Mar 19, 2023
Gypsum, Cliff Mine, Michigan, USA, photo by Travis Olds
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Gypsum, Cliff Mine, Michigan, USA, photo by Travis Olds
Cliff Mine from a 50s era postcard. Not sure of the date of the photo. False color. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cliff-Mine-Keweenaw-Eagle-River-Harbor-Phoenix-Calumet-MI-Michigan-Copper-Mining-/371471309521?hash=item567d6a5ad1#viTabs_0
Tech archaeologists hosting free tours of Cliff Mine site
CLIFTON - The Michigan Technological University Industrial Archaeology Field School is in its fourth year excavating sites near the Cliff Mine - the first profitable copper mine in the Keweenaw - and students in the program are once again preparing to guide the public on tours of the historic site.
The free tours start this weekend, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, with the last tour starting at 3:30 p.m. both days. Tours, which leave from the east end of Cliff Drive, about a mile from the town of Phoenix, near the junction of U.S. 41, will also be held June 22-23 and 29-30, the final two weekends of the seven-week field school program.
People are welcome to stop by and ask questions between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday as well while the teams work on the site. Read more.
Students excavate Cliff Mine site
CLIFTON - As the California Gold Rush was at its peak and Charles Darwin was forming the theory of evolution by natural selection, men in the Copper Country worked in the mines.
Now surrounded by poor rock and remnants of stamp sand, the Cliff Mine was the first profit-bearing mine in the area before shutting down in 1869. The site along the cliff was chosen after a vein discovered at the area was deemed prime for mining, said Tim Scarlett, an associate professor of archaeology at Michigan Technological University.
"This site would have been at the base of notch where trams would bring (material) down from the original shaft at the top," he said. "There was also a stream running through Eagle River and they could pull water out of Eagle River to run water through the jigs for washing the sands." Read more.