• Sunday-What'sUP August 29 - 03:22 pm

A couple of weeks ago we had the group shot of the timber crew at No. 5 shaft in Calumet, which reminded me of this photo I've been meaning to upload for a long time. This is actually hanging on the wall at Still Waters. See the intersection near the church steeple? That's where Elm Street ends, running into Mine street. Elm is the street which runs back to the left of the above photo past Calumet Theatre several blocks away. The rails crossing Elm Street terminate at Shafthouse No. 5, and these rails run exactly through the spot where Still Waters stands today.

That aerial view from Neil Harri earlier this month shows the spot where the Shafthouse stood. It is surrounded by the wooden fence:

Wow, the 1893 pic looks so desolate, eh. Makes you realize just how 'way out from everyone else' the earlier settlers were.

Gee, proof that maybe "change" is better?? Great comparison photos, thanks and Good Morning everyone!

thanks for the picture. I will print it and add it to my genealogy book. this being the year my great grandfather,oscar palovaara imigrated to calumet from sweden. I am a big fan of the pasty cam and start my weekends with this site and a good cup of coffee.

From what tall structure could this photo have been taken? Perhaps from a balloon? It certainly appears to be an aerial shot, but it was taken 10 yrs. before Orville and Wilbur Wright's flight at Kittyhawk.

John,

I think the photographer was on top of the smokestack down by the high school. (In the upper right of the aerial view). I've often thought I would like to go to the top of the smokestack and take a picture from the same angle.

Thanks for sharing this great photo Charlie!

Having spent my youth playing in the Mine Street fields, I wonder if I was ever in danger. Never crossed my mind at the time. Where the church stood: Again in my youth, the Rowe family had/has a home. Was it the church on that property or, in those days, the empty field next door? We spent lots of time skiing down the hill to Rowes thinking, in our youthful imaginations, it was top notch!

Hi,
Great photos. Charlie is correct about the old photo being made from one of the smoke stacks. Seems like every time a new stack was built or an old one was repaired the last thing done before start-up was to send a photographer up for a bird's eye view of the surface plants. Since this was way before OSHA, it took a brave soul to get up there with the huge cameras of the day.
No. 5 Calumet was on the north end of the mine and was in relatively poor ground until it reached some depth. The real rich part of the Calumet Conglomerate Lode started at the surface in the "Hecla" portion of the C&H mine and extended downward and to the northwest, all the way out to what was called the 5-40's. The Centennial Mine was first opened on the northern strike of the lode and found little commercial values in the early days. The lode was deeper than they expected and they ran out of capital before hitting the profitable part of the lode. Centennial 3 & 6 are old shafts that C&H reopened in the 1950's to reach the Calumet Conglomerate at depth.
Note the double posts along the railroad tracks, these are pulley stands supporting the hoisting cable. Calumet shafts 4 & 5 were both hoisted by drums off the Superior Engine which was housed right behind the present High School. The little brick building that still stands housed the "man" hoist for the north end of the mine. Note the higher pulley stands between the little hoisthouse and No. 4.
The clear cutting of the forest made the place look desolate to our 21st century eyes. In the 19th century and through the first decade or so of the 20th, this was a booming center of industry and the gateway to the US for many immigrants. It was a hard place, to be sure, but many of us owe our present lifestyle to those who came over and toughed it out in places like Calumet. During the coming Labor Day weekend, give some thought and thanks to all those in your families that started thier quest for a better life in places like Calumet.

Cool! nice to see before and "since then."

Thanks, Charlie & Paul. In your description of the hoist(s), it reminded me of when my father took me to work with him a few times when he was a hoistman at the Zimmerman and later the Berkshire mine near Gaastra and Caspian, MI, respectively. That was a long time before the "take your child to work" practice started! I remember him referring to the man hoist as the "cage", and the ore hoist as the "skip". All communication between the men underground and the hoistman was done with bells.

Great photos of the area today. The mines were equally impressive underground as well. I have some of the old C&H underground workings maps from the 1890's through the 1950's and it is very interesting to see the progression throughout the years. Unfortunitly I don't have them here in my hands right now as they are still packed away in boxes, so I cant give specifics on the extent of the workings. But, I do know there were DEEP!!!