he follows the smoke and finds the entrance to the mine. Jake gets his gear together, his heart is pounding from fear, he goes down in the hole about 90 feet circumventing the bear trap ambush, he sees where other miners were killed an left by a cave-in, he wonders around in this hole 90 feet underground and finds the Wall of Silver—riches beyond belief. Scared for his life in the bottom of an unknown hole with the bodies of miners buried right there, the very loud sounds of rushing water from an unknown source nearby in the dark pit (it could be filling the mine with water drowning him), and confronted with tons of silver, Jake takes a nap….. So while Jake is taking a nap we can talk about this subject. Most readers missed that cold air jetting out of a mine entrance in the summer won’t pull smoke in, but what about this nap? Frightening and exhilarating experiences as well as a potential life threatening events all at the same time tend to keep me awake for days. Have you ever gone 90 feet underground in an unknown mine, circumventing a bear trap, by passing the location where miners were buried in front of you from a cave in, hear the sounds of rushing water in the darkness, find a wall of silver, and then took a nap? Do you think you could take a nap under those circumstances? Just trying to keep things in the realms of reality. The next concern is on the tail end of the three hour nap when an “earth tremor” wakes Jake up. Looking through historical records the only

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earthquake that could be felt in Michigan in that time period was two years and one season off in February 1925. Here in the Upper Peninsula you may lose track of a year or two but you don’t mistake summer for winter when you have an average snow fall of 22 feet per year. So maybe one of the mines was blasting at the time. Considering where the Wall of Silver Mine is supposed to be, the nearest operating mine was the Phoenix mine and it was flooded and dewatering in the 1920s. There was some mine exploration taking place by C&H on Cliff Mine in the 1920s but I have not come across any record of blasting in their records or journals or in any other journals (yes I read the journals because I’m boring like that); they did do some coring but that doesn’t cause earth tremors. The truths in the book were rock solid and most everything seemed false or inundated with a lot of embellishment.

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Dissecting the People in the Book—not literally—that would be too gross even for me. The people in the book The author said he changed the names of the persons in the book. There are two concerns regarding this. If he changed the names in the book that means he altered his documentation that he claims to have had—that means he altered a certified mail receipt as shown on page 154 of the book. I am pretty sure that is illegal. Either he changed the names or he didn’t tell the whole truth about changing names; I’ll find out before I’m done. Anyway, this change of names does not mean I can’t look for these people as described in the book and prove them to be true or not. On a personal note, I am having a difficult time understanding why anyone would change the names of people who were dead, had no children, no siblings, no reason to hide, and no connection to what is happening today. It also seemed strange that everyone in the book was not only dead but had no living relatives. How often does that happen? I believe that the author who claims the character Jake Stockholm was a friend should have been celebrating the life of his friend and flaunting his real name as opposed to burying his real name and clouding the truth with fictional trash. I have been told that maybe there was a reason for this name change that the author could not share with us. Maybe the publishers forced him to change the names for some reason that only made since to them. I will not simply say that the characters are false; that would be too easy. I will start off with the main character Jake Stockard and try to prove he is a real person. Honestly, I will make my best effort to prove this is a real person and be an apologist until the treasure hunter is sick of me. The character Jake Stockard, if he were a real person as described in the book; he must have met the following criteria as described in the book, unless all the facts of his life were also changed:

Born in the Keweenaw, Upper Peninsula, MI. His grandfather came from a wealthy family, graduated from West

Point, served as an officer in the Civil War, was wounded in combat and moved to Washington D.C. (wounded in such a way he could not

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have children - hate it for him - resulting in a cheating wife having a child by another man being Jake’s real father; the soap opera begins).

His grandfather received 400 acres in the Keweenaw by a land grant given to him by the President himself.

His parents drowned. He worked as a miner for the Galena Mining Company Became a field geologist for the Galena Mining Company Graduated from the School of Mines in Houghton, MI before 1927 Discovered the Wall of Silver Mine in 1927 Served in WWII in the Pacific theater for the Army Corps of

Engineers Married to a secret woman in another country (England) and she

also died suddenly and totally unreported like everyone else in the book.

