“Land Sales, an Influx of Strangers, and Rumors of an Industry Moving in, Have Caused Excitement and Wild Speculations on Drummond Island.”

This sounds like a present day news release, with land changing hands and an unprecedented building boom on Drummond Island. However, this item could well have been published more than 100 years ago, if there had been a reporter in the area back then. And there was a newspaper correspondent, medical doctor, and philosopher, J. Wells Church near Drummond Harbor Island, who signed his copy “Socrates” and covered the waterfront, as well as the inland area of Drummond Island.

The time was in the early 1890s, and the building of the lock at Sault Ste. Marie, later known as the Poe Lock, was the cause of all the furor. Oldsters on the island had gone through this hectic period twice before. In 1853 when the old State Lock was built at the falls, and a few years later when the federal lock, the Weitzel, was built. Quarries had been opened on Drummond Island to supply the huge blocks of limestone that went into their construction.

The Old Quarry, as it still is called, with its cottage-clad shoreline, bears little resemblance to the bustling scenes of more than 150 years ago. Even in the 1890s, trees and vegetation had covered the earlier scars.

Now in 1890, or thereabouts, the island, which after a few exciting years had slipped back into a somnolent state, would again echo with the clang of stone hammers. The crush of hob-nailed boots on the wooden sidewalk, which ran for a block along the village waterfront, and the shouts of crews loading rock at the dock, would become familiar sounds.

For the third lock, or the second federal lock, a new quarry was opened closer to the village, in the vicinity of the Drummond Island Yacht Haven today. The well-known Seaman family had arrived on Drummond from Beaver Island in 1853, via Manitoulin Island; perhaps seeking employment, as it was about the time the first quarry was opened. Members of this family, as well as other pioneer families, whose descendants still make the island their home, had swelled the population of the little settlement on Potagannissing Bay on the northern shore of the island.

A high rocky ledge with an area of rock running into the bay, just west of the settlement, was the site decided upon for the new quarry. This arm was extended further into deep water for a loading dock. The ledge was denuded of its mantle of trees; rails were laid for the sturdy little stone-cars, the tracks were elevated so that the loaded cars ran out onto the dock on their own momentum; the empties were hauled back up by means of a cable, using horse-power. Winches for loading the huge blocks (many of them weighing 15 tons) on the ships were also expedited by horsepower, using the principle of the treadmill.

It seems likely any able-bodied native of the island was able to find work, brawn being the principle requirement. But besides stonemasons, teamsters, and both loading crews, there were other sidelines. One of the most important artisan was the blacksmith. It was he who kept the horses shod, mended, made the necessary parts to keep the machinery running, and sharpened the bits and chisels for the rock crew.

Needless to say, the population on Drummond Island was growing. Farmers found a new market for their produce, lumbermen, and fishermen did as well. Housing was at a premium. A building was thrown up to house the Italian crew, which later became the Maccabees Hall. Other boarding places, later torn down, were erected. West of the present museum was the bakery; William Seabrook was the baker. At the foot of a bluff of waste rock nearby was the pay office, where the workers were paid in gold and silver. The Old Pierce House, long considered a place of evil repute by the islanders because two of James Jesse Strang’s muscle men, Pierce and Doty, their multiple wives, and their children had built and occupied it for a time, was also pressed into service. The Strickland Cottage also became a boarding house with Mrs. John McAdam, a great-great aunt of mine, as the landlady.

G. Warren Bailey, my great-grandfather, built and operated the saloon in the settlement. After the saloon closed, Sunday school services were held there, then it was moved across the road and used as a post office. Next it was used as a residence by the Churches, then it became a tavern again.

Many tales could be told of these exciting times. There is one told about some local lads who used to heckle the Italian workmen and when they came out of their quarters to do battle, the local gang dashed in and made off with their wine.

Soon the job was finished, the buildings sank into decay and were torn down. Only the building destined to be the Maccabbee Hall remained, and it, too, met its fate in the 1930s. The dock was used as the port for the mail boat to and from DeTour, and the Bailey sawmill that ran into the 1920s was erected close by. Now in summer yachts and pleasure boats tie up at this historic waterfront.

As for the quarry, it slumbered on through the years. Occasionally a little rock was taken out; the old Chippewa County Court House at Sault Ste. Marie, for instance, is a little slice of Drummond. Later the International Lounge of the Ojibway Hotel was built of this rock. Time has softened the scars where the blocks were wrenched from the ledges. Tall cedars grow in the pit. Only a huge bluff of waste rock, lilac covered in the springtime, testifies to the past glory when Drummond Island was called upon for the third and last time to supply the material for the mightiest waterway in the world.

This year the Soo Locks celebrates its 150th anniversary.

Jill Lowe Brummell, whose family has lived for seven generations on Drummond Island, is the author of “Drummond Island History, Folklore and Early People,” features family histories of early settlers of the island and 165 historic photographs. Her second book, “Growing Up on Drummond Island,” chronicles childhood experiences in this remote area of the Upper Peninsula. Both are available from Black Bear Press, 237 Holbrook, Saginaw, MI 48603, with “Drummond Island History” selling for $20.95 and “Growing Up on Drummond Island selling for $15.95, including tax and shipping.