When 20-year-old Narciso Bianchi arrived in America in 1897, the young Italian immigrant headed straight to a northern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP) shown here, a rugged territory rich in underground copper. Amid years of tumult and tragedy in the area’s mining region, Bianchi persevered in the liquor trade, living there the rest of his life, and lies buried there. His story is one of survival as a world crumbled around him.
First, some details about the environment in which Bianchi found himself. As shown on the map here, what is now the city of Calumet in the northern most peninsula of Upper Michigan was first settled in 1864 and named originally for “Red Jacket,” a chief of the Seneca Indian tribe, shown here. This is a puzzling choice since Red Jacket resided far from Michigan in upper New York State and was known for his antipathy toward white settlers and Christianity.
“Calumet” also had Native American origins, meaning a clay bowl at the end of a long “peace pipe.” The name first appeared applied to a small community that had grown up near Red Jacket adjacent to a highly productive copper mine. It subsequently was the name given to the township encompassing Red Jacket and nearby copper mining settlements. In 1929 Calumet officially became the name of the city itself.
Copper mining fueled the economic life of the region. The Boston-based Calumet and Hecla Mining Company produced more than half of United States copper from 1871 through 1880. It drew immigrant miners from all over Europe to this desolate outpost. By 1900 Red Jacket had a population of 4,668 and Calumet Township counted 25,991. It was hailed as one of the richest communities in America. What had begun as an isolated settlement virtually touching Canada, was now, at least for the time being, a busy city, as shown below.
After his arrival in America, Bianchi seems to have made straight for the UP, as it commonly is known. Born about 1878 and raised in the lush landscape of Tuscany, the son of Renaldo and Viola Bianchi, the youth must have been startled by the bleakness of the terrain. He likely had relatives or friends among the many Italian-born men working in the mines. Whether he joined them underground for a time is unclear, but about 1904, with a partner, Bianchi opened a saloon and a liquor store.
He had entered a crowded field. By 1910 the city directory indicated that Red Jacket/Calumet was home to 82 saloons, Bianchi’s among them. But the immigrant youth had a better idea than simply providing drinks over the bar.At the time, Red Jacket could claim distinction as the railroad center of the UP. The heyday of the Mineral Range railroad, its station shown here, was in the early 1900’s, employing 200 trainmen in addition to 250 men in the shops. Bianchi saw the opportunity to buy whiskey from the many distilleries in the Midwest and ship it to him by the barrel via railroad. Rather than just selling to the public, Bianchi understood the considerable business that would come from peddling whiskey to the other 81 saloons. He was now advertising himself as “N.R. Bianchi, Wholesale Liquor Dealer.”
When shipments arrived Bianchi would open the barrels and empty the contents into smaller containers, usually ceramic jugs from one to three gallons in size. When purchased by local saloon keepers they would be repackaged in smaller containers, often glass, to be poured out to their customers. Shown here and below are examples of the several of the variety of ceramic jugs bearing Bianchi’s name that are still in existence today. The jugs may have been the product of the famed Red Wing potteries in Minnesota.
In addition, Bianchi likely was doing some “rectifying,” that is, blending several whiskeys and perhaps other ingredients to create his own brand that would have been sold both to the public and wholesale. He called it “Copper Queen” and featured a label that depicted a Native American woman in a headdress. Bianci advertised Copper Queen as a “high grade” whiskey and truthfully as “a blend.” Although it was his proprietary brand, Bianchi, possibly because of cost, failed to register his trademark with the government.
As Bianchi was building his liquor business he was also gaining a family. In February 1905, he married Edith Cheli, an italian immigrant woman who was 20 at the time of their nuptials. Narciso was 27. The couple would have a family of five. The 1920 census recorded Julius 13, Myra 11, Reynold 7 and Marie, under a year old. A fifth child, Elizabeth, would come later. Bianchi’s occupation in the census was given as “owning store-liquor.”
As the 1900s moved on, however, the economic bloom faded from Red Jacket/Calumet to be replaced by violence. As copper prices fell, the mine owners began to cut the workforce and require more hours from those retained.
Labor unrest and strikes resulted. The situation triggered what became know as the “Seeberville Affair” in August 1913. After two strikers disobeyed an order from a mine boss, a group of mine “enforcers” surrounded a boarding house in which the men were living and opened fire. Two boarders with no connection to the strikers were killed and two others wounded.
Although four of the shooters later were convicted of manslaughter, the deaths increased the intensity of the strike. The incident also was a prelude to a disaster at the Italian Hall, a building operated by an Italian mutual aid society, on Christmas Eve 1913. Union wives gave a Christmas party for the strikers and their families. I am assuming that Bianchi was among those donating gifts for the children and money for party supplies. Hundreds of mining families attended, packed into the hall ballroom.
Here is newspaper account of what happened next: “At some point during the evening, according to most witnesses, an unidentified man stepped into the ballroom and shouted "Fire!", beginning a panic and stampede for the doors. The main exit from the ballroom was a steep stairway down to the front doors of the building. In the ensuing panic, 73 people were crushed to death in the stairwell, 60 of them were children.”
There was no fire but the perpetrator of the disaster, believed to a strike breaker, was never identified. Shown below is a photo of a line of coffins in varying sizes waiting to be delivered to the families of victims. Folk singer Woody Guthrie's 1945 song, "1913 Massacre,” memorialized this event. Whether Bianchi was in Italian Hall that night is unknown but among the dead, injured and grieving must have been many friends and acquaintances.
Although World War One revived the need for copper and boosted the Calumet economy, the lift was temporarily. Following the conflict the demand for copper declined sharply and prices dropped. Thousands of workers and their families left Red Jacket/Calumet, many to find work in the fast-growing auto industry in Detroit. By this time state and national prohibition had been enacted, forcing Bianchi to shut down his wholesale liquor trade and saloon. Without fanfare he turned the latter into a soft drink parlor. While many such “parlors” were a front for liquor sales, Bianchi apparently was never cited for violations. Selling “soda pop” he persevered in Calumet through the 14 years of National Prohibition.
With Repeal, Bianchi went back to running a saloon. According to the 1940 census, his wife Edith, her children grown, was helping as the cook. Son Julius, now married and living next door with his wife, was assisting his father in running the establishment. A witness of many years to the strife and decline that had afflicted Calumet, Bianchi continued to operate his tavern over the next decade. The 1950 census found him still the proprietor. By this time Julius had moved on. A younger son, Reynold, was now working as the bartender and assisting the 70-year old Bianchi with running the tavern.
Five years later, in July 1952, Narciso Bianchi died, age 74. Joining victims of the Italian Hall disaster, he was buried in Calumet ’s Lake View Cemetery, right. Below is Bianci’s headstone and that of wife Edith, who joined him in 1964. Meanwhile Calumet, once considered among the richest areas in the America with a population approaching 30,000 also was dying. In the 2020 census the population had dwindled to 621.
Addendum: Narciso Bianchi’s “Copper Queen” brand of whiskey has been revived by the Iron Fish Distillery, located in Thompsonville, Michigan, a small town on Lake Huron in Lower Michigan. As shown below, the new label largely has replicated the earlier one with a notable exception. Gone is the Native American woman with an Indian headdress. She has been replaced by a white woman rearing a Gay Nineties’ feathered hat. Thus political correctness is served. The distillery website states that Iron Fish can deliver Copper Queen whiskey to 39 states and DC. Wherever he is, Narciso would be pleased.
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