• Thursday-What'sUP May 24 - 08:15 pm

Whatever your opinion about the subject of Chad Johnson's photos here today, it's part of the Keweenaw's rich mining history. The Quincy Smelter buildings hold plenty of history to that heritage of mining that built this area many years ago, bringing our ancestors here to find work in the mines. Chad has captured a kind of haunting view of these buildings from across the canal, shrouded in a morning fog hanging just above them. Fitting for these buildings that hold many ghosts of the Keweenaw's mining past. If only these buildings could talk...

Great shots!! And yep, a lot of people don't like how that looks there, including me, but when you get pictures like these from it, it's beautiful!

Nice shots! The fog in the first one adds a nice mood to the overall composition!

AS THE ECONOMY SINKS WITH THE WARS & PRICE OF GASOLINE, WE SURE DONT NEED FIXING JUNK PILES TO CREATE JOBS & ADORE HISTORY.

Wow, Dan, That was a Yell. My Dad worked at Quincy until he was almost 80 years old, from 1933 and the place holds a lot of good memories for our family. I don't believe they are using your tax dollars to fix the Quincy.

Maybe we can get rid of the wars.

What's not to like about the Copper Country......

I remember back in the early 90s, there was talk about how unsafe these buildings were, and they might need to be torn down. Now, nearly 20 years later, they are still standing. Have they been stabilized? Are there any realistic plans to fix them?

I would absolutely love to have my office in a location/building like that. Eventually I will move up there and start the business I want.

Mystical photos....I love the old buildings and the fog adds a sense of peace to the scene. My grandfather worked at the Quincy Mine back in the day......

It's not simply about "adoring history." The entire peninsula is a national historic park, and tourism is an important part of the local economy. Plus, you know what they say about those who ignore history....

I really like the first picture, with the fog: haunting indeed.

I guess one has to 'be there', but I would think how much more natural beauty would be uncovered UP there if these ruins were erased.
Lisa, unfortunately, some folks ignore the wrong history.

I love the pics. They are peaceful and reflective.

The area IS being cleaned up - slowly. I THINK it is a site of the Keweenaw National Historic Park, which has many sites thoughout the area which were part of the mining history of the Keweenaw. At various times there has been talk of the Isle Royale National Park headquarters moving across the waterway and setting up business there. I believe it is the ONLY more or less intact copper mining smelter left in the USA. Maybe someone can clarify all this for those of you who are out "yonder" somewhere.

Chad, absolutely fantastic shots. You captured the mood of the moment perfectly. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice photos.
Balance folks. One comment calling for the destruction of the smelter uses the line "to create jobs and adore history". What is the problem with creating jobs? As to returning the natural beauty, how far do we go? There are 7 billion humans on this planet, the only way to return all or most of it to nature is to erase the humans. When the Nature Conservancy buys land and restricts its use and access there follows a protest by factions who think the Nature Conservancy should be erased.
There were 3 major smelters in the Copper Country, this is the last standing intact and the smallest, if folks want to use their time and money to preserve it, we all benefit. The Copper Country was a gateway to America, thousands came and worked. It was the springboard for them and many more thousands of their descendants. Preserving SOME examples of how they lived and worked seems to be a worthy effort.
As to "adoring" history or ignoring it. One does not have to "adore" history to learn from it. You only need to look as far as the 536 "leaders" in DC to see the peril of ignoring history. They don't even do too well at learning from current events either.

Thank you Paul for your perspective and well chosen words.

What ever does happen with these buildings, save the smoke stack!

I understand that the major buildings have been stabilized and made secure from arson, as happened earlier. The NPS did an admirable job.

If the Isle Royale Park Headquarters could be convinced to re-locate from across the Portage to this site, both revenue and activity would prove beneficial to protecting the structures.

Paul, agree with your post. Thanks for saying what I wanted to say.

Just an opinion, folks.

Well stated, Paul! My great-grandfather worked in the Red Jacket, or the Yellow Jacket; the records aren't too great from my grandma. Chad's photos are award winners!

Having been born and raised in Houghton I have spent a lot of time over the years looking at those smelter ruins. Yes, they show the ugly face of declining fortune but that is the true history of the area. Only the history is ugly not the area or the culture. If I had an ugly picture in my livingroom of my grandparents I sure wouldn't take it down just because it wasn't pretty. It's reality. There were ugly parts of our national history, too, but I don't want to destroy this country because of it.

