I wonder how many people realize such a structure ever existed in Ripley? It was the original Portage Coal & Dock Co. The site is now where the present bowling alley is located. The stationary cranes (2) would load the coal (from steamboats) into the little tram like cars , which would then distribute the coal to various sites within the yard.

Hmm, I'm interested in the fact that it's described as the "gas plant coal dock." Did it maybe burn coal to make gas, which was then distributed to homes and businesses? If so, there's probably some pretty yucky pollution on the site. Where I live now (Oak Park, IL) our utilities are spending at least $50 million to clean up a 3 acre manufactured gas site.

I remember it well, my brother in law, Ken Therrian got his coal for his deliverys there for many years.

Unfortunately there is all sorts of "yucky" pollution along that stretch of waterfront. It happens to be one of the worst-looking stretches of waterfront in the area, including a junk yard, of all things.
That area has always been a source of embarassment to me when I bring someone up for the first time to see the "natural beauty" of the Keweenaw. It never fails that I'm asked why people would put up with such an obvious eyesore and source of pollution.
Come to think of it, the area looks much better in this photo than it does now.

There was also a gas plant in Laurium, you can still see the remains of it off M-26 just north of Florida. Marc is right, the area was in better shape when that photo was taken. It was better maintained. The pardigms have shifted. Back in the "good old days" there was great pride in having heavy smoke stack industries. Look at the "birds eye" views of cities in the late 1800's, the artists made a big point of drawing in lots of smoke at the industrial sites. It was a matter of pride that all was up and running in any given town. Back in the boom days, that stretch of waterfront and Quincy hill were the source of great pride. I doubt that much thought was given to pollution. The coal dock was state of the art when built.

There is nothing pretty about any of the mining remnants left behind, although the Quincy Steam Hoist has been a landmark for so long you don't think of it as remnant. What ever happened to the bowling pin factory that was in Ripley for years? My uncle John used to get truck loads of scrap pieces of maple from there for his pig in Bootjack.

Of course it is always the other guy or big business that caused it all. EH EH

Is there a date on this picture? Interesting to see the old trainyard in Houghton across the portage. I can't tell from the picture if any of those houses in Houghton are still around, or the houses in the foreground either.

I BELIEVE THE SPIRITUAL POLLUTION IS WORSE THAN THE VISUAL.

Does anyone know whether its Lake Affect or
Effect
Snow?

I've always seen it as lake "effect."

I agree with Max. That stretch in Ripley is a serious reminder that I'm going to a place that time forgot. This attitude goes away as I proceed northward enjoying the lack of traffic congestion, pollution and noise and catching my first glimpse of the Superior shore.

* There is nothing pretty about any of the mining remnants left behind *

The remants represent the hopes, ambitions, and fortunes of a hardy group of pioneers that lie forever buried in time. They are beautiful reminders of those folks, and what they endured, at least in my eyes.

* There is nothing pretty about any of the mining remnants left behind *
This statement was obviously left by a close minded individual with no repect for the history of the area, its people like this that we need to defend that history against.

GOODBYE COPPER COUNTRY
MAKEWAY FOR THE MOOSE
THE COPPERS GONE SO
SING THIS SONG
MAKEWAY FOR THE MOOSE

CAN SMELL MOOSEBURGER PASTIES
MAY EVEN HAVE A STEW
FOR ALL OF THE TOURISTS
AND SOME FOR ME & YOU---

THERES SOME
MORE TO THIS BUT I DONT WANT ANY HOSTILITY,
JUST A LITTLE SONG I DID A FEW YRS BACK FOR HUMOR
AND MY OWN REGRET OF COPPER ACTIVITY FADING. BUT THANKS TO PENINSULA COPPER INDUSTRIES IN HUBBELL & THE GREAT MEN WHO STARTED IT, THERE'S SOME HOPE OF COPPER INDUSTRY STILL HERE IN THE COPPER COUNTRY.

Refresh my memory as to where Ripley is located. thanks Karen-Washington State

By Mary on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 11:17 pm:

---

By Mary on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 11:23 pm:

Let's try that again...... :)

Karen-Washington
I should have added that on the lower portion of the map, US 41 is going through HOUGHTON, then it crosses the Portage Lift Bridge and you turn right, onto M 26, just coming off the bridge. That's where Ripley is, next town after Ripley, is Dollar Bay. Hope that helps!

Amen, JoeBob, Joseph, and DJB,
The remnants are memorials to the thousands of men and their families who earned a living in the Copper Country. We need to preserve at least some of them least we forget where we came from. It's unfortunate that some are embarrassed by the fact that their ancestors may have worked in places like that. The first generations of my family worked in those mines, mills, and smelters, some others were the stonemasons that built the surface plants. It was all hard and dirty work, some were killed there. They all worked for the future that my generation is living. Those generations probably never imagined what we have today but they did know they were working to make life better for themselves and their children - they succeeded. A shafthouse or a hoist in and of it self has a fuctional beauty, but the true value of such things is engineering and work that went into creating them, and the men that used them. That is the real beauty of them. Think about those nasty old mines the next time you flip a light switch and fully expect the light to come on - it wouldn't without copper.

TO: DJB, MAKEWAY FOR THE FINN PASTEY IT'S THE BEST AND LEAVE THE MOOSE ALONE, LET THEM LIVE.
BEEF ONION CARROT CELERY NICE CRUST THERE YOU GO NICE PASTEY. HAVE A NICE DAY

Long live Ripley! I didn't know such things
were posted here. This is cool! I followed this
link from a Yahoo-based group.

Ugly? Nothing pretty? BOOOOOO!

