Keweenaw Sands (p2)
Exactly where a mine built its stamp mill was determined by three main factors: availability of water, room for the disposal of tailings, and proximity to the mine itself. For those mines sprouting up along the steep hillsides of the Portage Valley the location of their stamp mills was a forgone conclusion. These mines would build their mills along the shores of Portage Lake. Here water was abundant, the sands could be easily dumped into the lake itself, and the mines were only a quick tram-road ride down the hill. It was perfect solution for several decades, prompting five mines to build their mills up an down the Portage waterway.
The first mine to set up shop along the Portage was the Isle Royale, which did so in 1857 near the mouth of the Pilgrim River. This mill operated for 70 years, and in the process managed to create a massive sprawl of stamp sands out into the lake. Most striking is that the sands became large enough to swallow a small island out in the middle of the lake - Snowshoe Island. Since the mill’s closure during the Depression the sands have drifted eastward, land-locking the mine’s old coal dock and threatening to overtake the Pilgrim River sloughs. For a time these sands served as the Houghton County Airport (before the Canadians built CMX), and are today being used for a housing development. (The sands are home to the famous Walmart Wetland as well, for those trivia buffs out there)
Further west, the Atlantic Mine followed suite with its first stamp mill up atop the hillside near Coles Creek (at Old Mill Hill Road not so coincidentally). Though this mill only operated for a short time, the sand-like consistency of the Atlantic Amygdaloid managed to create a great deal of tailings during that short life span. The current placement of these sands west of the mill is due to them being reclaimed by the Copper Range Mining Company, which acquired the mill and sands when it bought out the Atlantic Mine. The sands were scooped up from their original location and redeposited. (NOTE: See comments section for correction)
Over on the opposite shore of the waterway, the first mine to take its place along the Portage would be the Quincy, which erected its mill straight down the hill from its mine at the base of the city of Hancock. The mill was served by a dual track tram road, which relied on gravity pull a full ore car down the hill on one track, while a connecting rope pulled an empty car back up the hill on the other track. The Quincy’s neighbors to the north quickly followed suite. The Pewabic and Franklin Mills were constructed east of the Quincy’s, both of which were also connected by means of a tramway coming down the hill. (The remains of both tramways can still be seen coming down the hill today, one of which is now a ski hill)
Unfortunately for most of these mines, it wouldn’t be long before they were forced to abandon these mill sites and build brand new ones far removed from the Portage. This was under orders from the Federal Government after its acquisition of the Keweenaw Waterway from private companies. By this time the sands from these mills were encroaching on the dredged shipping channel and were becoming hazards to navigation. All the mines - except for the Isle Royale - were forced to close down their mills by the end of the 19th century and relocate.
For the Franklin Mine this relocation meant traveling several miles eastward, and setting up shop at the southern most point of the Dollar Peninsula. While still technically along the waterway, this new location was far outside the shipping channel and could be safely used for decades. In 1899 the newly formed Arcadian Mine set up shop next door as well. Unfortunately the Arcadian was a bust, and the Centennial Mine bought the mill for its own use. These sands have been rehabilitated by the EPA and are now covered by soil and grass.
Of course the most famous are of them all for stamp sands is by far Torch Lake, which has suffered most from their environmental unfriendliness. The first mill here was the Hecla Mill, built by C&H in 1868 at Lake Linden. The Hecla Mill was C&H’s second, following a sorry excuse of a mill built up at Calumet Lake. The Hecla was quickly joined by the Calumet Mill, and the two mills would work concurrently for nearly a century. Originally the sands from these mills were divided up into two distinct piles, but later reclamation by C&H redistributed them into one large pile at the lakes northern end. The sands have been reclaimed by the EPA, and now serve as a walking path and sewer ponds.
Further to the south a new collection of mills were constructed at an area later known as Tamarack Mills (now Tamarack City). These mills were all built by C&H’s chief rival, the Tamarack Mining Company. There were four in total, two built for the Osceola Mine and two built for the Tamarack Mine itself. These sands (known collectively as the Tamarack Sands) were the first to be rehabilitated, not by the EPA, but by Michigan Tech interest several decades ago. I believe it was an experiment to determine if the sands could be returned to nature in any substantive way.
After its outing by the government from the Portage, Quincy set up its new mill here on Torch Lake in 1890. It was soon followed by a second mill in 1900. The sands from these mills managed to fill up most of the lakes southern end. These sands have also be rehabilitated by the EPA and rumor has it the area is to become a park.
The last mill to be built along the lake was also the last to be shut down - the Ahmeek Mill. Built in 1910, the mill would later serve as C&H’s main stamping facility after the Calumet and Hecla Mills were closed for good. The mill would produce sands up until 1967 when it closed its doors. The sands from this mill sit next door to the Tamarack Sands, and extend out into the lake several thousand feet. It is these sands that have formed “Gull Island”, a small man-made island made only of stamp sand and now serves as a gull nesting ground. Besides Gull Island, the rest of the sands have been rehabilitated and are now being developed as a residential community (Eagle Point I believe its called).
