When I was in high school one of my least favorite subjects was history. I’m not sure why because my Dad seemed to know so much with so little education that I was sure I must have had some brain cells missing. But the truth of the matter is, I did not have a “connection” with my history teacher. Or at least that’s my version of the story. Fast forward many years and I realized how much I missed out on learning and what a fascinating world we live in with so many details I seemed to have missed. It’s no wonder that I have a yearning to explore and visit so many of the places that made our country what it is. As we travel across the US,we seek out places that have historical value to give us a better understanding of what it to took to survive so many years ago.
This past week we came upon the Adventure Mine in Mass, MI near Ontanagon. This was not some place we were looking for but happened to find it on our way looking for something else…which we did not find. It turns out they were just closing but if we returned another day we could take a walking tour of the underground copper mine. We returned 2 days later ready to explore the underworld. Our tour was reserved for noon. We had picked this time to allow travel time in addition to the tour length of 1 1/2 hours so Baxter wouldn’t be left home alone too long. We arrived with 15 minutes to spare....or so we thought. When we checked in they told us we missed our tour and the next one would be at 1:30! I came unglued for a minute, spoke my piece about not being late, and then they showed me the clock. We were in a different time zone! When in the UP it seems you go in and out of times zones like the sun goes in and out of the clouds. With a big apologetic smile and begging forgiveness for my indignity, I told them I was truly sorry for not being aware of the time zone and asked what we could do while waiting for the next tour (which by the way we were the only 2 on the tour). They pointed out several short hikes we could choose from that would take in sights we would not see on the tour. We chose the shortest one. Thankfully we made it back only a few minutes late. They were so understanding and our guide was ready and waiting.
Our options, luckily we took the right path.
Typical path
Foundation of part of the mine
Rob exploring one of the caves
Inside the cave
Entrance into a no longer used shaft.
Remains of the Powder house
Me thankful for a boardwalk!
tour guide, Quince, was a very knowledgeable (and cute) college geology student with so much enthusiasm we couldn’t help but be excited about all he had to tell us. To be honest with you, he had so much to say about the mine that my brain couldn’t keep up with it all. I will share a few facts that I recall along with some pictures.
The Adventure Mine is a copper mine (silver also) that operated from 1850 to 1920. During that time, miners removed more than 11 million pounds of native copper from the ground. It’s one of Michigan’s best-preserved historic mines. It is believed there is as much silver and copper remaining, if not more, than what was removed. There are only 2 such mines in the world that has this type of pure copper, the other being in a European mine someplace. Sorry folks, can’t remember that detail. He explained in detail how the miners maneuvered through the dark, damp mine for days on end with only the use of a candle for light to work by (I can’t even imagine how!) It is a constant 48o year round, brrrr. The ages of workers was between 8-30... that’s right, 8! Talk about child labor. But they did what they had to do.Wages for an experienced miner was a $1.00 a day and they had to supply all their own materials, including the candles they needed so they could see. And there are so many working folks today that think they have it rough! Of course, we were given the latest in fashion attire to wear while traversing the elements down below and given a chauffeured ride on a path that made you thankful for the hard hats we had on and straps to hold on to for dear life. For more interesting facts, check out the link below.
https://adventureminetours.com/about/
Entrance to Adit #1
Just part of the tunnel
Quince leading and lighting the way
Evidence of temperature
Some of the treasure found down there
Quince demonstrating the candle use
This is the device they carried the candle in
Part of the engineering tools for clearing passage
View of where we had hiked
One of the original caves used
Aren’t we stylin’!
Quince our guide
The vehicle we were chauffeured in
Leaving the mine....this is the office and store
This was such a great tour and experience. It’s just so hard to wrap my mind around all those facts and to think how difficult life was back then. It gives me a new perspective on life. We really have it made today regardless of whatever we are going through. Let’s all be thankful our lives are not as difficult today as then. I hope you can find a little but of history to explore, no matter what or where it is. And while you are doing so remember to look up, it’s amazing out there.
