Today’s archive shots give us a look at two buildings from Copper Country history, a couple fishing vessels and then we throw in two current shots of landmarks that regulars here in the Keweenaw will recognize. We start out with a photo Chuck Voelker of Copper Country Reflections shared back in 2002. It’s the Portage Lake Foundry and Eureka Iron Works. There wasn’t a lot of information about the factory, except that it was operated by S.E. Cleaves and Son and they made iron and brass castings for Quincy Mine, among other customers.

Looking back to 2004, Rick Anderson snapped a wintry looking scene of two fishing vessels at Big Traverse. The boats are the Energy and the Spirit, both of which fish during the winter months, as long as they can break through the ice in the channel.

We go back in history again in 2008, with another photo from Copper Country Reflections and Chuck Voelker. The third photo is the Mineral Range Train Depot in Calumet, back in the booming days of the Copper Mining and transport trains for both goods and people were the mode of transportation. It still stands today and is in the process of being restored back to its glory days.

Last but not least for our photos today, we have two current views of landmarks in Gay and Phoenix, both snapped by Jean Dessellier. The Gay Smokestack looking like it’s rising into the blue sky, out of a tree at its base and Elmo’s Observation Tower on the Cliffs in Phoenix. They both stand tall here in the Keweenaw.

Our video today is also out in Gay, with a glimpse of that smokestack from back in January of 2012. It’s a quick look at the shoreline there on the stamp sands of Gay. It looks like it was a bit milder that year, with little to no ice there on the shore.

My first guess when I saw the video was that somebody was going to jump that hill with their machine. I know one crazy friend of mine that would try that...which probably why he had open heart surgery a few years ago.

Every time I see the Gay stamp sands I stand in awe at their massiveness, especially considering that the vast majority of the sand is sitting on the bottom of The Lake. What's left is still on the move, filling in the northern half of the beach of Big Traverse Bay and the Traverse River canal. Boat access requires regular dredging by the U.S. Corp of Engineers. Still, it's such a magnificently beautiful man made disaster.