June 23
Keweenaw NHP preserves the history of copper mining in Michigan’s Upper Penisula. Though natives were fashioning tools with the blue green mineral over 7,000 years ago, not until 1843 were the forces of modern man put to profitable use. The “Copper Rush” was on. My tour guide said more copper came out of this area over the next one hundred years than all the gold from California and Colorado combined. I selected the Quincy Mine for my experience in this park. The mine began operations in 1846, continuing to 1946. It was one of only a few mines which were able to stay open during the Great Depression, when copper prices hit rock bottom. The Union forces during the Civil War were fortunate these mines were around in the mid-19th century. 90% of the copper from the Quincy Mine went to the war effort. Our tour group was allowed to see a section of an 1863 mining area, left untouched since then. The description given by the guide as to how the men climbed the rocks in the chamber to drill blasting holes was chilling. And this was all done with candles as the lone source of light.
The ore found in the Quincy shafts was about 5% grade, while the Calumet mines just 12 miles north had upwards of 15% purity. This led the Quincy group to keep going deeper and deeper. The last count was 92 levels, or 6,000 feet below the surface. By then, the ore was only 1% grade, so operations ceased (the last mine in the area closed in 1997… copper now comes from large open-pit mines). A horizontal shaft was dug at the seventh level, to search for more copper veins. No success. But, thanks to that shaft, ground water seeping through all the basalt has a way out of the shaft system, but only down to the seventh level. So, in 55 years, the levels below the seventh became flooded. That is 360 miles of tunnels which can no longer be accessed. Our tour group was able to look at the water surface in Shaft #5, seeing a small spill over to the 1% grade of the horizontal shaft. A steady flow of water could be seen heading towards the outlet as we walked along a parallel path back to sunlight.
The horror stories you have read about with respect to mining and the business owners of mines played out in the Upper Peninsula. The underhanded ploys and cheap tactics used by the owners are too long for this blog. Safety was never considered. There was always plenty of manpower waiting for jobs if someone was to die or become maimed.
On a side note, Houghton seems to be a great place to spend a few days. Think about that if you ever make it up to the UP.
Apostle Islands NL requires water transportation to get to any of the 21 islands which are within the park. A concessionaire provides multi-hour cruises. A ranger told me her favorite is the Evening Grand Tour, leaving at 4:30 PM each day. Landlubbers can opt for Meyers Beach and a 2-mile (one-way) shoreline hike, or Little Sand Bay for beach swimming. In the winter, one can take a 1-mile (one-way) hike across frozen Lake Superior to the ice caves, which form at the base of cliffs on the mainland. The NPS has strict guidelines as to when they begin allowing visitors to make this trek, since the ice has to be thick enough for rescue vehicles to make the trip.