With the remains of the compressor house behind us, we turned our attention eastward back towards the boiler complex and any ruin that may exist beyond. We were one ruin shy of our trifecta, that particular ruin belonging to the mine’s hoist house. Since nothing but road greeted us to the west, we thought we take a look to the east. We knew that at the very least the old hoist building had to be somewhat near the boiler house.

Turns out it was. We found it standing along the marshy banks of the nearby Gratiot River tributary, attempting to hide within a thick blanket of underbrush. Luckily it was late enough in the year that most of that underbrush had disappeared, leaving the monolithic walls bare and exposed to prying eyes such as ours. Along the wall we approached was an opening for a doorway, an opening that welcomed us in for a closer look. We accepted the offer.

Inside we found ourselves in familiar territory. Inside stood a large concrete / poor rock foundation pedestal on which once stood the building’s massive steam hoist. Surrounding that foundation was another, this one once supported the building’s outer wall. Between the two stood a narrow corridor, a passageway we like to call the maintenance trench. We followed the passageway around the building’s interior to see what else we could find.

At the back of the old building that maintenance trench narrowed substantially, but i was still passible. We could make out an arched opening just ahead on our left. We moved in closer to investigate.

It was another steam tunnel, most likely arriving from the boiler house next door. Like all the rest it was lined with brick, including its arched top.

A look down its dark length revealed more of the same. We could make out some light at the end of the tunnel, and later discovered that a portion of the tunnel had collapsed halfway between here and the boiler house.

Turning around we found ourselves staring down a large gap in the hoist foundation. It seemed too small to house a drum of any significant size. Either way we knew we weren’t looking at a typical “H” shaped foundation here. We hoisted ourselves up to the top of the foundation to get a better look at what we dealing with.

From up top we could see that we were dealing with two individual foundations, each rectangular in shape and sporting a rather featureless concrete top. This would make it what we call an “E” shaped hoist.

From the foundation top we took a good look around at the building’s remains. It was rather utilitarian in looks, with very little in terms of embellishment. Pretty boring as far as hoist foundation go actually.

About the only interesting detail along the whole thing was this thin layer of concrete which iced the upper portion of the outer foundation wall. Although not visible here, most likely this layer of concrete was dotted with a few iron bolts on which the rest of the building’s iron skeleton was attached.

With the majority of the Ojibway’s surface plant discovered, we turned our attention to finding the No.2 shaft, hidden somewhere south of us.

To Bo Continued…