Then and Now

Today we start another feature here at Explorer: Then and Now. While our exploration journals take a look at the past through the ruins that remain, and Copper Country Window takes a look at the area today, Then and Now will attempt to connect the two – past and present. We start off with a pair of Laurium icons that currently sit on the corner of Pewabic and 3rd. Both houses were probably built before the turn of the century and still stand today; although in a somewhat different configuration. Both are prime examples of the opulence that once define the village a class above the rest.

During Calumet’s more metropolitan days, this was the first thing most people saw when coming into town. Before the automobile and the highways that carried them invaded the Copper Country, most people travelled by train. This is the Mineral Range depot, where thousands of immigrants made their first steps on their adopted land. From here trolley cars from the HTC would load up passengers and bring them three blocks down Oak Street to the hustle and bustle of 6th. Along with its sister depot at Houghton, this was one of the finest along the line.

Before moving on with my Anatomy of a Mill series (is that groans I hear?), I decided to give you all a little break and present something a little fun. I have had many requests for more installments of our “Then and Now” series which compares old photos of the Copper Country with more modern versions. Today I honor those requests – but with a twist. I call it the Ghosts of Calumet.

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.