I betcha ya' a lot of people would love to see the bldgs. torn down and put up some 'condos'. What the heck, they can not even sell the ones that were built next to the lift-bridge.

Leave some history in the area. My grandpa was one of four (4) boys and three (3) of them worked together, with a son and nephew of one of them, in the C+H mines.

There is a lot of history, to bad it can not be better preserved. The old electric building, here in Lake Linden, is being cleaned up just to be torn down. The first time I saw that bldg. was with my grandpa. He held my hand as we went down into the Quincy Mine. I slid down a poor rock pile we were climbing on. I found a couple of drill bits that I just left there.

To bad it can not be BETTER preserved.

Well said, Paul. I hear folks bemoan the Feds for spending money on stabilizing structures such as these, but the fact is, these structures and all those others that were part of the copper industry helped shape the region, the country and the world. So many innovations came out of these building as the industry evolved and sought better and cheaper means to produce useable copper, and in the end, as the veins of ore became prohibitively expensive to extract, the reclamation of tailings and improved means of extracting the copper from the tailings kept Quincy going for many years after the extraction operations shut down.

The Qunicy Smelter organization has put in many hours to stabilize what remains of these structures, one dangerously unstable smoke stack was removed, and several buildings received new roofs. And yes, there has been talk of the National Park Service relocating it's Isle Royale facilities there, in part because the smelter dock pilings remain in very good condition, just below the water line and would provide a base from which to construct a new dock that the Ranger III would use.

New ideas come from old, and who is to say that some Tech student on tour through the cupula building might not gain a moment of inspiration from learning about the old methods and develop a new means of smelting ores ?

Like it or not, humans need the bounty of planet, trees become lumber for houses or are turned into paper, ores become metals for cars, other ores are processed to become the circuitry in i-Pads... we shouldn't take these bounties without care to the environment, and with due thought, we can learn to extract the trees and ores and still provide protection to the area. Will the land look pristine when the trees are cut or the ores dug out ? Nope, but we, along with Nature, can heal the ugliness, it just takes a little time. All you need to do is look at imges of the region taken between the time of the Civil War and 1910 and you'll see there's barely a tree standing....... just look now at how verdant and green the Keweenaw is now.

I grew up in Ripley after the last copper mine had shuttered its
doors. The Quincy and many other industrial relics were ghosts
that captured the imagination in my teens. It was so wonderful
to have the region's history so accessible, so palpable, so
permeating. Railroad ties and spikes still can be found along the
snowmobile trails. Concrete footings still remain at Mason,
Freda, Lake Linden. There are many wild and scenic lands in the
US. There are many cities with rich history. But few have both,
and fewer still have mining properties that we can wander near
and let ourselves be connected to the men and women who
made the Copper Country what it is. Time is passing, and each
year brings change, when less history will be available for those
of us who came after the mines. How fortunate we are to still
have the Quincy smelter, the slag pile, the tram cars, and
locomotive #175 still testifying to what once was.

The mosaic of development's scaring across our land looks quite the same as though someone has taken a razor to the face of a beautiful woman, at times.

However, often there is great wonder and reverence revealed in the old memories, like rummaging in your grandparents old attic closet, hints of who we are from who we have been...

Good morning all. I'm getting back to this late. "Amen" to many of the words spoken here about balance, particularly Paul's and Tom's. The mining remnants are an integral part of the landscape, not just the history, in the area, and it's difficult for me to imagine it without them. The area is just palpable in history, and it's one of the many things I love about the Keweenaw and why it's always first on my list when I come back to visit. However, I also don't like run-down eyesores. Keeping them maintained is important, for aesthetics as well as safety. I especially like the idea of fixing up the buildings and actually using them for some useful purpose, like IRNP headquarters or business space, etc.

Oh, these buildings were NEVER an eyesore to me!
Years ago, I remember going to church which was
held in the Holiday Inn, I believe, & I could see
this scene outside the windows. Afterwards, I
lunched @ the pastor's house - further away, but
same scene! <3
While visiting Iron museum & grounds,
because of the outdoor signs & stuff, I could
almost hear the activity of the hard workers. I
visited the end of Sept, & got to see the insides
of buildings that were not yet "open". There were
piles of "junk" not yet used, but still lovely in
my opinion. Potential!
When I visited Fayette - wow, I could
almost feel the rumble of the train, & the wagon
wheels drive to the smithy!
What I'm getting @ - these old buildings DO have
potential! There may not be enough $$ to fully
restore them presently, but as Tom said, some
roofs have been replaced, etc. For the FUTURE.
:)