I was born after all the mines died, and had
great fun as a kid playing down there,
snooping around, finding all kinds of
interesting things. The great thing about the
Keweenaw is that if you don't like old mine
remnants (that are steadily being reclaimed
by Mother Nature every year - you just have to
be patient), you can drive 10 miles and be in
the middle of deep forest.

What? You want to sterilize, gentrify, and
plasticize those lovely old mining buildings
into more condominiums, fast-food joints,
convenience stores, and tourist gewgaw
shops?!?!? NO! Houghton has done that to
their lakeshore, and Hancock is in the
process of it. Let RIPLEY be one place where
the ghosts of the Keweenaw's past still drift
among the creaks of rusted steel, the mounds
of black stamp sands, and the memories
carried on by the descendants of the men who
sweated and worked here because they
believed in making a better life for themselves
and their posterity.

It was the Copper Range round house in west Houghton for me as kid. Those guys salvaged everything. We'd find cabinets of drawers full of old nuts and bolts and all sorts of used electrical stuff and motor parts - all kinds of stuff. The smell of oil or mineral spirits can still take me right back. Anyway, they salvaged it all to use again. That value of saving something for another use, and using what is at hand, is not so easy to see out there (here) anymore. Now we just go shopping. On the other hand, the Keweenaw was denuded of it's trees, and one hesitates to imagine what soup of chemicals they poured into the soils and the lake we now romantically call "pristine." Those guys weren't "into" nature. And which of us kids who grew up in the ruins didn't break glass? Even ruins don't last forever, but we can tell our stories (and our ancestor's stories) whether or not we can point to a particular abandoned industrial site. Yes, it's important to save some sites, but the stories of the people are more important. And though nature now lends some of its beauty to the ruins, I'd guess that the sentiments of those who worked the Keweenaw were as variable in their fairness and noblility as those of hard working and hopeful people in other places. The miners of the Keweenaw worked very hard, under especially harsh conditions, but the hope for a better life is universal, right?

THE GREAT CALUMET AN HECLA MINING CO.anDAILY MINING GAZETTE--in the long history of them,they would never let a photo of anyone killed working there be put into there paper--guess no one was worthy enough--be nice if the people controlling the park money would put up some memorial to the men with there names on it--lot of men (an boys)--drill boys-dont even have a grave marker----former miner 56-68-whos father was killed no.4 kearsarge 1953--t.s.

DAB-Mich: What's a Finn Pasty? Pasties are native to Cornwall England. The fact that Finns also worked the mines in the UP doesn't make pasties Finnish! Beef: yes, onion: yes, carrot: maybe, celery: maybe. Where's the potato. In all the pasties I've seen in Cornwall (traditional, chicken curry, pork & apple, and stilton), there was always potato.

I think those old decaying buildings along the Ripley
shoreline are a great monument to the Houghton and
Copper Country past. I spent hours wandering around
there when I was at Tech in the early 80's, although I
guess I wasn't supposed to be there.....

We have many pictures of that area in a scarpbook, and
my wife - a great painter, has done an oil painting of it.
This
last fall we got some great digital pictures from one of
my old professors' boat on the Portage. Priceless!

My 98 year old grandfather just passed away, and I'll
really miss his old stories about the early days of the
industrial revolution. They almost gave me
goosebumps!

Mary,
Thank you for the map, that really helped. Karen WA

TS has a very good point. The downside of the boom years was that an average of one per week was killed in the Houghton County mines - year after year. I have at least two blood relatives who were killed in the Calumet Conglomerate and several others who were related by marriage. The English papers didn't give many details about a Finnish (Italian, Austrian,.....)trammer who met his end when a section of the hanging came down. The mines offered a double edged sword of great opportunity and deadly peril. Actually the Copper Country was one of the safest districts in the US - which is to say the others were really bad. The English papers throughout the country didn't pay much attention to the loss of immigrants or common workers. Yes, TS, we should press for a miner's memorial at these sites. They are both a monument to the accomplishments and the losses that happened there.

I agree that there should be a memorial to all the men that were killed while working for the C&H Mining Co. and the Universal Oil Co. And hats off to all the families that suffered from the abuse of these Companies. I don't know how many from the Quincy Mining Co that were killed at work, but I remember when I was left a widow with two small children and I don't remember getting any sympathy messages or reimbursment from the Co. I didn't want any anyway as it would not have brought back a good husband and father.

mjglakelinden--if he worked at the foundry in calumet and his nic was honko--i new him real well

i visited the houghton area in '98. it was 20 yrs since i spent a week "up there." i don't drive anymore, and went up to the area w/the wrong person. she was my sweetheart, but was only interested in st vincent de paul, goodwill, flea markets, and rummage sales. i wanted to camp-out along the rail-trail and visit the quincy fdy, hubbell, dollar bay, and "the falls" near lake linden. this year i'm going to look for a companion to take me up there, if that fails, i'll remove my handle-bars (required by greyhound) and take a bus. i HAVE to go back before all is gone. love you yoopers and being in great shape, i can't see why i can't cover all i need to see on a 28-speed fuji mountain bike. terry

My dad lost an eye inthe mine in 1930, never was re-hired but evicted from the co. house in 1942 with little if any comp. I heard a lot of horror stories about miners too. Wiisti & Jaskelainen changed that, plus the union.

Karen P, There is a Finnish Pasty or pastry called Pirrakka. It is nothing like the cornish pasties that we usually get . It is made from rice ,milk,and butter on a rye crust. I have had them with ham in them also.They served them at the Heikinpaiva festival in Hancock last weekend. Very good.