West Ludington Mine → West Chapin Mine → Became
Operated for 14 years.
From: 1922
Location: SW-NW and NW-SW Sec. 25 of T40N-R31W [LSIO-1950]
Owned by: Jackson Iron & Steel Co. for own consumption;
Produced: Iron Ore, hard, red, siliceous, crushed.
Method: Open pit by steam shovel.
Railroad connection: C&NW and :MILW to port o Escanaba.
Until: 1936
Lifetime Production: 144,760 tons between 1922 and 1936.
Source: [LSIO]
The West Chapin Mine was located in Iron Mountain in Dickenson County.
SE 1/4 of NE 1/4, N 1/2 of SE 1/4 and SW 1/4 of SE 1/4 of Section 26, T40N, R31W
Exploration in 1882.
1882. December. The West Chapin Mining Company is now a Detroit organization, a number of capitalists in the city having united in the purchase of a sufficient block of stock to give them control. Williard Parker was elected President and D.R. Shaw Secretary and Treasurer. The property is located one mile west of the celebrated Chapin mine on the Menominee Range. [DFP-1882-1205]
1921, November. Pouring of concrete for the new charcoal furnace of the West Chapin mine has started. [FLJ-1921-1104]
1927. The Iron Mountain Mining and Manufacturing Co. of which John T. Spencer of Iron Mountain is vice president, is now actively shipping from the West Chapin mine. The property consists of a small open cut worked out at the outcrop and at another point on the property there is a 600 foot shaft. [MCH-1927-0902]
1929. June. Resumption of activity at the old West Chapin mining property, operated intermittently during the past several years, began Tuesday morning with the shipment to the mine of a new $13,000 P&H excavator, manufactured in Milwaukee and capable of scooping up 7/8 of a yard of ore at a single dip. Organized under a lease secured from the Keweenaw Mining company of Cleveland, by John T. Spencer of Iron Mountain, the West Chapin has been several times re-organized and abandoned, passing from one group of stockholders to another, until today, with all previous leases cancelled and ineffective, the property has simply been turned over to Mr. Spencer and his son, John T. Jr. with the right to mine. The history of the mine goes far back to the early days of the iron mining district. All efforts to operate the mine profitably have failed for various reasons, and gradually the rights of the many stockholders have expired. [IDG-1919-0725]
