The Centennial Mine had its start as the Schoolcraft in 1863, a under financed company that only managed to sink a few shallow shafts to no success. The discovery of the great Calumet Conglomerate lode to the south prompted the old company to redouble its efforts to discover the Calumet on is own lands, but went bankrupt in the process. In 1876 the old mine was reorganized as the Centennial but it too had very little success. It wasn’t until the company was reorganized on final time – in 1896 – that any semblance of success would be had. But that came not from the Calumet Lode, but instead from the neighboring Kearsarge Lode to the east.

Over a million dollars was spent on trying to make a profit from the Calumet Conglomerate, resulting in a half dozen shafts being sunk on the lode when all was said and done. Two more shafts would be sunk on the neighboring Osceola lode as well, but those too proved to be fruitless. Finally two addition shafts were sunk on the Kearsarge Lode, shafts that would end up saving the company from bankruptcy yet again. With this success the Centennial abandoned its aging inland mill near the mine, and spend money on the purchase of a modern and fully equipped mill on Portage Lake, previously owned by the defunct Arcadian Mine.

The Centennial would be brought under C&H’s wing during its 1923 consolidation, who would run the mine for nearly another decade before the Depression forced it closure. In 1944 C&H re-opened the mine’s Kearsarge lode and operate it up till C&H’s closure. The company would also make a last-ditch effort to re-open the Centennial’s conglomerate lode, spending a great deal of money on the erection of a modern steel rock house and surface plant at the old No.6 (a plant that continues to stand to this day). Unfortunately such efforts proved futile, and the old conglomerate lode was abandoned for good.

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