http://coppercountryexplorer.com an exploration journal into the shadows of the copper country Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:06:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/26/anatomy-of-a-mill-p1/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/26/anatomy-of-a-mill-p1/#comments Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:01:04 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2460 In the beginning of the Copper Empire, very little importance was put on milling. It was the mines themselves that produced copper, usually in the form of large pieces known as mass (or barrel) copper. These large pieces required no milling, and fetched high prices out east. Milling at that time was considered only a secondary producer of copper for a mine, relegated to simply processing a mine's left-overs. The small amount of copper that would be recovered would often barely cover the operating costs of the mill itself. ]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/26/anatomy-of-a-mill-p1/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/21/keweenaw-sands-p3/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/21/keweenaw-sands-p3/#comments Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:13:00 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2459 The steam stamp technology that helped propel an industry into profitable territory required large amounts of water to function - somewhere in the vicinity of millions of gallons a day. This forced more modern mines to place their mills near the only sources of water large enough to supply these numbers - Torch Lake, Portage Lake, and Lake Superior. But this wasn't the case a generation earlier, when a mill's gravity stamps required only a fraction of those water needs. Because of this mills could be located along rivers, streams, or even small man-made lakes. These "inland mills" as they are often called were done away with by the turn of the century, but many of these mills can still be located by the stamp sands they left behind. ]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/21/keweenaw-sands-p3/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/19/keweenaw-sands-p2/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/19/keweenaw-sands-p2/#comments Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:26:45 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2457 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. ]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/19/keweenaw-sands-p2/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/18/keweenaw-sands-p1/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/18/keweenaw-sands-p1/#comments Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:04:36 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2456 Mining is not the most environmentally friendly industry (and let's face it, what industry really is?), and the scars it leaves on the landscape often outlast by generations those mines and mine managers that were responsible for the damage. In a region that relied solely on shaft mining and rarely used chemical agents underground or in its mills (except for the case of reclamation later on), the damage inflicted on the Keweenaw by mining was relatively minor compared to other mining regions. For the Keweenaw, the most lasting scars from its past are the mine's "left-overs" - those materials that had been left behind by the mines during each stage of production. There are three major types of these left overs: slag from the Smelting process, poor-rock from the mines, and stamp sand from the mills. Of these three, the most damaging is by far the stamp sands. ]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/18/keweenaw-sands-p1/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/13/red-sands/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/13/red-sands/#comments Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:15:49 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2455 It was 1869 that the Allouez Mine began operations atop Bumbletown Hill, sinking a trio of shafts into what would become known as the Allouez Conglomerate bed. With the mine came a need for a mill, and the company turned to the nearest source of water it could find: the Hills Creek. This creek tumbled down from atop Bumbletown Hill and the Calumet Plateau and made its way down into a deep valley before emptying into the lake. It was at the head of that valley that the Allouez constructed a three-head stamp mill, and a short-line railroad (The Allouez Railroad) was built connecting the mill to the shafts atop the hill. ]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/13/red-sands/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/11/the-removal-of-the-osceola-13-hoist/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/11/the-removal-of-the-osceola-13-hoist/#comments Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:20:46 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2454 Over at the Copper Country Forums long-time reader Jay had shared a rumor he had heard about the removal of the hoist from Osceola #13. At first I didn't believe it. Since I knew that a new business was moving into the old Centennial No. 6 surface plant, I assured Jay that the rumor was most likely about that hoist and not the Osceola 13. He was persistent, so I decided to put it all to rest by just driving down there and checking out. Turns out the rumor's true. ]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/11/the-removal-of-the-osceola-13-hoist/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/08/yes-virginia-there-is-an-old-seneca/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/08/yes-virginia-there-is-an-old-seneca/#comments Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:01:41 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2453 After our little discussion the other day on the mysteries of the Seneca Mine and its many names and faces I decided to head on out there to try to clear up at least one of those mysteries - specifically dealing with the existence of the Seneca Mine as marked in the old topo map I featured in that post. (For those that missed it, the map in question is posted above) This map shows two mines - the Gratiot (with 2 shafts) and the Seneca (with 1 shaft). The Gratiot mine is easy enough to find today, its still marked with a sign labeling the area as "Gratiot Location". However, what is commonly known as the Seneca Mine is to the south and west - next to a small collection of houses that is currently marked as Seneca Location. So, where is this other Seneca Mine, the one marked here on this map? ]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/08/yes-virginia-there-is-an-old-seneca/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/05/a-mine-by-any-other-name/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/05/a-mine-by-any-other-name/#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:57:58 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2452 It all started with this - this Bat Cage sitting atop a mine shaft out at the Gratiot Location. When I first noticed this steel contraption along the side of the highway so many years ago I had assumed that this shaft was a Gratiot shaft. That would seem to make sense, since it was located next door to the Gratiot Location. But that is, in fact, not the case. The Bat Cage is clearly marked as Seneca No. 3. This confused me greatly.]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/08/05/a-mine-by-any-other-name/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/07/30/east-hancock/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/07/30/east-hancock/#comments Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:59:21 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2451 When Hancock was first platted by the Quincy Mine the town's eastern border was a deep ravine in which the Quincy Tramway ran down to the mine's stamp mill along Portage Lake. As the town expanded, and more space became necessary Quincy platted out new neighborhoods which sprawled out from the town's early borders. Known as "additions" these new neighborhoods had names such as Hillside, Condon, and Grove. By 1880 Quincy platted out yet another neighborhood to the east of the ravine and began to sell off lots. The area was known at the time as the Quincy Addition, but is known today as East Hancock.]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/07/30/east-hancock/feed/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/07/28/one-last-look/ http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/07/28/one-last-look/#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:02:35 +0000 explorer http://coppercountryexplorer.com/?p=2450 After close to a month I'm happy to say that its time to say goodbye to the Atlas Powder Plant and move one to the next exploration. But before we do I thought I'd through together a map of the Atlas Plant, put together from various sources across the net. Hopefully the map will help give an idea of the size and scope of the complex, and provide some reasoning for such a long and drawn out exploration. ]]> http://coppercountryexplorer.com/2008/07/28/one-last-look/feed/