He was old enough to consider the author of the book to be the son he never had

Died before 1976 in the Keweenaw Cremated within three days of his death and his ashes were dropped

by helicopter over the Greenstone Ridge (Cliff mine area and alleged location of the “Wall of Silver”).

Gave 1/3 of his estate to the School of Mines he graduated from. Died late enough in time that he was required by law to have a social

security number. Trying to prove the character Jake Stockard existed by any name - I first went to the Copper Country Archives at Michigan Technological University which has been called by many names in the past to include “School of Mines in Houghton” and got a list of all persons who graduated from the school from 1931 and prior. I used 1931 in lieu of 1927 to give a four year buffer on the data. It was fascinating to see Alaska listed as a foreign country. Nonetheless, I went to the Michigan pages and had copies made of all Michigan graduates. I then highlighted all of the graduates who hailed from anywhere in the Keweenaw area; I expanded the area slightly for a buffer and conducted the search with 41 graduates in the Keweenaw and 23 more graduates in the nearby area. From this list of 64 graduates I conducted a social security death index search. I searched each and every name and required the alumni to have died prior to 1976 as Jake did. The

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alumni must have died in the 499** zip code area (Keweenaw and greater area) as Jake did. And lastly the person must have been between the ages of 17 to 45 during the time period of 1941 to 1946 allowing him to serve in WWII as Jake did. There were several possibilities but when the last age criteria for WWII was included that eliminated everyone on the list except William Keranen. Born 2 April 1898 and died June 1975 in the Mohawk area of the Keweenaw. William Keranen would have been age 43 in 1941—young enough to serve in WWII but still old enough to refer to the author as “son”. As I mentioned, I took the time to extended the range to areas south of the bridge that leads into the Keweenaw. I am really limited to one name in this filling this criteria; there is no other person who graduated from the school of mines and could fill this initial criteria to be Jake Stockard. If William Keranen was not the real Jake Stockard then the character never existed. The middle name was not given in the social security death index but the graduate list said the middle initial was “A”. I will keep that in the back of my mind as it may or may not prove to be important. I made an initial attempt to confirm this person’s whereabouts through census data. There were two William Keranens living in the Keweenaw listed in the 1930 census. One of the two was born in Michigan and the other was born in Finland and immigrated to the U.S. in 1915. Both of which were too young to be the William Keranen who was listed in the social security index and died in 1975 and both were married to known women, not secret women. It is not too uncommon to find people missing in census data – that didn’t sound right. If a person was away from their home when the numerator came to the door the person was easily missed and not included in these older census records. At-any-rate, I have a name and that is a lot to work with. I did find a single (unmarried) William Keranen living in Allouez, MI in the 1920 census and a mother named Lizzy as head of household with multiple younger brothers and sisters. The book did not mention brothers or sisters nor a living mother, she was supposed to have drowned with her husband but I will ignore this tiny technicality for a while. With a real name that cannot be replaced by any other person in the Keweenaw I can begin to prove the story true.

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However, simply identifying a name of a person who met 30.76% of the above listed criteria to be Jake Stockard is not enough to say this person was the character Jake Stockard in the book. As an initial step I ordered William Keranen’s social security number application form from the Social Security Administration and death certificate. These forms will tell me who William Keranen’s parents were. As we know from the book, the parents must be from Michigan. Knowing this will make us a step closer to confirming who the grandfather really was. There is also a record of all land grants, West Point graduates, Civil War officers. With the name of the grandfather I can confirm the land grants, military officer status, and much more. I looked into the Galena Mining Company. I could not find any record of a Galena Mining Company in Michigan. The research librarians and archive personnel who also assisted said it was possible that they did not have anything on the Galena Mining Company - if the company were very short lived or never produced anything it is possible that the data was never preserved. It is also possible that they had nothing on this company if it never existed. But this character who worked as a field geologist for Galena found a person in a bear trap in a mine (two times in one story) and another person who had been shot in a mine and these accounts missed being recorded in history too? And according to the book, Galena was profitable enough to send the main Character to the Houghton School of Mines. The author must have changed the name of the mining company too. So this criteria may be difficult to prove very much like a secret wife. If we remove the Galena Mining Company and Secret Wife criteria as they may be too hard to prove—I’ll waive my hand and make it happen, that means the person named meets 40.00% of the criteria to be the Jake Stockard in the book. That is almost half-way there! For me to be mostly convinced this person is Jake Stockard, I need to prove that the parents were from Michigan and they both drowned, the person did in fact serve in the military, and proving the grandfather fulfilled all of the requirements mentioned will have me mostly convinced. Yes, I am a tough sell but I deal in reality and not fiction disguised as nonfiction so if you call me a dick I’ll grin and thank you.

