The Bat Cave (Seneca #3)

We have been here before, only then we had taken a right instead of a left. This is Gratiot Location, once home to a half dozen homes and a few mine shafts along US41 just north of Mohawk. Now nothing much remains. Driving in to the old town site you cross the old railroad grade that fed these mines. Last year we took a right here, and ended up at the Gratiot Mine. Today we decide to take a left, and see what we can find. What caught our attention first is the rusted cupola seen above - which happens to sit above the Seneca #3 shaft.

This is one of the most interesting mine caps we have ever seen. While breather pipes are not unusual by themselves, this large vented structure seems overly obtuse. There’s a reason for this however. Abandoned mines are an excellent habitat for bats, and thousands of bats from Michigan, Canada, and surrounding states migrating here every fall to hibernate for the winter. While open mines are great for bats, there not so great for landowners who would rather have the openings closed up for good. As a compromise, specially designed mine entrances such as these were placed across the upper peninsula. These allow bats to come and go as they please, but keep people from doing the same. This one was installed in 2004, joining 18 others across the western upper peninsula.

The shaft itself found, we moved out to look for the rest of the rock house and shaft house structures. Sitting behind the bat entrance were these walls, hidden inside a concentration of trees. It was a pair of walls, one larger then the other. Sitting up against the larger wall (to the right) was a mound of dirt that butted up against the shaft itself. Perhaps the feeder rail lines moved in between these two walls, but they didn’t seem large enough for that. Most likely Seneca #3 had a separate collar house and rock house; this structure being part of the collar house and support structure for the skip road.

These walls are always amazing to me. This freestanding structure has been here for close to a century, the structure it once supported rotted away years ago. How many more years will this wall survive? Will my great grandchildren be able to find this wall as well, and lay their hands on it as I have and as workers centuries before have as well?

We keep walking south east, looking for the rock house remains. We had already walked to far from the collar house remains, when we see this structure crumbled up on the edge of the clearing. Too far away to be the rock house, our curiosity was still perked so we investigated.

What we found was a large steel structure, crumpled up into a ball. It had no shape, and we couldnt’ tell what shape it might of had. All we could tell was it was made of steel. Getting in closer we could make out these flanges, which looked alot like a chute. Could this be the remains of the rock house? Specifically the large steel rock storage bin like we have seen at Kingston and Centennial? Perhaps when the rock house was torn down, the rock bin was smashed into a ball and dumped here. Or this could be something else entirely.

Scattered around the remains of the rock bin (maybe) we found more evidence of some type of structure. The remains of a wooden ladder, a type we have seen numerous times in and around other mine sites. We also found more pieces of steel, like this large piece found sitting on a rock pile.

We moved back towards the road now, and could make out more ruins out near the road. A large concrete foundation, some concrete footings and a collection of iron rods looked promising. The hoist building perhaps? But before we could get in for a closer look the skip opened up and it started to pour. We had to turn back. Someday we’ll return, if it ever stops raining.

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