Significance

John Hays first came to the Keweenaw in 1843, arriving to a copper district not yet tamed by man and still very much wild and rugged. Though originally coming north for his health, Hays quickly found himself caught up with copper fever and purchased himself an interest in several claims in the region. His interest quickly evolved into a full fledged company, formed with several partners in Pittsburgh. That company was the Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company, and would have the distinction of being one of the first to form in the newly opened copper country.

Hays would return to work those claims the following spring, first working a narrow strip of land along Copper Harbor that would end up taking his name – Hays Point. This first claim proved fruitless, and Hays and company moved southward to work the next one. This claim was situated along a soaring 200 foot bluff just south of Eagle River. Encouraged by the discovery of an exposed copper vein atop the bluff, Hays and company began driving and adit into the cliff base to find the vein’s underground extension. By 1845 that effort had resulted in the discovery of a massive piece of copper, larger then any found before it. Buoyed by such success, Hays and his fellow investors infused a new supply of cash into the operation, and the famous Cliff Mine was born.

Description

To commemorate John Hays discovery, the Keweenaw Historical Society erected a small monument at the site of the Cliff Mine in 1930. The memorial consisted of a large stone inlaid with a bronze plaque. The plaque read “On November 18, 1844 on the bluff west of this point named the Cliff Mine, pure metallic copper was first discovered in the world by John Hays of Pittsburg, Pa. – Erected July 31, 1930 Keweenaw Historical Society”.

Contemporary Use

Though still standing today, the old monument has lost its commemorative plaque and now only features a shallow cut-out where that plaque once stood.

Public Access

The monument sits alongside a public roadway and is open to the public.

Directions

The Hays Memorial sits along Cliff Drive less then a mile before the Cliff Drive. After leaving Ahmeek along US41 turn left onto Cliff Drive. Follow Cliff Drive for about six miles, the rock that once housed the memorial will be sitting off to the left near a telephone pole.

Significance

The size and scope of the Cliff Mine is most clearly evident today by the fact that it supported two separate cemeteries, one for the area’s Catholics and another for the Protestants. The Protestant cemetery sits along the base of the Cliffs themselves, just east of the mine location. Established around 1852, this was the second cemetery to serve the community. The hardships of life in this northern wilderness are most evident here, as fading tombstones mark the passing of more then a half-dozen children – some only a few months old.

Contemporary Use

The Hillside cemetery is abandoned and hasn’t been used in nearly a century.

Public Access

The cemetery sits on property owned by the county, and it open to the public.

Directions

The Protestant cemetery at Cliff sits just to the east of the mine, up at the base of the steep cliffs along Cliff Road. From along US41 upon leaving Ahmeek turn left onto Cliff Drive at the large curve. Follow the road for 2.8 miles almost to its end. The trail to the cemetery is on the left along a two-track road marked with the “Cliff Cemetery” sign. Follow the road until it makes a sharp turn to the right. The trailhead will be on the left.

Significance

Before there was the great C&H Mine, there was a small struggling start up known as the Calumet Mine. The fledging company was the first to mine the Calumet Conglomerate lode, and sunk a series of shafts north of today’s Red Jacket Road. For a time copper rock from those shafts were sent south to Hancock for milling, a rather expensive and time consuming endeavor. To cut costs the mine erected its own stamp mill on the shore of a man-made lake known as Calumet Dam. In addition to the mill itself, the sprawling complex included a large pump house – used to supply the mill with water from the reservoir – and an attached boiler house to supply the steam needed for both the pump and the adjacent mill.

Unfortunately the mill was discovered to be horrifically inadequate in processing the Calumet’s mine rock, and a new more powerful mill had to be constructed. This new mill would require a much greater supply of water, a supply the small creek that fed the Calumet Dam could never supply. So a new mill site down the hill on Torch Lake was chosen, and the old mill at Calumet was demolished. All, that is, except for the boiler and pump houses. Those would be repurposed to serve a new purpose – providing water for fire protection to the newly merged Calumet and Hecla Mines as well as the burgeoning Red Jacket metropolis. These water works at Calumet Pond (as it would later be known) would continue to serve the community for nearly a century, only becoming abandoned along with C&H’s closure in the 1960’s.