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While I am waiting on the death certificate I will pursue any Will and Testament, estate sales, and donations to the school by William Keranen. A death certificate will give birth dates, spouses if any, and possible funeral arrangements and who really reported the death. A Will will tell who legally received his property. The Will should state that the school received 1/3 of the estate. The school should have some record of donors as it is a public institution responsible for financial accountability – even if the contribution were made anonymously it should coincide with the death date and be about 1/3 the value of the estate. Fulfilling all of these criteria will ensure us that we found the real Jake Stockard. It is not enough to prove one, two, or three charters in the book is true. We also have to prove the Wall of Silver Mine to be true. I will come back to William Keranen as Jake Stockard when the official documents come back to me. Proving Jake Stockard to be true is instrumental in proving all of the other characters to be true as well as the story itself being the mine unless that was the fictional part of the book the author was talking about. What about Stabin Stone. The Crown Geologist, son of an aristocrat. According to the author he did not change Stone's name. I contacted the Royal Historical Society in London and made an inquiry about this person, I am currently awaiting a response from them. The book also says that Stabin Stone never made it back to England and his ancestors live in the Sault St. Marie area of Michigan and mentioned them by name and date. I went through the census records for that entire area and all of the Stones mentioned in the book also missed being reported in the census records, what a coincidence. I found the most well known Stone family members that live around the Sault St. Marie area and wrote them letters explaining my research and included self addressed stamped envelopes beseeching their replies. While we wait for official documents and replies from the Stone family lets look for the Wall of Silver, it’ll be fun.

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So where is the Wall of Silver? Once again, I won’t simply say the Wall of Silver doesn’t exist but rather I will try to prove it to be true. I should be able to prove where the Wall of Silver is. There are multiple accounts in the book that describe the Wall of Silver Mine location incredibly well. Despite the fact that the author who says he is an amateur geology, Jake a college trained geologist, and the Crown Geologist for England could not seem to locate the mine on a map I believe I can—because I am cool like that or I maybe I’m just wrong. Nonetheless, I will use the two accounts to prove where the mine is. The modern account being the Jake and friends rendition and the early America account being the Stabin Stone Crown Geologists with the silver belt and Indian Princess bride rendition. According to the Jake and friends rendition, the Wall of Silver Mine must be on Cliff Drive (a section of road less the seven miles long with less than 5 miles of cliff face). The logging trail leading to the mine turns west off of Cliff Drive. This logging trail leading to the west must be north of but very near Lake Seneca. The mine must be at the base of a cliff. The logging trail leading to the mine area must have been blocked with boulders. The hand drawn diagram of the mine as shown on page 12 of the book depicts the mine as having an original opening from the east and the escape tunnel was made going to the south. According to the diagram, the two walls of silver in the mine have an East West strike and there is no mention of dip angle leading readers to believe the two walls are vertical (like a wall). The early America rendition. Indians took the mining crew up the Eagle River where they collected pieces of silver in the river the size of acorns. This must be why the Eagle River is named Eagle River and Silver River further north is was not named for the Eagles. Going up the river from the water front means you are facing the morning sun – this is important – you must go up the river far enough to pass the cliffs so the morning sun is behind you as you look at the cliffs. According to the book account, when the Cliffs came into view the Indians said go there; or maybe he said go there Kemosabi. An Indian ran up to the cliff face and scratched at the surface with his knife and the rock shined of silver with the morning sun – they must have been looking west and standing east of the cliffs for this to occur with the morning sun - this could not have happened if you were looking east, there would have been no reflection of sun light.

