Michigan Copper Mining: The Black Powder Era
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ค. 2024
- America's Industrial Revolution was founded on copper mined from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. James Cassell, Collector of History, gives a fascinating look at the "Michigan Minecraft" tools and techniques used at the start of the rush that defined our state's history! More from Jim can be found here -- • Tools of World War I
I appreciate when someone has an interest in history
Great presentation. I went to school at Michigan Tech. My roommate and I met an old miner that lived in Hancock. He was one of the last steam hoist operators at the Quincy Mine. He said they found a solid piece of copper the size of a school bus. It was so big that they could not cut it up in to pieces small enough to bring out. Saws would heat up and melt the copper behind the saw. Blasting was attempted but failed. They ended up going around it and he said it is still there. He as very specific and even knew the level it was on.
The point was it was more trouble then it was profitable to get it out
@@tboniusmaximus3047
These days people only think one or two linears and thereby judge things only by their context and so miss the bigger picture.
The meth heads that steal Cats from cars in parking lots could have that copper outta that mine in just 5 minutes.
L
@@KPMACHINE1 tweakers are an industrious bunch.
While I can say I've never once had the thought to learn about historical copper mining in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, this turned out to be far more entertaining than I thought possible.
The oratory was delivered exceptionally well. It's not often you find someone who speaks both fluently (w/o "umm"), succinctly while naturally progressing through the many aspects of the subject.
Too true. In school most of my teachers would deduct a point from your oral report for every ummm pause. I can't help but notice a lot of French constantly stop with a uhhhhhh in between words. Grand rapids Michigan native here
@@codemcloud6073 People who do not speak English since childhood need to translate to speak and probably need to translate in their head thus use uhhhhhhh or ummmm to give themselves time to search for the appropriate word to use in conversation.
It would be better if he was better educated on the subject...
Wow! Sir, that was excellent. I have never learned so much in one session about the old practices of copper mining. You just can’t get this kind of detail from books or photographs. Well done!
Fascinating. I had no idea there was so much involved. Thank you.
Now you know a area that will be more prone to suffer from a EMP . That whole area will be like a antenna for the EMP plus the power surge after
@@toddhendricks8239 Not if the miners have anything to say about it. Isn’t that area mined out?
@@pat8988 shutdown
Wonderfully done. Thankyou. I am a lifelong Upper. My 100 yr old grandmother said I am the fifth generation miner in our family
My father worked as a lumberjack for awhile. He said one advantage of oxen was that when they got tired they would kneel down and catch their breath, holding the load right where they were, while a tired team of horses would usually back down to the bottom of the hill to rest.
I still have a copper slab that I found in 1972 at Houghton. I visited Isle Royale that year. In 1989 I worked an underground mine. This presentation brings back memories even though they may not be fine ones. It was hard work.
My great Grandfather, John Wellington Nichols was one of the founders of the Brotherhood of Blacksmiths at the Calumet and Hecla Mine, and this was after it had become a well founded mine, his birthdate being around 1845 to 1850. He learned his craft sharpening drill steel and making tools of all kinds, starting as a boy in the surface shops, and he ended his work in Montana as a car shop foreman on the Milwaukee Road. My grandmother was born at Calumet. Both my Dad and I graduated from the Montana School of Mines, so our copper tradition was more from Butte, but much came there from Michigan! Thanks for a nice bit of history.
My great grandpa Tryck mined in Ishpeming (hius boys went to Alaska) , so it burns me to see "immigrants" today get welfare for just coming to the usa (illegally also)
Grandfather was a hoist operator at the Quincy Mine in the 20's- 40's. My Dad and Uncle graduated from Michigan Tech. Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. I miss Toni's Pasties on Kearsarge. We'd ride our bikes from Laurium to Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor during our many summers visiting from NJ. Blueberries at Gay and Thimble Berries so "Nanny" GM. could make pies and jam. We'd go to Brockway Ridge at night and watch all the freighters passing. Overnight camp at Bete Grise and cook hotdogs on found sticks. Grandmother taught at the Sacred Heart School where my aunts, Dad and uncle went to school. Jureki's sauna was a weekly event. My Dad's favorite place was the Hut Inn after he retired and spent half the year in Laurium and the other half in San Antonio, TX.
