Mine: Phoenix Mine, Phoenix, MI

Bay State Mine → Phoenix Mine → Closed

Operated for 49 years with a 20 year closure.

From: 1855. Bay State sold to the Phoenix Mine in 1871.

Owned by: Phoenix Mining Co.

Produced: Copper Ore

Method: Underground and adits.

Railroad connection: Later by the Copper Range railroad.

Stamp Mill: On site.

Until: 1879. Then reopened around 1899 until at least 1904.

Lifetime Production: 

Notes

Time Line

1855. December. The Phoenix mine has shipped nearly ten tons of copper this season, mostly taken from the ash and scoriaceous rocks, with a force of 15 men since the first of August.

1859. The Phoenix mine is a half mile or so back of the mouth of the Eagle River. The agent, Mr. Farwell, is the principal stockholder. [DFP-1859-1011]

1868. For sale, a steam engine, 150 horsepower, with boilers complete, suitable for a rolling mill or saw-mill. For full particulars apply at the Phoenix Mine, Eagle River, where it can be seen. [DFP-1868-0316]

1868. On Wednesday noon of last week a party of three men working in a long adit crossing the formation came into a little change house near the mouth of the adit, having with them a can containing four pounds of blasting oil. This oil was hung over the hot stove to thaw or warm, and in changing, one of the men knocked the can down on the stove, whereupon it exploded with great violence, tearing the building to fragments, killing one man outright, and wounding the other two so severely that one of them died the same evening and the other was in danger at last accounts. The next day, another accident occurred in NO. 2 shaft, Robbins vein, whereby one man was instantly killed. The explosion took place either while the man was in the act of p[lacing the cartridge in the hold, or before. [DFP-1l868-0513].

1874. February 13. Explosion in the Phoenix Mine - Six Men Literally Blown To Pieces. About 7:30 pm, a terrible accident occurred at the Phoenix Mine, two miles from Eagle River. Four miners and a subordinate underground officer were preparing in an apartment of a building on the location occupied by the mining capitan as his office, a quantity of dualin, to use that night in making a "sad blast" in the mine. The men were taking the dualin - 100 lbs. - from its original package and transferring it to a bag, when the explosion took place. Beside the dualin, there were three kegs of powder in the room. Three of the men were handling the explosive, the fourth was holding a lighted candle, and the fifth stood looking on when the explosion occurred. The house was shattered to atoms and the men literally blown to pieces. Capt. John Hoatson, underground superintendent of the mine, was in his office in an adjoining room seated at his desk, and was struck by one of the flying missiles on the left side of the head and face, receiving such injuries that he died this (Sunday) morning. Captain John Hoalson, a highly respected citizen of the district for a number of years, aged 46, native of Scotland leaves a wife and four children; Capt. Richard Johns, English, unmarried; Fred Striker, German, wife and eight children; Dilliam Dunn, English, unmarried; and two brothers named Marks, English, one of whom leaves a wife and four children. The miners were buried today. Capt. Hoatson is to be burried on Tuesday at Calumet. [PHTH-1874-0220]

Editors Note: Dualin is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin and nitrogenized cellulose using saw dust or wood pulp. It is inferior to dynamite and more liable to explosion. Dualin was invested by the Prussian chemist Lieutenant Dittmar in April, 1869. [Wiki]

1878. It was noted that the Phoenix copper mine has been worked 30 years, expended over $1,000,000, and paid $20,000 in dividends. [PHTH-1878-0410] It was accomplished with the old hand drills and hammers and machinery that are now obsolete. [DFP-1899-0418]

1899. After lying idle for twenty years past, the Phoenix mine in Keweenaw County will be reopened this summer and worked for all it is worth. [DFP-1899-0327] Under Stanton management. [IWT-1899-0408]

1900. July 27. A story comes from Calumet that is romantic and characteristic of Miss Helen Gould, the famous New York woman. On her western trip recently she passed through the copper country incognito. This is proved by the fact that Harry S. Jackson, the 16-year-old son of Captain Simeon Jackson of the Phoenix mine, left for New York the other day with money sent to him by Miss Gould. While inspecting the Phoenix nine, in Ontonagon COunty, with a party, Miss Gould was impressed with the lad, who refused a tip for holding her horses. She questioned him closely and then asked him if he would not like to go to New York and take a position and, possibly, go abroad. He said he would think it over and later wrote accepting her offer. A check came for $80, with instructions to come as soon as possible. [UVC-1900-0727] Note: This was identified as Ontonagon County but we have no record of a mine by that name in that county. It was likely at this mine.

