There is ALOT more behind that complex, if you continue into the woods you find many buildings, an underground complex and what we think is a hoist house a long concrete corridor, along with a second very large structure.

Looks like we’ll have to take a return run this fall to take a closer look – we missed a lot apparently. Being on snowshoes made traveling a bit more cumbersome (and tiring), so we wrapped up a little quickly. Thanks for the info!

That structure has nothing to do with the mine. It is the olsd Stella cheese factory. There is very little info to be had on it but I also never dug real deep. I know theres at least one book that has info on it because I almost bought it years ago. Personally I love your site. You dont go into much detail but deffently tell a good general description of things.
Too bad you havent gone there earlier. There used to be a lot more pipeing, and a ton of wireing. Certain areas such as on the south end show clean lines and squares from pannels recently removed. In the early thaw the floors fill with water and the stairs form huge ice slides. Also look for massive icecicles that stretch from pipes to the floor. Good photo opps.
As stated before there are multiple other structures. Several power shacks, an old house of some sort where the livingroom fireplace still stands. Also there is a mineshaft near there that has been capped with rocks on the ground. I wont tell you where but if you should find it be very carefull of the vertical drops that WILL kill you. Take good lights and be careful.
Keep up the good work

Ohh haha heres the Stella line number from archives if you want to call them just for more fun info.

STELLA CHEESE COMPANY Baltic Mine………………………………………………………176
the houghton manual telophone exchange ran all the small towns around here with a directory from 1 to 4000. Usually only buisnesses got single lines which is why theres no party share letter on the 176

South Range Guy..

At the time I took these pictures I had assumed this building was part of the mine, but only recently realized what you noted – that this building is in fact the Stella Cheese Factory. Although I have read that the factory “re-used” buildings from the old Baltic, converting them to new use. The sandstone construction used in these buildings would be expensive and out-of-place for the more modern factory. What parts of the building are original and what are new are hard to tell though. Either way its a maze inside of it, which I had recently been able to explore without the snow in the way. Expect it to be featured again here in the next week or so.

Wow…
Strange.
And kinda cool

A maze indeed. Even in summer it can be confusing. For a long time on saterdays you would here paintball players out there.

Part of them being reused from the baltic mine may be.
Now tell me what the giant chainlink fenced cylinder full of rocks is about 30yrds from it. Iv seen them other places I think but never figured out what they were for other than pehaps just a collection of feild rock.

Hmmm…. An area surrounded by chain link fence and full of rocks. Could it be an old mine shaft? Would make sense given that some of the buildings were originally part of the Baltic mine.

I know exactly what South range Guy is talking about, and I’m certain its not a mine shaft. Its far outside the rest of the shafts and on the wrong side to be anywhere near the Baltic Lode itself. I almost want to say that it is related to the cheese factory, perhaps evan a waste dump of some type for cheese by-products. (Whey is it called?) Its placement and construction all seems to point to the cheese factory and not the mine. Either way I believe its covering something that we probably don’t want to uncover.

Lake Nebagamon where Stella Cheese got its start is just a few miles north of here. I have heard of Stella Cheese in a general sort of way, but never knew it originated there. I’ll have to look into that.

Nice sandstone work on those buildings.

The cylinder full of rocks near the cheese factory is part of the city of Houghton’s water distribution from Painesdale – that’s what I had understood – might be hiding a filtration unit. It’s been there a long time.

If that’s the case, it probably isn’t used any more, since Houghton doesn’t use the Champion #4 for water any more. On the other hand, I do think that the water supply still comes from other wells out towards South Range, so maybe it still has a purpose.

dcclark…

I believe that Houghton has several well sites, the primary one being out on the Isle Royale Sands. (where the current treatment plant is located) I also know that there is an installation of water pumps at Painesdale – specifically at the old Champion “F” site – which can access the Champion Mine Spring (which use to serve Houghton). Its possible that the spring is still used to supply water for Painesdale and South Range, but I can’t be sure. Houghton could still be using the spring for supplemental capacity.

Believe it or not, I’ve read up on the wellhead sites… it’s *extremely* dry reading (haha), but here ya go (from 1999):

http://cseo.mtu.edu/community/planning/KePen_99_CCRs.PDF

It is at least a little interesting to see here the water comes from. Looks like Houghton has 3 wellheads out on the Isle Royale Sands. Adams Township has wells “near Painesdale”, although it’s not clear the relation to the mine.

I lived in the 2.5 story log cabin just south of the Stella Cheese factory for around 3 years from 1979 to 1981. This house burned down in the 90’s I think. The chimney/fireplace/foundation is still remaining. This house as I was told was for entertainment for Stella Cheese. The “1910″ building had wooden boxes of core (rock) samples at that time. The dynamite houses (2) are about 1/2 mile due south in an opening in the woods. there are two old railroad trails (2 tracks) leading to them. The pile of rocks inside of the link fencing was for the cheese factory filtering of some sort. There is a story about the stream running through the site being poluted at one time due to the cheese factory holding tank overflowing (east of chease factory). I also heard that he cheese factory building used to be used for showers for the mines. When I first moved into the house, there was the old office building with a safe, northeast and across the street from the “1910″ building.

Great stories Fred, its good to hear from those that actually have a first hand knowledge of these old buildings. I found the remains of that old log house in a later post, and noticed the large fireplace. It must of been an interesting place to live.

As far as the Cheese Factory’s origins, your information is correct. The building use to be the Dry and Wash house from the No. 2 shaft – with some major additions and alterations of course.

The stream running through the property WAS polluted – but it wasn’t due to the mine or the cheese factory. Until septic systems were installed, “privy” run-off was going directly into the creek from the homes nearby. Once indoor plumbing had replaced the “outhouses”, and the community went to septic systems – the smell went away!

I’m sure there are other creeks that had the same problem.

I grew up in baltic, and as a child played in the stella cheese factory. I remember the house burnin in the 90`s. I know who was liveing there just before it burnt. I can picture the inside, ad walking up the stairs. As I got older a found ways into some of the mineshafts, and been through all the old foundations. I know of a few more foundation locations that you havent documented on this webpage yet. They are mining foundations though.

Baltic Blush… Sounds like you had some great adventures as a child. There’s quite a few ruins out there that I have yet to document here on this site. But I’m trying… ( If you known of any you would like to see here on the site, by all means drop me an email and let me know!)