Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: copper

Champion Mine, Painesdale, Michigan.

Champion Mine, Painesdale, Michigan.

Champion Mine, Painesdale, Michigan.

Champion Mine, Painesdale, Michigan.

Champion Mine, Painesdale, Michigan.

Northern Michigan's mining districts: Heavy industry in the wilderness. Now largely gone to ruin. Champion Mine's Rock (Shaft) House #4 in Painesdale on a gorgeous fall day in 1990--another pic from our DSS&A excursion. Like Cliffs Shaft Mine and the Quincy Smelter, this facility closed in 1967. That coincidence of dates is not really a coincidence. About half the Champion Mine complex still stands and is in reasonably good shape, partly because the mine serves as Adams township's main water source. The shaft house and other structures at the location now belong to a local preservation/historical group, called Painesdale Mine & Shaft, who are turning the place into a museum. Camera: Minolta Freedom 100

A ghost of the past, from the past. Taken at Champion Mine, Painesdale, in September of 1990, with the Soo Line Historical & Technical Society's DSS&A Special Interest Group. Scanned from a negative.

Painesdale, Michigan, in 1990.

Shaft 4's rockhouse in the foreground, with the machine shop back behind. An abandoned (since 1967) underground copper operation at Painesdale, Michigan, later the local waterworks. Quite well preserved, considering, but in constant danger of deterioration. Anyone know whether they're still trying to turn the site into a museum? The PM&S website doesn't exactly look dead, but there's been no recent maintenance.

Champion Mine, Painesdale, Michigan; scanned from a slide taken in September of 1990.

What was once the office of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company; it's now home to the Keweenaw National Historical Park. Calumet, Michigan.

Champion Mine, Painesdale, Michigan.

The Calumet and Hecla Mining Company built a substantial complex of buildings around the Red Jacket and their other mines early in the twentieth century. Those buildings, now the heart of the Keweenaw National Historical Park , are a truly impressive monument to the miners who toiled far beneath the surface in what was then the planet's deepest mine. This building, according to the site's map (available at the park but not on their website), was the Drill Shop.

Champion Mine #4 Rockhouse, Painesdale, Michigan. Being preserved by Painesdale Mine & Shaft . Best viewed as a potential museum.... Explored! #369 on Flickr [August 2, 2013] Thanks!

Another picture from Painesdale's Champion Mine on a beautiful autumn day in 1990. Since I was there with a railfan group, the Copper Range boxcars naturally drew some comment, and some speculation about the efforts which might be required to preserve them. There should have been some follow-through, as the cars were eventually sold for scrap. Camera: Minolta Freedom 100