It’s a hodge-podge of beauty and history from today’s archive photo selections. We go back to 2002, with Steve Brimm, where he captures a foggy kayaking scene near Eagle Harbor. Not too foggy to see where you’re going, but enough to give it an eerie feeling.

The sun was shining brightly in 2009, when George Hoyem took the second photo of a beautiful Sandstone cliff. This stunning wall is somewhere on Keweenaw Bay, my guess would be along US41, somewhere between the south end of Chassell and Carla’s Café just north of Baraga.

Then in 2014 we land in Houghton, with Donn de Yampert, looking across the Portage Canal at the Quincy Smelter and surrounding buildings in Ripley. The colors had really turned already in this photo making a beautiful background for those historical mining buildings.

Our video is from TV6 & Fox UP, aired in 2014 to let folks know about the tours being held of the smelter there. The Quincy Smelter is the only intact Copper Smelter from the early 20th century, left in America. It was built in 1898. The video says the tours are conducted once a month, but I think they’re more often now, although I couldn’t find a schedule online. Maybe someone can chime in with that.

From Quincy Smelter blog:

2018 QUINCY SMELTER TOURS
HOLY COW!

2018 is here! Its almost May. Spring started during the last
couple of weeks. The snow is disappearing rapidly--well, for
the UP, its rapid. We here at the Association are gearing up
for the 2018 tour season.

We are open once a month from 11 AM to 3 PM. Our tours
start on the hour with the last one beginning at 2 PM. Here
are our tour dates:

June 16th
July 14th
Aug. 4th
Sept. 8th
Oct. 13th

THESE DATES DON'T FIT WITH YOUR SCHEDULE? WE'LL
TALK ABOUT AN ALTERNATIVE IN A FUTURE BLOG

The Quincy Smelter is a former industrial site. There are
potential hazards. We provide hard hats and safety glasses
for your protection. We advise everyone to wear enclosed
footwear. Please follow the instructions of your tour guide for
your safety and that of others in your tour group.

The Quincy Smelter Association under agreement with the
Advisory Commission of the Keweenaw National Historical
Park, the owner, to provide tours of the smelter.

I wholeheartedly recommend the Quincy Smelter Tour. I went through 2 summers ago. I was fortunate enough to be the only one on my tour so I had a VERY personalized experience. Based on all the ongoing hard work I observed, I can only imagine it's gotten much better.

I invite anyone interested to view my photo album of the Quincy Smelter Tour in the Pasty Gallery.

Wow, you really timed it right D. A. (Midwested)!
That would be fantastic! Thanks for your link to
your gallery ~ outstanding pictures.

We should be very proud to have the only intact
Copper Smelter. Shows a lot of foresight and hard
work to keep this piece of history for future
generations.

D. A. (Midwested), you identified most of the
pictures in your gallery (thanks!). In picture #44,
what is the thing that looks like a mailbox with a
handle on it?

jbuck,

That mailbox shaped enclosure is protecting a rotary electrical switch that is activated by the handle. You can see the wires for each leg of the switch exiting the back. The wires go to a bunch of things on the wall that sort of look like little radiators. These are actually large power resistors. The resistors are used as a load to either test or control electrical machinery. The rotary switch will eventually wear out and break but when it does it usually produces lots of arcing and sparking so the "mailbox" enclosure helps protect the operator.

I'm glad you enjoyed the photos.

Thanks for the excellent explanation D. A.
(Midwested)! The whole smelter is fascinating; would
be great to take the tour.