Comments on: Yet Another Powder House

By: Powder-palooza

Powder-palooza — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:26:08 +0000

[...] Since we just left off with two (!) powder houses out at the Ahmeek No.3/4 it seems fitting that we start with their predecessor at the No.2. This guy sits right alongside a snowmobile trail uncomfortably close to the mine itself. This design is very popular, and I’ve seen it at more then a few mines – most of them C&H owned at one time. That’s why I like to call these guys the C&H style. Read More… [...]

By: Ahmeek Powder

Ahmeek Powder — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:37:16 +0000

[...] Mohawk. The powder house that served the first two shafts (which we have featured previously on CCE HERE was too far from the No.3/4 to be of much use so a second powder house was built to serve this [...]

By: Powderhouse in the Woods

Powderhouse in the Woods — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:55:46 +0000

[...] which were not built with such demanding requirements. In our explorations we have seen a few (Ahmeek, Central, and Mohawk our a few examples off hand), but we have never found one as intact as we did [...]

By: Capt. Kurt Fosburg

Capt. Kurt Fosburg — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:57:12 +0000

Now you have me thinking… I don’t remember exactly where the powderhouse in the valley was. It was a long time ago! I was doing the exact same thing you have been doing; bombing around the Keweenaw exploring every building, hole in the ground, etc. Your site has brought back some very fond memories, and a lot of fuzzy ones! Unfortunately that was before the days of digital cameras, so lugging around a camera wasn’t always on my mind. If I think of where that powderhouse was, I’ll add a comment.

By: explorer

explorer — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:20:54 +0000

Kurt-

Thanks again for the kudos! This powder house is actually a lot closer to the mine then any we have found before – which seemed odd. I know that in Champion at least they sit way off and out of the way from the rest of the surface plant. Haven’t found one in a valley yet, but the one at Central sits behind a rocky cliff. Of course behind the cliff sat the Central School, so it probably wasn’t that safe. My guess is that these things didn’t go off very often, and I don’t known if there was many accidents like that of the powder house exploding around here. (although what a mess it made I’m sure)

By: Kurt Fosburg

Kurt Fosburg — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:43:28 +0000

Great site! I’m trying to find a section I was at last week, but stopped here for a comment. The roof on the powder house was intentionally flimsy so that in the unfortunate event of an explosion, the blast would be directed upward instead of outward, causing the thick walls to become projectiles. You may also notice that in some locations the powder house is placed in a valley so that the blast would be contained. The Trimountain Mine powderhouse is a great example. Keep up the good work, but be wary of private property.

By: explorer

explorer — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:00:29 +0000

Shawn..
Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out. Railroads are always fascinating to me, but there is so little left of the ones that once ran here. Perhaps a place like that will help fill in the missing pieces..

dcclark..
Thanks for the catch. I guess 1 person out there reads what I write (or at least 1 that will say something when I screw up!)

By: dcclark

dcclark — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 02:13:43 +0000

“they might of been remains of wah” … Either it’s the remains of a curious UP phrase, or something got cut off.

By: shawn

shawn — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 02:12:38 +0000

ahem – I was trying to use the contact page to contact you off of the public message page but I kept getting a verification code error….so I will just post it publically here since I know it works….

hi – just another note to say thanks for resparking that eternal interest in the Copper country in me! I was wondering if you ever been to the Yooperrails yahoogroups discussion group? There are many historian buffs like us that post on that group…You may find it interesting and a source of answers to questions (or post questions that lead to more questions) you may have about the copper country railroads and industries….there was a nice fellow that passed away a couple of years ago named John Campbell – he was an encyclopedia of copper country railroad info and he posted often to this list. His knowledge of obscure Copper Country Railroad information was simply amazing and inspiring. Look back at the archive messages for many interesting discussions related to the UP railroads/industries (and some of the Copper Country too).

take care
shawn

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/yooperrails/