Description

While the old pump house itself no longer stands, the attached boiler house that once fed it with steam does remain, standing tall along the shore of Calumet Lake. The large brick building had survived thanks to its role as home to an auto-parts business for many years, signs for which can still be seen plastered along its outer walls. Though the large smokestack that once accompanied the building is gone, the bricked-in opening through which the flue exited the building can still be seen on the building’s front facade. Also present is the old coal trestle and approach, which enters the building’s east wall through a large doorway. This trestle would have been used to deliver the necessary coal needed to fuel the boilers.

Contemporary Use

After its closure as a water pumping station in the late 1960′s, the old boiler house was gutted and its boilers scrapped. The building would later serve as a storage warehouse for an auto parts store (whose signage still appears on the building’s exterior). Today, however, the building stands vacant.

Public Access

The old Calumet Mill Boiler house is privately owned and off limits to the public. It can, however, be easily viewed from the adjacent road, or from the neighboring park which now occupies the old mill’s location.

Directions

Heading north along US41 in Calumet, turn left onto Pine Street. Take the second road on the right (Waterworks Road), and follow it to its end. The old boiler house will be straight ahead.

Significance

Every new mine starts out with a compliment of essential buildings, structures that the mine has to complete before any large scale mining can commence. These important structures are often built to last, usually with thick masonry walls of mine rock complimented with brick and sandstone highlights. And often these buildings do last and outlive the mines that first erected them by several decades or more. For most mines these essential buildings include the engine house, boiler house, warehouse, and the highly fortified powder house.

Because they stored a mine’s compliment of dangerous explosives, a mine’s powder house was often the most well constructed building on the lot. These little buildings may have been small, but they were built tough with thick walls and no windows. Because of this these tough buildings often outlast all else, even the other essential building’s the mine original built when first starting out. It is the powder house that survives the longest, and it’s often only the powder house that remains to tell a mine’s story long after all other evidence of its existence has eroded away.

Description

As is the case with most buildings of similar purpose, the Delaware Powder house is a small squat stone walled building with only one opening on its front facade. It’s topped by a simple wood framed gabled roof.

Contemporary Use

Luckily for the old Delaware Mine, its powder house isn’t the only one of its essential structures still standing to tell its tale. This is a good thing, considering how the old storage building has been since transformed into a small summer camp. While it sports new windows, a front porch, and even a new additional room on its east side, the old building can still easily be identified as the powder house it once was.

Public Access

The Delaware Powder house is privately owned, but can be easily viewed from the adjacent road.

Directions

Follow US41 north out of Houghton for 33 miles until arriving at the ghost town of Delaware. Turn left onto Delaware Mine road on the left, a road marked by the Delaware Mine tour sign. Follow this road up to the stop sign and proceed to turn left onto Delaware Shortcut Road. Follow this road another half mile and the powder house will appear on the right.

Significance

Upon the Delaware Mine’s arrival to the Keweenaw – then known as the Northwest – the young mine found itself charting new and uncharted territory deep inside the peninsula’s interior, far from any established port or railway. The mine’s first priority was to establish supply lines from the nearest port, which manifested itself in a 5 mile long wagon road – today known as Delaware Short Cut Road – traversing across the peninsulas steep and rugged spine to Eagle Harbor. At one end of that road the mine built itself and dock, while at the other end it built itself a warehouse.

Description

The Northwest’s warehouse was an impressive one and a half story stone building built with discarded mine rock. It sat at the far eastern end of the supply road from Eagle Harbor, near the Northwest’s main shaft. The building served many purposes, storing not only the mine’s provisions and supplies, but any copper it happened to recover as well. The old warehouse continued to serve this purpose for the next few decades, even as the mine that built it changed hands and names several times in the process. It was finally abandoned along with the rest of the old mine in the early 1900’s, though its masonry construction meant that it was able to outlive most of the Delaware’s other buildings and continues to stand still today.

Contemporary Use

The old warehouse continues to stand alongside Delaware Shortcut Road, though its roof and floors have since rotted away. A large opening has been smashed into the building’s north facade, yet its impressive gabled ends still stand.

Public Access

The Delaware warehouse sits on private property but can easily be viewed from the adjacent road.

