NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER - Garrett Retirees' Club of Arizonagarrettretireesaz.com/Flyers/NATIVE...
Transcript of NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER - Garrett Retirees' Club of Arizonagarrettretireesaz.com/Flyers/NATIVE...
NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER
by AL STIMAC
The little army of miners is no longer insignificant, Who can withhold from its members an involuntary tribute of respect, when we view the smallness of their number, and the importance of their work; when we reflect upon the uncertainties, the hardships, the dangers which surround them; explorers of another world; sailors, who drive daily through seas of solid rock; soldiers, whose task is a battle with difficulties, danger, and sudden death -the advance guard of civilization, the salt of the earth!
Samuel B. Christy American Institute of Mining Engineers,
Native Copper
• One of the Few Metallic Elements to
Occur in Uncombined Form as a Natural
Mineral
• Occurs rarely as Isometric Cubic and
Octahedral Crystals
• More Typically as Irregular Masses and
Fracture Fillings
PERSPECTIVE
• Kennecott-Utah Copper Contains 0.5 to
0.8% Copper
• One 350 Ton Truck with O.6% Copper
yields 3 Tons of Copper
• Michigan Copper is 2 to 100% Copper
Depending on the Sample
KEWEENAW PENINSULA
• Northernmost point in Michigan
• Premier Mining Location from 1840 to
1968
• Calumet was the second largest city west
of Appalachians after Chicago at turn of
the century
• At one time there was 1 stockbroker for
every 26 residents of Calumet and area
Place Name Derivations
• Keweenaw – Indian for The Crossing
Place
• Calumet – French for Pipe meaning Indian
Peace Pipe
• Laurium – Mining City in Ancient Greece
where Copper and Silver were Mined and
Home of George Gipp and Al Stimac
THE PROLIFIC KEWEENAW
• 94.5% Cu Mined until 1929 came from a 3 mile by 26 mile strip between Mohawk and Painesdale
• Heyday was 1900-1918
• Keweenaw District was Second Largest Producer of Copper in the World
- 8.2 Billion Pounds Copper Mined
- $325 Million in Dividends from 1845-today
Early Exploration Was Fostered By
Ontonogan Boulder
• Circa 1670 explorers were viewing the
boulder
• Ben Franklin Drew the Map of Settlement
with Britain to Include Isle Royale
• After Michigan became a State in 1840
Douglass Houghton Led the Survey to The
Keweenaw
• Legacy Short Lived - Drowned in 1845
ONTONOGAN BOULDER
3708 POUNDS
COPPER FORMATION IS
CHEMICAL AND NOT VOLCANIC
• Hydrothermal Venting with Copper in Solution which Precipitated on Cooling Forming:
• Float
• Mass
• Amygdaloid
• Within other salts like calcite
• Fused with other metals like silver (half breed)
HALFBREED
DATOLITE WAS CONSIDERED
A WASTE PRODUCT • Porcelain-like Material
• Ranged in Size from Tiny to 140 lbs
• Calcium Boron Hydroxide Neosilicate
Mineral
• Coloration Due to Inclusion of Copper or
associated minerals from hydrothermal
precipitation
• Caused Drills/Tools to Muck Up/Wear Out
MENARD MASS 18 TONS
QUINCY MASS 16 TONS
LARGE MASSES WERE CUT
UNDERGROUND
Largest Mass Found in Minesota
Mine in 1857
• Estimated at 380 to 478 Metric Tons
• 52 ft x 16 ft x 9 ft
• 20 Men Took 15 Months to Blast, Hammer
and Chisel it for Smelting
• Chisel Chips Alone Weighed 24 Metric
Tons and Paid for Half the Labor
LATEST BOULDER FIND
• Offshore 1991
• Seventeen Tons
• Removed in 2001
• Destination Michigan Tech Mineral
Museum at Quincy Steam Hoist
• Boulders
19TH Century Mining
• Early Mines were located near Lake
Superior for Transportation Purposes
• Significant Amounts of Lumber Were
Required for Shoring Up Drifts
• Trains Came Later
• Mills and Smelters Followed
• Mechanical Drilling Followed 3 Man Hand
Chiseling
Many Ethnic Groups Contributed to
the Copper Industry
• Cornish Croatians Finns French
• Irish Swedes Italians Norse
• Germans Poles Slovenes Scots
