Mine: Mansfield Mine, Crystal Falls, MI

Began → Mansfield Mine → Became

Operated for 24 years.

From: 1889

Location: Lots equivalent to SW-SW Sec. 17 and NW-NW Sec. 20 of T43N-R31W

Owned by: Caledonia Iron Co., then Oliver Iron Mining Co.

Produced: Iron Ore, hard, brown, non-Bessemer.

Method: Underground. Depth: 1,517 feet.

Railroad connection: C&NW branch east from Crystal Falls Junction.

Until: 1913

Lifetime Production: 1,462,504 tons between 1890-1913.

[LSIO-1950]

Notes

Located about 10 miles east of Crystal Falls, MI on the C&NW Mansfield branch.

Time Line

1890. July 19. Lumber and mining supplies will now be carried over the road by the locomotive and no longer will it be necessary for horse and wagon to be brought into requisition. The Mansfield mine branch was completed one week ago this evening. Monday, the first train went forth. Eight cars of the rich Mansfield ore and tagged to Escanaba is what sped over the line. The right-of-way was also commenced on the Hemlock branch. [DD-1890-0719]

1893. September 28. Mansfield Mine, Crystal Falls, Iron Co. - Inrush of water - 28 fatalities. The mine, which was located under the Michigamme River, collapsed causing the river to flow into the various levels of the mine. 27 miners were killed in the disaster. The river was later diverted and the water was pumped out of the mine and mining resumed.

1893. September 29. The Mansfield mine, near Crystal Falls has caved in, killing 40 miners. A heavy fall of ground at the Mansfield Mine this morning entombed 40 men. The situation is awful and the scene heartrending. A rescuing party is doing everything possible with slight chances of reaching them alive. [PHTH]

1894. July 28. Fate again showed its hand at the Mansfield last night and now the last vestige of the mine and plant, with the exception of the new engine house, containing two new boilers, has been wiped out. The terrific forest fires closed in on the little village last night, and, although it stands practically in a clearing, the fury of flames consumed 25 buildings before it could be arrested. The flames came from two directions, the most formidable from a point near the old ford, down the Michigamme. All the buildings on the east bank of the river were wiped out and the approaches and other wooden parts of the bridge spanning the river at Mansfield were destroyed. The iron structure remained intact.

The old engine house, dry, shaft house and much of the trestle-work at the mine were consumed. The engine house contained most of the equipment of the mine, including a battery of three  boilers, hoisting plant, drills, air compressor, etc. The structure was light and it is hoped that the heat was not sufficiently intense to render the machinery a total loss.

None of the dwelling houses were destroyed. The large boarding house was among the number destroyed. The fire did not reach the little row of business houses on the summit of the hill. The fire was put out the following morning by a rain shower. [DD-1894-0728]

1897. February. Iron Mountain, Mich., Feb. 19--The decomposed remains of one of the twenty-seven miners drowned in the Mansfield mine, near Crystal Falls, four years ago, was recovered late last night. The workmen expect to reach the other bodies soon. It will be remembered that the Michigamme river suddenly broke into the mine and overwhelmed the miners.-- [Emporia Gazette, KS 02-19-1897]

The Mansfield Mine was located about six miles east of Crystal Falls in Iron County. The mine operated from 1890 until about 1913 when it was worked out and finally closed. Ore was shipped from this location on the Chicago & Northwestern railroad via a branch line from Crystal Falls Junction. [MINDAT]

1910. April. Orders were received her to start two of the Corrigan-McKinney shovels, one at the Dunn mine and the other at the Baker mine at Stambaugh. The Mansfield also got orders to start loading its stockpile and there was a bustle about the railroad yards to get engines and cars to handle the output. [DD-1910-0430]

1911. The Mansfield is the property of the Oliver Iron Mining Company located at Mansfield, Iron County, Mich., about seven miles east of Crystal Falls. Geologically, the Mansfield ore body stands alone. It is not of the same age as the Amasa, Crystal Falls or Iron River ore bodies nor the ore bodies at Iron Mountain and east. It lies in a thin slate formation, above and below which is greenstone. There are other slates east of the Mansfield mine which are of the same geological age as the Mansfield slate, but they are not so enclosed by greenstone. The ore body strikes nearly north and south and dips west at a high angle. It is about eleven feet thick, and very uniform, and is fairly persistent with depth.

It is spoken of by many as a true fissure vein, and looked upon as an eruptive, but the ore was concentrated in exactly the same way as were the oilier iron ore bodies of Michigan. Elsewhere the Mansfield slates have not produced ore. The mine is operated by one shaft, known as No. 2, and has a depth of 1,390 feet. It is vertical and has three compartments, two for skips and one for ladderway, pipes, etc. The skips in this shaft are suspended from single deck cages, which are used for hoisting and lowering men. The equipment here consists of one 28”x48” simple reversible Corliss hoisting engine, geared to two drums, each 10 feet in diameter with 6½ foot face. One simple duplex slide valve, two stage air compressor, steam 18”x24”, air 28¼”‘x17¼”x24”. The boiler plant consists of three 72”x18 ft. horizontal tubular boilers.

1913. March. The Mansfield mine has about suspended operations. Men were kept at work this week taking up the tools from the bottom of the mine and now nothing is being done but the pumping of water. This will be continued until further orders from headquarters. The outlook for continuous operations is not very encouraging. [DD-1913-0329]