Victoria Mine

Last updated

The Victoria Mine is the name given to a series of copper mines located in Rockland Township, Ontonagon County, in Michigan's Copper Country. It was near this location that a large piece of float copper, known as the Ontonagon Boulder, was found. The mine operated off and on from 1849 until its final closure in 1921. [1] Most of the metal found there was low grade native copper from the Forest Lode. [2] Quartz, epidote, calcite, prehnite, and pumpellyite are also found in the rock. [3]

Contents

1771-1849

Prehistoric mining pits indicate that the area was mined long before Europeans ever set foot in North America. [4] Near this area was the location of a large piece of float copper, also known as the Ontonagon Boulder. Originally discovered by missionaries, the boulder sparked the interest of British investors. In 1771, Alexander Henry the elder, an early British explorer, was sent to open a mine along the banks of the Ontonagon River where the boulder had been found. The venture ultimately proved unsuccessful after the adit caved in due to the fact that they were mining into a river bank. After this, the project was abandoned and the site remained empty for the next seventy years. [1]

1849-1899

In 1849, Christopher Columbus Cushing opened a mine not far from the area where Henry had attempted to dig. [1] The Cushin Mine ran for about a year before the Forest Mine took over in 1850. Eight years later, the company reorganized as the Victoria Mining Company. The company experienced several disasters during this time. The first stamp mill was destroyed in a fire and the second washed away in a flood. [4] After 1855, the mine was operated sporadically for a number of years. During this period of time, estimates show that 200 to 250 tons of copper were mined from the Victoria. [4] The company shipped the copper to Calumet, Michigan, where it was smelted. [5]

In 1881, The former mining captain of the Nonesuch Mine, Thomas Hooper, assessed the state of the Victoria Mine and after pumping the water from the mine, he found it to be in disrepair. Many of the tunnels and adits had collapsed and the support timbers were found rotted. He concluded that a large investment would be needed in order for the mine to run again. Because of this, it was not until the end of the nineteenth century that the mine finally reopened. [1]

1899-1921

Beginning in 1899, the Victoria Copper Mining Company started running the mine and Captain Hooper was hired to run the operation. One of the first problems Hooper encountered was a lack of fuel. Wood was hard to come by at that time and coal was expensive, so Hooper began to look into other energy sources. [1] Even as early as 1882, the possibility of hydropower was discussed. The Michigan Department of Mineral Statistics annual report in 1882 stated: "Among the important advantages which the property possesses is the water-power in the west branch of the Ontonagon river, about a mile south of the mine; forty feet of head can be used here…If it shall be decided to systematically work the mine, the water-power in the west branch will undoubtedly be utilized to operate the machinery…". [6] In 1904, Charles Havelock Taylor, a Canadian inventor, visited the site in order to build a hydraulic air compressor that would harness the water in the Ontonagon River. [1] Once running, the Taylor Air Compressor was able provided the Victoria Mine with an inexpensive power source which uniquely equipped the mine with the ability to extract the low grade ore. In fact, the Mines Register reported that the Victoria was "placed in a position to handle rock of lower average grade than perhaps any other mine in the Lake Superior district". [7]

During this time, the village near the mine site, Victoria, grew to eighty houses. [8] All buildings in the town were owned by the mining company, including the school, general store, and houses. The inhabitants of the town were miners and their families. These miners were paid average wages of the time: $1 a day for a ten-hour day and later $2 for the same amount of time. [1]

Records from this time are hard to come by and so it is unknown exactly how much copper was mined during this time.

The mine ran almost continuously for nearly twenty years, but as the 1920s approached, the price of copper started to decline. The cheap power provided by the Taylor Air Compressor allowed the Victoria Mine to remain open longer than most of its competitors. After World War I ended, though, copper prices fell by fifty percent to 13 cents per pound. When the price dropped to 11 cents a pound, the Victoria Mine closed for the final time. [1]

1921-Present Day

Victoria Dam

After the mine closed in 1921, the Copper District Power Company purchased the lands with the intent of building a hydro-electric plant on the Ontonagon River. The new dam (a multiple-arch type, built between 1929-1931) created a five mile long artificial lake called the Victoria Flowage. [1] Operated by the Upper Peninsula Power Company since 1947, the company now owns three dams upstream of the Victoria Dam in order to harness enough water to supply power for the area. Near the main dam, the Taylor Air Compressor, its canals, and the dam (Hooper Dam) built in 1902 to supply it now lay submerged. Though no longer in use, the Taylor Hydraulic Air Compressor may be fully operational. [9]

