Wednesday, September 23, 2015
We contemplated an extension of our stay in Ontonagon because there were a few more things to check out, but there was a threat of rain later in the day, as well as for tomorrow. Breaking camp and moving in the rain is not a favorite thing to do, so we left today as originally scheduled.
After a short 60 mile drive we arrived in Hancock. Road construction has been a pain. Into Duluth our 20 minute commute from the campground was 45 minutes down Hwy 53. Now, we get to Houghton and they’re working on the bridge between Houghton and Hancock. Grr…. another detour. Glad we are staying in Hancock, as most of what we want to see is on this side of Portage Lake.
So we are now in the Hancock City Campground. Nice little campground, just wish we had a water hook-up, so we wouldn’t need to worry about water use.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Cloudy, cool, and sprinkling a little as we got up this morning. First on the agenda is a visit to the Quincy Mine. We have not been here for at least 20 years. Wow, the National Park Service has taken over many of the historic sites around here and really fixed up the facilities. So a little history of this area.
As stated in an earlier post, the copper here is found in elemental, native form, not as an ore. It’s the pure stuff and there were really large veins of it. The Ojibwa were the first to mine it. Did you know the western half of the UP was bought from the Ojibwa by the Federal Government, then given to Michigan in trade for the Toledo corridor that went to Ohio?
In the 1840s there was a major copper rush in the Keweenaw Peninsula, the hunk of land sticking out into Lake Superior. It proceeded the California and Alaska Gold Rush by several years. A large number of mining companies set camp here. Quincy was one of them They mined the Pewabic lode. In 1863 through 1867 it was the largest producing mine in the the US. It’s name came from the city of it’s investor, Quincy, Massachusetts. Another huge mine in the area was Calumet and Heclia. more on C&H later.
Quincy operated until 1929. The Great Depression reduced copper prices and all the mines here closed as a result. The Quincy mine went down 9250 feet, They attempted to reopen for the WWII effort and need for copper, but it had slowly filled with water to the 7th level. (there were a total of 92 levels). They did some mining then, but closed when the government contracts expired. Between 1856 and 1929 it produced 726 million pounds of copper. The mine was profitable and paid dividends for 53 years. Some pictures of the place follow.
This is the signature structure of the Quincy ruins. This hoist house is visible for miles around here.
This is the Nordberg steam hoist drum. It operated two cables, one winding on, one winding off. It was smaller at the edge to improve torque multiplication on start. This permitted them to operated two skiff cars, doubling production. It took 5 minutes to cover the distance. It was powered by a Nordberg triple expansion steam engine. Coal was the fuel.
This is the engine house housing the drum.
This is the rope cable used; over 19,000 feet of it.
We drove up the road 10 miles to Calumet. This was a semi-ghost town last time we came up here. The National Park stepped in to make Calumet and surrounding area a historic site.
In Calumet we visited a museum that told the copper rush story, with the focus on the Calumet and Heclia Mining Company. It is housed in the Union Building, built in 1889. The town of Calumet and several surrounding towns were built and owned by the C&H Mining Company. During its heyday in 1906, C&H produced 100 million pounds of copper per year. It closed in 1921.
We thought the museum was excellent. They kicked us out at closing. Tomorrow we plan to go back to Calumet and explore a little to see if any bits of the C&H Mine are still around.. There is also a 1900s theater that is open for tours. The whole town has a historic district with old buildings that have been restored and repurposed.
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