While visiting our son Shaun in Houghton MI, we spent a Sunday afternoon at the Quincy Mine, which is a local landmark beloved by Michigan Tech students and alumni. It sits abandoned (except for tourism) atop a mountain overlooking Houghton and Hancock.
The history of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula includes a large chapter about copper. In 1843, six years prior to California’s Gold Rush, one of the nation’s first mineral rushes occurred in the Keweenaw Peninsula. This was no gold rush, but a rush for elemental copper.
The industrial revolution had triggered a huge increase in the demand for copper and the UP was the best place to get it. Copper led the region’s economy for many decades, with the last mine closing in 1995.
Quincy Mining Company was established in 1848. By 1880 it was the second largest mine in the Lake Superior region. The maximum depth mined at Quincy was 9260 feet. Moving men, ore, and water out of the mine required a ton of innovation and engineering.
Now visitors can learn what life as a copper miner was like by taking a tour of the 7th level below ground. (Tours are not available in 2020 due to the pandemic.) All 85 levels below the 7th level have filled with water.
It was a fun day with Shaun. We hope to return sometime and actually take the tour and go underground.