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[coppercountryexplorer]

In 1864 Eagle Harbor was a thriving port town of about 500 people trading heavily in the shipment of copper from the neighboring mines. At that time the Eagle Harbor House (known at that time as Kunz's Hotel after its proprietor) was joined by two other hotels - Wright's Hotel and the Houghton House. Ten stores had also set up shop in the young village including three general stores, a hardware store, a grocery store, three cobblers (makers of shoes), a milliner (maker of hats), a tailor, and a carriage maker. There was also two doctors, a collection of masons and carpenters, and a blacksmith.

Any of those businesses could have once set up shop in one of these two buildings sitting up along Front Street next to the old Eagle Harbor House. Both of these structures date from at least 1900, though both were most likely older. The first floor would have housed a business while the second apartments, possibly even apartments for the proprietor of the business in question. The only known tenant of these two is the building on the right which once housed the town's Post Office.

[coppercountryexplorer]

As we travel along Front Street, we pass by one of the oldest buildings still standing in the old harbor town - the Eagle Harbor House. First erected in 1845 by the Eagle Harbor Mining Company as one of the town's four original log structures. It was originally a boarding house, used to house mostly visiting mine officials and investors. Over the years it was expanded and added on to and once sported a blacksmith shop and a warehouse.

The old boarding house would serve in that capacity for most of the building's life, first operated by German immigrant Charles Kunz till 1902, then by his nephew Thomas Parks up until 1944, and finally by J.C. Westlake and his son. The hotel closed its doors in 1973, and was then converted into a private residence. The original log building at its core, however, still survives to this day.

[coppercountryexplorer]

Taking a slight pause in our journey to appreciate Eagle Harbor's large swimming beach, our gaze turns outwards across the impressive vista which presents itself. Long the harbor's southern shore erupts rusty volcanic outcroppings while in the background rises a soaring forest-covered hillside. The looming hill is officially known as Lookout Mountain, though it is more locally known as Mount Baldy. Rising over 700 feet tall, the mountain's peak is "bald", meaning it is largely tree-less and thus provides an unobstructed 360 degree view out and across the surrounding landscape.

[coppercountryexplorer]

The presence of both the Driftwood and the Shoreline Resort - both having once sported gas pumps - indicate that at least at some point in history this was an important cross-roads. From here travelers such as ourselves have three options: south up the hill towards Copper Falls, east towards Copper Harbor, or back west to Eagle River. For our journey we turn westward, and thus make a left and continue along Eagle Harbor's main thoroughfare - Front Street.

Front Street is so called due to being the street most forward facing to the harbor. It was along here that most of the town's businesses set up shop. Today the street is most famous for providing access to the town's rather generous (and quite popular in the summer) sand swimming beach. Such recreational use is a more modern addition, as historically the wide beach was used as a staging ground freight and cargo arriving to or leaving from the harbor.

[coppercountryexplorer]

Across the street from the old gas station sits an oddly proportioned building. This was once the shoreline resort, a small hotel situated along the southern end of the harbor. It too once featured a selection of gas pumps, and a touristy place to stop for travelers heading north. The building has received some additions and alterations over the years, its facade having once looked far more "Northwoods" than it does today.

[coppercountryexplorer]

Upon entering Eagle Harbor the old Copper Falls Road becomes Pine Street, a residential street which marks the southern border of the harbor town. After a few blocks Pine Street reaches the harbor itself and is cut-off by the modern M26 as it snakes its way around the harbor's south-west corner on its way eastward towards Copper Harbor. Here the intersection is anchored by a house sitting at an angle to the corner - an alignment that almost always indicates the presence of an old gas station.

Turns out this home was just that, though it was far smaller in its original gas-station configuration. In the 1950s the building was home to a small restaurant called the driftwood, in addition to selling gas out front. Later the building would be enlarged to include an expanded wing anchored with a field stone fireplace. At some point the gas pumps were removed and the building converted into a private residence.

[coppercountryexplorer]

Along the road to Eagle Harbor...

Just past Eliza Lake lies another landmark of note - the last before entering the harbor town of Eagle Harbor. This is the town's cemetery, a burial ground known as Pine Grove. Established in 1859, the cemetery would serve not only the town but various surrounding mines as well. Graves for men who lost their lives at the Central, Delaware, and Copper Falls can all be found here (including the 13 men who lost their lives at Central No. 2).

Located within the shade of a pine forest and largely enveloped by levy ferns, the cemetery is particularly picturesque. Most striking is the abundance of large iron crosses - ancient nameless markers that help give the burial ground a haunting old-world atmosphere.

[coppercountryexplorer]

Along the road to Eagle Harbor..

Eliza Lake was used for a variety of purposes throughout the Keweenaw's history. In addition to providing water to neighboring mines, it also served for a time as a fresh water source and fire protection reservoir to the neighboring harbor town of Eagle Harbor. Today its purpose is strictly aesthetic, though the old dam which impounded it so many decades ago has been updated and maintained through the years. It's modern spillway sits at the lakes eastern end, under a short rocky outcropping.  

[coppercountryexplorer]

On the way to Eagle Harbor....

Leaving the sprawling sands behind we head eastward along a sandy two-track making its way through a pine forest. This is the original Eagle Harbor road, a route cut through the forest to connect the young Copper Falls Mine to the harbor. Later when the mine moved uphill, the road moved with it, leaving the original road to be largely reclaimed by the surrounding forest.

