Began → Delaware Mine → Closed
Operated for 41 years.
From: 1846
Owned by: Northwest Mining Company, Pennsylvania Mining Co., Delaware Mining Co.
Produced: Copper Ore
Method: Mine shafts.
Railroad connection: Lac La Belle & Calumet railroad.
Stamp Mill/Smelter: Delaware Mill at Lac La Belle.
Until: 1887
Lifetime Production: 8 million pounds of copper.
Image info: Top, the KC depot at Delaware Mine. [MTU]. 2nd image, a view of the rock house and tram trestle at Delaware Mine. [MTU]
Located off U.S. 41 in Grant Township, Keweenaw County. This is 12 miles south of Copper Harbor.
The mine had five shafts, the deepest reaching 1,400 feet.
The mine is open in the summer for tours. This is a Keweenaw Heritage site.
The Lac La Belle & Calumet railroad was a 3-foot narrow gauge line. It hauled copper bearing rock from the mine to the stamp mill at Lac La Belle.
1846. Prospecting begins near ancient Native American surface pits. The North West Mining Company is chartered. Early shipping was in barels of copper hauled out by wagon over a 5-mile road to Eagle Harbor on Lake Superior for lake transport. [Mining History Association]
1881. A stamp mill is built at Lac La Belle and a narrow gauge railroad is built to transport the ore. [GGAI]
