Last night in the photo inbox:

This morning (April 15th), the Lake Linden Village garbage truck was rounding a corner and SURPRISE! The road caved in! Luckily, no one was hurt. It's especially a good thing that the person who usually rides on the back corner, while picking up garbage wasn't back there at the time! Hats off to our Lake Linden Village crew, who always do a great job, whether it be in the dead of winter or in the heat of the summer.

Mary Drew

How bout it Sis. Hope they didn't spill their beer.

That hole is massive. And it sounds like waterfalls are running under it. Soooooo....what's under our roads here? I remember my cousin saying there was a sink hole in Calumet once, and when their crew peeked down in there, there was all kinds of old bottles and even old cars junked under the road. Now in Lake Linden, there is supposed to be an old tunnel system, running from the old Bosch house, to the old White Pine bus garage to the old Holy Rosary Church, which is now Gilles Apartments, and in spitting distance of this big sink hole.....Any local historians care to elaborate?

Here in Fenton, new pavement must disturb the water pipes. Often there's a gusher under it and it gets ripped up immediately. No mines under Fenton that I know of, so we only have the man-made sinkholes.

Autosa on jotakin vikaa, Eino!

The building in the background is the old Holy Rosary Church. My grandfather, Anslem Studer, was a devout member of that church. He volunteered his time to build the foundation of the church..my father and his siblings went to the school. Anselm was a 22 yr old Swiss stonemason, who was just discharged from the Swiss army, when he came to Copper Harbor and worked on the foundations at Copper Falls. In 1884 he was hired by my great-grandfather, Johann Fretter, ( later his father-law) to do stonework at the Quincy mine. .......Anselm's first job was the Quincy powder house in Ripley ......he retired from C&H as chief of security for the smelts complex.

Hey Honey,
I leave the ship in 40 minutes. Keweenaw here I come !!!

I can assure "Yoop" that there are no tunnels connecting to the old Holy Rosary Church building (Gilles Apartments). I can first hand verify that there was indeed a tunnel that connected the old bottling plant building and the old brewery that stood to the north of the bottling plant but don't recall running to the old Bush/Ruppe house or anywhere else. There was to my recollection only one tunnel leading out of the bottling plant. There are several old brick sewers running from the hill sides down to the lake, a 60" that collapsed many years ago on the corner of Calumet and Eight Street and I believe that there may be a 48" on Second Street where the truck sank.

That is too funny... I've never seen anything like that in my life! ALMOST as good as the deer on the bike!

To my MANY friends here... Please note my NEW E-Mail Address, since so many write to me offline. ajharrison@attbi.com

This replaces the weatherman address.

Thanks!

What do you suppose the ladder is for?

For climbing up to elevated locations unattainable by normal means.
Wheatman

Just read the messages for the 13th of April. I had never heard of the Evening Copper Journal before. I was wondering how many newspapers were there in the Copper Country. Does anyone know if there are any microfilm copies around?

Boy thats a good one Mr Wheatman, wish I would have thought of that!!!

Our Chassell computer class enjoyed the photo. Thank goodness nobody was injured.

The ladder is for changing right rear tires of LL DPW trucks.

Is there a fire in Copper Harbor? Look at Sharon Smith's Cam.

Newspaper Microfilm Archives
TO: Doug,Taylor,Mi

Doug,
I worked for the Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton's daily paper since 1858) for nearly 4 years. At the MTU library, on the 3rd floor, there are very extensive archives of the Gazette's back issues. Some very interesting reading. The link below is to the archive dept. at the MTU library. Check out the "online exhibit" from the link, some very interesting reading there. I would call them for details on obtaining DMG microfilms.

Enjoy,
-MJN03

http://www.lib.mtu.edu/mtuarchives/mtuarchives.htm

So FLORIDA isn't the only place with sink holes, Wah! The old copper miners were a very industrious bunch of fellows. I hope da UP doesn't fall into da BIG LAKE.

Toivo,
If you are driving across I-90 today and you see a long white 15 passenger Chevy van heading in the opposite direction, give us a wave. We are leaving Dubuque IA in a few minutes and are traveling on our way to Gillette WY by way of I-90. Figure we'll probably make a stop for the night in Sioux Falls. Tomorrow we will take the detour to Keystone to see the big boys! And also Crazy Horse. Safe Journey.

so is the sink hole now a stink hole?