@@StephenMortimer where was your great grandfather born?
@@MyName-pl7zn sweden livedIshpeming mich
@@StephenMortimer I have been there it is a beautiful place with fantastic people.
Loved your show I'm into michigan mine and railroad artifacts of the Keweenaw myself and also have a collection. I know what mines and areas your talking about well. I'm also a Keweenaw historical artist in extreme detail. Four generations of my family history were Keweenaw miners and are all buried there. I still have family in Mohawk who just happen to live in the mining captains old house now nicely restored. Been going up all my life now 57 I'm still like a kid when I get there metal detecting and staying and fishing at Lac La Belle near the old Delaware stamp mill and dock. I could go on like you sharing stories and hunting. I've even have a 18lb copper ingot from the wreck of the pewabic so I decided to draw the ship as she looked from old photos. Wish someone had some old video of the Keweenaw Central steam train ride out of Calumet from 1967 to 1971 it was the first train I rode on that turned me into a model railroader. I even have two copper range locomotives lol soon to be four. Well now that everyone's computers and phones are smoking ill end it here. Take care.
Thank you for a very interesting and informative presentation on the copper mining history in the UP. I was born in the UP and my father earned a living by trapping, hauling scrap metal, and selling Christmas trees. I remember he came home with a large chunk of float copper, I don't remember how large it was, everything seems larger when you are young. But, I think it weighed about 25-30 pounds. It would be nice to have that displayed next to my fireplace today.
Talk about some man killin' work! Unreal how hard making a living was back in the day. Thank you James for an amazing insight!
From a Michigander:
Thank you for sharing your in-depth knowledge. Very informative, thorough understanding and priceless.
I'm a Grand Rapids native of 33 years. Where do you hail from my friend?
Thanks. This Wisconsinite learned much this morning!
Thanks for this interesting video about copper mining,, but more so about Michigan. I m from Texas but moved to Michigan for construction work, it was a big change from southern Texas but well worth it. I really liked all the time I spent up yonder. It was right out of high school. I loved living up there and am still very interested in all things Michigan.
Thanks for the video. My ancestors worked in the copper mines from around 1900-1940s. My grandfather earned 10 cents an hour as a kid working with the horses around 1920.
I just happened upon your site while doing some investigating on copper ores. Im in Arizona and am a very active rock hound. Copper and mineing being relevant to my wanderings,
I wanted to tell you, I was impressed with your no nonsence explainations. Expecially because now,I can better understand the tools of the trade (so to speak).
I just wanted to say thank you! Your programs have taught me more information to date, then any other that I have found so far.
Your ability to tell a story and teach is exceptional! Not only engaging, but wonderfully crafted! That fact that you gave books to read, to continue learning was a nice touch! I am eager to watch more! (Just watched the logging episode- fantastic!)
Basically, nice job! Thanks for the insight! I feel Ive learned more from these two programs of yours, then I have in lots of research. You Rock! Pun intended!!
Thank you man . Your video is a college course. My father was a sampler at Lacnor uranium mine near Eliot Lake.
What state is that located in ? Thanks
I have a short attention span but when I looked up when your talk was done I couldn't believe that much time had passed. Very interesting and well presented.
I like the fact that he points out that it is his speculation unlike a lot of so-called experts in certain fields that try to pass off their opinion as fact
Lots of great information and I haven’t had much interest in mining until watching this. Cheers to my dad who introduced me to this.
