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Some other links of recent interest to Pasty Cam watchers:
• Ancestors 2007   • New Arrivals 2007
• The Hut Inn Re-opens  • Kevin's Story
Eight years ago on the Pasty Cam: 03/09/99 ^{Printed on Recycled Internet}

Eight years ago, the Pasty Cam caught this view of the cliffs along US-41. Those cliffs formed the backbone of the copper rush for awhile and their namesake, the Cliff Mine, is said to have been the first profitable mine in the area.

One of the few ways left to get a feel for how a mine operated is the Quincy Mine tour, a popular destination in the summer. The mine hoist association also hosts a ghost town web ring, listing a number of sites dedicated to ghost towns, including some left behind by mining companies.

Good Friday morning....

Good morning

Ok Capt Paul I guess you can type faster!

Good Morning! TGIF!

Good Morning everyone.

Good morning! Yahoo! IT'S FRIDAY!! And the weekend is going to be beautiful. Spring is just around the corner!!

*sob* I'd like to thank the academy for my Early Bird, my producer, and all the little people out there......

The Cliff Mine was the first profitable mine in the Copper Country, and possibly the Western Hemisphere (I think we had this discussion on another post?). Between 1844 and 1874, the Cliff produced about 42 million pounds of copper. Many of the mass chunks were up to 100 tons which required miners to break them up into more managable sized pieces. One neat item found in the piles are chisel chips, which more than likely came from those huge masses; a real piece of mining history.

I used to work at Quincy as "guide extraordinaire" and it really is one of the must see stops in the Copper Country. While we couldn't show all the ways it was done, it still gives the visitor a look at what techniques were used by miners of the 19th century which would have applied, more or less, to other mines in the area.

For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to visit Quincy, I have a few photos in my photo gallery from above and underground; have a look....

I saw this photo and had a big sigh of nostalgia. How many happy hours I spent up at Cliff with the Captain! It was my favourite mine for a number of reasons. First, the scenery it fantastic; second, I love my chisel chips; third, the history is fascinating. I could go on and on.

I can't wait until summer when I can once again walk in one of my favourite places-- in the shadows of the Greenstone Flow at Cliff.

Hello Beverly of San Jose,
We did not get your response of 2/17 until 3/6.
Been very busy here, but have been meaning to respond. Getting the boat ready to take the boys fishing on Sunday. Will be 76° here. Our hill side that we planted with Ca. poppys is getting ready to explode with color.Time to get to work.

I don't know what got into me on the last post. I got all mushy. Now for the science. The cliff at Cliff Mine is the Greenstone Flow, the same lava flow that forms the backbone of Isle Royale. If I remember correctly, it is the thickest single lava flow in the world.

Capt. Paul and Dr. Nat{

I enjoyed going through your photo gallery. It's clear from the
pictures that you love what you do, though I figured that out from
your postings. Thanks. Dr. Nat--I wear only one other piece of
jewellery besides my wedding ring. It's greenstone. Maybe I
should check out the greenstone flow. So many places to see and
so much to learn about.

Some food for thought. How good of a witness would you be? Picture the following scenario:

You are driving home after taking your youngest son to the doctor. It is what we laughingly refer to here as "rush minute", but it is really rush hour, just for a small city, not a large one. Your oldest son is enroute from Houghton, coming home for spring break. It's going to be a very busy weekend, especially tomorrow. You need to get dinner started. And, you need to stop at the school on the way home to pick up a book he forgot before they lock up the school before it is locked for the weekend. Those were the thoughts running through my mind, as I was waiting for the red light to turn green.

