Sometimes, it takes someone like Maureen Habarth, to point out the parts of the Keweenaw that we either take for granted or just pass by each day and not notice anymore because we've viewed them so many times. Such is the case with this piece of mining era history. I know it's located on M-26, between Dollar Bay's Woodside location and Mason, but I have no idea what the concrete structure originally was. As for the Arcadian Copper Mine advertised on it, I did find a few facts about that attraction. The late Louis Koepel was co-founder and owner of the Arcadian Mine in Ripley, he was instrumental in giving Copper Country visitors a firsthand experience in the miners' world. The operation began in 1950, thousands of non-miners in hard hats went underground. In 1987 Louie turned over the Arcadian to the Quincy Hoist Association. I'm not sure when it ceased operation, but I believe the MTU Mining Engineering department used this mine for awhile, to give the mining students a real underground experience.

Don't despair though folks, if you'd still like a glimpse of what mining underground was like, you can do that on the Quincy Mine Hoist tours.

Good Morning from Vicksburg, MI

I also was confused at this location, knowing that the mine was located "upland" in Ripley. Kind of like SEE ROCK CITY signage of the 50's, I guess.

According to my Dad Mary this was a support for a bridge over the hiway for a C&H railway which ran out to Point Mills. The purpose was hauling copper ore to the Centennial and Franklin Stamp mills. He's going on 99 this July and has a fantastic memory.

Morning from West Texas!

What a day we are going to have in Caumet! The temperature
should reach 60 and no snow!!

I would have like to have seen that area in it's heyday. How about the sluices across M-26 just out side of Mason, how many remember them? My guess as to who owned the structure in the picture would be Quincy miming not C&H. I left the fat finger spelling in to illustrate the importance of spelling. It can be humorous on occasion;Quincy was in C&H's shadow most of the time weren't they?

Roudy Mi . Well I guess my Dad should corect in the fact that it was C & H. He,s been there and done that you might say !!

RCW, I think I knew your Dad Mary, He was related to my Dad Sue....

The Soo line R.R. finally owned this structure & told us we couldn't use it anymore for signs.

Can't fight the facts. I was just guessing because of the location and it's apparent proximity to Quincy's property. I defer to your DAD. Most humbly yours R

Right Roudy, there so much history in the area and not to many like him left, to pass on the information first hand.

All this talk about the Arcadian and Quincy mines reminded me that I was walking and crawling around the area a couple weeks ago. My Grandfather worked the Quincy Mine. Still hard to believe how deep the shaft goes down. I worked the Osceola Mine, it was a little over 5000 feet deep, the Quincy mine went better than 10,000 feet down, anyway, here's a shot I took of the area from across the canal...

I always loved seeing this sign on the way to Bootjack....and my grammas farm for the summer! The excitment was about peaking by this point of the long 12-13 hour trip from Detroit. Course the trip may have been a little shorter depending on how heavy my mom's foot was...LOL.

Good to see this picture as it brought me back to my childhood days when we kid's rode our bikes from Dollar Bay and played around this concrete structure.There also was a place back towards $Bay we called Three Pipes that was a clear cold water hole that we cooled off in after the bike ride on a hot July day.I know RCW that your Dad,my Uncle, has a good memory. Why he hadn't seen me in many years,since the late 70's, when he saw me in 2000 he knew me right away.

I remember taking our 2 year old son on this mine tour! Guess that's why he is still into "rock" today!! www.reino.us

Good morning from Arlington, Tx. We had some nasty storms go thru on Tues. nite, the power was out for 21 hrs. Took that time to do alittle reading from David Mac Frimodig book Keweenaw Character, Alot of stories of the mines & the Great people of Keweenan. Everyone have a great day, we will now that the power is back on. 28 more days & my feet well be on Copper Country soil.

Good morning from Bedford, TX. I got you beat Ace - only 24 days and I'll be back home! Looking at taking my son up to MTU for a tour. He's interested in engineering but I think he's more interested in living in a cooler climate and playing in the snow (he doesn't realize he's going to have to shovel it and drive in it!). No power outages here in Bedford - we've been very lucky the last couple of nights!

