Pump House

The Copper Country is a one industry town. For over a century the copper mine was king, and all things across the peninsula existed to serve it. Railroads existed to transport copper. Towns existed to house the workers. Businesses existed to serve the men that served the mines. Schools existed to prepare children of workers to be workers themselves. Hospitals existed to keep workers working. Mines did not like competition from other industries, those industries could steal good workers, raise wages, or worse yet – introduce unions.

Stamp Mills required millions of gallons of water – every day – in order to operate. This enormous thirst necessitated a nearby water source and the construction of large steam-powered water pumps to transport that water to the mill. At Quincy that source of water was Torch Lake itself, with the pumps built some distance from the shore. Feeding those pumps was a man-made tunnel which was run from the lake shore up to and underneath the pump house. It was this tunnel that we stumbled across soon after leaving the old coal dock.

Sitting just outside of Gay – north of the vast expanse of stamp sands along the shore – the fast and shallow Tobacco river flows into Lake Superior. Today the site is home to a serene park – but scattered along the shore and within the bordering woods lie evidence of a more industrious past. These clues – when put together – seem to make the case that a mill once operated on these shore. What type of mill – I’m not sure. First the clues:

The Calumet Dam waterworks consisted of two buildings – both remnants from the old Calumet Mill. The Pump House itself was a large two and a half story sandstone behemoth which housed two steam powered pumps to bring up water from the lake. Next door was the old boiler house, consisting of three boilers and a series of coal bins along its back wall. An elevated rail line made its way through the back of the boiler house for the deliver of coal.