1900. September 23. By an explosion of fire-damp in the Phoenix copper mine, Keweenaw County, Capt. John Mitchell and two miners, Ernest Platt and Michael Phillips were severely injured. Only one similar explosion has ever occurred before in a Michigan copper mine, and that was also at the Phoenix, nearly a quarter of a century ago. [PHTH-1900-0922]  Editors Note: Firedamp is described as any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane.  [Wiki]

1902. Reports from the Phoenix mine are good. The mill will be put into commission about July 1, and the mine will then become a producer. Many thousands of tons of good stamp rock are waiting treatment, and the mass and barrel copper is being shipped to the smelter from time to time. [DFP-1902-0316]

1902. The Phoenix mine railroad has been completed. [DFP-1902-0608]

1902. Work on the new shaft at the St. Clair vein of the Phoenix mine has progressed so favorably that at present it is believed that the new shaft will be cut through and ready for operations by October 1. [DFP-1902-0716]

1902. Joseph Cenkoviak, Croatian miner at the Phoenix mine, was killed instantly by a premature discharge of a blast. He was thirty-five years old and single. [PHDH-1902-0924]

1902. The wild man who has been terrorizing the country in the vicinity of the Phoenix mine location has been captured and proves to be a lunatic named Smith who escaped from the Newberry asylum ten years ago. He is not able to tell where he has been in the meantime. [BHN-1902-0927]

1903. William Beauchaine of Lake Linden is dead as a result of overexertion in dancing. He fell off a scaffold at the Phoenix mine last September and received injuries that made him crazy on the subject of dancing. Eight men could not restrain him when he decided to go to a dance, and it was simply a succession of dances with him. It was not unusual for him to dance 30 dances in a night. He was 25 years old. [DFP-1903-0411]

1904. January 4. Shipments of mass and barrel copper from the Phoenix mine are going to the Portage Lake smelters over the Copper Range railroad by way of Calumet. The Phoenix is rich in heavier grades of copper. Results from the stamp rock are very good also, and the mine is making a very good showing. Mineral, mass and barrel copper from the mine are necessarily hauled to Calumet, as there is no railroad to the Phoenix location. On the return trip, the teams take mine supplies. [DFP-1904-0104]

1904. November. At the Phoenix mine in Keweenaw County, operations on the west vein have been discontinued and work is confined to the St. Clair openings. An exhaustive mill test was made on the rock from the west vein before work was stopped and it was found that the percentage of copper was so low that a profit was not possible. The west vein values were diminishing with depth, the lower levels being extremely poor. Other operations continue. All of the available machinery at the abandoned west shaft is being removed to the present workings wherever it can be utilized. [DFP-1904-1121]

1905. June 21. The Phoenix Mine has been closed. [DFP-1905-0621]

1906. April 27. Sheriff Bawden of Keweenaw county has taken an insane woman named Kuberg to the asylum at Newberry. He found her a raving maniac in her home near the Phoenix mine. Her husband is a paralytic (sic) and the four children in the family were in danger of being murdered, as she had threatened their lives several times. [UVC-1906-0427]

1908. 750 Pounds of Dynamite Bangs. With a report that was heard for miles, 750 pounds of dynamite exploded at Phoenix Consolidated mine in Keweenaw County, completely destroying the old power house and wrecking windows in nearby buildings. An explosion of powder at the same spot 25 years ago killed 12 miners. It was reported that pieces of clothing and a man's finger were found today, but these reports could not be confirmed. No cause is known for the explosion. [DFP-1908-0609]

1908. June 11. 750 pounds of dynamite in the power house of the Phoenix mine let go on a hill overlooking the town of Phoenix, wrecking the Phoenix machine ships, blowing out part of a store and part of the residence of Superintendent J.C. Shields of the Keweenaw Central railroad. Every house in the town was shaken and windows and doors smashed, while showers of stone and debris fell upon the town. No one was killed though it was reported that the finger and pieces of clothes of a man were found. [DD-1908-0613]