Adventure Ruins

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Half nature, half ruins... who needs the rule of thirds, anyway?

The "mouth" of an old stack, at or near the Adventure Mine (yes, that was its real name!) last fall. This was the opening which would have led into the adjacent boiler building.

Still catching up on some old photos...

Under the Hoist

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A tunnel underneath the Franklin Junior #2 (Conglomerate)'s "new" hoist. This is the only hoist I've ever seen with a fully covered tunnel running through it -- an unusual find.

Texture Smörgåsbord

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More texture than you can shake a rusty piece of metal at! This is part of a "skip" behind the Osceola #13 mine near Calumet, Michigan. A "skip" was a metal rail car which rode rails up and down a mine's shafts. It would be loaded with rock, brought up to the surface, and dumped. The metal bar and scratches here show the rotating action it went through when it was dumped.

288/365 - Quincy Boiler Stars

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A contrast to yesterday's photo -- the Quincy #2 rockhouse, as well as its neighboring boiler house, under the stars.

Clear nights when I can stay up late are few and far between, so I jump at the chance to enjoy them when I can!

287/365 - Stormy Rockhouse

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The old Quincy #2 Rockhouse, after a passing fall storm.

284/365 - Over the hill

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The Centennial Mine #1/#2 hoist -- actually, just the cinder block addition on the back, which held the mine's compressors. The hoist itself is nothing but a foundation, to the left. In the far distance, the shaft house hides behind an old town dump which was mysteriously created between these buildings.

The compressors were still mounted inside this building up until just a few years ago -- as you can see over at Copper Country Explorer's Centennial mine page. Sadly, they are now gone.

262/365 - Quincy House

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An old house at the Quincy Mine. It almost certainly was built for the mine agent or possibly a doctor -- someone very important. The house is huge, and has at least 2 stories, an attic, and a basement -- not something the mining companies would normally bother with for a mere miner!

233/365 - Powderhouse Doorway

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One of the Baltic Mine's three (!) powder houses, as viewed from the inside. We found this while looking for a totally different powder house. Then, we found another one -- also not the one we were looking for. By the time we found the right one, it wasn't that surprising any more!

The powder house is pitch black and smelling of ancient dust. It was surprisingly clean of graffiti and junk. Taken on the first day of this year's Copper Country Explorer weekend.

182/365 - Compressor Ladder

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The Mohawk #6 Hoist/Compressor house has some interesting features -- including several very dodgy homemade ladders to access the different levels.

Mike (of Copper Country Explorer fame) and I went here a while ago. It's a very cool spot, partially because it's (relatively) well preserved -- there are still walls and floors, even!

(For a comparison, here is a corresponding location at another compressor foundation at the Arnold mine -- but much older.)

164/365 - Quincy Dredge

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Here be ye olde Quincy Dredge: a veritable floating factory, whose purpose was to (literally) vacuum old processed sands off of the floor of Torch Lake, and send them back to the mill to be reprocessed for copper.

This photo has a fun story behind it. The dredge is beached at the shore of Torch Lake, not too far from the highway. I parked near it and walked in, where I met two kayakers who had just come to shore after looking around the water side of the dredge. We chatted, and not five minutes after I'd met them, they offered to let me take a kayak out and see it for myself! -- Which I did, of course. I love the UP!

140/365 - Brick Window

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There are a lot of decorated sandstone walls and windows in the Copper Country -- here's one without the mass of red!

132/365 - Rivets

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100 years ago, steam power was ubiquitous. Boilers were the primary means of creating steam, for mechanical power -- steam engines, steam hoists, steam power of all kinds. The Copper Country was home to some of the largest steam engines in the world (and still is, at the Quincy Mine).

Nowadays, of course, boilers are rather rare. During the world wars, most of the old metal boilers were scrapped. Occasionally it's possible to find an old one, lying out and ruined.

Inexplicably, this one survived, in place, still attached to its water feed and vents -- but totally exposed to the elements, too. This was apparently in the old dry house at the Delaware mine. Perhaps the scrappers missed it.

117/365 - Exit Light

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Exit toward the light.

At an old Quincy boiler house.