You are stopped at a red traffic light, the third car in line. You look up--the light is still red, to see two cars bouncing off of each other across the intersection, with car parts flying everywhere throughout the intersection. The air bags (both front & side) in the small car went off, & its driver is crying. There is a baby shade on the left rear passenger window. (They hit at what I would call a glancing blow.) The black minivan had damage to its left headlight assembly. The small dark red car took a hard hit to its sort of front. Its radiator fluid was streaming out. Whose fault was it? (They both had a green light. Their speed limits were both 25 mph. Was one trying to make a left turn? Why did they have a partial head-on collision? Why was the impact hard enough to set off both its front & side air bags & kill the radiator?) My son called 9-1-1 on my cell phone to report the accident. We pulled off into a parking lot to complete the 911 call. Even though he called immediately, there were a number of 911 calls reporting the same accident ahead of us. They took his name & our address & they had my cell phone number, so they can get ahold of us. (He did not witness the accident, as he was looking the other way & I had to yell at him to watch what was happening. I think I'm really glad that he hasn't even had drivers' training yet?) Was there a third car involved? I'm not sure if the car behind the small red car was involved in the wreck, or not. The intersection was pretty much choked off as it was.

Wow, it's 39F up there, according to the temp. on the MTU BridgeCam site. Break out the shorts and flipflops!!!

Eugenia, if you watch the campus web cams, you will see some guys out there in shorts when it is 0 degrees (F, not C) outside, the crazy kids!

Marianne, I would be a horrible witness. I do have sympathy on the airbags though. For the record they hurt real bad, I have lost a battle with one luckily I was a passenger. If I was the driver it would have been worse, I only hit 5' with my shoes on and weigh just under 100. I would have been blasted. As it was I had quite a shiner and was light sensitive for nearly a month, I think that was from the burns from the gasses. I didn't even know what hit me. Mixed blessings of living in a small town, the firemen have your ride home programmed in their nextel already because he's on the department. And then when the ride gets there you are told you look like #%*@ with "nice shiner" tacked onto it. At least he had the tylenol I had a killer headache to go with the concussion the airbag gave me.

Oh, Brooke, that's awful! I had heard that airbags are dangerous for small adults, and that's why they don't want kids to sit in the front seat. You are just about the same size as my youngest son. He is just over 5', not up to 5'1", & weighs 107 pounds. I plan to let him read your message so he sees why we aren't crazy about his riding in the front seat.

Have a great weekend!

My oldest son called from the Mighty Mac Bridge about 5:40, just after I got home, so he should be home in about a half hour. :-)

Marianne, my husband is a production manager of a large auto collision shop and works with insurance adjusters and the police/sheriff to determine causes and damages of auto accidents. The air bags deployed due to direct frontal, hard impact of the vehicles. The coolant or air cond. refrigerant, could have been either one, leaking due to a punture to the radiator or the a.c. condenser, caused by the bumper or the radiator support. Most frontal collisions, 65% of them are left front to left front. Likely someone was making a left turn unsafely. Somebody's insurance is about to go up, if they have insurance.

Hey Kosk, the greenstone in your ring is not the same greenstone as the cliffs at Cliff.

The greenstone in your ring is the mineral pumpellyite which forms in vesicles in the basalt. It can be fashioned into many forms of jewelry as evidenced by going into many shops and looking at their displays. Isle Royale is the best place to find them, but there are many places on the Peninsula they can be fould also (and they are legal to collect on the Peninsula).

The greenstone by Cliff refers to a low grade metamorphism of the basalt that has turned the usually gray/black basalt to a more dark greenish tint. The green tint comes from epidote and some pumpellyite. It's a little complex to try and explain the whole process here, but if you or anyone else wants to email me the question, I'll surely answer it........

This may help all of us who are not geologists.

http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/collectors_corner/vft/mi1.htm

Thanks Capt. and Tangobravo. I appreciate your information and
the website.

Marianne, I live in a college town, too and marvel at the way the young people wear shorts in cold weather. If we have ONE pretty day, then all the shorts and flipflops come out, and they DON'T put them away if it turns cold again. I am hot-natured but don't think I was ever that goofy.

Surely am glad you were several cars back from that intersection. And your son should be home by now -- I remember those days well. It was always so wonderful to have college students home for a few days.

There's still less people injured by airbags than are saved from heavy injuries or worse, I believe. Also, impact of airbag decreases with second-generation devices and further development.
It also helps to buckle up.

Steve, meant to thank you for a while for the link you sent me - sorry it took me that long. Good to be able to read up some of the stuff once in a while.