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 10 Fort Mackinac (Read 7435 times)
butlersrangers
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Re: Fort Mackinac
Reply #15 - Sep 27th, 2017 at 2:05pm
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My German, French-Canadian, and Scottish-Canadian ancestors settled in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the 1860s, 1880s, and 1890s. The Copper Mines were in operation for over 100 years, but, it was a very exploitive industry that brought times of 'feast and famine'. The Boom Times showed amazing growth & development, but, things have been in decline, since post WW1.

Ultimately, many people had to leave the area to make a decent living. It is too far off the beaten path to be a popular tourist mecca.
  
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psteinmayer
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Re: Fort Mackinac
Reply #16 - Sep 27th, 2017 at 9:52pm
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When we went up there, it was the spring of 76, and the Edmund Fitzgerald had just sank the previous November.  The Central Mine, which we toured, was still in operation... the ONLY copper mine still in operation at that time.

The History of Michigan's copper industry is a very sad one.  I think that is one of the reasons Mom and Dad wanted to go.  We always took trips like that on Dad's vacations:  Always by car, and always to see some historic place or thing.  Mom and Dad always wanted us to see something and learn about something special, historic, and important.  Families don't really do that anymore.  Now-a-days, it's all about taking the kids to Disney World to make em happy!  Sad... Cry
  
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psteinmayer
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Re: Fort Mackinac
Reply #17 - Sep 27th, 2017 at 10:14pm
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Ok, I gotta tell you the copper-rock story. 

We took a tour of the still operating Central Mine.  Let me set the scene:  It was 97 steps (yes, I counted) down a wooden staircase to get into the mine shaft.  Several of the lower shafts were closed off because of flooding.  Mom, Dad, and 4 teens and a 5 year old were on this tour, when Rocket Scientist Paul asks the tour guide if I can keep any copper I find, to which he replies yes.

A little while later, I spot this rock (small boulder really) and I make the mistake of asking how much copper is in this rock.  I'm told about 40%.  Well, that was all I needed to hear.  Sooooo...  this scrawny 13 year idiot old picks up this thing, which weigh 75 pounds if it's an ounce, and carries it 97 steps out of that mine and places it next to the car.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad are frantic because Paul is nowhere to be found in this mine.  They had the guides, and even miners searching for me!  They thought I had fallen down one of the closed off shafts.  But... I was out there next to the car protecting my investment!  Boy did I get it when they came out and found me standing there, LOL! 

Dad did let me keep the rock, and it sat in his front flower bed for 41 years until this spring, when it was brought to my new house.  I'll probably keep it forever and pass it down to my son!

The rock is about 18 inches across, and about 8 inches thick at it's thickest point.

  
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butlersrangers
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Re: Fort Mackinac
Reply #18 - Sep 27th, 2017 at 11:39pm
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Looks like a piece of 'conglomerate' ore, nice!
  
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psteinmayer
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Re: Fort Mackinac
Reply #19 - Sep 28th, 2017 at 12:01am
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Ok, I must beg forgiveness, since I said we toured the Central Mine.  Central was a  ghost town.  We actually toured the Delaware Mine.  The rest of the story is all true!
  
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butlersrangers
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Re: Fort Mackinac
Reply #20 - Sep 28th, 2017 at 4:08am
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Two former Mine workings are tourist attractions in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Quincy Mine (NPS) and Delaware (privately owned).

None of the working commercial Copper Mine operations, in the Keweenaw, allowed tours during my lifetime. It was just regarded as too dangerous.

Area Mining stopped in 1968. The price of Copper was too low and there was a labor strike.

We've been to the Quincy Shaft tour and tried to see the Delaware a couple of times, but, it was 'closed for the season'.

I had ancestors that worked at Cliff Mine, Delaware, and Phoenix Mine, all ghost towns now. The Mining operations moved south down the peninsula, and north from Houghton-Hancock, until they found the very rich 'Calumet Conglomerate Load', around 1866.

My grandfather was the Secretary of the Calumet and Hecla Rod & Gun Club. Their club house was at Delaware. Lots of relatives in the gun pictures!
  
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Re: Fort Mackinac
Reply #21 - Sep 28th, 2017 at 9:47am
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Yeah... sometimes I have to take a step back and think.  I do remember visiting Central, which was abandoned.  Now, the ghost town is a tourist attraction.  We visited several mines, including Quincy, Central, Cliff, and Clark... but we toured Delaware.  We stayed in a cabin at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge.  I remember those trips fondly because Mom and Dad always made those trips all about being together as a family!
  
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