When Barb Bouwkamp sent in these photos of the Quincy Mine Shaft, her subject line read: Never get tired. Then when I opened her message, she continued on... Of shots of the Quincy Mine Shaft house. I think I'd have to agree with that statement. No matter how many times I see a photo of this mining history landmark here in the Keweenaw, it's always interesting and something I enjoy, perhaps for the reminder of our Copper Mining heritage in the area.

Today's view of the Mine Shaft, though, is from off the beaten path. It's just a little different view than the usual shot snapped of this piece of Copper Country history. I can't be sure, but I think Barb shot these photos from the road that goes behind the shaft house, most likely Lower Pewabic Road. Check out the Google Map of this location and let me know what you think?

I would agree, either Lower Pewabic or Limerick Roads, or both. Neat shots none the less. Be there in a little over a week, but who's counting....

It would seem that they may have built that outhouse a bit too close to the dwelling, if that is what is shown in the foreground of the first picture!

Like the deer pictures in the review!

From the angle on the rock house, I have to agree, the shot has to be from Lower Pewabic road or on snow shoes between it and the rock house. I use the term rock house rather than shaft house but in actuality the Quincy building is a combination rock and shaft house.
Since the shaft is steep the two buildings where combined into one building. If you look at pictures of the shafts further north like Centennial or Kingston, before it was demolished, the buildings were separated by an open area that exposed the skip roads. This was done because the shafts up north are less steep and the company evidently thought it would save money by not enclosing the skip roads thereby making it two separate buildings connected by the skip road rails.
So much for the mining class for today.
Great picture by the way.

I kept looking and thinking that the buildings look awfully familiar, then I realised that just to the right is the miner's house that Quincy has been restoring for the past few years. To the left of the building about 200 ft. would be the 1920 Hoist House. So, the first shot is from what Google is calling Limerick Rd. (which is actually the back entrance to the Hoist House) and the second shot is likely from the corner of Limerick and Lower Pewabic Rd.

Thanks for the pix and explanations!

I spotted the wood cabin from Google Earth. It's
500 feet due east of the shaft building. The
coordinates are lat 47.136471°, lon -88.572812°.

Can't argue with the sat photo. But why are the cable guide towers leaning :)

Oooh!! I like the google shot. Really give you
an idea of where things are. We did that and saw
my mom's house in Lake Linden the other day. So
cool!!

I love the fluffed out birds pictured in the
review, as well as the deer! And I really love
the red and black plaid jacket!

Have a great Sunday, everybody! Go Pats!!

I don't think that they are leaning; it's an optical illusion because of the angle that the picture was taken.

It is indeed an optical illusion, created by the
Sun. Those large black cable towers are actually
shadows. The actual towers are much more difficult
to see, especially at the resolution allowed to
post here (<100 kb). Here is a picture where I
highlighted in red the approximate actual position.

The reason you can see windows on the side of the
shaft building posted above is because that image
is actually computer generated by Google. They do
this with certain structures that have
substantial elevation so that when the viewer
"pans around" they get a very real illusion or
effect of being 3 dimensional.

Here is a screen capture image where I panned
upward, so the image of the shaft building is now
at the bottom of my screen. In the post above,
the shaft building was at the top of my screen.

Come on now I know that they are not really leaning. Why else the :) face after the comment. After my dissertation on the mine rock/shaft houses I certainly know better. It is just the shadow that makes it look that way. LOL

I'm not a drinking man, but after a shot of JD, they should look perfectly straight.

JD??? I'm ashamed Alex!
I would have thought a good single malt from the Highlands.......

James:

My post was in response to Dave, but there really
is a strange although not unusual artifact
created by Google due to the angles existing
during the photographing. Look to the left of the
black shadow of both towers and you will see a
SECOND shadow that is pointing off more towards
the west. The best I can figure is there were two
separate photos later pieced together by Google
with the one that created the 2nd shadow taken
earlier in the day.

I need to correct my observation. That "second"
steel structure actually exists, protruding from
the side wall of the shaft building. It supports
the shaft rail system and top most deflector sheave
in the upper part of the building.

The secondary bracing on the back of the rock house is there for the purpose of helping to brace the whole structure against the force that is exerted on the structure by the main cables crossing the head sheave wheels in the top of the rock house as the ore is hoisted.
The braces enter the back of the structure above the main ore bin at about the second floor above the rail car load out ore bin in the bottom of the rock house. This floor maybe the crusher floor but it has been a long time since I have been to that part of the Quincy head frame. They may go as far as the skip road rails but that is doubtful. The skip road rail supports do help anchor the whole building and provide some bracing as well.
Unfortunately all my pictures of Quincy are on film so I cannot add a picture to show that, but I have looked at several in my collection. Perhaps someone else has a side view to share electronically.
I know Pasty Cam does.

Here's a good shot of it. The reason I got confused
was due to the Google generated polygons that
represent the shaft house. Depending on the view
orientation the computer generated building will
sometimes cover up this bracing.

Alas, Deb. The Pats did not win. Hard for Michigan fans, hey?
I'm one too.

D. A. Thanks you can see from the picture that if you extend the line of the brace it will intersect way up in the top of the head frame in the area of the head sheaves.

My sister is a big football fan. I just told her I
wished the AZ/NC game would hurry up and end so I
can watch the X-Files. She hung up on me.

Kosk, I said from their first td when they missed
the extra point that it would come back to bite
them. Yep!!

Like I said Capt., I'm not a drinking man, but I'm with ya all the way in the Highlands.

After examining the landscape on Google Earth, I'm
very curious as to why they intentional created
approximately a 3 degree leadout between the shaft
house and the hoist building. It increases the wear
and reduces the life of the hoisting ropes. Three
degrees does not seem like a lot but they could
have avoided it if they had wanted to.

Back in the 60's, when I was young and foolish I climbed to the top of that shaft house with a friend, (on the inside) what a view from the top. I do remember the rotted floorboards and rusted steel ladders. I guess that we were trespassing but I think that the statute of limitations is long past.

I love this discussion about the shaft house. It reminds me of the early days of pasty when there were frequent discussions of mining.

Here is a photo demonstrating what I was talking
about, regarding the misalignment of the Shaft
House and the Hoist Building. They must have had
a good reason for doing this back then even
though it would cause the hoist rope (cables) to
wear out faster.

This just reminds me that even with the
exponential increase in science and technology
over the years it is amazing how much practical
engineering has been lost.

Makes me think of the old saying, "Hey, it ain't
rocket science." Well, rocket science is actually
quite simple. It's rocket engineering that's
difficult.

Sorry for the late post. I haven't been keeping up very well but the comments on this one have prompted me to reply. The outhouse in the first picture is not close to a "dwelling" That is the sauna, which is near the Martin House, being restored as the Miner's Memorial at the Quincy. Frank Shabal, when he lived there also had a garage next to the outhouse but after it collapsed, it was not rebuilt for historical reasons. The slight depression behind the sauna is the cooling pond from the big hoist and right about where the tall pine tree is in the center of the photo would have been the Johnson house.

I appreciate your details. I subscribe to emails
when there is a response so I don't miss a thing.