Victoria Archives - Mikel B. Classen On The Road

New U.P. Historical Mining Pictures.

Ropes Gold Mine

A rare photo of the Ropes Gold Mine near Negaunee. This was taken 1860s near its beginning.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve come across some really nice mining pictures. I thought I would post them up for everyone to check out. The picture above is of the Ropes Gold Mine which was located north of Negaunee and Ishpeming. The mine was established in 1881 by Julius Ropes and produced consistent quantities of gold until 1897. It was reopened for a few years in the 1980s. News of the Ropes opening prompted a gold rush to Ishpeming. Suddenly there was no less than 13 gold mines in the surrounding area all producing some gold and silver.

The Ohio Iron Mine

This is a picture of the crew of the Ohio Iron Mine near Michigamme.

The iron range of the Marquette region was full of iron mines. Dozens of them operated west of Marquette nearly the entire distance to L’Anse. The Ohio Mine was one of them and was west of Michigamme. It opened in 1907 and operated for 7 years. It produced low grade ore and wasn’t profitable. The picture shows the mining crew of the Ohio. No shortage of man power here. This has to be close to 1914 when the mine shut down. It was briefly reopened in the 1950s as an open pit mine by Cleveland Cliffs International (CCI).

New York Mine

An early picture of the inside of the New York Iron Mine.

This is the interior of the New York Iron Mine located near Ishpeming.

The New York Mine was a hematite operation. Beginning in 1864, the New York produced high grade hematite iron ore. Located in Ishpeming, it was part of the iron boom that fueled the entire region. It gave out in 1919. The New York lasted longer than many mining operations and provided the raw materials for the industrial revolution. The picture shows the interior of the New York Mine in its early days of 1870.

Lake Superior Iron Mine

Another historical U.P. mining picture from an unknown mine on the Marquette range.

A small iron mining operation. The location and name is unknown.

Iron mining was prevalent throughout the central and western Upper Peninsula. Small companies started up and then crashed as quickly while other companies flourished with the rich deposits iron. This picture shows one of those small operations. Labeled simply as “Lake Superior Iron Mining,” it is an unknown digging probably somewhere around Ishpeming or Negaunee. Though they are hard to see, there are four miners in the background of the photo. Piles of ore and the mine entrance can be clearly seen. Mining was rough, hard and dangerous work.

Victoria Copper Mine

This is a picture of the ore hauler called the rock skip.

Riding the Rock Skip. The mining company warned men against doing this and taking ladders instead, but it was a common practice anyway.

Victoria is a copper mining ghost town near Rockland. It can still be visited today. The Victoria Mine was notorious for its safety problems, injuries and death were common. The picture, “riding the skip cart,” shows one of the miners going down into the shaft doing something that was against company rules. It was simply quicker and a couple of fatalities resulted from this. Victoria mine operated for nearly 50 years and was a solid copper producer.

For more information on Victoria ghost town, check out my exploration guide/history to investigate this still standing relic of copper country history: https://www.amazon.com/Old-Victoria-Ontonagon-Michigan-History/dp/1615998195/

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My book cover for Old Victoria, a copper country ghost town.

Book cover for my book Old Victoria, A Copper Country Ghost Town

Today, I received a review on my newest book, Old Victoria, the first of the Yooper History Hunter series. It was reviewed by Tom Powers for Michigan in Books. I’m happy about this as the book is small at about 30 pages long. It is meant to be as much of a field guide as it is a book about the history of Victoria. A map in the interior, expertly drawn by Joanna Walitalo, shows the locations and names of the buildings and other points of interest so the reader/explorer can hunt down the history of Victoria ghost town.

Here’s the review: Old Victoria: A Copper Mining Ghost Town in Ontonagon County by Mikel B. Classen

This is the first volume in the Yooper History Hunter Series in which each installment will explore the history of a specific, and often overlooked aspect or subject of U.P. history. Based on the first in the series, each volume will be composed of numerous historic photographs interspersed with contemporary, full-color images that compliment a precise, fact-fill historical narrative that is fascinating without wasting a word.

The author couldn’t have chosen a more interesting subject for the inaugural volume than the ghost town of Victoria. In spite of being listed in the National Register of Historic Places it is probably one of the fewest visited or even generally known historic sites in the Ontonagon area. The village rests atop a mountain within the spectacular Ontonagon River Gorge in the rugged Gogebic Mineral Range. The last couple of miles to the village is up a bone-jarring rock-strewn road. To call Victoria remote is a grand understatement.

Copper was discovered here in the 1600s but for 200 years it couldn’t be profitably mined. Then came Thomas Hooper who built a Taylor Hydraulic Air Compressor by digging three 400-feet-deep shafts into which the Ontonagon River and air were directed. The result (somehow) was compressed air that powered the entire mining operation and even a locomotive powered by compressed air. Mining became profitable, the village grew and prospered. The author covers working conditions (one in seven miners died in the mine) and the social and living conditions in the village. The mine closed in 1917. The village emptied, and the buildings fell victim to time and neglect until the Society for the Restoration of Old Victoria was founded and began restoring the village. This is a pure and highly polished nugget of Michigan history.

To purchase the book click here: Old Victoria