Very good and interesting. My Father and his brothers and his Father were coal miners in Arkansas. After WWII my Dad (a disabled vet) sometimes worked one and two man mines around Ft. Smith. There was a market because a lot of people still burned coal. My Dad was a dynamiter. In the small mines he sometimes used blasting powder and sometimes dynamite. After a shoot, he was the first one to the site to check to see that all the shots had gone off. The tools were similar, only he had a couple of star (or cross) drills. Carbide lamps were in use by then, generating acetylene gas which burned with a bright white light. The small Welsh and Shetland ponies were bred to be used in mines in the UK. It was and is, a miserable way to make a living. At the bigger mines, the crew was paid by the ton for the coal they dug. They had to dig 2200 pounds (a long ton) and were paid for just 1 ton. The mine owners got a free ton of coal every 10 tons the miners dug. In the 1700 and 1800s, boys and girls as young as 10 years old worked in the mines world wide, the US included. It is estimated that most of the gold ever mined is still in use. In the Greek mines, child slaves dug the gold. The life expectancy was 6 months.
That was a great presentation and nice delivery! That was very interesting American history and enjoyable.
i love my papa jims passion on this subject ive lisented to him talk about this for hours and have never been bored
Cody Yorks , I would like to get to meet this gentleman I have a big collector of mining tools also
The Keewanaw Penninsula is the most beautiful, natural, place I've ever been. I used to snorkel up there; looking for Agates and Calcite, along Lake Superior, during camping.
If you've never been to torch lake it's a bucket list location. I've never seen a freshwater lake that looked so tropical and beautiful the water is breathtaking and the channels leading to the lake is dream scenery . If you couldn't taste the water you'd never guess it was fresh.
@@codemcloud6073 Code what are you saying ??? are we even alive ??? Seriously Thanks.
I'm from lower Mich, Muskegon . I found this video very informative. Thank you for sharing your time and information with us.
As a child in the early sixties I spent summers on the Kiweenaw at Bete Gris. At that time the Kingston mine was still operational. I often went to the Delaware mine and searched the huge piles of tailings looking for copper. Back than it was all by sight no metal detectors. We had considerable luck often finding chunks of copper as large as my hand.
Yeah back in the day, mines were not as efficient as mines today, today those tailings could of been processed even more to maximise copper extraction
Thank you! Excellent presentation. I also enjoyed your MI accent. I have a 4" piece of native copper i found as a kid when we hiked up to an abandoned copper mine shaft on the UP. My dad was from MI and had done his Master's History thesis on a giant copper boulder of the UP hauled out in the 1840's. Years later i saw the boulder in the Smithsonian. I grew up in New England but we'd visit MI relatives & 1 week my family toured the UP. Most haunting was an abandoned copper processing factory, last used during WWII. Wish I knew quite where on the UP that was/is? Had ore cars rusting on tracks outside. Inside the 1 story factory, some machinery was still there. And real WWII posters were still on the wall! (This was 1970.) I took a Red Cross Homefront / Build Morale poster.
Excellent! I lived in the west end of the UP for a few years, knew of the mining in the past but never the, "how they did it", thanks.
As a native Michigander, this is exceptionally cool info. Thanks much.
Michigan, the Delaware Copper Mine was my first Michigan Copper Mine Tailings, My Father took me and my two brother for metal detecting in the tailing piles, all the tailing (boulders, needing smelting/ before refining) were pulled out and still had raw copper. Found lots of raw nuggets in the tailings, great childhood experience. Summer of 1974. Munising, MI (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munising,_Michigan} and Tahquamenon Falls, Mi, (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahquamenon_Falls) Harbor, Eagle Harbor n, Pictured Rocks Park, to name a few. Devils Log Slide and so many more. Michigan History.
Old mining was really inefficient.
I know there are companies that mine coal tailings piles for coal using modern technology. I won't be surprised if they start mining the copper tailings for copper.
Thanks for a great museum history video on old times mining ,thank you
I found float copper in a place where copper was never mined. Always looking for more info, this was an interesting video of history!
This was an awesome video. Thank you.
I like Michigan history and your video fit the bill for me. It is nice to learn about things that were only used in Michigan mines. Good job.
Awesome talk! Having had visited the U.P. and toured some copper mines, this filled in and colored my understanding of the men and processes used.
