Michigan Tech Archives

The Michigan Tech Archives provides access to resources documenting the history of Michigan's western Upper Peninsula and Michigan Technological University.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

#MiningMonday drops in what is likely a Tamarack Mine stamp mill near Torch Lake. Mills for Tamarack, Osceola, and Ahmeek were clustered on the shores of the lake, providing critical water access. The housing location nearby was dubbed Tamarack Mills and later Tamarack City.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

Your eyes are not deceiving you: the date on this photo is indeed April 8. This is the Copper Country, after all!

#ThrowbackThursday to the intersection of Sixth and Oak in Calumet, 1909. The Michigan House stands at left, welcoming patrons then as it does now.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

#MiningMonday takes in an aerial view of Calumet & Hecla's smelter in Hubbell, 1947. When this photo was taken, the smelter was about 60 years old and still busily processing copper received from C&H's mills in nearby Lake Linden. A train puffed by in the background of this shot.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

Our #MiningMonday has a bit of an Irish flavor for #StPatricksDay! This 1925 image depicts Limerick, a housing location near the Quincy Mine that shared its name with a county and city in the Emerald Isle. Despite the name, Irish families were never a majority in Limerick.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

It's another #MiningMonday at Quincy No. 2 as men stroll in for one shift and out of another, swinging lunch/dinner pails. How many of these workers do you think were having pasties?

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

Talk about a scenic place to refuel! John Warmington of Sanitary Dairy topped off his delivery horse with a snowy Quincy Hill in the background in February 1922. After a good meal, the two were off for another run.

#ThrowbackThursday

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

Houghton County Traction Company's Car No. 48 motors through a snowy Laurium in this circa March 1913 picture. Based on the sign for Lewis O. Smith, plumber, this may have been taken on 1st Street, a prime Laurium thoroughfare then and now.

#TrainTuesday

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

Images like this illustrate why the Michigan Mining School (@michigantech) was built in Houghton. Students looking for hands-on experience as mining engineers didn't have far to go far from campus (shown at the center of this photo) to find a mine (Isle Royale #2).

#MiningMonday

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

Playing Twister at school? Yes, please.

#ThrowbackThursday to the Learning Lab at the public schools of Calumet, 1973. This experimental space used games and other tools to help children develop motor skills and learn to follow directions.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

#MiningMonday takes us to Calumet & Hecla's Osceola No. 13 shaft, located between Millionaire Street and E Street just south of Calumet. Osceola No. 13 was one of the Copper Country's last survivors. Dewatered in the 1950s, it remained in operation until the 1968-1969 C&H strike.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

That's a cleared sidewalk to be proud of. Nice work.

#ThrowbackThursday to Edith Hotchkiss, wife of @michigantech's then-president William O. Hotchkiss, in front of her home in February 1928.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

#MiningMonday heads north to the abandoned Delaware Mine, 1935. By this point, it had been fifty years since any mining work was done on the Delaware property. A largely unsuccessful operation as far as copper production goes, Delaware has had a strong second act as a mine tour.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

It almost hasn't changed, has it? We've lost the Kerredge Theatre, and the cars look different, but Quincy Street in Hancock is still very obviously itself in this photo, probably taken in the late 1940s.

#ThrowbackThursday

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

Every Copper Country railroad needed a good plow train. #TrainTuesday features one from the Copper Range Railroad as it chugs its way along the slushy Portage in March 1921.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

The Victoria Mine near Rockland lasted longer than most, but all good things must end. In 1849, the Cushin Mine began work on prehistoric copper pits in the area. Various mergers, new owners, and reorganizations followed until Victoria finally closed in 1921.

#MiningMonday

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

#ThrowbackThursday to Bill Mattila, who resided atop Brockway Mountain for more than thirty years. Mattila was born in Baltic and served in the army during WWII before heading to Keweenaw County to live off the land and on his wits.

Read more on our blog: https://t.co/fyNoe3b03I

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

It was a simple tool with a ferocious name. The grizzly acted as an oversize sieve in a mine's rockhouse. As rock poured down an incline toward the grizzly, small pieces could squeeze through its vertical supports. Large ones would be caught and broken up later.

#MiningMonday

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

Shout out to the photographers of the past who also kept getting their thumbs over the lens.

#ThrowbackThursday to a trip to the Victoria Dam in Ontonagon County. This picture was mailed to its recipient on January 24, 1931.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

#MiningMonday has a bird's-eye view of the area around Quincy Hill, circa 1881. This artist's rendering features the contemporary operations of the Quincy, Franklin, and Pewabic mines, as well as homes, schools, and happy little trees.

[Michigan Tech Archives @mtuarchives]

The community skating rink is a Copper Country classic.

#ThrowbackThursday