Good Morning From West TExas...just a little east and wouth of Amarillo here in Abilene. We are a cool 64 with rain on the way. Four weeks till I step foot on the soils of the U.P.

Greetings to the Jake girls! Good to meet you and laugh over old times and fond memories of those old times. I remember when my now 23 yr. old asked me when her olden days were, she was 3 at the time. I told her NOW is your olden days!
It is always sad that we get together only at weddings and funerals.
Loved yesterdays floral fotos. Beautiful.
Say, how about a Starbucks in one of the old mines...hey, dat wood be a good ting, no?
75 degrees and no rain in Iowa today.

My Dad helped to build that concrete structure when he first came to this country.He was a young teen and I remember him saying that he wore layers of clothes to make himself look older.He said his hands would get raw from pushing wheelbarrows full of concrete up it. I would say that was back in 1909 or 10 or thereabout. There used to be a watering tower in that area where the trains would take on water. It was right on the side of the road.

Brings back memories. My first real job was at the Arcadian as a
tour guide over the summers. You mention Louis Koepel as the
owner but there were a number of other long term employees at
the Arcadian. In the gift shop there was Hilma and Elma, there
was Abe Matero who ran things day to day (while I was there
anyway) and also did the copper cleaning demonstrations
(holding his breath as he opened the containers of sulfuric and
hydrocloric acid he used to clean the copper). Other guides
included Louis' grandsons. His granddauguter(s) also worked
there on occasion in the giftshop.

Rick

Someone should go on the south end of Calumet Avenue in Rambeultown (sp.??) and snap a picture of 3 owls sitting on a big old caving in building--they've been there the past week or so--usually just in the morning-it would be interesting to share with pasty central viewers--the building probably would be a topic for discussion also.

Dave,Laurium

Ever though of starting up your own website?

The Arcadian WAS one of the good mine tours....I enjoyed the Adventure Mine also....took one of the final tours before it closed last year.

I GAVE tours in the Delaware...miss those days!

Morning from Houston.
I cannot imagine working in one of those mines. My Aunt Katherine wrote some history for our family before she passed on and said that one of my great great great....cousins died in the Copper Mines.

One interesting thing to share, I visited Copper Harbor in 1994 and felt a strange bond or connection I guess you could say... I just fell in love with it, and somehow knew I belonged there. I was adopted when I was a baby,(1970) and grew up never knowing my "original family".
The very next summer I met my Biological Father for the first time! Guess where my family lived when they came from Finland many years ago? I may live in Texas now, but I'm a Yooper by blood! :)

Now this summer I plan to take my children there for the first time and share that history with them!

Just Wondering...Wasn't sure how to take your comment, Thanks...hopefully it was a compliment. But, yes, I have thought about starting my own website, just haven't looked into the particulars of it yet.

Good morning from Portland, it is going to be a beautiful day in the northwest, highs in the 80's

I was just thinking how terrific it is to have all these reminiscences about the concrete structure in today's photo when Fran chimes in with the news that her father actually helped to build the thing! Is this a great website, or what?

Now I am going to have to dig out some old pictures to find out what copper mine I toured in 1967. Also toured an iron mine. Sure hope there's info. on the backs of those pictures. Still have a copper bracelet bought at the copper mine and some core samples from the iron mine.

IT'S GOING TO BE 105 IN LAS VEGAS TODAY

80's here in San Jose today and dry! My grandpa worked on pouring some footings in Dollar Bay-close to the water-way back when.

Dave-Laurium, you might consider a website format like Chuck Voelker uses on Copper Country Reflections. It is one of our most popular special features.

I was 10 or 11 yrs old when I first toured the Arcadian Mine in the early 1960's - and went back several times, with parents or friends, while at Tech (1969-73). It seemed to be a well-done operation, educational and realistic. Certainly on a par with mine tours I've had in Colorado, Ontario and Missouri.

I recall an incident in 6th grade (in Saginaw) when I had mentioned in class about the underground copper mining in Michigan, and the teacher corrected me by pointing out that Michigan had only iron mines, and they were all open-pit technology by then. Even after bringing in literature from the Arcadian tour and snapshots, she insisted that it was an isolated instance and copper mining wasn't significant in Michigan.

That ignorance and provincial attitude was probably a seminal incident in helping me understand that turning the U.P. into the "State of Superior" might not be a bad idea . . .