Thank for a fascinating presentation.
Outstanding talk ! Mr. James Cassell is very knowledgeable on this very interesting subject !
Very interesting. I backpacked on Isle Royale years ago. I saw a TV show once in which the host speculated the Upper Peninsula copper trade reached the Mediterranean in the Bronze Age.
There is supposedly some 5 tons of copper on IR unaccounted for.
@@guitarzan7227 unaccounted for?….
@@fishhuntadventure I have read that many years ago the Native Americans rode their canoes to Isle Royal to mine copper.
@@fishhuntadventure yes, unaccounted for. They "don't know where it went..." And I'm pretty sure that is a low estimate on my part.
Just like archeologists aren't sure where the Mediterranean came up with all of the copper during the bronze age.
Several ton pieces of native copper would be a thing to behold, especially in this era of copper demand/value.
Couldn't stop watching the whole time, excellent!
What an excellent, informative video, and told with the true passion of a natural teacher! 👍👍👍 I really enjoyed it, thank you!!
My great grandfather owned a small coal mine in ohio that he worked with a pony and cart. There was a cave-in one day, breaking his back. He hooked himself up to the pony and she dragged him home, where his wife put him to bed. There was no medical attention because they were too poor to afford a doctor, so he stayed there until he healed enough to go back to work! This incredible toughness is what BUILT our country..their can-do spirit is an inspiration, and your video keeps that spirit alive! ❤
This is just speculation on my part, but this was fascinating!
This is a very interesting video about early mining techniques. I was born and raised in Alaska and I am very familiar with gold mining and copper mining history in Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada.
Super interesting! Thank you for documenting this information for Michigan UP posterity! It is remarkable how little the current generation living up in the Houghton area know about their local history. Tourists nearly ALWAYS ask about the 19th century ruins of the old mines but are usually met with a shrug of the shoulders.
I saw a huge copper nugget at my friend's house. it was about the size of a 12 lb turkey it had lots of sharp edges like shrapnel. .
"They put their thumb over the drill" really trusted their fellow workers :)
Great story and presentation !
The thumb story is told in the silver and gold mines in Colorado also.
I through hiked Isle Royale a few years ago. Poked around some of the mine sites. Gotta say, these small channels are some of my favorite type of content. People putting videos together because they love the subject matter. Subscribed!
Awesome presentation, thank you Mr. Cassell for sharing your collection and knowledge
Top of the line presentation! Thank you, Maestro!
Makes me so happy to have an office job.
Fascinating and informative talk! Just returned from a visit to the Keeweenaw and am able to have even more appreciation for the history of the area after learning more about mining tools and methods from this presentation.
Thanks for the lecture Good information Good communication easy to watch enjoy watching
wonderful! - I find a had a passel of relatives at the Minesota Mine - one was a shoemaker - imagine all the various industries to support a little town then -
Superb presentation. I learned more about early copper mining processes from this video than all the books I've read and museums I've visited in the Copper Country.
BTW - I found one of those chiseled copper chips on the surface of one of the old mines back in the 1980's (can't remember which one). I had no idea what it was other than a piece of copper, so just left it.
Thanks for one of the best and most informative presentations about early industry in the USA I've ever seen for free!
Being from a farming background, and thus knowing a good bit about horses, mules, and steers.....
One of the more important reasons for using steers for such work as pulling wagons and plows, logging, and so forth was that steers were generally much cheaper to buy, and much cheaper to feed, especially in places a long way from farms where corn or other grain was grown.
Horses and mules need better quality feed than steers to work them.
I've no expertise in actually training steers or horses, personally, having never done so, but I've watched horses and mules being trained. According to my grand parents, who passed on back in the fifties and sixties, training steers was not that different from training horses. Their own parents, my great grandparents, did use steers sometimes, but they were on their way out by the turn of the twentieth century.