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There are only four logging trails leading toward the west from Cliff Drive by modern or historical maps—yes I have all of the maps. One of the logging trails goes to the south of the cliffs and is no where near the initial tributary for Eagle River. One of the three logging trails is much further to the north and no where near Lake Seneca. One of the logging trails leads into the smaller cliffs toward the south and around to their backside and the cliffs are not in sight of Eagle River from this access point. One of the logging trails crosses through Eagle River and was blocked by boulders, like a scene out of Goldie Locks, this one was just right, but the boulders have been moved to the side. This logging trail goes between the section that was mined by North America Mine and Cliff mine but not touched otherwise by modern mining. This looks good. The presumption in proving the book to be true is, the location of the Wall of Silver Mine cannot be where they mined Cliff Mine or North America Mine but near it. Jake’s comments in the book said that Cliff Mine was so close. If the Wall of Silver Mine were at the Cliff Mine or North American Mine location it would have been found by modern mining being 1860 and later. The mine diagrams at the Copper Country Archives depicts that this section was well mined and a Wall of Silver could not have been missed in the Cliff Mine or North America Mine. The mine entrance must be facing to the east as depicted in the diagram. It must be near Eagle River. It must be positioned in such a way that would allow miners to not only dig into the cliffs from the east but also still escape digging out south. If you think about that one it really narrows down the locations to specific topography; the mine entrance would have to be on the edge of a draw and that is the only choice, PERIOD. The below map (USGS from the MI, DNR web site) circles the one location where this scenario is possible. The circled location is within view of the Eagle River, allows entrance into the cliff from the west going east with a draw in the cliffs allowing escape toward the south and is near the one logging road that was blocked by boulders. The only other locations where these features are found providing entrance and escape dig-ins and -outs were possible were mined by the Cliff and North American mines and the mine diagrams show that these possible areas were mined out. This leaves the one spot as depicted below.

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I read this part of the story and it really looks good but still I say “ummm”. The strategraphic layers strike northeast essentially parallel to the cliff and dipping about 45 degrees in the direction of northwest. This leads to the next question of how could there be a vertical mass of silver almost orthogonal to the strike and ignoring the dip? I am still not prepared to say the story is bogus, I’m trying to prove it true. I considered backing up and looking at the lineation features from satellite imagery. Looking at lineations is kind of a like voodoo. Maybe one day I’ll believe in lineations in my heart but not right now—I kind of believe that maybe any moment a geologic priest could exercise lineations out of our lives. Nonetheless, in the meanwhile I will look at the lineations as I am really trying to prove the story true. Once again, the area in question is circled area (map taken from Terra Metrics, thanks Terra Metrics). The strike is very obvious from this image and runs northeast as seen in the above in the USGS map image. If you squint hard enough and long enough—keep squinting—there looks like there just may be an East West lineation. Do you see it?

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This little east west lineation could account of an east west mineral deposit and happens to be in the one location where the mine entrance and escape could be accomplished. We have to investigate this site first hand. The author addressed who owned the land and did so accurately. The property owner is easily identifiable on the plat book but it also says in the plat book that this land is in CFA status meaning that to avoid the max tax the owners allows others to hunt, fish, and explore on the property and thus pay highly reduced taxes. I don’t understand why Jake could run around and camp on this property with big campfires lighting up the silver in the 1920s when real mining was taking place but had to hide and go sneaking around later because of the scary Yooper mine security guards ready to strike on a moment’s notice like coiled springs. This thought of the Yooper security agents keeps me up at night laughing – the humor in that is deep. For those who are not familiar with the term Yooper it means a person who is from the Upper Peninsula or U.P. Yoopers call themselves Yoopers and refer to people who live south of the bridge leading to Michigan’s Lower Peninsula (people who live under the bridge) as Trolls. If this offends your political sensitive sensitivities then tell the Yoopers to get rid of the Yooper bumper

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stickers, Yooper calendars, and even the Yooper Tourist Trap but don’t cry to me; I’m just a victim telling a story so enjoy it. Since this is CFA land and is open to anyone to walk through and explore, I will go out without worry of diligent Yooper security agents catching me in the act like the book warns. I will however wear reflective vests because the chances of being accidentally shot by someone drinking and hunting is very real. Many people and pets have been shot and killed here by drunk hunters who cannot identify a small dog from a large buck. But while I am waiting for the snow to clear before going out to our sight we will follow up on our lead character.

