NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER by AL STIMAC. Native Copper One of the Few Metallic Elements to Occur in...
-
Upload
chastity-stewart -
Category
Documents
-
view
218 -
download
2
Transcript of NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER by AL STIMAC. Native Copper One of the Few Metallic Elements to Occur in...
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