I went to Holy Rosary Grade School and lived
up the street from the church. There is a
launder running under second street from
behind the tracks for the excess water to run
off.

How neat, i have never seen a Chassell post! A big hello to my sisters Jessica and Stephanie, and my brother Matthew! Love you guys, and miss you! :)

Does anyone have info on a mined out tunnel running from Calumet High School for A FEW MILES ? . I heard about it today and hope to research this story!!

Pull the truck out and start a new landfill! It'd be convenient!

We in the "Bizzness" often times attribute a situation like the one above to what we call a "tile seperation".
All storm sewer catch basins (Grates on curbs to collect runoff) are connected by tubes, or "tiles"...What could have happened here is a failure of the tile that runs under the street. It could've been just a small hole, or "seperation" in it.
What happens is, this "seperation" causes all the fill material(dirt) above and around it to be washed into the tile during rain/runoff, leaving hollow ground under the pavement. All it takes is a vehicle of this proportion and weight to run over the affected area to cause the pavement to collapse, and wa lah....
If this was a "tile seperarion",upon closer inspection, the actual seperation, or hole in the tile would be visable (after they remove the truck!)

Very interesting pictures! I've also never seen a Chassell posting on here before. Hi to all my friends in Chassell!

Please don't knock my driving anymore, dear! J.K.

In Lake Linden the Harris Street creek runs right
under the center of 2'nd street.I believe it's
a concrete launder with a wooden cover.

DJB: Calumet High sits over C&H's Osceola and Kearsarge Lode mines. The Osceola Lode shafts were sunk right across the street (Calumet Ave.) from the school. These shafts are still very evident along Calumet Avenue. The Kearsarge Lode shafts were farther to the Southeast and essentially bracketed Laurium. The Kearsarge Lode was not very well mineralized in that area so those works were not very extensive. The Osceola Lode was a very good producer so it is safe to say there are mined out areas under the high school.
The really big operation was on the Calumet Conglomerate. C&H had 17 shafts sunk along Mine Street plus the Red Jacket Shaft. Tamarack had 5 shafts and Tamarack Jr. had two. All of Calumet is on top of this huge mined out area and between the Calumet Conglomerate and Osceola Lodes, there are many more than a few miles of drifts under the town. The tunnel you may be refering to could be the 81st haulage level. This was driven between the 12 So. Hecla shaft down on the south end of Mine Street and the Red Jacket shaft. As the name implies, it is 8100 feet from the surface along the incline shafts and extends over 2 miles. It was equiped with a double track tramway to haul all the mine's production to Red Jacket for hoisting. Production below the 81st level was hoisted to the 81st via subshafts and 12 So. Hecla. This work was done during the late teens. In total, C&H mined the conglomerate to a depth of 9600 feet along the incline. The Red Jacket shaft was vertical and 4900 ft. deep. Tamarack #5 is also vertical and 5300 ft. deep.
The Calumet Conglomerate made more money than all the gold mines in Califoria combined.

Paul in Illinois,
You have done your homework. Thanks for the information.

Here's the actual scoop about how the "hole" came about folks, taken from the Daily Mining Gazette picture and caption: Water washed away soil below the road and a brick storm drain collapsed. Village employees said the washout was not related to the spring thaw; the brick was about 100 years old. The truck was loaded and heading to the transfer station when the accident occurred; the truck weighed about 36,000 lbs.

The ladder is to climb out of the hole after they change the rear duals. :o) Can't remember who I was just talking to wondering how many shafts were right close to the CHS. Would be interesting to see a mining co. map of that area.

Paul from Illinois.....You are so well informed about the area and have so much technical knowledge......have you written a book??? I hope that you have preserved this information, as well as sharing it with us. I have really enjoyed it!!......I remember you had a lot of information regarding the railroad's history as well. Thanks a lot....

Paul from Illinois, In what manner were these shafts covered? I remember fenced areas, one across from the high school. Never thought much of them. Are these old shafts? Are any of these shafts open without a cover or old shaft house? Thanks for all your prior info--very interesting.

Enjoyed every single letter. My father went to the Holy Rosary School and we (children) went to the St. Cecilia School in Hubbell. Times long gone by and some very long gone by.

I remember in the 50's that a young girl fell into an abandoned shaft..It was a tragic story for a Lake Linden family but I am not sure where this shaft was located..it was not in Lake Linden.......Does anyone else remember this story and the location of the shaft??