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Back to characters in the book. What about Stabin Stone? The Stone family members around Sault St. Marie never responded to my queries; the letters were returned as “Undeliverable”. The executive secretary for the Royal Historical Society responded to my query saying they have no such record of Stabin Stone. England’s Royal Historical Society has a rather complete collection of royalty and those who had royal commissions. I happen to trust the Royal Historical Society on this one and will consider the 7 foot tall Stabin Stone to be a fictional character. This includes the crew of the boat, the silver belt, the Indian princess bride, and story of miners walking through Eagle River collecting acorn sized silver nuggets like little mining chipmunks, and when they initially stumbled into mine. What about William Keranen as Jake Stockard? The results are back from the social security administration and a copy of William Keranen’s death certificate is in hand and they indicate that William Keranen social security number was 369-03-3531. William was the son of Mathew Keranen from Finland and Elizabeth “Karninen” from Finland. The records also show that William Keranen registered for the draft in WWI. Although hard to read, the card indicates that at age 20, on 2 September 1918 he registered for said draft. It list his birthday as 2 April 1898 Although the book says that both of Jake Stockard’s parents drowned, this card says his mother is still alive and listed as a closest living relative – her names appears to be Elizabeth on the card. Below is his draft registration card:

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from National Archives

This gives me reason to believe that the 1920 census of Allouez shows the same William Kerenan at age 21 (enumerated just prior to his 22nd birthday). The complete census shows that he works in lumber in a copper mine (this is a field of mining engineering). This census not only shows William Kerenan but that his mother was the head of the household and he had 4 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters; the first name is very hard to read but I believe it is Shepherd, followed by Annie, Eino, Edwin, Vida, and Harvey. An excerpt of this 1920 census is shown below:

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from National Archives

Here is the death certificate for William Keranen. It shows that he is from Allouez, worked in lumber – timber cutting. It shows that he lived almost right across the street from where the Wall of Silver is supposed to be, just down the street from the Cliff View Inn. It shows that he was never married. It shows that he died about 12:30 PM It shows that he was buried 4 days after death in the Lake View Cemetery in Calumet.

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This William Keranen did not have drowned parents from Michigan but rather he had parents from Finland who died at separate times and Finland is not Michigan (just stating the obvious because some places in the U.P. could be confused by this), meaning this William Keranen, the only possible

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person who could have filled the requirements to be Jake Stockard, failed to meet all the requirements to be the character meaning the lead character in the book never existed – HOLD THAT THOUGHT – I am still trying to prove anything in this book true. I also cannot find any account of any president granting 400 acres of Keweenaw land to a Civil War veteran or anyone else for that matter making the grandpa story questionable as well. As this land grant had to happen after the Civil War but before the time Jake’s father was born the time span must have been 1865 to 1877. This left two presidential libraries to review, that of Andrew Johnson and of Ulysses Grant. Just for a buffer zone I also included Rutherford Hayes taking us up to 1881 well past the date that Jakes father could have been born. Reviewing other records, I found that the State of Michigan has posted the following information that indicates that all military bounty land grants were made to soldiers who fought “Prior to the Civil War” not during the Civil War as the book mentioned. Although some of these military bounty land grants are in the area of interest near Copper Harbor, they were made prior to the Civil War contradicting the Wall of Silver book. I asked you to HOLD THE THOUGHT about William Keranen not being Jake Stockard. What if the author just made up all of the stuff about Jake Stockard’s parents and grandparents to make the book a little more interesting but used some aspects of a real person for his fictional character?

