• Columbus Day-What'sUP October 11 - 03:15 am

As you travel M-26 between Hancock and Tamarack City, you pass the 'now common' site of the old C & H dredge. Dale Odgers, climbed aboard a boat and snapped a somewhat uncommon shot of the opposite side of the sinking structure. Sure is amazing how the colorful display of leaves in the background transforms the color of the Torch Lake waters, with hues of reflection.

Word of caution: If you're thinking about making a trek to explore the dredge,as many have done in the past, there are "No Trespassing" signs there now.

Good Day to all! That's a beautiful shot to start my Monday. Thanks for helping to get me out the door with a smile on my face.

Good morning from SUOMI!

Very beautiful autumn colors there .. .also nice picture.

Ah, yes! As a tech student all the way back in '82 a group of us were ticketed for trespassing there. At the time there were no signs, so the tickets had to be dismissed.

FYI, The dredges were owned and operated by Quincy Mining Company, not C&H. There are actually two there, one is under water in the middle of the lake.

The colors are beautiful! Wow! Great pic Dale ;)

Dale -- fantastic picture!

I'm no expert in ANY definition of the word, no matter how you look at it, but is the environment happy with those things sinking into the lake? Guess it would create nifty nesting grounds for the underwater creatures. Maybe if there were no petrochemi-whatsis still on it there wouldn't be an issue . . . Why did they leave them to sink in the first place?

For a brief write-up about the dredges, visit this link:
http://www.ship-wrecks.net/shipwreck/keweenaw/dredge.html

Weren't there photos somewhere ( in a pasty album ? ) of the inside of this dredge?

Great pic! Does anyone know if these were steam powered? Maybe its to far gone but it seems that it could be made into a cool museum. If its possible it would be nice to see it towed to the Houghton county museum in Hubbell,or is it Lake Linden. I was in marine salvage and have seen some stuff moved you never thought could be able to.

What a great write-up Dale thanks, answered all my questions.

If I recall some workers drowned aboard one of these dredges in the late 40's or 50's..It is a little foggy now but what ever happened to the dredges that were used by the C & H in Tamarack and Lake Linden??

A master's thesis on this dredge is located in MTU's library, by Jennifer Bollen, entitled "Quincy Mills and Dredge Historic Park Interpretive Plan, supported by Osceola Township." She wrote it in 1999. Jennifer was one of my classmates in the MTU Industrial Archaeology master's program.

As I recall, the interior of the dredge was heavily vandalized with spray paint.

Also, a friend of mine had an experimental music project named "The Dredj" after this piece of Copper Country history.

Mornin' colors are pretty.

In all honesty, it is much better to leave the dredges in place. If one were to start trying to recover them, you would stir up the lake sediments which still contain all the hazardous substances (in far lessar amounts these days) used in the reclamation process.

Speaking of reclamation, it is interesting to think that Quincy (and C&H) would waste so much copper with the process each had. I'm not sure about C&H, but Quincy alone pulled another 42,000 tons of copper from the bottom of Torch Lake; this was in addition to the almost 440,000 tons of copper recovered from the mine between 1846-1945.

You folks sure give me some great wallpaper shots every week!! The color is fabulous. There is no color change in Florida. Marv

The dredge on the bank was purchased from C&H to be used while the other (the sunken one) was being repaired. The dredges pumped sand year round. They operated on electricity which was fed from shore on three large cables which were on the pipe line.
Also, Ed, I think Mr. LaVasseur of Lake Linden drowned when he fell from the pipe line on the C&H dredge. (Memory only, not verified)

Thanks Jim for that info...Interior dredge pictures..
http://www.gull.us/photos/industrial.html

Hello from Mishawaka IN. Now that is some pretty color. Great picture today. Looks like Sharon's got a little fog today.

Greetings from Chicago. I was thinking about taking a trip up to Escanaba to visit family this weekend. Can anybody out there tell me if Delta County is near, at or past peak for fall colors? Thanks a bunch!

Kevin,

If all else fails, try this number:
MICHIGAN Foliage Hotline 1-800-644-3255

James Haralson and Eddyfitz,

Yes, John (Jack) LeVasseur did drown when he fell from the dredge. He was my Grandmother's brother, so would have been my Great-Uncle. I'm not certain of the year that happened, but I recall my Mom saying he was around 40 years old (give or take a few years).

Truly the beautiful side of autumn - for contrast on the exciting side, check out the 10/5 wave/surf pictures on www.duluthshippingnews.com. Awesome.

I love this picture. keep up the good work.

Beautiful Autumn colours.