My mom Elma Lahti worked at Arcadian for many years. She still lives in Houghton and has not changed much since then ,maybe a bit grayer, must be the Copper Country that keeps her young. Hilma Erickson passed away quite a few years ago

p.s. - Thanks to "Dave, Laurium" for the shot of the Quincy works. I drove past, around, or through that operation many times during the 16 months I was Engineer for WHDF radio. (Their transmitter site is the tall tower between Quincy Mine and the Mount Ripley ski hill.)

Hi folks...and Mary...why the censorship of the good-natured ribbing? Humor is acceptable, even in the UP, is it not?

This is located near the road leading to our old family farm. My brother, sisters and I use to play on that old piece of cement. Good memories.

Folks, ESPECIALLY MARY, I apologize...was checking out ANOTHER Pasty cam page, and thought my comments had been deleted. My humblest and red-faced apologies!

To shelly/Yankee in Texas.... that is one amazing story about your feeling connected to Copper Harbor, and then finding out your "blood" is from the same area! I love hearing about stuff like that!

Looks like a chipmunk in the feeder on the Copper Harbor cam! Hard to tell with the shadow!

Dave, Laurium
Please consider your own web site. I love your pictures and history comments. The jokes and daily activites, no.

To Jeff from Portland, Or. My son just flew in from Portland this morning to a beautiful day in Lansing. With all the rain we've had, we'll take it and its supposed to be a nice weekend too.

Mary, MTU used the Quincy Mine adit, used for tours today, as an experimental mine, but never the Arcadian. We do have an insurance policy covering the Arcadian, I was negotiating with the current owner to let the Michigan Tech Mine Team use it.

HN from St. Johns, my Mom lives in Dewitt on Pratt. I lived there a year before I moved to Texas. Small world.

Will any of the transplant uppers be in Calumet for the pasty fest. would love to meet you all. It always so nice to know that there is someone else in Tx. that loves the Copper Country as much as we do. Travel safely & meet you all soon.

YOOPER IN VEGAS - You can have the 105 there, its only 60 here and very comfortable! Bring your bug net when you come in July, they are going to be horrible this year!

My new husband and I will be taking our delayed honeymoon/vacation in July - in time for the Pasty Fest. Can't wait to get back!

Dave, Laurium

There 'ya go. Charlie offered a solution for you... and anyone else with a plethora of information to share.

Yes, but this site is about sharing and exchanging information and day to day pleasantries. This site has it's own personality.

I think going down in one of those dark, dank, dirty mines would be a most frightening experience. My dad died in one of those mines in the 1960's.

Audrey, San Jose

I'm gald you enjoyed my story. It was a really wonderful thing for me! I have always loved the U.P. I grew up just under the Mackinaw Bridge, and so it was no big deal to travel there quite often. When we went to CH, I just kept telling my husband that I couldn't get over this strange feeling of connection. I didn't really understand it, but just thought it was because I loved the U.P. I grew up only 2 1/2 hours from my "Biological family" and was reunited with them in 1995. Dads side was from CH, and then to Rudyard, and on to the Soo...and Mothers side from the Soo as well. The Finlanders moved to the Soo, and Grandpa met an Italian, and if you could only see those family pictures when they all got together!! One side smiling, the other, well, I think they are?? LOL

Dark mines: part of the Arcadian tour included them shutting down the main lights and showing you how little illumination their helmet lights produced. I was about 10 at the time and a bit of a claustrophobe. I didn't run for the exit, but I was glad it was near the end of the tour. The noise from the pneumatic drill was also incredible. What a way to earn a fairly meager living.

er, GA: could the iron mine you toured have been the one in Vulcan off of US 2? My family always refered to it as the "Big John" mine. They had a HUGE depiction of a miner, hard hat on head & pickax in hand standing outside. When I was about 5 or 7 I was taken on a tour there. When they turned out the lights to show what the conditions were like, then set a drill going, I freaked out. I yelled and screamed so much they had to end the tour early and bring me back up. I still don't like loud noises and would prefer not to be underground. I just got shivers remembering it.