The Jake Stockard character had to work in a mining company Went to the School of Mines in his early 20s funded by the company

he worked for Was never married to anyone in the U.S. Lived poor Died about 1975 right after lunch.

o William Keranen worked for the Mohawk Mining Company o Mohawk was a company large enough to send people to school and

he went to the School of Mines in 20s

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o He never married o Lived poor o Died 3 June 1975, 1230 (right after lunch)

I think William Keranen was the foundation for the fictional character Jake Stockard. Back to the Wall of Silver I confirmed where the Wall of Silver should be by topography but I want you the reader to be as confident as I am so I will go with other identifiers in the book. The book alleges that the Wall of Silver is close to the Cliff View Inn, that the logging road turns off Cliff View drive to the west and leads to the Wall of Silver but the road has been blocked by large boulders, that there was a very old pine tree near the Wall of Silver. The book also alleges that there is an underground waterfall. Starting at the majestic Cliff View Inn. The bar is a small bar with a laminate bar counter, a tiny billiards table with two cute women playing game, enough second hand smoke to kill a cow, but the bar maid was pleasant. Stepping back out into the fresh air we take off and go down Cliff Drive.

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Driving 1.4 miles down Cliff Drive we come to a logging trail leading to the west and that has been previously blocked by large boulders but the boulders have since been moved.

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Going back until we reach the spot where the topography makes the mine, as described, possible we find the stump of a really old pine tree almost three feet in diameter. The picture does not capture the size of this old tree stump.

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At the top of the hill where the topography could allow the mine to have been entered from the east and the draw for an escape to the south we find a fast flowing stream that disappears into a hole - it sounds much like a very large bathtub drain. I took two minutes of video of the stream as a single picture does not capture the magnitude of water running into this drain.

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We have a lot of the components mentioned in the book to make this a real possibility; we have the exact topography needed, a smoky bar, boulders in the logging road, tree stumps in the forest, and water quickly draining into ground that could produce and underground waterfalls. Going out to the location I will use four methods to assess the area. First is infrared imaging. I know where all of the documented mine openings are and were. If there is any air exchange between the surface and subsurface the change in air temperature will be very noticeable on in IR. Second is searching with a metal detector. According to the story the boards used to close the entrance have metal pins (nails or spikes) in them. I will set the metal detector to discriminate for steel and iron eliminating copper, silver, and all other valuable metal and just look for the steel and iron that closed the entrance.

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Third will be a soil resistivity survey that will show a wall of silver as a highly conductive dike running east and west as described in the book. Fourth is a visual survey for evidence of mining. The four big finds are:

There are several infrared anomalies in which cool air exchanges with the surface. The opening all appear to be natural. Nothing to indicate a hidden entrance. These opening are much like the one in the photo below in which the rocks pictures about 4 feet across in size. Some of these holes have growling sounds emanating from them which did not require additional investigation.

There are no magnetic anomalies to indicate steel or iron in the area so there are no steel or iron spikes holding boards in place.

There was a resistivity anomaly. I used the Schlumberger method

running a traverse of 150 meters in the area of interest at N40W.

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The Schluberger method was chosen as it has the fewest moving parts making it easier to use over the rough terrain and the Schluberger is best for identifying dikes. When an anomaly was observed I move the traverse S50W a distance of 18 meters and covered the anomaly area a second time to try and confirm that it was a horizontal east west dike. I confirmed that the anomaly was real but it was not oriented east west as the book indicated but rather N63W making it 27 degrees off and it was also plunging. I would assume this to be copper ore body.

Lastly there was no evidence of mining. Adjacent to all mines in the

area are what is called “poor rock” piles. These are the piles of rock, that have been blasted apart with jagged fractures, these rocks are not rounded and smooth like the ones seen in the picture above. There should be large piles of these poor rocks, small enough for miners to pickup, load in carts, and lift out of the mine. There was no evidence that this area had ever been mined.

Initial Conclusion

The main characters in the book never existed The area where the Wall of Silver is supposed to be is not conducive

for a vertical dike of silver running east west Reviewing the area demonstrates that there is nothing there out of

the ordinary and no evidence to show that mining ever occurred there.

