The record-union., 1894-09-08
CALUlET AND HECLA.
The Magnitude of the Famous Mine
Cannot be Realized.
A Mile in Depth. and Some of Its I'm
derGround Streets Are Two
Miles Long.


The magnitude and extensive scale upon
which copper mining is carried on in the
upper peninsula Of Michigan, or, as it is
better known, the Lake Superior copper
country, is matter of astonishment and
interest, says the Milwaukee Sentinel.
even to those who are residing in the dis
trict, and to the stranger who tarres
few days or weeks it Is beyond compre-
henslon, for the reason that he cannot
realize how vast in depth and extent are
the shafts and levels in so great a mine as
the Calumet and Hecla-the famous cop
per mine of the world.
The conglomerate vein which is being
mined by the Calumet and Hecla is made
up OF water-worn pebbles, boulders and
punches of sand rock, intermixed with
which. like cement, as it were, is the
pure native copper. No copper ore is
found in this district. no matter how
microscopically minute the particles of
copper may be disseminated. Between
the matriX of rock it is pure virgin cop
per, which, TO be made available for the
market, has simply to be crushed ana
washed out with water to prepare it Tor
the fire that smelts it to homogeneous
mass suitable for the artisan to form into
the different shapes required by the cleo
trician or the mechanic.
The Calumet and Hecla has a length of
two miles OF vein running nearly north
and south. The vein dips to the west at
an angle of about 3S0, and therefore the
shafts are sunk in that direction and an
gle. In nearly thirty years OF mining the
company has attained a depth of nearly
= frraf fr-Nsk ha,aI
skips or cars, drawn by the finest steel
wire cable that money can buy, are
holsted TO the surface at speed equal to
the locomotives running on a standard
railway. The operation of mining has
been to sink one level along the vein to
the next shaft or lift 100 feet deep, then
to drift, and then to sink again TO the next
level, and to break the vein rock down
from above, ill it In train cars which are
dumped into the skips that lake them to
the surface, and this has been going on
for thirty years. In the earlier days of
the mine, however, very much slower
progress was made, for the miner had 20
strike the sharpened steel drill by blows
OF Sledgehammer IN his hands. The
blasting was done by common black gun
powder III coarser grains than those used
for firearms, and horse attached to a
wnim did the hoisting of the rock to the
surface.
To-day a powerful steam engine COM
presses the atmosphere which is con-
Quoted underground in iron pipes. The
compressed air is the motive power that
works mechanical drills that are pointed
with black diamonds, and hole is drilled
in few hours that would have taken
several days with the hand drills. In
stead of black powder, the drill holes are
charged with dynamite, so extremely
sudden and terrific in its action that no
tamping in is needed to keep it from
blowing out, the atmosphere being suf- |
ficient to cause it to do execution in the |
hardest of rock. What was considered
nearly years work thirty years ago is |
now done i'll month.
There have been made upon the mine
location nearly twenty miles of streets
between the residences of the employees,
but If the drifts and shafts that have been
bored out of the solid rock were put in
one continuous level it would be over 100
miles long. The amount of vein rock
coming out to the surface is over 1000
tons per day. For the accommodation of
its employees 693 dwelling houses were
built and lots leased upon which the en-
ployes have built 7S2 houses. Of mine
buildings, such as shaft, rock, engine
carpenter. black smith and machine shops,
there are over fifty. OF steam engines
there are nearly 100, ranging from 4, 100
horse power to only few horse power.
the mine machinery designed by the COM
pany's own consulting engineer is the
wonder and admiration of mechanical
and mining engineers.
Foreign Governments have sent rep
resentatiyes to visit and study the plans
and methods of operating the large cop
per mine. The total boiler capacity re-
quired is -, 800 horse power. 1t consumes
an enormous quantity of coal, and dur
ing the present strike of the coal miners
the mine would have been obliged to
close down but for the liberal policy un-
der which the affairs of this company are
managed. There was enough coal in its
enormous coal shed at Lake Linden to
last nearly six months, and it was also
successful IN getting twenty or more car
goes as soon as navigation opened. All
departments of the mine are right up to
date, and all modern mining appliances
that have proved practical are in use
The electric light and power house are
equipped with the best that electrical
science has produced, so that the
water In the deepest levels of the mine
is now pumped upward by electrical
pumps. Its machine shop is built of
stone, the dimensions being 225 by 250
feet. Its equipment OF tools is superior
TO any establishment in the Northwest.
There are forty steam engines doing
service at the mine alone and dozen
more at the stamp mills at Lake Linden.
The mine has its rock carried to it's stamp
mills at Lake Linden, five miles away, by
a railroad OF its own. The locomotives
used are nearly 100 tons in weight and
pull up the hill from Lake Linden, where
there is a grade of 700 feet from mill to
mine, over I30 empty rock cars. All en-
ployes are protected by an accident and
sick fund.- which pays them at the rate of
$25 per month when disabled and $500 to
the heirs of those killed while in the dis
charge of duty.