Mass Mine "D" Shaft House

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Title: Mass Mine "D" Shaft House
Photographer: Unknown
Subject Headings: Metal Trade - Copper Industry and Trade - Copper Mines and Mining, Buildings,
Condition: Fair
Description: Mass Mine "D" Shaft House [A photo of a shafthouse or shaft-rockhouse. An elevated trestle connects with the structure on an upper level. A collar house is in the foreground.]
Source of Description: Negative Database [cataloger]
Institution: Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections
Donor: Roy Drier
Date of Photo: undated
Medium: still image
Color: black and white
Size: 21.3 cm x 16.3 cm
Polarity: Negative
Image No: MTU Neg 00612
Collection Name: Roy Drier Photograph Collection
Terms of Use: Rights to reproduce and distribute this image may be restricted. Contact the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections for further information.
User Comments:
• This photo is incorrectly labeled. This photograph should be labeled B" shaft and not "D" shaft. D shaft was only an exploratory shaft. The Mass Consolidated Mining Company only had two rail load outs - one at "B" Shaft and the other at "C" shaft.See detailed explanation of the B Shaft structure as well as a different point of view of the B shaft by looking at the comments and MTU photo's #00637 and #00522B Shaft was the most significant structure at the mine of the Mass Consolidated Mining Company (MCMC). The stamp mill at Keweenaw Bay is the most significant structure built by the company, but B Shaft was the most significant structure built at the mine site.Mineral Range ore cars are show in the picture. The end of the rail line is literally a couple hundred feet to the right of the railcars. The actually shaft collar is covered by the small structure to the left of the photograph. You can see what looks like a six ton skip car in front of the building. The shaft followed the Evergreen Vein (lode) which is roughly 43 degrees from horizontal. The exposed rails between the B Shaft structure and the structure above the collar clearly show the angle in which the actually shaft was driven into the ground. The elevated trestle to the left of the B Shaft connects A Shaft with B Shaft. Ore hoisted out of the ground at A shaft was dumped into tram cars which made their way down the 880 foot elevated trestle from A Shaft and into the overhead rail load out bins of B Shaft. Most of the ore to be stamped was loaded here at B Shaft - the rest was loaded at C Shaft which eventually had its own "rock house" (overhead rail load out) completed in 1906. B Shaft was started in 1900. Smoke can be seen from a support building to the left. We (The Lukkarila Family) have a picture of my great grandfather, Jafet Lukkarila (timekeeper) with Captain Wilcox in front of this support building. Steam or compressed air could have been created at this building to possible power equipment in the B Shaft Structure (there were crushers located in the B Shaft structure but I'm not sure if they were "electric" or belt driven - steam)The photographer is facing south east. B Shaft operated from 1900 until the mine closed in 1919 and reached a depth of over 1600 feet – the maximum depth of the hoist system.Jay LukkarilaMining EngineerICRUSHROCK@aol.com "
3/9/2007 2:12:20 PM by Anonymous