For Paula, Glad to hear your mother Elma is doing well. Don't
know if she would remember me but I remember her, great lady
to work with, one of the many people that made the Arcadian an
enjoyable place to work

Rick Whitman

Toured the Arcadian several times as a child and brought my son back to tour it several times. Always was an interesting event. Have a relative that lives just down the hill from it. Toured several other mine sites in the UP as well. Always had an interest for all things underground so I must be a spelunker-wannabee.

I believe the Arcadian Mine was never an actual copper mine. It was put in an an exploratory adit and never produced any copper. In the 60's it was owned by the owner of the company who imported produce (can not remember their name) into the copper country and was nickmaned the "banana bonanza". In the late 60-'s it was the only mine open to the public.

If all you pasty.com people want to meet each other when at the pastyfest, you should put your log on name on a badge so that way, you will recognize each other......a reunion if you will.

The Cahodas & Paoli Wholesale Co owned the mine, and possibly relative,s still do??

I remember the first time I went to work underground at Osceola #13. I was amazed at the blackness when we turned out our lamps. It was an experience that I am glad I had because everyone in my family had worked the mines at one time or another. The first time we set the charges off was exhilarating to say the least, because at the time they went off, we were all sitting on the bags of powder and boxes of nitrate smoking cigarettes and playing pinochle. I remember thinking there was something wrong with this picture....but it soon became routine. I lasted about 4 months, then joined the Navy, but it definitely was an experience I'm glad I tried.

Living History
I love our Michigan History told by the people who were there!

Dave can you remember when the charges went off how the smoke for your cigarette would just dance in the air from the concussion? I spent over a year underground at the Iriquois (sp) .

To Shelly from Texas. We are just 1 1/2 miles N of Pratt. Maybe I've passed her house many times. Yes small world.

I think it may be in the name of the Paoli grandchildren now. My dad worked for Cahodas-Paoli at the Ironwood operation from the late 60's through 70's. I remember when the produce came via ralroad. Always interesting to watch the boxcars being unloaded. The bananas used to be in big bunches hanging in the cars. I remember instances of tarantulas or some other banana spider and a few small constrictors making the trek to the cold north in those banana bunches. You never knew what to expect when walking through the warehouse.

HN,
She lives by a little creek and up a hill that comes to a quick stop. She has huge Weeping Willow trees in the yard and a 40 acre field behind her house. I'll be there in 23 days!!!

Do you know if Uncle Johns is open for the season yet? And is Four and Twenty Black Birds still open on US 27?

To Shelly: Don't know if Uncle Johns is open yet and don't know about Four and Twenty Black Birds either. Not much help, huh? Stop by and visit. We are on the corner of County Farm and Yallup.
We just moved here last June from DeWitt. Really like the area. People are very friendly.

Dave, Laurium
This site gives a review of a free message board service you might want to use if you had your own site. http://www.message-board.net/reviews.html Sounds like fun to set up and I bet you already have a fan base. I love the photos but am especially hooked on old ones. ( Might take away from your time on the golf course though. LOL )

This site makes me very homesick...
I didn't realize when growing up what a great place the U.P. is, and especially the Copper Country.

I couldn't wait to leave there and get to some real living further south...
Now I'd give my ...well, you know, to get back up there. But one thing I think is still pretty common up there...jobs aren't all that easy to come by, at least not what I do.

That Arcadian sign brings back many memories :)

Someone mentioned they would have loved to have seen all the mining operations and buildiongs that used to be up there.

I remember all the stuff in Tamarack , Hubbell, etc....all along m-26....\
we never made it to Calumet much, so can't remember that :)
but it did seem like this huge city compared to the little Chassell I grew up in.

Are there any pictures of all the old buildings?

Chassell even used to have a ton of things, but all gone now...and even the Historical Center doesn't have pictures of most of the old buildings along main street...the old box mill, etc....

I still remember when some of them were burned down for practice for the volunteer fire dept at different times.

anyway..it would surely be a great time to see all those old buildings again, even in pictures :)

hint hint...who has the pictures ????

Great hint.....the older the photos the better. I too remember when the mines were thriving and the stores were bustling, the trains where pounding along with the smell of soot. Whistles blowing and stories from the day of Dad working in the mines. Packing his pail each day. And ( to my horror ) the bars were full of noisy men, the music was blaring and the cigarette smoke billowing out the doors at 7:00 in the morning. Not too much focus on tourism them. We were an industy.

