Mohawk Mine

Sitting just off the beaten path and hidden in the thick woodlands south of Mohawk stands an impressive monument of stone and concrete. Like an abandoned English castle, this ancient structure lies hidden within natures foliage-weaved shroud. Fighting our way through thick underbrush we suddenly found ourselves at the base of its towering outer walls. Rising a good three stories above our heads, these walls were a work of delicate art – crafted from stone and brick

This building held a large hoist, a more modern steam powered machine then other hoists along the lode. The large trench in the center of the building was home to a machine of some girth, and the large opening afforded the hoist drum suggested a machine built for a deep mine. While the roof has long since collapsed, the high walls and cavernous space above our heads gave us an awe inspiring sense of scale. This hoist was huge.

When we first found these ruins just south of Mohawk (including the impressive hoist building featured yesterday), we weren’t sure what mine we had found. Being so close to Mohawk, our first thought was that it was part of the Mohawk mine. But there are two mines in the vicinity of Mohawk, the other being the Ahmeek Mine. Looking at a map of the area, we discovered that these ruins were in fact right smack dab in the middle of both the Mohawk and Ahmeek mines. These ruins could be part of the Mohawk, or the Ahmeek Mine. Figuring out which one it was, required a little investigation.

Rising a good four stories above our heads the tower sat perched on one of two parallel concrete walls. It was in reality a concrete column wrapped in an iron blanket that had begun to peel off. The tower was new to us, but the concrete base was unmistakably that of a rock house; the gap between the walls once straddling a rail line the once brought copper rock from here to the mill down at Gay.

Mining is simple. You drill holes into rock, you stuff explosives in those holes, and you blow the rock up into smaller pieces. From that point on everything at a mine – people, machines, buildings, and railroads – all work together to remove that rock from underground and separate any copper found within it. The first stop for the rock on this journey is the rock house.

What was left of the #6 Rock House sat at a crossroads. Nearby was the snowmobile trail coming up from Traprock valley on its way north to Mohawk. In fact these ruins were being used as a makeshift sign, as someone had pointed out the direction of Calumet and Mohawk on its walls. Also nearby – the building was almost right on top of it – was Number 5 Road, also on its way to Mohawk. Knowing that the rest of the Mohawk Mine would be in that direction, we headed out along it to see what we could find.

Most of the copper mined on the Keweenaw came from a narrow strip of land only 25 miles in length. At the northern end of this strip you will find the relatively successful Mohawk Mine. This sprawling mine (all six shafts of her) along with the Ahmeek Mine to the south employed over 1600 people at their peak. These people needed places to live, and shop, and eat, and play. Thus the village of Mohawk was

It toiled on the surface for over three decades, pillaging the underground for precious metals one loaded skip at a time. It worked an expansive and deep foray into the earth, judging by the two massive rock piles that now flanked it. One day it simply stopped. Now the meek and humble ruins that remain bear little resemblance to the once proud buildings that once served here.

There is a natural order that we have become accustomed to that guides our explorations. The first things we always find are the poor rock piles. They’re hard to miss. Then we stumble across the rock house. After looking around the rock house we usually find the shaft and collar house. Drawing an imaginary line between the newly discovered collar house and rock house points us in the direction of the hoist building.