Mary Lou. I believe the incident where the young girl fell down an old mine shaft occured in the mid to late 60's. The shaft was one of the old Tamarack Mining Company's shafts and is located in the Tamarack Location of Calumet. I don't know what the shaft number is but there is a fence around it now and a headstone memorial to the little girl. It was a terrible tragedy. I'm sure there are other readers that can shed more light on this story.

typical up pothole!!!!!!

The major vertical shafts and the incline shafts with very steep dips generally have concrete caps over them. Most that were in operation after the '30's have caps.
The little girl was Ruth Ann Miller, and she fell into Tamarack #4 in July of 1966. The ground around the concrete cap and collar had given way and it is believed she thought it was a cave.
Some shafts, especially at the very old mines, have just been bulldozed in. This is usually a safe fix on incline shafts with a shallow dip. This doesn't always work so well on the old vertical shafts. Sooner or later, the bottom of the fill shoved in them gives way and they reopen. One can usually spot an old shaft by the remenants of old fencing and the obivious signs of poor rock being shoved in the collar with a bulldozer. There will often be a depression where the shaft is. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT walk over the depression, you could be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back. C&H kept pushing them in during the '50's and '60's, but since the land has changed hands several times since then, maintaining old shafts seems to be a hit and miss proposition. There are alot of old shafts in the Copper Country, if you think you are near a mine, watch were you step.

O.K. I'll add my .02 worth. I lived on Harris St. and went to Holy Rosary Grade School. You could walk into the Harris St. launder by going down to creek level west of the railroad tracks. Didn't know the top of it was wood, and that would explain the collapse at this time. Also knew the Miller girl's grandparents who lived across the street from my parents. That was such a trajic loss. The posts about the C&H mines in the Calumet area were a real trip for me. Glad no one was hurt.

A follow up to the excellent advice Paul in Illinois wrote,

There are still some real old mines in the woods of the Keweenaw that aren't marked or capped. They may not be extremely deep, but they are dangerous just the same. In the winter, if you see vapor or steam coming up from a depression in the landscape out in the woods, that is probably an opening. I have heard of hunting dogs being lost when a rabbit that they were chasing led them over such an area.

I believe there was/is an elected office of "mine inspector" who would be the person to notify of a dangerous condition. I don't know if there is still such an office or if the job actually paid anything but I believe that there was one for each county.

The caption says "Hats off to our Lake Linden Village crew, who always do a great job...". What was the "great job" ---snaring a garbage truck??!

Enjoyed the web site and all the historical (and other) comments!

To Jan B from Grand Haven: Some things do happen beyond our control, and the village crew do indeed always do a great job, which the picture taker was pointing out! This was just an interesting, unfortunate incident.

Hello Mary Lou and all ...
The little girl that lost her life by falling down the shaft was Ruth Ann Miller. Born July 16th, 1958 and declared gone on July 16th, 1966. Her grave site is just north of Calumet and fenced off in a rather isolated area. Her mother has since passed away, was cremated, and is in the same site. I was a high school student and up there when they were trying to save her life. My uncle, Russel Nelson, was an engineer for C & H and although he tried to help, he knew, as did others, that there was little hope. I so remember seeing her mom on the porch of her home not so far away watching and praying for some good end. This sad memory has caused me to visit her grave site every time I visit the area. I have pictures of the area if anyone is interested.
Dave Whitten

Dave...Thank you for the information. I knew Ruth Ann's family.......father, grandparents and aunt. I do wonder if enough attention is given to the condition of these old shafts. It seems that the state has some responsibility to inform the public..or maybe the National Park Service..if they encourage tourists to visit and tramp around the area then they should be informed of the potential for danger. I know they have an open pit mine displayed at Fort Wilkens...it is fenced but still last time I saw it it was a huge gapping hole..it looked like a bottomless pit .....I know it gave me the creeps when my children were young.

Looks to me like the potholes in my street the village said wasn't bad enough to worry about

I remember seeing shaft holes with my father in No. 4 location, Kearsarge. They were not well protected. He had brought us there to show us the danger. This would have been in the 50's. My brother and friend purposely went down in the shaft. How daft is that!? They survived, though, and I believe something was done later to fill them in. Still really spooks me to think of them. Still won't walk behind No. 4!