To Be Continued…
Questions! Apparently I’m just not in tune enough with local trivia.
- Canadians built CMX?
- What are the Walmart Wetlands?
- Old Mill Hill vs. Coles Creek: I know that I’ve found some mystery old ruins near the trestle at Old Mill Hill, but there are also some stamp-mill-like ruins closer to Coles Creek — or perhaps that’s yet another mill? They are very distinct locations.
dcclark | August 19, 2008
Answers!!! - CMX
CMX was funded by the Canadian government (at the tune of about $15 Million) as an emergency landing strip for flights from Toronto westward. The airport was originally to be placed on the Baraga Plains. (Check out this article to learn more.) The CMX designation has been said to stand for “Crises Management Exercise”, or “Canadian Military Emergency” or various other possibilities.
I do have to make a correction however, the Isle Royale sands wasn’t the Houghton County Airport (though an air field did exist there). That honor belongs to Laurium (at the present day site of the Gipp Recreation Area).
Answers!!! - Walmart Wetlands
As I understand it, when Walmart first built its store up near the Huron Dam it did so atop previous wetlands. Supposedly federal regulation required the company to replace the wetland it destroyed, so Walmart created a small wetland area down on the sands. Now I’m not exactly sure of all the details, but I heard about it back during my days at Tech from a Forestry major who’s class was given a tour of it.
Answers!!! Old Mill Hill vs Coles Creek.
Yes they are two different places. I said “near coles creek” just to give a general location to refer to on the map. The actual mill was along Old Mill Hill road, just east of the old Copper Range trestle. The ruins closer to the creek itself would be the old Michigan Smelter.
Hope that all helps…
explorer | August 19, 2008
Responses!!!!!
- CMX - wow, that’s an awesome story. I had no clue.
- The Old Atlantic Mill — ok, that makes sense. It also clears up what the ruins here were all about. There’s not much left there — just one poor rock foundation and a smokestack foundation.
dcclark | August 19, 2008
If Isle Royale Mine started milling as early as 1857 there’s gotta be a fortune in copper yet in those sands and some the other spots that were never reclaimed. At least you’d think so.
Who owns mineral rights to those sands anyway?
I first heard of the Copper Country from my father in 1980, when he and a pal when up to Torch Lake walleye fishing. He came back with a wild story about huge old ruins with broken windows and how eerie and haunted it was. So that same summer my pal Frank rode up on our bikes and spent a week exploring. Our best camp was at the Quincy ruins on Torch Lake (either the reclaimation plant or mill I’m not sure which, but where the sunken dredge is today, so probably reclamation, or?) Anyway, that night we became the ghosts of those ruins and the junked-up old stamp sand beach! A full moon came up and we nearly killed ourselves walking around there at night, but we were young and reckless and it was a great adventure for a couple of city boys. I’ve been back there several times, but never under those conditions….
Herb from Wisconsin | August 19, 2008
Was kind of curious about the Atlantic Mills sands, I know in the early 1960’s Copper Range built a spur into the sands and hauled them out to Redridge to be reprocessed. I can’t find anything that it was hauled backed and dumped down the shore, although I have read they hauled it back to some of the mines to be dumped back in to fill stopes.
The Atlantic stamp mill was originally called the South Pewabic mill when built in 1867, it ran until 1870 or so. In 1872 the Atlantic Mining Co came into being. It does mention in 1888 a US Marshall showed up with a subpoena for the Atlantic to show in court due to the tailigs being dumped in the Portage. September 1889 a court order prohibiting them from dumping any sand in the lake was granted. The Atlantic built a 600 ft launder of iron plate to carry the sands up the shore to the vicinity of Cowles Creek. The new Mill was completed in 1895 at Redridge. So are those Atlantic Sands down the shore from this launder or did Copper Range haul it back?
That court order also affected Quincy and Franklin.
Gordy Schmitt | August 19, 2008
Gordy…
I think you answered the question yourself. Those sands at Coles Creek was confusing me too, since they sat far west of where the Atlantic Mill was located. No natural current would account for that movement. Your mention of the launder is the perfect solution, and it makes sense all around. Knowing that Copper Range re-processed those sands I had assumed that had something to do with their odd placement away from the mill itself.
But my mistake was thinking that the sands were reprocessed in a similar fashion to those from the Hecla Mill, which were in fact moved from one spot to the next. Somehow I was thinking the sands were reprocessed at our near the Michigan Smelter (hence the sands placement at coles creek). If they were sent out to Freda then it would make no sense to bring them back here. My mistake and I’ll correct it.
