Comments on: A Rare Find

By: Joe Dase

Joe Dase — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:09:59 +0000

No Doubt! I spoke with some of the guys doing the floor installation at our office, and he told me that there was an old home here in the MQT area, in a very wealthy area that had a Birds Eye Floor. He brought this company in to rip it up and put in marble tile. They tried to get him to leave it, and he said he didn’t like the look, so they destroyed it… Some people!

In my house we are getting ready to tear out the carpet in the living room and dining room… Its mapel underneath also, the same vintage as the upstairs so I am anxious to see if there is any birdseye downstairs as well!

By: ROC

ROC — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:13:48 +0000

Another rare find,birds eye maple flooring.At least two houses in copper country have it.Antiques Road Show appraisis birds eye cabinets at a premium.Wonder what they would think of a whole floor of it?$$$

By: Joe Dase

Joe Dase — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:30:56 +0000

Thats what I think would have to happen, rok bolts and cable bolts and lots of them! But to be honest there probably isn’t much left for timber in the stopes, as it all would have crushed out and been shot out! (Especially when they pulled the shaft pillars!)

On a side note, the floors in my house (which was a 1870′s mine captain’s house in its first life) are about 60% Birds Eye. The family that owened it after the mining company was a weathly local family and built on to it several times, turns otu they put in the birds eye floors. Its all narrow slat, but its beautiful stuff that I wouldn’t blow that much money on installing!

By: ROC

ROC — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:45:00 +0000

Maybe you could install roof bolts and than pull the timbers on the retreating system.The jackpot would be if you did find some old growth Birdseye Maple.It’s up there.I was amazed that one of the old log cabins on the tour at Victoria has a Birdseye-Tiger Maple floor.Can’t even guess what that would cost today.

By: Joe Dase

Joe Dase — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:30:42 +0000

Actually the timbers may not be holding anything up in the C&H lode; they would shoot the timbers and let the hanging wall collapse when they robbed the pillars. When the hanging wall collapses, the abutment stress is reduced on the next mining horizon because the pressure above is relieved. Also timbers aren’t met to hold anything up, they are passive support (meaning the ground must deflect before they become effective) and also were used for work platforms. Now if they are taking weight you couldn’t remove them easily without being squashed like a bug!

The problem with dewatering is waters ability to loosen joint sets. Any naturally cemented joints can have their bond weakened by the water; also any un-cemented joints can build water behind them. If the water becomes trapped and you dewater you have a differential head which helps to work the rock loose, and then you have big problems.

We actually used to pull allot of timbers out of shafts before they were capped, especially the few that require dewatering, its beautiful timber!

On a side note, the EPA doesn’t have anything to do if your discharge point is above grade. The only permits you need are from the State of Michigan, but you would probably still need a treatment plant. I know way more than I want to on mine water discharge and the relationship between the EPA and mining companies!

By: Bill In Indiana

Bill In Indiana — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:19:36 +0000

Water is most likely acting to hold things up. The hydraulic pressure is helping hold rock in place. De-watering and then de-timbering would seem to be a perfect formula for collapse.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:19:03 +0000

I’m sure it would be possible to remove the wood supports from the old mines, you’d just have to find a substitute for the timbers after they were taken out. I.E., simple steel columbs? Or maybe only remove half the timbers from each level could be removed? Then you would refill it with poor rock after work’s completed on each level?

Hey, if its worth it to dive to the bottom of the Great Lakes and bring up old timbers, it would be worth it to go into mines and do the same. The problem is balancing the worth of the timbers with the need to comply with safety regulations, the EPA, and the structural principles of a mine.

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:51:49 +0000

I was always curious what they did under Calumet when they robbed the pillars. I’m talking about the end of life for the main C&H. Maybe they replaced those pillars with timber? I haven’t read of any sink holes in Calumet.

Now water is a better support than air. Surely some timbers in old mines have fallen down, so you have to wonder if cave-ins would happen in less stable mines just from de-watering. With the hoisting equipment gone, you also have the challenge of hauling the logs up.

But if you found a 300 year old maple tree, preserved for 100 years underwater, wouldn’t somebody pay for classic birds-eye pattern furniture?

By: ROC

ROC — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:57:31 +0000

The C&H and Tamarack Mines would be the big timber producers,not sure how many board feet per ton of timbers mined you would get.When the Atlantic Mines hanging wall gave way it made the RR tracks at the surface look like a snake.Hate to see the steets of Calumet look like that.But I doubt the EPA would ever allow those mines to be pumped out with all that methane containing corrosive heavy salt water being dumped into Lake Superior again.Before C&H claimed it just sank to the bottom of the lake.

By: Bill In Indiana

Bill In Indiana — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:33:26 +0000

Visions of that old movie “Paint Your Wagon” come to mind, especially the scene near the end when the tunnels collapse and the town caves in on itself.