Michigan Smelter

The '''Michigan Smelter''' was a copper smelter located at Cole's Creek on the Keweenaw Waterway north-west of Houghton, Michigan near the old Atlantic mill. The smelter was created in 1903-4 as a joint effort between the Copper Range Company and Stanton group of mines. An Atlantic dam on the site was reused by the smelter as a water source.<ref name="handbook">Stevens, Horace. ''The Copper Handbook'' Volume 6. 1906. Pages 683--684. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fqLhAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA683 Google books]</ref> In 1905, the smelter broke a world record by casting 292,000 pounds of fine copper in seven hours with a single furnace and only ten men.<ref name="handbook" /> The smelter operated through World War II<ref>Anderson, George E. and Taylor, Richard E. ''Images of Rail: Copper Country Rail'' 2008. Page 82. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0L5isO9CNQQC&pg=PP1 Google books]</ref> and stopped all operations in 1948.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://quincyminer.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/the-portage-lake-smelter-tour-the-michigan-smelter-pt-2/|title = The Portage Lake Smelter Tour- the Michigan Smelter, Pt.2|date = 28 March 2010}}</ref>

thumb|center|500px|The Michigan Smelter between 1900 and 1906

The smelter was designed by Frank Klepetko and was the most modern plant in the district.<ref>American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers. "Mining and metallurgy", Volumes 1-3. 1905 Page 218--219 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9zkAAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22michigan%20smelting%20works%22&pg=PA219 Google books]</ref> The nearby hillside was used improve its efficiency of its operation.<ref name="hollowed">Lankton, Larry. ''Hollowed ground: copper mining and community building on Lake Superior'' 2010 [https://books.google.com/books?id=1__Ih6nfdSkC&dq=%22michigan%20smelter%22&pg=PA149 Google books] page 149.</ref> The smelter had a capacity of 90 million pounds annually and was the largest and most efficient on Lake Superior.<ref name="hollowed" />

Several mills sent material to the Michigan Smelter including the Champion, Trimountain and Baltic mills via the Copper Range Railroad. Product originated from the Atlantic, Baltic, Champion, Trimountain, Michigan, Mohawk, and Wolverine mines.<ref name="sawyer">Sawyer, Alvah Littlefield. ''A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries''. 1911. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3YF5AAAAMAAJ&dq=a%20history%20of%20northern%20peninsula&pg=PR1 Google books] Page 461.</ref> They delivered the mineral in 40-ton bottom-dumping cars<ref name="sawyer" /> and the product from each mine was kept separate from the others.<ref name="hollowed" />

==Smelting process== [[File:Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Houghton, Houghton County, Michigan. LOC sanborn04045 004-14.jpg|thumb|Sanborn Fire Map of the smelter from February 1908]] The incoming product was sorted, dried and stored in hoppers above the reverberatory furnaces. The site had two melting furnaces and two refining furnaces about seven feet below. Water-tube boilers were heated by the furnace's waste gas which were drawn up through a 150-foot smokestack.<ref name="handbook" /> Slag was skimmed off into steel molds on cars of an electric locomotive and the copper was then drained into the refining furnaces. The slag accounted for approximately 35 percent of the material they received. <ref>White, R. T. "The Michigan Smelting Works." ''Mining Magazine'' Volume XII, 1905. Pages 58--59. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hiHOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA58 Google books]</ref>

Other buildings on the site included an office and laboratory heated by exhaust steam, a warehouse, two 150 ton railroad track scales.<ref name="handbook" />

==Today== The smelter's office still remains on the site and is now a private residence. Foundations and concrete columns are still visible. The property is privately owned.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://keweenawfreeguide.com/michigan-smelter/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713144739/http://keweenawfreeguide.com/michigan-smelter/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=July 13, 2011|title = Keweenaw Free Guide » Maintenance Mode}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994011784/PP/ Picture of the Michigan Smelter from 1906 at the Library of Congress] *http://www.coppercountryexplorer.com/2010/03/a-michigan-smelter/ *http://quincyminer.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/the-portage-lake-smelter-tour-the-michigan-smelter-pt-2/

Category:Buildings and structures in Houghton County, Michigan Category:Metallurgical facilities in Michigan