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27 Dec 2021, last updated 23 Mar 2024

The COR-AGO Co. was a proprietary medicine company located in Lake Linden. Reverend Bordas of the St. Joseph French Catholic church in Lake Linden (14) explained its history and impetus (4):

Reverend Bordas<br>Courtesy of Houghton County Historical Society
Reverend Bordas
My earliest recollections are associated with certain plants which were held in high esteem for their medicinal properties by the people among whom I passed my childhood and early manhood. Soon after being ordained as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, I was transferred to the wilds of Northern Michigan. In those early days it frequently became necessary for me to combine the functions of a physician with my pastoral duties, it often being impossible to secure the services of a trained medical man. Under these circumstances, I provided myself with supplies of plants which I had learned to know so well in my native France, not being able to secure them in this country. It soon occurred to me (the expense of importation being so great) to attempt the propagation of the plant. To my unbounded surprise and pleasure I found that the climatic conditions and the peculiar soil of the wonderful copper country of Michigan were especially adapted to such propagation. The plants which I succeeded in raising were superior both as to size and as to quality to any which I had seen abroad.

He further explained how the demand for the medicine outgrew his ability to supply it (4). He imparted his formula and experience of nearly 50 years to a company of gentlemen who would manufacture the medicine for the benefit of the general public (4).

The COR-AGO company was incorporated on 18 Jul 1903 by Father Edward P. Bordas, a Catholic priest; Joseph Bosch, a brewer; Dr. George W. Orr, a physician; John E. Jones, a bank cashier; Norbert Sarazin, a real estate man; and John H. Wilson, editor and owner of the Torch Lake Times (1,3). The capital was $100,000 divided into 10,000 shares at $10 a share (2). Patents were secured in England and Canada and the trademark was registered for the U.S. (2).

In Aug 1903, the company purchased 20 acres in the northeastern part of Lake Linden near the Traprock River to house the factory and farm (1,3). The company then purchased an additional piece of property in Sep 1903 (18). One acre was sown in Fall 1903 as an experiment (4). Twenty acres were sown in Spring 1904 (11) over a period of several weeks with seeds imported from France (19).

By Apr 1904, COR-AGO was on sale in drug stores and other local stores (5,6). By May 1904, nearly 60 cases were sold in Lake Linden and Hubbell; and several cases in Hancock, Houghton, Laurium, and Calumet, as well as in Ontonagon, Marquette, Delta, Menominee, and Schoolcraft counties (7). These early sales were produced from plants imported from France as they awaited their first crop grown in Lake Linden (16).

COR-AGO building<br>Courtesy of Houghton County Historical Society
COR-AGO building

By Aug 1904, the new factory building was nearly complete (8). The factory building was located between Adelaine St. and Cor-Ago St. (1). It would be a two-story brick building with a stone basement (19). The first floor would house offices and the storage and evaporating rooms (19). The second floor would be used for drying and grinding the herb (19). The basement would hold the boiler for steam generation and the bottling operation (19).

In Aug 1904, the first crop was in full bloom (8) and was being harvested (17). William Amundson, a chemist with 15 years of experience in Chicago, arrived in Sep 1904 and oversaw the preparation of COR-AGO (9,15). In Sep 1904, the company was drying the plant daily in an air tight room heated by a kiln to 160 degrees (9). Sufficient supply to produce a few hundred thousand bottles was already stored away (9). The dried leaves would then be pulverized into a powder and boiled in a 300-gallon copper caldron (19). The extract would then be filtered and concentrated by evaporation (19) to form a sticky brown liquid, which would then be bottled without adding alcohol (1,20). The first batch of the company was bottled on 26 Sep 1904 (10). They expected to install a tableting machine within a few weeks, and also made arrangements to start manufacturing Cor-Ago salve (10). In Feb 1905, Chas. A. Pearce was hired as sales agent, and Cor-Ago laxatives was expected to be on the market by about Feb 15 (11).

