NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER

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NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER

• by AL STIMAC

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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ONTONOGAN BOULDER 3708 POUNDS
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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)

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HALFBREED
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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

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MENARD MASS 18 TONS
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QUICY MASS 16 TONS
QUINCY MASS 16 TONS
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LARGE MASSES WERE CUT UNDERGROUND
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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

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LATEST BOULDER FIND

• Offshore 1991
• Seventeen Tons
• Removed in 2001
• Destination Michigan Tech Mineral Museum at
  Quincy Steam Hoist

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• Boulders

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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

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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

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Cliff Mine

• Operated from 1846 to 1856
• 108K Investment Yielded 3.8M

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HORSEPOWER LITERALLY
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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

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Calumet Heclas Quincy Mine
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NORDBERG 2500 HP HOIST
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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

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MECHANICAL DRILL REPLACED TEAMS
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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

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CARBON DATING ISLE ROYALE
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• HOPEWELL

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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

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WHERE WAS THIS OTHER MARKET DEMAND

• One Mans Theory
• - Pre Phoenician (Minoan/Cretan)
• - Sea Faring Traders
• - Alphabet Based on Guttural Sounds
• - Religion with Monolithic Worship
• -Flourished from roughly 3000BC to 1200BC

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MEGALITH TRACKS

• Cyprus/Crete Sicily Corsica
• Majorca Almeria Lisbon
• Britany Stonehenge(3100-1100BC)
• Belfast Hebrides/Orkneys Iceland
• Greenland Labrador
• New England Minnesota/Michigan

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SWEDISH DOLMEN
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SALEM NEW YORK DOLMEN
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MINNESOTA DOLMEN
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MICHIGAN DOLMEN
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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)

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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

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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

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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

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Bibliography continued

• Miskawabik Red Metal (The Roles Played by
  Michigans Copper in Prehistoric America) by
  Halsey 1992
• Boom Copper by Angus Murdoch 1943
• Starnfers and Sojourners(A History of Michigans
  Keweenaw Peninsula) by Thurner 1994
• Images of America Lake Superior Country 2002

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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

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Bibliography continued

• Michigan Copper The Untold Story by Rydholm 2006
• Old Reliable an Illustrated History of the Quincy
  Mining Company Lankton Hyde
  1982