Old Victoria

Following the closure of the mine, the village of Victoria fell into disrepair. During the 1970s, an attempt was made to preserve the historical aspects of the area. The Society for Restoration of Old Victoria began repairing a group of the old cabins where the miners lived. The site opened in 1976 and has been giving guided tours ever since. Currently, four cabins have been restored and furnished to suit the time period, including two boarding houses and a family home. It is now one of the Keweenaw Heritage Sites in the Keweenaw National Historical Park. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houghton, Michigan</span> City in Michigan, United States

Houghton is the largest city and county seat of Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, Houghton is the largest city in the Copper Country region. It is the fifth-largest city in the Upper Peninsula, with a population of 8,386 at the 2020 census. Houghton is the principal city of the Houghton micropolitan area, which includes all of Houghton and Keweenaw counties. Houghton lies upon the Keweenaw Waterway, a partly natural, partly artificial waterway connecting at both ends to Lake Superior. Across the waterway from Houghton lies the city of Hancock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ontonagon County, Michigan</span> County in Michigan, United States

Ontonagon County is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,816, making it Michigan's third-least populous county. The county seat is Ontonagon. The county was set off in 1843, and organized in 1848. Its territory had been organized as part of Chippewa and Mackinac counties. With increasing population in the area, more counties were organized. After Ontonagon was organized, it was split to create Gogebic County. It is also the westernmost county in United States that lies within the Eastern Time Zone.

The Keweenaw Peninsula is a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Part of the greater landmass of the Upper Peninsula, the Keweenaw Peninsula projects about 65 miles (105 km) northeasterly into Lake Superior, forming Keweenaw Bay. The peninsula is part of Michigan's Copper Country region, as the region was home to the first major copper mining boom in the United States. Copper mining was active in this region from the 1840s to the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adit</span> Horizontal entrance shaft to an underground mine

An adit or stulm is a horizontal or nearly horizontal passage to an underground mine. Miners can use adits for access, drainage, ventilation, and extracting minerals at the lowest convenient level. Adits are also used to explore for mineral veins. Although most strongly associated with mining, the term adit is sometimes also used in the context of underground excavation for non-mining purposes; for example, to refer to smaller underground passageways excavated for underground metro systems, to provide pedestrian access to stations, and for access required during construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper Country</span> Region in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, US

The Copper Country is an area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States, including Keweenaw County, Michigan, Houghton, Baraga and Ontonagon counties as well as part of Marquette County. The area is so named as copper mining was prevalent there from 1845 until the late 1960s, with one mine continuing through 1995. In its heyday in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, the area was the world's greatest producer of copper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eagle Harbor, Michigan</span> Census-designated place & unincorporated community in Michigan, United States

Eagle Harbor is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located on the north side of the Keweenaw Peninsula within Eagle Harbor Township, Keweenaw County in the U.S. State of Michigan. Its population was 69 as of the 2020 census. M-26 passes through this community. This hamlet was especially popular with the sailors in days past, as it had a good steamboat landing and is about equally distant from Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, and Duluth, Minnesota. It was the first stop for supplies for the many boats on Lake Superior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minesota Mine</span>

The Minesota Mine is a former copper mine near Rockland, Ontonagon County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The Minesota was one of the most productive and famous early mines in the Michigan Copper Country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quincy Mine</span> United States historic place

The Quincy Mine is an extensive set of copper mines located near Hancock, Michigan. The mine was owned by the Quincy Mining Company and operated between 1846 and 1945, although some activities continued through the 1970s. The Quincy Mine was known as "Old Reliable," as the Quincy Mine Company paid a dividend to investors every year from 1868 through 1920. The Quincy Mining Company Historic District is a United States National Historic Landmark District; other Quincy Mine properties nearby, including the Quincy Mining Company Stamp Mills, the Quincy Dredge Number Two, and the Quincy Smelter are also historically significant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native copper</span> Mineral (as opposed to the chemical element)

Native copper is an uncombined form of copper that occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic elements to occur in native form, although it most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native copper was an important ore of copper in historic times and was used by pre-historic peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keweenaw National Historical Park</span> U.S. national historical park in Michigan

