The pumping equipment utilized a reciprocating motion to a line of steel rods extending 1,500 feet down into the mine, with eight pumps attached at intervals of 170 to 192 feet along the rods. Each of the pumps forced the water to the next higher pump and finally out to the surface of the mine. As the engine was designed to run slowly, the pumps had a capacity of over 300 gallons per stroke of the pistons. At ten revolutions per minute, this meant over 3,000 gallons of water poured out through a 28 inch the pipe every minute. A total of 5,000,000 gallons of water could be removed from the mine each day.
Some estimates go much higher than that.
A crew of 60 men divided into three shifts was employed to operate the plant, including the men in the boiler house, and shaft. The pumping engine went back into operation in 1908 and dewatered the combined Chapin, Ludington and Hamilton mines, each of which had been operating in close proximity of each other. The Cornish Pumping Engine and equipment were highly efficient at this site until, in 1914, the Oliver Mining Company put into operation at the Chapin the largest electrically driven centrifugal pumps in mine service at that time in America. Unable to adapt to the new electric motors, the magnificent Cornish Pumping Engine, world famous as one of the mechanical wonders of the steam age, stood idle and was kept only for emergency use. Researched by Beatrice Blomquist, Historian, Menominee Historical Foundation Stop in and get a feel for the mining way of life in a time gone by.