Before closing I want to share some other problems with the book and conclude with my own story on the Wall of Silver and the Real People. Oddities in the book that couldn’t be explained, didn’t seem true, couldn’t be validated, or just need to be laughed at. The author, says he braved the skies over Europe in WWII, but he cowed and had to leave the Upper Peninsula because a scary Yooper threatened him and his family? Speaking as a veteran, I don’t understand how someone who boasts of his bravery in combat can become frightened and run so quickly—one of those enigmas I can’t swallow and actually find offending. In terms of

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my peers in the Army, you could take everything away from them but once you threaten their families you wouldn’t see them cow and run; you would be introduced to a new reality. The author’s allowed a stranger smoking a cigar to come into his home. Then his house burned down destroying all of his notes and PICTURES leaving NO record of the encounters at the mine except it was a very small and contained fire according to the report, only affecting his basement. Besides the small contained fire consuming everything, and despite the fact that some people allowed smokers in their homes in the 1970s, who entertains strangers in their basement? That’s like ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ Here’s an ash tray; it puts the lotion on its skin… scarry. The author indicates he ran for state representative. This really had nothing to do with Wall of Silver mine or the story in general but provided the author the opportunity to put a 1970s picture of him in the book. Strange why that ONE picture survived that massive (yet small and controlled) house fire but none of the other important pictures did. Although he was not elected, probably because of the 1950s flattop haircut that was out of style in the 1970s, he goes on to talk about how he went to Washington and won a large contract that would have provided training and employment for 150 persons but could not execute on the contract because no one would rent him a building to work out of. Why would Washington be giving large contracts to the state representative losers for state projects and why isn’t there a record of this “large contract” at the U.S. National Archives? And if he did have a “Large Contract” and all he needed was a building to work out of, why couldn’t he use his tavern and just convert it, specifically, quit selling beer to teenagers and use the tables for working? The author could only trade in silver and gold with under-the-table dealers leaving no record of any transaction because of a law that did not exist. People could still trade in silver as silver coinage was made until 1964 and silver was still marketable after that and while there were restrictions on gold for a period of time nothing prevented a person who was holding gold to sell it to the U.S. government. And why in the world would someone take legally traded silver and convert it to gold if gold was illegal to have at the time?

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According to the author, the author went into the mine but never saw the wall of silver because the cross-cut tunnel collapsed so even if you did find the entrance, you can’t get to the wall of silver and the author’s account is based entirely on second hand information and the photos that he claims were burned never existed if he never saw the mine to begin with. The back page of the book says $2,500 of 10 Dollar gold coins all marked 1890 were in the bags in the mine. All of the 10 Dollar gold coins minted in the U.S. took place at the Carson City, Nevada Mint 2220 miles away from Houghton and the Philadelphia Mint 1122 miles away from Houghton. The $2,500 mentioned is 3.3% of all the 10 Dollar gold coins minted that year. If there were a variety in the dates I could believe it but not 3.3% of all the gold minted that year turning up in one place being a 90 foot hole in the ground north of Houghton, Michigan. Figure the odds on that one, you may win the lottery three times before that scenario occurs in real life. You may even win the lottery six times before that happens and you receive a silver belt and an Indian princess as a bride in hostile Indian territories while tripping into the most productive silver mine in the world. According to page 161, the author sent a letter about the mine to the CEO John Dillon at International Papers in Stanford, CT however the small satellite office is located in Stamford, CT and not Stanford; this is obviously a typographical error. The wrong address was given on this letter and who is John Dillon? John Dillon is another one of these fantasy persons in the book, never worked for International Papers, but popular some older movies. The author says he changed all the names in the book except Stabin Stone. This is not a true statement either. While he is making up names like John Dillon he kept the real names of the Houghton County Clerk when he wanted to boast about running in the state elections and he kept the correct name of the Director of the Mineral Division of International Paper hoping this guy would give his access to the CFA land as if you need permission to access CFA land. Page 120. The author considers selling the tavern. Page 121. The author says he has to sell the tavern because the state is going to repeal the teenage drinking law and that he will have to move to lower Michigan because there is no other way to make a living in the Keweenaw. Let me translate that just in case you read it but did not hear what you were reading. The