COR-AGO was a vegetable blood purifier. A description included with the packaging stated (1):

We desire it to be particularly understood that COR-AGO is not a "cure-all," that is, that it does not cure every ailment that flesh is heir to, from consumption to toothache. We do claim, however, that it is an alterative, having a special action on the liver, bowels, heart and kidneys, the equal of which has never before been placed in the hands of the public. An alterative is a remedy which, by its action on the purifying organs of the body, removes the products of decomposing waste, which are the cause of the great majority of diseases. In addition to its tonic alterative properties COR-AGO has a peculiar action on the heart.
Newspaper ad - <i>The Copper Country Evening News</i>, 02 Apr 1904
Newspaper ad - Apr 1904
Newspaper ad - <i>The Copper Country Evening News</i>, 14 May 1904
Newspaper ad - May 1904

The company received many testimonials of the curative effects of COR-AGO (4). They received orders from as far away as New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Kansas, and Illinois (1). An ad in The Copper Country Evening News, 06 Dec 1904, indicated that COR-AGO was stocked by many local drug stores, including Sodergren & Sodergren, Superior Pharmacy, Vastbinder & Read, Eagle Drug Store, Geo. H. Nichols, Scott's Drug Store, Ed. C. DesRochers, and F. W. Kroll.

Newspaper ad - <i>The Native Copper Times</i>, 07 Mar 1905
Newspaper ad - Mar 1905
Newspaper ad - <i>The Evening Journal</i>, 03 May 1905
Newspaper ad - May 1905

Fortune turned quickly, however. The company experienced a financial crisis and the board of directors released their chemist, William Amundson (1). The next batch made was a double batch, which spoiled in preparation and was bottled during the absence of Bordas (1). Many people got sick and the batch was recalled by the company and the Houghton County Public Health Department (1). Unfortunately, the damage to their reputation was fatal. The company dissolved in 1906 (1). A year later, stockholders and officials made plans to re-start the business, but it did not happen (1).

By May 1910, Rev. Bordas was a resident of Ishpeming (12). He died in 1915 at the age of 71 or 72 and was buried in Ishpeming Cemetery (13).

For more information on COR-AGO, see COR-AGO: A Lake Linden Medicine Company by Clarence J. Monette and G. Walton Smith (1).

References

  1. Monette, C. J. and G. W. Smith. 1974. COR-AGO: A Lake Linden Medicine Company. Greenlee Printing Co. Calumet, MI.
  2. anonymous. (1903, Jul 21). The Cor-Ago Company. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  3. anonymous. (1903, Sep 01). The Cor-Ago Company. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  4. anonymous. (1904, Mar 29). "COR-AGO". The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  5. anonymous. (1904, Apr 05). untitled. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  6. anonymous. (1904, Apr 26). untitled. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  7. anonymous. (1904, May 10). The Cor-Ago Company. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  8. anonymous. (1904, Aug 09). untitled. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  9. anonymous. (1904, Sep 20). The Cor-Ago Company. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  10. anonymous. (1904, Sep 27). Commenced Bottling Monday. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  11. anonymous. (1904, Nov 15). Where Cor-Ago is Prepared. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  12. anonymous. (1905, Feb 14). COR-AGO. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
  13. Find a Grave. accessed Jul 2022. Rev Fr Edward Peter Bordas. www.findagrave.com/memorial/98376625/edward-peter-bordas
  14. anonymous. (1903, Aug 04). New Stock Company. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
  15. anonymous. (1904, Sep 15). Cor-Ago Success. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 6.
  16. anonymous. (1904, Sep 17). Cor-Ago Home-Grown Here. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 6.
  17. anonymous. (1904, Aug 12). Gathering Crop. The Evening Journal (Hancock, MI). p. 7.
  18. anonymous. (1903, Sep 14). untitled. Hancock Evening Journal (Hancock, MI). p. 7.
  19. anonymous. (1904, Jul 06). First Crop of Cor-Ago Plant. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 7.
  20. anonymous. (1904, Sep 15). Cor-Ago Plant will Expand. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 7.

1
COR-AGO bottle bottle image
capacity: pint
color: amber
top: cork seal
maker's mark: (none)
other marks: COR-AGO (both sides)
date: 1904-1906
rarity: extremely rare