Keweenaw National Historical Park is a unit of the U.S. National Park Service. Established in 1992, the park celebrates the life and history of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a federal-local cooperative park made up of two primary units, the Calumet Unit and the Quincy Unit, and almost two dozen cooperating "Heritage Sites" located on federal, state, and privately owned land in and around the Keweenaw Peninsula. The National Park Service owns approximately 1,700 acres (690 ha) in the Calumet and Quincy Units. Units are located in Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Houghton County, Michigan</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Houghton County, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ontonagon Boulder</span>

The Ontonagon Boulder is a 3,708 pounds (1,682 kg) boulder of native copper originally found in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States, and now in the possession of the Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. In 1843 the boulder was purchased from a local entrepreneur and shipped to Washington D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper mining in Michigan</span> Important industry in the 19th and 20th centuries

In Michigan, copper mining became an important industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its rise marked the start of copper mining as a major industry in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Pine, Michigan</span> Census-designated place & unincorporated community in Michigan, United States

White Pine is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Ontonagon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The CDP had a population of 474 at the 2010 census. White Pine is located within Carp Lake Township.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calumet Historic District</span> Historic district in Michigan, United States

The Calumet Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District that encompasses most of the village of Calumet, Michigan. The district was designated in 1989 for the community's importance in the history of the region's copper mining industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minong Mine Historic District</span> Archaeological site in Michigan, United States

The Minong Mine is a historic mine site located west of McCargoe Cove campground on Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, United States. The district contains both the remnants of a 19th-century copper mine and remains of pre-contact mining activity. Pre-contact archeological sited in the district include a Late Archaic copper mining pit site designated 20KE24 and a nearby site designated 20KE73. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021.

The Michigan Smelter was a copper smelter located at Cole's Creek on the Keweenaw Waterway north-west of Houghton, Michigan near the old Atlantic mill. The smelter was created in 1903-4 as a joint effort between the Copper Range Company and Stanton group of mines. An Atlantic dam on the site was reused by the smelter as a water source. In 1905, the smelter broke a world record by casting 292,000 pounds of fine copper in seven hours with a single furnace and only ten men. The smelter operated through World War II and stopped all operations in 1948.

Winona, Michigan is an unincorporated community, ghost town and one-time boomtown of Elm River Township in Houghton County, Michigan. It was once home to over 1,000 individuals in 1920, but today is home to as few as 13. It is located 33 miles to the south of the city of Houghton off of M-26. In its heyday, Winona had restaurants, a brewery, sports teams, churches, boarding houses, a train depot, a saloon, stores, boardwalks, a school, five neighbourhoods, a dance hall and a barber shop. Only a school, a church, and a few homes remain intact.

The Mohawk Mining Company was a major copper mining company, based in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, that was established in November 1898 and lasted until 1932. The company, between 1906 and 1932, paid out more than $15 million in shareholder dividends. The Mine is best known for the large amounts of mohawkite that were found on the property. The Mohawk mine operated until 1932; in 1934 it was purchased by the Copper Range Company.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Johanson, Bruce (2007). This Land the Ontonagon (Third ed.). Ontonagon, MI: Firesteel Publications. pp. 39, 84, 85, 86, 117, 118, 119.
  2. ↑ Michigan Geological Survey Division, Bureau of Mines (1912). "Michigan's Mineral Industries" (8). Lansing, MI: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford, Co.: 101.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ↑ Butler, B. S. (1929). The Copper Deposits of Michigan. Washington D.C.; Burbank, W.S.: Department of Interior. p. 216.
  4. 1 2 3 Stevens, Horace J. (1902). The Copper Handbook (2 ed.). Houghton, MI: Daily Mining Gazette. pp. 273, 274.
  5. ↑ Hodge, W.R. (1911). Notes on the Copper Country of Northern Michigan. Houghton, MI: A. K. Cox. p. 41.
  6. ↑ Michigan Department of Mineral Statistics (1883). "Victoria Mine". Annual Report of the Commissioner of the Mineral Statistics of the State of Michigan for 1882. Lansing, MI: W. S. George & Co., State Printers and Binders: 151, 152.
  7. ↑ Weed, Walter Harvey (1916). "Victoria Copper Mining Co". The Mines Handbook. 12. New York City: The Stevens Copper Handbook Co.: 1195.
  8. ↑ Michigan State Administrative Board (1941). Michigan A Guide to the Wolverine State. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 598.
  9. ↑ "Ontonagon County Michigan". Ontonagon Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Old Victoria" . Retrieved October 25, 2011.

46°42′9.62″N89°13′36.92″W / 46.7026722°N 89.2269222°W / 46.7026722; -89.2269222

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.