105/365 - Boiler Alley

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Here's the last photo in this mini-series from the Quincy #5 Boiler House. This doorway enters the main boiler house, allowing access behind the large brick boiler supports. The boilers would have vented into pipes along this corridor, which collected together and exited into the old smokestack outside.

104/365 - Boiler Foundations

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Here's the next photo in my series documenting this lovely old boiler house: this photo comes to you from next door to yesterday's photo -- an addition to the old Quincy #5 Boiler House. These were foundations for a horizontal boiler, which provided steam for the nearby steam hoist.

You can also see the end of a railroad spur with allowed the Quincy & Torch Lake Railroad to drop off coal, showing through the window. On the left is an old cart which has been left to rot in these ruins.

96/365 - Plaster

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One thing about Copper Country ruins is that, as a rule, only the foundations remain. If the upper walls exist at all, it's only the outside bits -- brick or cement, at most. It's rare to see a glimpse of something so commonplace as plaster, or lath. They've all been torn down, rotted away, or been destroyed over the years. Here's an exception to that rule, up at the old wood-frame entryway to the Quincy Mine's blacksmith shop.

84/365 - A light side, and a dark side...

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The Quincy Mine's No. 4 boiler house, in the late afternoon light. I was up at Quincy looking for a 9-sided shape, and found this instead. However, as you can see (if you look at the right parts!), the number nine still worked its way in to the photo.

58/365 - R is for Rockhouse

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R is for many things: Rockhouse, Rocks, Rock hammer, Ruins, and Railroad. This scene is R-eriffic!

This is the ruin of the rockhouse of the Mohawk #6 mine. A towering steel structure used to sit on this foundation, where copper-bearing rocks from the mine would be sorted, crushed, and sent off to the mill. A railroad spur used to run straight through this cut in the rockhouse. The large tower in the center is the foundation for the rock hammer, which would break rock loose from chunks of copper. The rock hammer was located very high up, so that the broken rocks could be sent to lower levels using gravity.

This is the same sort of structure as the Isle Royal #6 rockhouse, which I photographed with star trails last week.

46/365 - F is for Furnace

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F is for the Forgotten Facade of a Furnace -- a 110+ year old steam boiler, to be specific! This F comes to you from the corner of the old Quincy Mine #7 boiler house, built in 1898.

The darker rock is poor rock from the mine -- mineral-free rock brought up from the mines and reused in buildings. Many Copper Country mine buildings -- especially from before 1900 -- have poor rock foundations. The red quoins are made of Jacobsville Sandstone, a building material native to the Keweenaw (and very commonly used in buildings up here). They sure don't make 'em like they used to!

While I'm at it -- does anyone else think that the lines, stripes, and swirls in the sandstone look a bit like close-ups of Jupiter?

Respect the Past: Advice for Explorers

Good advice.
It's a joke that we often make about hiking in the Upper Peninsula: "It just isn't a hike until you've seen a major kitchen appliance." Sadly, it's also very true. Even in the middle of (what feels like) nowhere, miles from the nearest town or even a house, any deep ravine will inevitably contain a rusty refrigerator, a broken-down sofa, or maybe a toilet.

In the last year or so, new signs like this one have popped up all over the Quincy Mine lands, reminding people to respect these ruins. I like the signs quite a bit, because they make it clear that we (as visitors) are still welcome to explore the ruins -- just don't be stupid about it!

To that end, here is some advice -- both positive and negative -- for explorers (especially in the Copper Country).

• Never leave any garbage -- large or small -- behind. Even pack your meal garbage (wrappers, left-over food, etc.) so that animals don't get hooked on "human food".
  
• When exploring ruins, never deliberately move, remove, or modify any part of the ruins. That includes removing artifacts (metal, tools, etc.), moving masonry or stonework, taking souvenirs, etc. It also means don't stand or climb on anything which may break!
  
• Don't put graffiti on anything! -- duh!
  
• Do report obvious damage or intentional destruction to someone appropriate -- the property owner, or sheriff's office, usually.
  
• Do respect signs, especially "No Trespassing". If you contact the property owner directly and explain your intentions, you can get permission (and avoid problems!).
  
• Have fun! Exploring and discovering new places is still tremendous fun, without the need for scavenging or looting. Enjoy!