Derailed? (p1)
Today we revisit a site we have been to previously - the Quincy & Torch Lake. This railroad served the Quincy Mine, running ore and coal up and down Quincy Hill from the mine to the mill on Torch Lake. We had walked along this old rail line over a year ago, when we were first starting this website. That coverage of the Q&TL (and most everything else we covered during that time) was spotty at best. In fact, our post referring to today’s spot of interest - a pair of derailed cars - doesn’t even have a photo of them. Crazy. Today we took a second and more detailed look.
Derailed? (p2)
If your looking off into the woods when walking the old Q&TL grade just east of the roundhouse you are bound to find the wrecked tender sitting upside down. Its rather large and hard to miss. The second car that sits wrecked nearby is a little harder to find. We had almost missed it the first time, until we literally tripped over it going back up to the trail. Once again I’m not sure what this was, but it looks alot like the other cars you can still se scattered across the Quincy mine property. I think this was a side dumping car, one that off-loaded its contents by tipping over to one side. Whatever it was there really isn’t much left today.
Up the Hill Behind Mason…
When Quincy was forced to move its stamp mill from the Portage to Torch Lake, it had to move an entire population of workers as well. Before cars and paved roads were prevalent, commuting long distances just wasn’t an option. The result of this became the town of Mason sitting just outside the sprawling mill complex at Quincy Creek. While the town of Mason itself wasn’t much- just two rows of single family houses along what was then called Hancock & Lake Linden road (M26 today) - the transportation corridor that was shaping up around it was something else entirely. All along the hills overlooking Torch Lake from here to Lake Linden sits the remains of one of the Copper Country’s engineering marvels.
The Coal Spur
Mine railroads served three primary functions. The first - and foremost - was to transport copper rock from the mine to the stamp mill for processing. Secondly, it was used to then move the finished copper to the smelter. And lastly, it was used to deliver coal to the mine’s various boilers to keep the whole operation moving along. The Q&TL served two of these purposes: both the delivery of copper rock down the hill to the mill and the return up the hill with coal for the mine’s boilers. Mines would stockpile coal in large coal sheds similar to the one pictured above (this one is C&H’s) after being unloaded from ships. At Quincy this coal shed sat down along the shore of Torch Lake (see this post for details).
Railroad Crossings (p1)
When the Copper Range Railroad decided to make a branch line to Calumet, it no doubt ran into an avalanche of obstacles along the way. By the time it started constructing its line around 1902, there were already a great deal of infrastructure blocking its route. Besides the steep terrain and numerous deep gorges along the way, the line also had to contend with existing stamp mills and other railroads which already criss-crossed the hillside. A little creative engineering was in order, on a scale that even today leaves me in awe.