Charlie,

This is Alex Protzel down in Copper Harbor. I was on hand for the raising of the largest piece of float copper in the world. It outsizes and outweighs the Ontanogan boulder (currently residing in the Smithsonian).

I shot a full video of the raising and a few stills after that. I was in a kayak observing the entire operation.

These are a couple stills from the video and one still showing the that it is PURE copper. Strangely enough, it is approximately shaped like Lake Superior. 19 feet by 11 feet are the rough dimensions.

Alex -

Thanks for sharing this historic occasion on the Pasty Cam. It was reported that boulder will reside in the 1894 Hoist House at Quincy Mine, which is another one of the sites showcased here at Pasty Central.

WOW! What a chunk !!!!!!!!!!
How did they find the copper? Was it a recent find? More details please.
Thank you for letting us in on the fun and sharing such a momentous occasion!
Every day is an adventure on the Pasty Cam. We love it! It's worth the price of our internet service.

There is an article about the find by Roger Wickstrom at the Mining Gazette's website. Find it at one of the 2 following links (depending on the day you read this):

WHAT A FIND!!! Want to THANK YOU Charlie for this site where we can enjoy all the things from there, even tho we live sooo far from 'UP HOME'. My first reaction to the picture was: Wish my dad and my two grandfathers who worked for C & H could see that. They would have loved it. What a piece of copper.

Totally awesome...I've been away from the Copper Country since 1978 when I enlisted in the Army and it's an incredible feeling to experience something like this, even though it's through the internet. I sure wish this piece of copper "treasure" was displayed here in Atlanta, GA. Thanks for making my day :)

Awesome pics!

Must have really been something to witness!

The Traprock Valley also has a lot of float copper down below the surface. It is often frustrating trying to drill a well there because the drill hits a float copper and the well must be moved to another location. It is not presently profitable to located the copper and dig it up. There really is COPPER in The Copper Country.

As far back as the early 1900's my family members were all employed in copper mining related jobs in the Copper Country. As I grow older I realize more and more the treasure we shared in growing up there. Thank you Pasty.com for keeping us abreast of the news from that beautiful area.

hey perk, lets invest in scuba equiptment!

I was pleased to read in the Gazette that this piece of float copper belongs to the state of Michigan, will remain in the museum and not fall prey to the smelter and end up as pennies in the piggy bank or copper wire. Far more interesting this way and continues to stimulate the imaginations of generations to come. Thank you for making us aware and keeping us informed. I hope the museum curator will see fit to display these interesting pictures and/or video to see how it was brought to the surface.

hey charlie! this is not the biggest piece of float copper found, there's a 40 ton chunk (80,000 lbs) in a swamp on quincy hill. true!! i have pictures of it . its on private property

Gee, and i was impressed when i found a 2 1/2 pound piece in my yard this spring...
Was out of town and missed the biggest news story
to happen in awhile.The pics are great,glad it
is staying here and not being sold off.

I have a wonderful old postcard of tons of copper ingots entitled "Copper for Shipment Houghton Mich." I'd be happy to send a scan if anyone is interested.
Thanks for the wonderful reminders of the Copper Country. I enjoy them so much!

Hey Folks! Thanks much for this photo! Every time I take my young sons to the Smithsonian down in D.C., I make sure to point out the big copper piece there and give it a good rub (the closest thing to home). They cannot believe their eyes! Wait 'til they see this one! Just incredible! Yes!- many, many thanks to whomever saved this chunk. Kudos! Kathleen in MD

If anyone is still reading this, I put a few pictures of the entire operation up here:

http://www.skyenet.net/~protzel/cu_gallery_new.htm

They are stills from the video I took.

Alex

What about a hand to the awesome guy who was running the crane to get this BEAUTY out of the water.....Mr Alfred Holman!!!!