We finish up our series examining the Delaware / Conglomerate Mine’s landscape with a look at some of the odd’s and ends scattered across the area…

So far we’ve focused in on six main areas of the Delaware / Conglomerate Mine’s landscape. These included the old Delaware Mine, the Conglomerate Mine, and their related surface plant locations. It also included the two town sites that accompanied those mining locations along with the Conglomerate’s upper class housing and mill area. While the locations of those mines and residential areas were relatively easy to discern thanks to period Sanborn maps, there are a few details that have managed to escape me. We’ll take a look at a few of these here…

First up on my list is the Delaware Depot along the Keweenaw Central. Now I suppose timing is everything here, as the KC actually post-dates the Conglomerate Mine’s short operational run (the Conglomerate Mine’s own short line railroad – the Lac La Belle and Calumet – would later become the first building block of the KC). But my question is one of geography, specifically where that depot was finally located once the KC started up its operation. From the photo above it would appear that there is a large building set back behind the depot. This could possibly be part of the old stamp mill, or one of the Conglomerate’s old warehouses. Looking to the far left reveals a blurred out background that appears to be the bluffs and a sprinkling of houses or other structures. You can also make out what appears to be a ruin of a building – which could also very well be the mill remains. I can’t be sure, but my guess would be that it sat just to the east of the old mill.

This photo of some ruins and a steam engine is labeled at the archives as the remains of the Conglomerate’s saw mill. Sanborn maps don’t show this mill, but this photo would seem to place it alongside the Keweenaw Central main line. It also looks like the Montreal River is just beyond those tracks along with a few other buildings set up alongside the river. At first I thought those buildings might have hailed from Hell Town itself – Wyoming – but they are far too close to the tracks for that. With really just the river’s position as a guide, I would guess that the old saw mill sat about a half mile east of the old mill, right alongside US41.

(interestingly, I think I’ve seen these ruins myself. While walking along the KC mainline west from the Lac La Belle road, we could make out a rock wall similar in shape and size to this one sitting out in the woods to our north. At the time I thought the ruins were part of the Pennsylvania Mine, but now I’m thinking I was looking the same thing pictured above. Just minus the engine.)

This is the Delaware’s catholic church. Its a rather beautiful little wood framed structure which looks to have had better days when this photo was taken. I have no idea where this church was located. Most likely it was erected at one of the two townsites in the area. My guess (based on it being called the Delaware Church) is that it sits over at the old Delaware Location. But I really have no idea.

Well with that all out of the way I think its time I presented the climax of this entire series – my Delaware / Conglomerate landscape map(Click on the image above to open it in a new window). It’s laid atop an aerial image of the site taken more recently. The layouts and positions of buildings are a rough estimate, based on various Sanborn maps and other sources, so its not exact. Its more for getting a general idea of where everything was laid out in relation to each other. Most iffy are the railroad lines, since I only had slices of those to go by from the Sanborns, I had to fill in the blanks for the rest.

Enjoy!