The Pittsburgh and Boston Company had the distinction of sinking the very first copper shaft in the Copper Country, into the hard rock along Hay’s Point in Copper Harbor. This early venture was a disaster, costing investors over $20,000 in the process. But they were not deterred, and turned towards a second piece of land south of Eagle River along the great soaring bluffs of the Cliff Range. This second attempt was a different story all-together, resulting in the first profitable copper mine in the Keweenaw. This would be, of course, the famous Cliff Mine.

The Cliff’s success was due mainly to its abundance of mass copper – large single pieces of copper ranging in size from a ton to more then a hundred. Three-quarters of all copper mined at the cliff were in the form of these massive boulders, all of which required very little if any milling before being sent out east to smelters. However copper in a more traditional form was also mined here, which required the construction of a small stamp mill on-site to process it.

Due to the minimal amount of copper that required stamping at Cliff, the stamp mill that was constructed was very small and crude compared to mill’s built at other mines. The building (seen in the photo above) housed two batteries of cornish stamps, along with a very minimal amount of washing equipment. The stamps were powered by a small steam engine, which was housed in a connected building along with the necessary boilers. Elevated tramways delivered production from the shaft and adit nearby, while a wooden chute transported copper rock down from atop the bluff. The mill was closed around 1870.

After over a century of abandonment, the old scars from the mine can still be readily seen along Cliff Drive. (check out the BIG PICTURE to see for yourself) First to be noticed is the large poor rock piles, two along the cliff’s base and one cascading down from its top. Moving down to their base you can see the remains of the mill tailings, which have been inundated by the Eagle River’s flood-plain. Due to the lack of milling that went on here, there isn’t much stamp sand to be found. Scattered about the sands are piles of sun-dried timbers and other iron and wood debris.

Sitting along the northern edge of the old tailings sits the remains of the stamp mill itself. The building was built primarily out of wood, and as such not very much of it remains to be seen. As for its rubble foundation only this small section above can be seen, the rest buried by decades of down-wash from the cliffs above.

Following the old foundation wall up into the wood-line we noticed a few clues scattered about the forest floor that reminded us of the building that once sat here. Wooden timbers half buried in the sand, iron bolts sticking up out of the leaves, and pieces of flat iron laying about on the ground. Another short foundation wall could be glimpsed within the trees to the left, under which flowed a small stream. From earlier trips to the Cliff, we knew that this small stream actually flows under the stamp mill ruins – down from the cliff above and onward from here to the Eagle River nearby. It could have been the source of the mill’s water supply – but that honor could have easily went to the nearby Eagle River as well.

Up into the woods we came across more short stone walls – this one above made up the mill’s rear foundation wall. The mill sat along a hillside – as most mills did – in order to take advantage of gravity to move the slime mix through the mill.

Connected to the northwest corner of the mill was the engine house, who’s foundation can be seen above. Unlike later stamp design, Cornish Stamps were not powered directly by a steam engine. The power of the engine was transferred through a series of belts and pulleys to turn a large camshaft. Tt was this camshaft which powered the stamps, raising the individual stamp heads sequentially before letting them fall by gravities hand.

Sitting within the thick brush atop these ruins could still be found the remains of the stone rubble pedestal on top of which the steam engine once sat. Scattered along it are a series of iron bolts – like the one above – which were used to fasten the engine to the pedestal. The engine was scrapped generations ago, but the bolts (and nuts) still remain.

Making our way around the engine foundation we came across yet another foundation, this one much larger. It consisted of two very large parallel walls, separated by a long deep trench. This would mostly likely be the boiler house (the obvious reason why I’ll share next), and the long trench must have been the building’s basement. As for the two end walls being missing, I would guess that they were removed to get at the boilers for scrap. The photo above is of the building’s north-west corner.

About that reason why I think this is the boiler house, it has to do what is sitting right next to it:

This large beauty is obviously a smoke stack, and at a mine a smokestack always means the existence of a boiler house. This stack would have been finished off by a long steel tube protruding from the top of the stone tower. The tube either fell off (but we couldn’t find any evidence of it) or it was removed for scrap. This is in fact one of five(!) stacks standing across the Cliff ruins. Unlike later mines that turned towards centralization of their power plants, Cliff was all for spreading the wealth around.

Moving on…