Directions

Follow US41 north out of Houghton for 33 miles until arriving at the ghost town of Delaware. Turn left onto Delaware Mine road on the left, a road marked by the Delaware Mine tour sign. Follow this road up to the stop sign and proceed to turn left onto Delaware Shortcut Road. The warehouse will be immediately off to the left.

Significance

As C&H’s fortunes grew, so too did the village of Red Jacket and the collection of surrounding communities that collectively formed the metropolis of Calumet. The increased population brought with it an increase in school aged children and the required public schools to serve them. At its height the booming Calumet metropolis boasted a total of nineteen schools scattered across its sprawling borders, each serving distinct neighborhoods and mine locations. But as Calumet’s fortunes began to wain after the turn of the century, the economic burden of such a large and scattered school system was becoming too great to bare. In response the public school system elected to build itself a new centralized elementary school, to replace the vast assortment of smaller schools scattered about the district. The result was the M.M. Morrison School.

Description

Built in 1919, the Morrison School was the region’s newest and most modern school building, utilizing all the latest thinking in school design and construction. The massive brick building stood over three stories in height, built atop a raised basement level that housed the school’s gym. Thanks to its brick construction the building was virtually fire proof, and a generous supply of windows provided for a large amount of natural light to enter the classrooms found within. A renovation in the late seventies added a pair of external fire escapes to the building’s far ends for added safety. The building’s main entrance faced 8th Street, while a large playground and school yard sat behind the structure along 7th Street.

Contemporary Use

The Morrison school would end up serving the Calumet area for well over 75 years, finally closing down in the late 90’s. Today the building sits empty, but plans for its conversion into apartments are in the works.

Public Access

The school is under private ownership and is not open to the public. It can be viewed from the neighboring roads however.

Directions

The Morrison School sits along 8th Street, one block north of Oak Street. Upon entering Calumet from the south along US41 turn left at the light onto 6th Street extension. Continue along this road into town until arriving at a four way stop. Turn left here onto Oak Street and continue west for two blocks. Turn right here at the stop sign onto 8th Street. The school will be half way down the block on the right.

Significance

With Laurium’s increased population came and increased responsibility for the health and welfare of its residents. Of primary concern was the education of the village’s youth, which as the village matured had become a greater percentage of its population. While part of the Calumet Public School system, Laurium did not receive financial assistance for the construction of their schools from C&H as did Red Jacket. Even so the village managed to construct itself six elementary schools, with students attending High School in Calumet. The most impressive and largest of these schools was located smack dab in middle of the village – the Charles Briggs School.

Description

This grand sandstone and brick structure was named after the president of the Miner’s and Merchant’s Bank, who also served on the Calumet Board of Education for several decades. Built in 1907 for nearly $30,000, the school was home to a total of ten classrooms spread over two stories. The building stands on a prominent sandstone foundation and features protruding end bays and a hipped roof. Sandstone belt courses further enhance the buildings façade. A short sandstone wall surrounds the school and adjacent school yard.

Gallery

Contemporary Use

The Charles Briggs School served the village for several decades, becoming the last Laurium school in operation when it finally closed in 1977. Unfortunately the building stands vacant today.

Public Access

The old school is under private ownership and is not open to the public. It can be easily viewed from the neighboring roads however.

Directions

The Charles Briggs School sits on the corner of 4th and Pewabic Streets in Laurium’s residential district. From along US41 in Calumet, turn east onto Depot Street (M26) and follow it to the blinking light. Turn right onto Hecla Street and continue downtown Laurium for one block. Turn left onto 4th Street and drive for another three blocks before turning left onto Pewabic Street. The school is on the right.

Significance

The small town of Ripley along the north shore of the Portage owes its existence to the Franklin Mine’s original stamp mill, which was built here around 1860. Along with the mill the company also constructed a line of company houses for the workers employed there. By 1890 both the Franklin and Quincy Mills in Hancock were forced to relocate due to their mine tailings encroaching on the Portage shipping canal. Fortunately for the town, the Franklin Mill property became the site for Quincy’s new smelter and the town-site was quickly rejuvenated by the new industry at its doorstep. In addition to the Smelter, several other businesses moved into the area – setting up shop atop the old stamp sands that had been deposited by the old mill. In response the small town’s population grew in leaps and bounds. The large increase in population quickly meant an increase in school-aged children as well, prompting Quincy to construct a new larger school to accommodate them in 1909.

