Laurie Bashaw and her husband, Ed recently were tourists in their own town of Ishpeming when they visited the Cliffs Shaft Museum. She said it’s a must see tour and mentioned that their guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the mine. This iron mine opened in 1868 and operated for nearly a century until closing in 1967. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. That first photo shows a tiny office in what almost looks like a closet, with a sign that reminded the workers there was no smoking when underground. The next three photos are of some of the historic equipment that was used in the iron mine.

The tall structure in the fifth photo is the historic “B” Shaft concrete headframe that was used to lower the miners into the mine. It was built in 1919 with a distinct Egyptian Revival architectural style to resemble an Egyptian obelisk, designed by Geroge W. Maher, it stands 97 feet tall.

After their tour, Laurie and Ed walked outside to check out that 170 ton production truck. Look at the size of the tires compared to Ed standing next to one, they’re 12 feet high. Ed recalls his Dad telling him that he drove this type of truck in an open pit mine at the Republic Mine. That’s one HUGE truck. Thanks for the mini tour, Laurie!

From Ishpeming, we head south to Norway, MI and join Michigan Rocks. They made a stop at Kingsley North in Norway, a lapidary store with a huge selection of rough rock, tumblers, grit, jewery supplies, etc., all at good prices. Jonathan and Rob split 25 lbs. of Botswana Agates that day, among their other purchases. Rob mentioned if you can’t visit in person, you can also shop their online store.

Very cool pictures. So much history to explore
around here.

WOW! Incredible!

Imagine getting up in that truck! Much less drive
it...I'd LOVE to give it a shot tho!!

Cool vid...lots of beautiful stuff!

Hi
I saw trucks like that at the limestone quarry near
Rogers City. I was at a public viewing spot up top; the
trucks looked like kids' toys from that perspective.

The rock shop looks like great fun.

That's a mighty big truck; but it's small compared to the gigantic electrics that they use on the salt flats, out west.

That was a fun day, being a tourist in our own town. The trucks at
the Tilden Mine in Ishpeming today, can carry 320 tons of ore in
one haul. That’s a lot more than this truck could haul. My late
husband would tell me that he couldn’t even see a regular size
pick up truck while sitting in the cab.

The Cliffs Shaft Museum was a fun place to
explore, with plenty of above ground things
to see (if you prefer not to go in the tunnel).
Great collection of Mineral specimens too!
And will definitely have to find that rock
shop if we get back to Norway :)