Farmers in this area gave up steers once they were able to grow enough grain to feed some to their horses and mules when they were working them, which was mostly during the plowing season, and sometimes when they needed their wagons for a few days or weeks to haul crops in from the fields or to town to sell. Otherwise horses and mules spent most of their time on pasture, not being worked sometimes for weeks at a time. Both horses and mules do fine on pasture without supplemental feed so long as you're not working them.
Great info, live in Michigan but never heard details like you gave about the copper mining
This guy knows how to teach people...
Awesome !! I like The "metal " buisness, PLUS both my parent's worked for "Denison Mines", and "Bond Gold" mine .Thanks for such an amazing look at how hard it was 150 YEARS ago.
Good to know. My grandfather started as a drill boy at the Arcadian at the age of 12
Excellent presentation, thank you!
Very informative
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and knowledge. This is priceless
Thanks
Good job...having been up there a few times, years ago, it filled in a lot of questions.
This was an absolutely excellent presentation with powerful visual aids. I worked for Dow Chemical in Midland and sometimes on our days off a buddy of mine and I would take our dirt bikes and explore the area you speak of and the Upper Peninsula. There is so much interesting history in that area and the dirt bike was the perfect vehicle for exploration. I notice that you have a hay saw hanging on the wall behind you....I used one to cut into haystacks in the winter to feed cattle on my Dad's place in South Dakota. It sure saved a lot of work getting the hay loose for the cows in the winter.
Loved this video! Very informative!!! Glad to see a fellow Michigander with such a passion
I have learned so much from this video. It is totally excellent.
Thanks for posting this great video! I've been exploring abandoned mines for over 45 years, mostly in the southwest. I started out in Upper Michigan because it was close to my Wisconsin home. My favorite mines were the Cliff and Minnesota mines. We searched all over the upper and lower Cliff Mine looking for a way in, back in the 70s. No luck. We did however talk to a guy who knew of a secret entrance, which he kept covered up, but he wouldn't tell us where it was. It was fun exploring around the buildings and smokestack literally buried in the poor rock at the upper mine. We also met an old guy living up the road in Phoenix who was a hoist operator for the Cliff Mine when very young. He even had a Cliff Mine stock certificate he bought when he worked there! I found one of those copper chiselings while at the Minnesota Mine that looks very much like yours. That group of mines has several shafts that can be explored. The Lake Mine also is impressive to explore underground.
Builders chisel....used to make mortise and tennon wood joints in timbers.
They used 2 kinds..a straight builders chisel and a builders slick chisel has a bend for deeper in the mortise.
I have a set for timberframing.
Awesome history lesson and loved seeing the authentic artifacts from the period.
Much appreciated sir.
Excellent video, your knowledge and humility is well appreciated
Fascinating, thanks for putting this info out there! I'm a detectorist and occasionally dig float copper in the Fox river valley of Wisconsin; it could be either glacial deposit or stock carried down by the copper culture natives. Gotta make a trip up there sometime and see if there's any left :)
Just being out there for the hunt is so invigorating and satisfying, spent a Summer on Isle Royale.
@@guynorth3277 I know of a certain visitor center there in Wisconsin where a huge copper nugget is sitting out on display, I forget it’s weight but it’s about the size of 3 footballs; I doubt one person could lift it. The information plaque said a local farmer found it deposited by glaciers in his field. I always found this very odd that it would just be sitting there in the open at this visitor center. Isn’t it worth a great deal of money?
@@Syclone0044 It may be "worth" a great deal of money, but only if you can move it and sell it to a place or person who can use it. If you can't handle the object, it is basically worthless.
Great job on this presentation and video, the man was extremely well spoken and filled my head with many a thoughts of what it was like back in those days mining copper. Outstanding explanation of how the Michigan became a copper captial!
Excellent presentation.
Fascinating, informative, historical presentation...thank you!!
Too bad this wasn't available when my wife and I visited the mine about 10 years ago. We spent a month on the U.P. and barely scratched the surface. I did manage to find some copper with my metal detector in the mine tailings. We also enjoyed the Seaman and Quincy Mine museums.
Wonderful video. Made me feel like I was there myself.