(thanks for pointing out my error in a very subtle fashion - much appreciated!)
explorer | August 19, 2008
More about the Walmart Wetland:
Walmart obtained permission from the DEQ to fill in over 2 acres of wetlands when they built at their current location. Walmart and the City of Houghton turned around and created a wetland with twice the acreage south of Houghton. I never saw the wetlands that were filled in, but I heard it was a real nice place. As for the Walmart wetlands, when we toured them in college it was basically a hole in the ground with water and weeds. Last I knew, it did not function like wetland should at all. I should probably check it out next time we are down that way.
Tricia | August 19, 2008
Well I wasn’t sure if you had information, so I looked in the books I had, one of which was called The Atlantic by Sandra Hollingsworth from 1978 and found the information and a little from the Copper Range Railroad book. Also, I thought the Michigan Smelter processed the copper and did not process rock, or am I wrong. I was never into the south side of the canal so much.
Gordy Schmitt | August 19, 2008
I wouldn’t be surprised if in future the Chinese don’t catch wind of the remaining un-reprocessed copper stamp sands and start hauling them out by boat.
Would it pay?
Herb from Wisconsin | August 20, 2008
Probably not, the only way would be process it right at the site. Think of 2000lbs of sand and then if you were lucky to get 20lbs of copper back out. Would be lots of sand to haul.
Gordy Schmitt | August 20, 2008
Not really on topic, but that first pic (the painting/drawing), I’ve seen those on ebay for pretty cheap. There’s a couple of Calumet on there right now. One’s an 8×10 for $5 and a 36xSomething for $15 (plus shipping)
Jay Balliet | August 28, 2008
Jay, I am so glad you did the whining about the comment feature and not me, this way I get to keep my gold star with my A. I wanted to mention it and kept forgetting.
Gordy Schmitt | August 28, 2008
You’re welcome Gordy….
Jay Balliet (Resident Whiner) | August 28, 2008
Hey Mike, I got to whine a bit, but check your photo above (Torch Lake Sands) showing the location of the Osceola Mill(4896), according to the year built, it hasn’t been built yet, so should have no sands associated with it.
Funny how I went into Copper Country Scrapbook and was able to find a list of Explorers latest escapades in order and he doesn’t have one here (cough cough)
Gordy Schmitt | September 3, 2008
Gordy..
Thanks for the catch on the map, but since I already deleted the PSD file for it, fixing it might be a problem. So from now on we’ll just have to accept the fact that the Osceola Mill was constructed in 4896.
You know Gordy (cough cough), If you want to see the previous posts just scroll down on the main page. You’ll see excerpts from the last five posts I wrote. (this is how you could of found Keweenaw Sands-p2 for instance), and by clicking on “more entries” at the bottom of the page you can see the five before that.
But seriously though, I’ve been getting the urge to do some reworking to the site again. After working on our new site for the last few months I’ve picked up a few new ideas that I want to put in practice here as well. So I’ll keep your critique in mind (perhaps a recent posts list?)
explorer | September 3, 2008
OK, last night I could never get it to show, I could see part 1 and part 3, but never part 2. I was so ticked as I knew Herb had replied about the poor rock piles there. I have no idea why either, tonight it shows just fine except for the weird color change for the background, looks gray instead of black. It was much easier as on the Copper Country Scrapbook page to pick what I was looking for though.
Hopefully you got the submitted photo of the Centennial #3 I sent. Think I am going to find a extra wide scanner and work on digitizing these C&H news letters. At least they represent the more modern C&H and have nice little tidbits of info.
Well off to bed, long drive tomorrow to yooperland, no computer with internet access though.
Gordy Schmitt | September 4, 2008
Its gray on purpose, I’m working out some design changes at the moment. Nothing too crazy, I just all of a sudden got tired of the black background…
explorer | September 4, 2008
Not to be critical, but the gray background makes it more difficult for people with poor eyesight like I have to read. The recent comment section (lower right) is very faint and hard to make out.
Herb from Wisconsin | September 4, 2008
Sorry for the problems Herb - been trying out a few things. That sidebar text was difficult to read, so I made some changes to hopefully help (made the background a tad bit darker as well as lightening up the text and making it larger). Still making some tweaks here and there though, so be warned.
explorer | September 4, 2008
Explorer
Thanks for tweaking the text & background. This reads much easier now.
I don’t know if you could do it (or even would want to), but it would be helpful in the “Recent Comments” sidebar to show which topic each comment belongs to. Some of them are old topics, others brand new. As it stands now you don’t know which is which. Another thing you might consider is giving a creation date to each topic along with its title. That way we will know how old the topic is and what might have changed on site since the post was made. The way things are vanishing up there and all…
Okay, enough of my butting in, This website is great as it is!
Herb from Wisconsin | September 4, 2008