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Copyright © 1996-2003
Kevin E. Musser


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The Keweenaw Photo Shop

Photo Album III


This page is devoted to those of you who wish to share your photos of the Copper Country with those who visit this site. If you have a photo or two or three that you would like to share please send electronic copies to me and I will be happy to display them here. If you don't have access to a scanner and would still like to have your photos displayed here just send me a note and we will work it out. It's a good way to get your photos scanned for free and have fun sharing your work with others in the process. Hope to hear from you soon. (Kevin Musser)

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The Photos of Don Ross


Don Ross relates:

Several of us decided to head north from Milwaukee to check out the Q&TL and also the remains of the Ontonogon RR.

We got into Hancock late in the evening as we had stopped at Ontonogon on the way. We did find National Container's 2-6-2 which had been an Ontongon locomotive plus a flanger, but these were standard gauge. It started to snow when we arrived.

We checked into a downtown hotel and when we got up in the morning there was just about a foot of snow, and it was the first week in October. We found a caboose and the plow, a bunch of ore cars, decaying track, a water tank, and the engine house. Operation had quit in 1946, 13 years earlier.

Outside was a new boiler for one of the locomotives. It was sinking thru the deck of a flatcar. Inside were 4 locomotives just as they had been pulled in, a long night before. It was like something out of a science fiction thriller. There was a journal box in the shaper half way thru the cut. Work clothes were still hanging from the wall. I don't have my notes any more (almost 40 years ago), so I don't have details on the locomotives.

There had been no vandalism. The only problem was weathering. The roof in the office had given way and it was a mess, but the engine house was really something. I might mention that the evening before, we had arrived at dusk and looked in the head house. Here was the biggest piece of machinery I had ever seen in a cathedral like building. The operator stand was even with the middle of the winding drum and it was almost 20 feet above the floor. There were cylinders on each of the four corners of the winding machine. I estimate they were at least 3 feet across and 5 feet long. The drum must have been 30 to 40 feet in diameter and about 30 feet wide. It was made of several castings bolted together. The indicator, which no longer had cable, showed a depth of over 5000 feet, but it was probably on an angle--under Lake Superior. A memorable experience. If you want more, read the history here.


The Photos of Mark Suokas

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From Mark Suokas comes a glimpse into the end of an era in Copper Country railroading. The date is July 9, 1972, a few months before the end of operations on the Copper Range, as these coaches take their last ride down the line to McKeever. Sold off (to where I am not sure, any help?) and gone forever.

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The trailing end of the same train above featuring CRRR caboose 605.

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Copper Range RR Firesteel River Bridge in Winter

 



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