Goodell, Rufus R. (Rufus Riley) 1842-1933

Rufus R. Goodell was born in Monson, Maine in 1842. He was a member of a Union regiment which fought in Tennessee during the Civil War. He moved to the Lake Superior country and Houghton, Michigan immediately after the war, and engaged in exploring for minerals. Much of his Copper Country fame is via his association with the St. Mary's Canal Mineral Land Company as an agent for the firm. He took over the post in 1869, just nine years after the Portage Canal was opened to shipping traffic, granting water access to Houghton and the Ripley smelter.