Before reaching Eagle Harbor the road first passes by one last remnant of the old Copper Falls empire - the blue waters of Eliza Lake. This is a man-enhanced lake, impounded on its eastern end by a small earthen dam original built by the Eagle Harbor Mining Company but later utilized by the Copper Falls Mine to help supply water to its mill. The lake is supplied water via Eliza Creek, which has its beginnings high up the hill near current day US41.

[coppercountryexplorer]

The sprawling sands of the Copper Falls Mill are an impressive sight to behold in person. Once such deposits could be found along rivers and lakeshores all across the peninsula, but in recent years these man-made deserts have become a rare sight in the old Copper Country. In recent years these mine tailings deposits have been rehabilitated to lessen their ecological impact - their surfaces covered in topsoil and their edges stabilized. This keeps the sands from spreading and choking off the plant life in rivers and lakes.

Such remediation has not occurred as of yet at Copper Falls, and a quick google map view of the area reveals the extent of the devastation already inflicted on the landscape after just a century of time. The land mass colored in yellow in the image below shows how far the sands have spread and how much area has been affected. Its a sizable chunk, even more startling when one sits on the edge of the expanse and gazes out across the desolation.

[coppercountryexplorer]

Besides a few crumbling rubble-rock walls, iron posts, and the old boiler stack there is not much left to be found of the old Copper Falls Mill. For the most part the building has dissolved largely to dust as the surrounding forest reclaimed the land. That being true, the old mill has left behind something to remember it by - a legacy that if left untouched will survive for centuries and broadcast the old mill's existence to our ancestors for generations. Those remains are, of course, the sprawling expanse of stamp sands it had deposited into the neighboring marshlands during the decades it was operating - a lifeless alien landscape of finely crushed rock that stretch out for over a half mile from the old mill site.

[coppercountryexplorer]

The piece of boiler stack found in the ravine at the old Copper Falls Mill suggested the presence of a nearby boiler stack base - the masonry pillar on which the old stack would have been attached. At Copper Falls that base structure does indeed exist, but interestingly it sits up at the top of the ravine. Its a good size too, a rubble-rock pillar standing a good 10 feet tall and six feet on a side. The remains of the old flue stretch away from the structure's base, but today leads to nowhere as the rest of the old mill's boiler house has disappeared from the landscape.

[coppercountryexplorer]

Boiler stacks come in all shapes and sizes throughout the Copper Country. While the soaring concrete stack may be the most iconic, the most common version of the stack was the iron stack. Concrete stacks were expensive to erect, and would only be done so when a mine reached a level of maturity - and wealth - which permitted such extravagance. Iron was cheaper, and when placed atop a foundation built of easily attainable rubble or poor rock it created a cheap but workable boiler exhaust system.

This was the type of stack used at the Copper Falls Mill. We had found the iron portion of the stack already - laying down in the narrow gorge next to the mill remains. That meant there was one more piece of the puzzle yet to discover....

[coppercountryexplorer]

The steep hillside along which the Copper Falls Mill was built featured several narrow chasms cutting through its path. Most of these ravines are home to river beds - some old, others still flowing with water. One features something a bit different, the remains of the mill's boiler house and coal bins.

As is usual for boiler houses, however, there is not much to see in the ravine today. One item of note is this large iron tube laying on its side and half buried in the leaves and debris. Though one might assume this is the remains of a boiler, its skin is far to thin and its shape crushed too much to have been a boiler. Instead this piece of iron was once the Copper Fall Mill's smoke stack - once having fallen from its high perch and dropped into the ravine where it lies today.

[coppercountryexplorer]

At the site of the old Copper Falls Mill nature has reclaimed her domain, a new cedar and pine forest has overtaken the old mill's remains in the century since its closure. Thick and full of underbrush this new forest largely conceals the mill's scattered remnants from view, requiring a laborious and skin-scratching trek to check them out for yourself. Those remnants are for the most part subtle and have blended into the landscape so well it seems almost intentional - as if the old mill wants to be ignored and forgotten in its current state. 

[coppercountryexplorer]

While originally the old Copper Falls Mine may have had a home at the base of old Petherick Hill outside of Eagle Harbor, that particular copper outcropping proved to be minimal at best. In short order the mine moved uphill to more lucrative prospects, but its old home at the base of the hillside would soon come in handy for another purpose: as home to the mine's stamp mill. 

The location had everything a stamp mill could want. While the little Owl Creek itself could not provide the necessary supply of water, it combined with the neighboring Trap Creek (now Eliza Creek) and a large reservoir high up the hill could provide plenty. Additionally the swamp lands surrounding the site provided a great place to dump the millions of pounds of stamp sands the mill would generate. And lastly and adit driven into the base of the hill provided convenient access to the mine, making an expensive railway or tramway moving up and down the steep hillside unnecessary. Thus in 1880 the Copper Falls Mine erected its first mill at the site - a structure that would be used on and off for over 30 years.

[coppercountryexplorer]

The Copper Falls marked on maps today is actually the “new” Copper Falls location. The “old” and original Copper Falls sat further down the hill - nestled within the swampy valley found at the hill’s base. This early site accompanied the mine’s first attempt at mining here around 1845 along a fissure vein outcropping within Owl Creek. The mine would not last long, the fissure vein in question turning out to be rather scarce in the copper department. The company would not be deterred however, and would move operations further up the hill at a fissure of greater potential (the mine we just finished exploring).

Here’s a look at that failed mine site as depicted in this old 1849 map. While obviously not to scale, you can see Owl Creek flowing through its center along with a few surface plant structures. Though a failure as a mine, this site would later be utilized for another important purpose - as home to the mine’s stamp mill.