Oops Shelly I goofed. We are a little more than 1 1/2 miles from Pratt. I was thinking of Price. What can I say, they both start with a P.

HN,
My Mom has lived in Dewitt for 12 or more years now, and that area really does have some great people. Typical of people from Michigan!!! I used to take the kids to the Easter Egg hunts in downtown Dewitt! What fun times we had!

Hope you enjoy your new location!

Well, its time to brave the highways of Houston!
Night all!

Dave Laurium..I for one thank those in the Keweenaw for the additional pics.This IS what this site is about..It is the very large pics that some post{not yours today in my opinion} that is a problem for some of us with dial up..

It is the back and forth chat between just a couple people like that a couple message above that makes this site draaag..

I think that the copper country reflections site needs a new web master it would appear it is not being updated?

To Shelly in Tx: when you grew up under the Mac bridge, what did you live in under there, a house or a boat or a houseboat? I didn't know there was housing under there. Tee hee, i couldn't resist!

I have few real gems in my shoebox, but not enough to create a site with....would be great to have a place for the oldest photos and a few mysterious ones I have. Someone out there may find their famly there. Bet every house in the CC has a few. Hint, hint.

Just a thought...Here is the introductory statement to the Pasty.Cam page.
The Pasty Cam
A daily visual journal in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Click each day's photo to join the conversation. Share your memories, contact old friends, make some new ones.

What you are criticizing in your post is exactly what this site is about.

That is a chipmunk on the C.H. cam. Sharon mentioned them in her journal.


Dave, Laurium-
I enjoy your photos you share everyday. I think someone is in a bad mood today and that someone needs someone to pick on. Lucky you, hey?

Dave, Laurium
I didn't take today's comments as picking on you you at all. Perhaps folks were saying that they wanted to see more of your photos, ideas and input. What's wrong with the idea your own web-site ? It can be very challanging and rewarding. We might all enjoy it. Please do post the address for us if you decide to launch one.

Another Dave Fan...I didn't think the comments were negative either, it was all in how you interpreted a couple of them, and I really appreciated all the compliments. I really enjoy this site and have met (sort of!) a lot of nice people. I actually met a childhood friend of mine that I had not seen in over 40 years. That was the nicest thing I have had happen on this site. I have played with the idea of starting my own site, just haven't reached the commitment stage yet and which way I would like to go with it if I do put one up. I have just started the photography as a hobby and I am really starting to have fun with it. So, occasionally I do like to share an extra photo with the site, always trying to fit it in with the topic of the day, and hoping other site viewers will enjoy it. If I overstep, the site monitors will let me know, and I will respect their wishes. Anyway, it's a beautiful day in the Copper Country, enjoy the rest of the day wherever you are....I'm going out for a chocolate malt!

While I was looking at the Terr Server site one time, I had noticed the old railroad right of way that used that concrete bridge abutment. That railroad track climbed the hill and came out south of the airport. The road next to the Arcadian Motel along US 41 is actually built on the old right of way. It would have crossed US41 if it existed then and went over and hooked up with the Mineral Range Railroad (later Soo Line) to Calumet. So way back that was either a part of the Mineral Range or the Hancock & Calumet railroad.
http://terraserver-usa.com
Terra server has photos taken from space or planes, not sure which, covers most of the US and ALaska, you zoom down to about 1 meter. You can usually pick out your home.

Hi,
The concrete structure was on a branch of the Mineral Range Railroad that extended from Arcadian Junction to Point Mills. There is a concrete culvert nearby with 1912 cast into it. There was an Arcadian Mine up on the hill, organized in 1898 by the Standard Oil interests. It was on the north extension of the Isle Royale lode and they built a huge modern surface plant including a stamp mill at Grosse Pointe (on Portage Lake). They started sinking 7 shafts. By 1903 they quit - they didn't find enough copper to make it pay. Some of the shafthouses were salvaged and used by the Trimountain Mining Co.
The Mineral Range built the line in anticipation of rock coming from Arcadian. The railroad out lasted the mine and saw the 1912 improvements because it was a better and more direct route from the mines served north of the bridge and Point Mills than the original line through Hancock. C&H gained a big interest in the Mineral Range when it procured the Clarke, Bigelow, & Lewisohn holdings (Tamarack, Osceola, etc.) The 1923 consolidation saw the C&H name appear on just about all of its subsidiaries. C&H did not have controlling interest in the Mineral Range so it retained its identity. The MR lost most of its traffic when the C&H built its Trap Rock valley line in 1925. The Arcadian branch was pulled up in the '30's. By 1949 the Mineral Range was absorbed by the DSS&A which was also controlled by the Canadian Pacific.

