eXpLoRiNg!!!

So my goal of visiting one cool new place per week is back on track. Today after writing up a report about an old mine pond/trout lake, getting sidetracked into researching mine history in the UP, and finding one nearby where I could potentially find some copper, I was geeked to go look. After all, who wouldn't want to find a piece of famed yooper copper?


From my office window in Baraga, it was an excellent day (well, as excellent as it gets living in Baraga...)- kinda sunny, sort of warm, and best of all no snow! Meaning that I could go climb around on the poor rock piles in search of my treasure...

So I went home and looked up directions, grabbed the camera, and headed towards Painesdale in search of the Champion #4 mine shaft/rockhouse. It was actually super easy to find, and as all mine shafts are, a combination of slightly spooky and impressive. This mine in particular is the oldest standing mine- built in 1902 it operated until 1962 mining native copper.

It was just outside of Chassell when I realized something wasn't right...the ground was gradually turning white. Yup, that's right, everything inland had snowcover. Onethegroundcoldwetturneverythingwhite snow. Ick. So I got some very cool pictures of the mine, but it was a little more difficult to search the poor rock for copper. Combine that with the impending darkness at 6pm and well lets just say I didn't get to look around as much as I wanted to. I did find 3 or 4 rocks that look to have some copper flaking and small deposits, but I won't be able to tell for sure until I clean them up with some acid...

 Even the rocks that are in the foundation are cool!

 Old train bridge where cars where loaded from the back of the rockhouse- one lone pine growing in the middle of the span.

 The construction of these buildings is awesome...

 Lots of ruins- luckily this mine is owned by a preservation society and some renovations have been completed.

 Poor rock piles

 Poor rock is basically the rocks that were brought up by miners, crushed on the rockhouse floor, then what ever didn't contain enough copper to extract was hauled outside and piled up.

 I followed a critter path up the rock pile :)

 Sunset on the horizon...time to go.

Slightly eerie! But a very cool spot to explore...