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author believes there is no other way to make money in the Keweenaw other than selling alcohol to teenagers. I proclaim the author to be uncouth. The author indicates here that he has to make money meaning he needs money. Not less than 17 lines later the author says he doesn’t need money. So which is it? The author doesn’t need money or the author needs money so bad that he has to sell alcohol to teenagers and if he can’t do that he has to move to lower Michigan – both accounts are on the same damned page. The author moved to lower Michigan, he needed money. The book says that Jake died as a result of a Massive Stroke. For this to be known there would have to be an autopsy conducted – no one can just make that up. Autopsies are time consuming. And ol’ Jake was cremated and dropped by a helicopter within three days of his death according to the book. Here are two challenges for you the reader because I’ve already spent a lot time trying to prove anything in this book true. Find anyplace near the Keweenaw that will autopsy you and cremate you within three days of death. Two, find any record of a helicopter flight out of anywhere near the Keweenaw in the mid 1970s. Then ask yourself how did this guy get cremated in three days and airdropped on the greenstone ridge by helicopter? If the author was really using the gold that his friend gave him to save the mine for further generations (WHAT EVER THAT MEANS) as his friend had requested then the author could simply buy the track of land that the mine is on, a cliff is of no use to a logging company seeking wood for the paper industry because it is hard to get trees to grow on a cliff and harder to get equipment to the top of cliffs to harvest the trees that are there. Cliff property is just a tax burden to this type of venture. Also, I think this track of land is for sale and has been for quite some time so buying it really isn’t out of the question; in fact this track of land is really cheap compared to other plots of land because it is a combination of low flood prone swamp area with extra mosquitoes next to the river (the river the size of a stream) and the cliffs with falling rocks making it an unfriendly place to build a home. If the author really wanted the world to know where the mine was he could have simply printed the location in lieu of being coy. The author demonstrated in the book that he was smart enough to address specific locations by Township and Range numbers but could not identify the actual location of the Wall of Silver Mine. As we know the author needs money, he

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could have auctioned the location of the mine to the highest bidder, he could have bought the property and proved the mine was there and sold it for a mint. Why didn’t he take any of these reasonable courses of action? A more believable story. The ancient people who first mined the Northern Michigan area prior to the year 1200 created pit mines. The modern Indians (1600s and later) had rediscovered the pit mines and extracted some copper and possibly silver too. Someone rediscovered the pit mines and further extracted silver from it. William Keranen, a very interesting person who accomplished a lot in his life and has been forgotten by history as so many are, possibly visited the author’s nearby tavern on occasion as a single man with no home life probably would, served as the foundation for the fictional character Jake Stockard. I am going to stick with William Keranen as he was a real person and I have produced more real information about William Keranen than the “Wall of Silver” book has on silver. William Keranen came closest to being the character mentioned in the book, and doesn’t deserve to be forgotten. Some silver was probably found by William Keranen and the story of the silver find was shared; the story continued to grow as told by others. There was so much silver is was like a wall of silver. More like an old miner’s version of a fish story where a small fissure of silver became larger every time the story was told until it was a whole wall made of silver. However, the author did not write a book about Jake Stockard, William Keranen, or even the mine; the author wrote a vanity book for himself and to himself as demonstrated where he brags of his war bravery, talks about his political campaigns, babbles relentlessly about himself—in the third person so you have to read his name over and over, and shows pictures of himself even though none of this has anything this to do with the mine and only serves to distract from what the book is supposed to be about. Because of this, the author’s name is never mentioned once here. I don’t believe he deserves to have his name repeated. As far as the mine is concerned, there isn’t one. Peeling the skin back on this bamboozling book was a lot of fun.

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Works Cited. The Michigan History Magazine The ‘Wall of Silver’ Book Curator, Seaman Mineral Museum The U.S. National Archives WWI Draft Registration Records The U.S. National Archives 1920 Allouez, MI census The Keweenaw Court House Records – Death Certificate provided by the Office of the County Clerk Royal Historical Society in London, email correspondence U.S. Department of Treasury Historian, mail correspondence dated 21 November 2006

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