Description

This massive two-story hipped roof beauty is faced with Jacobsville sandstone and is finished off with a large cupola. The main entrance is set off by four soaring pilasters topped by a roof-line pediment. Stately smooth-faced sandstone pilasters in the buildings corners and a series of round-arched windows above the entranceway finish off the Classical Revival structure.

Contemporary Use

Today the old school serves as an apartment complex. Though its compliment of large windows have since been filled in, the building’s impressive stone facade and entranceway has remained intact.

Public Access

The Ripley school is open to residents of the apartment building only, but can be easily viewed from the neighboring highway.

Directions

The Ripley School sits up on a hill overlooking the Portage Canal just to the east of Hancock. From Hancock follow M26 out of town towards Lake Linden. After a mile, turn left onto Ripley Street and head up one block. Take a right onto 2nd Street and follow it a short distance. The parking lot to the school will be on the left and the school straight ahead.

Significance

As word of the Keweenaw’s copper riches reached the old world, European emigrants began a mass exodus to the area. A large proportion of those people looking for a better life were Finnish – escaping from widespread famine and oppressive Russian rule in their homeland. The Finns brought their rich heritage and culture with them, creating their own piece of Finland here along the shores of Lake Superior.

Part of that rich heritage included the Finnish Lutheran Church, that in 1896, established a seminary in Hancock dedicated to meeting the spiritual and educational needs of the Finnish people. Over the years Suomi Academy (Finnish for Finland) expanded its educational offerings and established a 2-year college in 1924, now known as Finlandia University. Still standing on the campus today is the college’s first home – Old Main.

Description

Built in 1900 this 3-story sandstone structure housed Suomi Academy for 31 years until the schools second building – Nikander Hall – was finally completed in 1931. The building’s first floor housed classrooms, a faculty lounge, president’s office, and the chapel while the upper floors were reserved for a student dormitory. Occupying the large stone tower set along the building’s front façade was the private residence of the college’s president.

Built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, Old Main features an imposing 4-story tower adorned with battlements and thick buttresses. Its main entrance sits underneath an alcove formed by an impressive stone arch. The building is topped by a hipped roof and parapeted dormers. Along its front façade stand lines of windows set apart by large stone buttresses.

Contemporary Use

After over a century, the building continues to be used by old Suomi College (now Finlandia University) and currently houses the college’s administration offices.

Public Access

The building is open only to students and staff, but can easily be viewed from the road.

Directions

Old Main sits along the right side of Quincy Street in downtown Hancock at the head of Dakota Street, five blocks west of the Scott Hotel.

Significance

At first it was only young single men who made the long trek to the wilderness of the Keweenaw to work in the burgeoning copper empire. As mines matured into thriving industries and the communities around them became more civilized, those single men were soon joined by married men with families looking for work as well. With the arrival of these families came the need for the city to provide public education and the buildings necessary to provide that education.

At first only small one-room schools were necessary, but as the amount of school-aged children increased new larger buildings had to be constructed. For Hancock this meant the construction of both an elementary and high school along the city’s main street. Sitting at the grassy base of a rocky ridge the two schools were set back from the road by a long sandstone wall. These schools served the community until 1922, when the wood-framed high school burnt down. Quickly a new school was built to replace it.

Description

Built atop the short ridge behind the old schools, the new high school is a three-story sandstone building built in the Gothic Revival style. Capped by a battlemented parapet, the building’s front façade is overrun with an array of large windows designed to allow a generous amount of natural light into the classrooms. An impressive walkway and staircase makes its way up the terraced schoolyard to the building’s main entrance.

Contemporary Use

Since its construction this impressive building has continued to serve the needs of Hancock’s students as a high school and most recently as a middle school. Today the school is owned by neighboring Finlandia University, which plans to convert the building into additional classroom and lab space.

Public Access

The building is currently closed to the public but can be viewed from the neighboring roads.

Directions

The school sits on the right side of Quincy Street in downtown Hancock, four blocks west of the Scott Hotel.