For the most part copper mines along the Keweenaw erected very modest surface plants, directing most of their money into the actual work of mining. Surface improvements were often considered wasteful embellishments, especially by investors looking to get large returns on their money. Mining was were money could be made, not by building machine shops and locomotive houses. Only when a mine graduated to a higher class of profit and size could its managers justify such frivolous expenditures as surface improvements.

For the Isle Royale Mine sitting atop the hills overlooking Houghton, graduation day arrived in the spring of 1917. With over $600,000 at its disposal, the mine undertook a massive project to completely rebuild its entire surface plant. The older wood-framed buildings of the mine’s youth were replaced by a series of large fire-proof structures, including a warehouse, machine shop, locomotive house, and several dry houses. While the mine itself was wiped off the map by the coming Depression, these new buildings would remain for decades more to come, re-used and re-purposed.

At least four major structures originally built during Isle Royale’s 1917 surface improvement campaign remain standing to this day, including the No.6 dry house seen here. Though one of three identical structures originally built by the mine at the time, this is the only one that escaped the wrecking ball. Today its used as a garage and shop for a power company.

The second structure on our list isn’t at the mine itself, per se. Its this sandstone beauty sitting down along the Isle Royale Sands. Though its arched openings have been marred by concrete block inserts and a wood-framed entrance-way has been tacked onto its front, the building still manages to hold a good amount of turn-of-the-century charm.

Here’s the same building in its original form, as the pump house for the Isle Royale Mill. This shot is taken from the opposite angle of the first, with the pump house on the right and boiler house to the left. The boiler house no longer stands (nor does its smokestack) but the pump house now serves as a RV parts store. (or at least it did a few years ago, I’m not sure if its still in business)

The Isle Royale’s infrastructure improvement program didn’t end with the mine and mill itself, it also extended to the company’s adjacent short-line railroad. This six-stall locomotive house was constructed to accommodate a growing railroad fleet that had become responsible for servicing a total of six shafts. Like the rest of the 1917 buildings, this was constructed with the newly developed concrete block in lieu of traditional poor rock or sandstone.

Here’s that same building today, with only a few modern renovations existing to obscure its previous life. Fittingly the building has been re-purposed to serve the railroad’s executioner – the automobile. More specifically school buses, as the building is currently used by the Houghton Public School system as a bus garage.

Since school buses are not nearly as tall as a locomotive, the old stall openings have been shortened and narrowed slightly. A modern garage door has also been added, replacing what most likely would have been a pair of inward opening doors.

While the doors and stall openings have been altered the old rails themselves are amazingly still in place, as seen here running under the new garage door. It looks as if a new concrete floor was simply laid down over the rails when it was converted into a garage. You would think the rails would have been worth something for scrap at the very least….

As seems to be the case with modern renovations of old buildings, the loco house’s once generous window openings have been filled in with more concrete block. Apparently today’s class of worker doesn’t appreciate natural light as much as their ancestors did. Thats progress for you.

As further proof of the building’s ancestry we have its date plate still intact along its strictly functional cornice. The date – 1917 – the same year Isle Royale partook in its massive spending spree.

To Be Continued….