Thanks! And, just as a head's-up, Jim Cassell will have another program (on WWI tools and weapons) coming soon!
Thanks for your video.I grew up in Danville PA and this area mined iron ore. I've seen similar tools but never a better explanation of there use. There are still round walking paths that mules used for wrapping the lifting cables. You can still see them if you know what you're looking for. Amazing to me how this work was done. HARD work and inginuity. Great job.
Well done my friend...well done. I have a small collection of pre carbide mining lamps. One is from a copper mine on the Keweenaw peninsula. Thanks again!
Very, good listening! So much information, on the many different, mining tools used for copper, out of the peninsula of Michigan! Thank you!
That's an awesome presentation. Thank you for sharing with such great references!
Thank you for this great presentation. I live in the Serra's and come across cool relics all the time. It is always good to learn what some of the finds are.
Very good presentation. My grandad worked in a silver mine that was inside our family ranch there. So I have several of the tools you mentioned.
I definitely learned something about native copper mining. Thank you for sharing your wonderful knowledge.
For a description and talk type video, this was very informative and entertaining! Loved it!
I enjoyed it, too, Cody. Thanks for watching!
That was interesting from start to finish.
What a fascinating video! I loved the part about the lamp wick!
Fascinating presentation of history and techniques of the copper mining. Very clear explanations, and entertaining, as others have mentioned.
Great video . I’ve learned more watching great videos like this then my history teachers ever shared with my classmates. Sad but true.
Very interesting history of UP mining. Have a very good friend that does long-hole drilling in base metal mines in northern Manitoba. I got to tour underground about 10 years ago on his night shift. The tools are basically the same function only bigger and mechanically powered. Of interest in the closed mine the old iron rails have been plated with copper from years of leach water exposure. Mining history is fascinating to me.
Very informative video on the copper mining history of the UP... Thank you....
Dynamite was introduced in 1867. It was invented by Alfred Nobel. Now, it's a blast from the past. Still, the English (British) idiom rings true today: "sitting on a powder keg". I love your videos. You are true history and archeology buff. Keep 'em coming!
Great history lesson, people do not realize how hard people had to work in those times to make a living! Most people don't realize how easy they have it now!
Thank you!!!
I went to college at MTU starting 1974. There was a copper mine still in operation in Ontonagon. I remember those winters on the Keweenaw. I was told by the natives that there were usually about two weeks each year where nothing moved but snowmobiles. I know why the American Indians bailed before winter.
Both parents U of M, 1932. Winters were fun in Euclid, ice skating, street Hockey, sledding. Girlfriend 1/4 Iroquois, Baptist from Syracuse and Dairy farm raised on 3 Florida Dairies.
Huron canoes and your northern canoes seem to be groups of Friends,
while s. SHORE, lake Erie individual family. I approached winter, 1/2 Hebr.
as canoe in autumn and return early spring. One route N&s might be leaving boat in s. Penn. on Monongahela River which flows N. in Spring. Ohio River northern terminus near East Liverpool in
Ohio; plenty of small boat parking off River while we bicycke-share auto eventually home. Sailboat for long haul in saltish water Chesapeak River for departure S . onto ICW?
Thank you for including labor, not oil
as Michigan leads a peaceful effort.
Fantastic presentation! Thanks for spending so much time ironing (or copperizing) down your facts . . .
Lol - thanks!
I throughly enjoyed your presentation!!
Thanks for taking the time to educate those of us who have never heard about this past history!
Thank you sir! Great presentation.
Great talk - Interesting. I have family going back a ways in Ironwood on the Wisconsin border. No miners though
Outstanding presentation! Thanks!
Refreshing bit of Michigan history. I can imagine the excitement of finding such things.
Enjoyed your presentation. Very informative on the type and use of various tools and the role of animal's in the hard rock mining of the upper peninsula of michigan. Thank you very much, I have always had a great interest in the mining history of michigan.
Well done! Thanks for your very informative talk! Tap'er light :)