The Reverberatory Trestle
For over 70 years the sprawling smelter complex along Portage Lake – otherwise known as the Quincy Smelting Works – processed millions of tons of copper for not only the Quincy Mine but numerous other...
View ArticleKeebler’s Bumper
It lies half buried and forgotten, covered in decades’ worth of shifting stamp sands and scattering debris at the head of the Quincy Smelter’s dock. In its current state it appears to be nothing more...
View ArticleDockside at the Quincy Smelter
After having been dug out of the ground, milled and smelted, copper’s last stop before leaving the region was one of several shipping docks found alongside the waterways of the peninsula. Here copper...
View ArticleThe Scars of Industry
When the industrial might of the Keweenaw may have abandoned it decades ago it left behind a little something to remember it by, in the form of a scarred and pitted landscape. While some of those scars...
View ArticleIn the Shadow of Greatness
The lands south of the Portage were nothing but empty wilderness when the Atlantic Mine first appeared on the scene in 1872. Before the Atlantic took residence only a handful of inconsequential mines...
View ArticleHidden in Plain Site
There was a time when the Copper Country was criss crossed with railways, transportation corridors that moved freight, people, and most importantly copper all across the peninsula. The Keweenaw’s...
View ArticleA Few More Items of Interest
Before moving on from our exploration of the old Redridge dams, I’ve decided to take a final look at a few more details of the old steel dam that we’ve failed to note in our previous installments. We...
View ArticleOn the Waterfront (p7) – The Hodge Foundry
Quincy may have been the first mine to the scene above the narrow waters of the Portage’s west arm, but it would be another company that would have the honor to be the first to erect a stamp mill...
View ArticleFrom a Previous Life
Standing tall at the west end of Houghton’s main thoroughfare is a particularly handsome three story sandstone building etched with the words “smart zone” across its top. The building is an incubator...
View ArticleThe Quarry Dock
The great Copper Empire that once ruled the Keweenaw’s shores may have been figuratively built of copper, but it was literally built of another material mined from the peninsula – sandstone. For the...
View ArticleA Fall Walk in the Clouds
That time of year… all the colors… This is one of those things I’ve missed living out west for too many years and it’s a damn fine sight to see again. We piled into the van last Sunday and dithered our...
View ArticleA Monument of Iron and Concrete
As the new century dawned the great Copper Empire had taken dominion of the rugged peninsula at its feet, transforming what was once a remote wilderness into an industrial megalopolis of almost...
View ArticleA Smelter’s Legacy
In the beginning the great C&H relied on a third party to smelt its copper – the Detroit and Lake Superior Smelter in Ripley. This arrangement would not last long, as C&H’s quickly got to...
View ArticleOn Borrowed Time
In addition to the electrolytic plant, loco house, and old furnace buildings, one other structure of note remains from the long vanished C&H smelter complex. That building is seen above, a long...
View ArticleIn Situ (p1)
To describe the remains of the Carp Mill to be off the beaten path would be an incredible understatement, as the remains lie deep within the rugged hills of the Porcupine Mountains in an area largely...
View ArticleIn Situ (p2)
The Carp Mill ruins feature an incredible collection of Civil War era industrial equipment, all of which continue to stand along the banks of the Carp River largely ignored by the passage of time....
View ArticleA Stroke of Bad Luck
Before the copper-rich lodes of the peninsula’s interior had been discovered, early Copper Country mines had to deal with the far less predictable fissure deposits found along the peninsula’s northern...
View ArticleOut of the Shadows
Normally the remnants of logging aren’t exactly the type of picturesque setting one looks forward to when walking along a Copper Country trail. In this case, however, as I strolled along the old...
View ArticleThe Old Mill In the Woods
While beautiful to admire with a serene and relaxing setting, the tumble of water at Haven Falls is in most way just another picturesque Keweenaw waterfall. Its uniqueness lies in what sits shrouded...
View ArticleBehind a Green Veil
Though only early June the air was thick and heavy – the relief given by the passing breeze now blocked by the dense collection of trees we found ourselves in. The trees were relatively young, with...
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