LaSalle Mine

The LaSalle Mine begin its life in 1880 as the Tecumseh, a struggling mine south of Osceola that made several failed attempts to mine both the Calumet and Osceola lodes. The mine’s prospects incredibly brightened with its effort at the Kearsarge Lode, where it sunk two shafts near the turn of the century. In 1906 the company re-organized as the LaSalle, a company that also acquired the Caldwell mine to its south. Several years later the new company was bought up by the C&H, which would go on to utilize the property for another decade. The mine closed for good in 1920.

The LaSalle Mine was a combination of two older mines – the Tecumseh and the Caldwell – that had simply taken those older shafts as its own (with some new numbering). The LaSalle held a total of 4 shafts, two on the Tecumseh property and two on the Caldwell. LaSalle No.1 and No.2 were in fact Tecumseh No.1 and No.2, while a mile to the south Caldwell’s No.1 and No.2 became LaSalle No.5 and No.6. The company left itself two open numbers (No.3 and No.4) for the possibility of two additional shafts between the Caldwell and Tecumseh lots.

Originally LaSalle No.2 was complimented with a surface plant that included a boiler house, compressor house, change house, and a 18′x24′ Hoist Building. That’s what we expected to find during our exploration of the No.2 ruins today, but instead we found ourselves looking at a site that betrayed some alterations from that original configuration. Most notable was the hoist house, where an original steam-powered engine had been replaced by a smaller electric version.

While it may of been true that the current hoist foundation we found at LaSalle No.2 was an electric model, it was also apparent with the discovery of these next set of ruins that the old No.2 was once served by a classic steam model as well. It was just a few feet from the hoist foundation that we stumbled across a stone pedestal punctured with a stone-lines circular opening. We recognized it right off as the base to an old smokestack, and a smokestack only meant one thing. We had found ourselves a boiler house.

Before moving on from our exploration of LaSalle No.2 we’ll take one last look at some of the odd’s and ends we found along the way. These are ruins and remnants that were not substantial enough by themselves to warrant their own post, but were significant enough to mention. Consider them some LaSalle No.2 leftovers. Hopefully you still have an appetite…

LaSalle No.1 – otherwise known as Tecumseh No.1 – sits about 1800 feet north of the No.2. While there was once a spur of the Mineral Range railroad connecting the two mines, its old grade had been obliterated by whoever bulldozed the No.2’s rock pile. Instead we took a stroll down an old dirt road that once connected these two shafts to the nearby community of Tecumseh. It was along this same road that we found the LaSalle powder house, and continuing north from the old explosive storage building we found ourselves looking out across the massive rock piles of the No.1 – or I should probably more correctly say rock field.

Unfortunately there was not a large amount of ruins left at LaSalle No.1, so our exploration of that shaft was short lived. From there we headed out across the rock field in search for the old Mineral Range grade that extended north towards the Laurium Mine. Originally only a short spur line connecting Tecumseh No.1 (also known as LaSalle No.1) to the Mineral Range main line, the old right-of-way was later extended to reach both Tecumseh No.2 (LaSalle No.2) to the south and the Laurium mine to the north. To get a better idea of how these three mines were connected I’ve put together a small map of the area in question…