• There were up to Four or Five Churches of
the Same Faith for the Different Ethnic
Groups
Cliff Mine
• Operated from 1846 to 1856
• $108K Investment Yielded $3.8M
HORSEPOWER LITERALLY
Modern Mining Methods Allowed
Deep Shafts
• Original Mines Tended to be Hill
Sides/Shallow Pits
• Steam Power Offered Means to Lower
Man Trams and Raise Ore Trams
• Typical Mine Depths Were 1 Mile Deep
• Quincy was Deepest Mine at 9000 Feet
Calumet & Hecla’s Quincy Mine
NORDBERG 2500 HP HOIST
QUINCY MINE HOIST
• 30 Foot Drum Held 10000 Feet 1-5/6 Inch
Wire(27 Tons)
• Could Hoist 10 Ton Skips at 34 MPH
• Largest of Its Type in the World
MECHANICAL DRILL REPLACED
TEAMS
PREHISTORIC COPPER
DEMAND
• Evidence of Tribes from 10,000 Years ago
• Lake Superior Tribes of 2600 BC to 1200BC
• Most Likely mined 20 Million Pounds
• Max Estimates mined 940 Million Pounds
• Trading Power - Tools & Jewelry & Weapons
• Cosmological Belief in the Manitou
• Midwest – New England- Georgia
• Other
CARBON DATING ISLE ROYALE
HOPEWELL
Copper Utensils and Kharma Were
Drivers
• Many artifacts have been found ranging from fishhooks and spears to pots, plates and jewelry
• Copper pieces were Trading Power
• Ritual Belief Led to Sacred Offerings to Manitou
• Michigan Copper found from North to Midwest to New England/Southeast Atlantic
WHERE WAS THIS OTHER
MARKET DEMAND
• One Man’s Theory
- Pre Phoenician (Minoan/Cretan)
- Sea Faring Traders
- Alphabet Based on Guttural Sounds
- Religion with Monolithic Worship
-Flourished from roughly 3000BC to
1200BC
MEGALITH TRACKS
Cyprus/Crete Sicily Corsica
Majorca Almeria Lisbon
Britany Stonehenge(3100-1100BC)
Belfast Hebrides/Orkneys Iceland
Greenland Labrador
New England Minnesota/Michigan
SWEDISH DOLMEN
SALEM NEW YORK DOLMEN
MINNESOTA DOLMEN
MICHIGAN DOLMEN
The Ship Wreck of Ulu Burun
• 14th Century B.C Ship Wreck Found off
Coast of Turkey
• 50 Feet Long with Wooden Hull and
Planks Held with Mortis-and-Tenon Joints
• Held 200 Copper Ingots weighing 60 Lbs
Each (Equivalent to the Ancient Talent)
Claims of Diffusionists Need to be
Verified
• To date X-Ray Crystallography has not
shown American Copper as the Source in
European/Mid-East Artifacts
• DNA of Native Americans Needs
Research to Establish Origins
• More Research on Trade Goods That
Might Have Been Used with Pre-Historic
Miners
COPPER - A QUESTION FOR
THE ANCIENTS & THE FUTURE
• Plenty of Copper Left in the Copper Country
• What Might the Natives Think About Open Pit Mining (National Park Status)
• Go there Yourselves & Experience the Environment, Copper Mine Tours, Mineral Museum
• Stay Tuned to Copper Sourcing in Europe/Mid East
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Mineralogical Record Volume 23 #2 March-April 1992 Michigan Copper Country
• Matrix-A Journal of the History of Minerals Winter 2001-2002
• Images of America – Houghton County 1870-1920
• Wonderful Power – The Story of Ancient Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin by Susan R. Martin 1995
• The Hard Rock Mining Era in the Copper Country by Tauno Kilpela 1995
• Calumet – Copper Country Metropolis
Bibliography continued
• Miskawabik – Red Metal (The Roles Played by Michigan’s Copper in Prehistoric America) by Halsey 1992
• Boom Copper by Angus Murdoch 1943
• Starnfers and Sojourners(A History of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula) by Thurner 1994
• Images of America Lake Superior Country 2002
Bibliography continued
• Cradle to Grave(Life Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines) by Lankton 1991
• Prehistoric Copper Mining in the Lake Superior Region by Drier & Du Temple 2005
• Ancient Mines of Kitchi-Gummi (Cyproit/Minoan Traders in North America) by Jewell 2004
Bibliography continued
• Michigan Copper The Untold Story by
Rydholm 2006
• Old Reliable an Illustrated History of the
Quincy Mining Company
Lankton & Hyde 1982