Keweenaw Peninsula

1997 Mining History Association Field Trip

Keweenaw Peninsula Copper Mines

Houghton, Michigan

June 8, 1997

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Through the years, the original wooden rock houses used throughout the Copper Country were replaced by the design used here at the Osceola Mine south of Calumet. The angle of the inclined No. 6 shaft was dictated by the dip of the copper bearing formation. Ore was separated from “poor rock” in the rock house and loaded into rail cars for the trip to the stamp mills at Torch Lake. The hoist house is at the right. The mine produced 600 million tons of refined copper from 1879-1968.

The Centennial Mine was one of the last operating mines in the Copper Country. The rock house follows the same basic Calumet and Hecla design. The mine operated from 1882 to 1968. In the 1970s, Homestake dewatered the mine for exploration but no further action was taken.

Fun Fact: A short distance away, on Highway 41, is the home of Pasty.com, which has shipped over 1 million authentic U.P. pasties across the US.

The village of Central was built around the Central Mine. Like many of the early mining towns its population included many Cornish “Cousin Jack” miners and their wives, the “Cousin Jennies.”

The Cornish Methodist Church and several other buildings in Central have been restored through the efforts of the Keweenaw County Historical Society.

This two-story miner’s house is typical of many of the company houses that were built by the mining companies to provide housing for the miners and their families.

A smaller miner’s house serves as the summertime Visitors Center in Central. A self-guided tour takes the visitor past the restored buildings (some are privately owned) and the many ruins of mining buildings located in the forest.

The popular New England saltbox design of this larger house may reflect the Yankee roots of many of the mining investors.

Although decades of deep wintertime snow has removed its roof, this sturdy powder magazine still stands just off one of the main mining roads.

The restored Catholic Church of the Assumption is located at the site of the village of Phoenix, a short distance from Central. Central, Phoenix, and other near-ghost towns host annual summer reunions of residents and their descendents.

The greenstone ridge is a prominent geographic feature in the eastern Keweenaw. Copper bearing lodes followed the direction of the ridge while fissure veins were perpendicular to it. Mine dumps are visible below the ridge in Phoenix.