Dave/Laurium, You took that pic of #2 from the Houghton side? WOW! My Dad used to work in Quincy #8. Think it was up near Menard. He didn't like working underground so he didn't stay long. My sister and I took him on the Quincy Mine tour a few years ago. He wasn't too impressed with that either. When they shut off the lights you couldn't see your hand behind your head! :>) Used to see that Arcadian sign every day on the way to school. We lived in Tamrack Mills, (now Tamarack City) which is in Osceola Twp, so we went to school in $ Bay. Lived across from the Ahmeek Stamp Mill and the Power Plant. Graduated in '57 with Fran, GA. Hi, Fran!

Dave from Laurium
I enjoy all your posts and pictures. You can tell you love living in Gods Country. I for one am very jealous that I am stuck down here way below the Big Mac! 5 more years till my youngest one graduates from High School. 2 already in College, one entering 12 grade, one entering 8th. Watch out fall of 2009. I'll be up living out my dream!
Keep up your pictures and humor!
Have a great weekend!

Hi Ken, why did they change the name of Tamarack Mills? Was it because there are no longer mills there? Another thing I have wondered about is why they changed the name of the $ Bay Basketball team?

Sorry to hear that, Bthecute.
Ok, we all have to die one day, but there are better ways, I think.

A shaft 10000 ft deep? Wow.

Bthecute1.....Sorry about your loss, the mines can be and are a very dangerous place. If I may ask, what year was that? We lost a man in the Osceola mine when I worked there, same level I was on, but the shift before me. Looks like great weather ahead of us here in the Copper Country.

Hi All, My Dad, Louis Koepel, was one of three men who started the Arcadian Copper Mine Tours. They did lease from C & P produce company. I always wanted to be a tour guide but because I was a girl I could only work in the gift shop. Hated that and didn't last long. I loved the mine and would follow in on many tours. I loved the cold and the damp smell, the noise and the dark when they turned out the lights. Loved my dad, he was a true gentleman. Mary Koepel Heide

Bethecute1.....It is so sad to know that so many fine men and boys lost there lives in the mines of the Copper Country. Many of these hard-working men were willing to decend into that awful blackness so that their children would have a better life. Mr. Micheal Medved, of Calumet, was a teenager working in the mine the day his father fell to his death in the same mine. Mike is now 94 yrs old and is a wonderful man. His daughter is one of my best friends..........Mary Heide, Your father was a fine person and your mother was such a lovely lady. I remember them,well..also Louis,jr....we were at NMU together....what a fantastic musician!!

To Dave of Laurium. My dad died on 4-15-64. It was his 65th birthday, and was around Eastertime.

I believe it was the Osceola mine.
Thanks everyone.

Our son was an Arcadian guide while in high school in da 80's. I didn't know it was closed...too bad.
I see there are more and more Texans here. Nothing could make you miss the CC more than moving to Texas.

Hey Dollar Bay remember the 60's? Monkey tree. Three trees. Acorn hill. New road hill. the dump.
three pipes. the trapeze. grey sands. green spot. sandy bottom. julios. the channel. dry dock (diving off the wall). rafting in the bay. walking the "tracks". the oil dock. Cutting ferns with sticks. Oh yea and climbin this concrete wall. Awesome!!!!!!!

Hey just thinkin-I was remembering those things too!Plus free cup of soft ice cream from the C.C. Diary,and Bush Trail.

I remember going down that Arcadian Mine in the middle of summer when it was 90 degree's outside and 50 degree's or less down in the shaft, with those thick heavy miner jackets. You could actually see your breath. Those were the good old days!!