Mohawk Mining Company facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Mohawk Mining Company

Location
Mohawk Mine
state/province	Michigan
Country	United States
Coordinates	47°18′29″N 88°21′20″W / 47.30806°N 88.35556°W / 47.30806; -88.35556
Production
Products	Copper
History
Opened	1898 (1898)
Closed	1932 (1932)

The Mohawk Mining Company was a big company that dug for copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. It started in November 1898 and closed in 1932. This company was famous for finding a special rock called mohawkite. Between 1906 and 1932, the company made a lot of money, paying out over $15 million to its owners. In 1934, the Copper Range Company bought the Mohawk mine.

Discovering Copper: Mohawk Mine's Story

How the Mine Started

People first thought this land didn't have much valuable ore (rock with minerals). But in 1896, a lumberman named Ernest Koch found copper there. Later, in 1898, Joseph E. Gay explored the area and found even more copper. So, the company officially began in November 1898, with John Stanton as its first president.

The company offered shares of its stock for $7.50 each. By the end of 1899, nearly 600 people owned a part of the company. In 1899, construction began at the mine site. Workers started digging three main tunnels, called shafts (No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3). Each shaft had special sections for moving ore, pipes, and ladders. Shafts No. 2 and No. 3 had large air compressors to power the drills used underground. A fourth shaft was built in 1901.

Early Years of Mining

In January 1900, miners found a new type of copper ore in Shaft No. 1. They sent samples to a professor named George A. Koenig. He named the rock mohawkite after the Mohawk mine where it was discovered.

In 1900, the Mohawk Mining Company bought a stone quarry and a dock on Traverse Bay. They also bought a small railroad that connected the dock and the quarry. They then extended the railway from the quarry all the way to the mine. The dock was made longer and stronger so that ships could bring supplies and take away the mined ore. In 1902, the Mohawk and Traverse Bay Railroad was made wider for bigger trains.

The company started building a large building called a stamp mill in 1901. This mill would crush the ore to get the copper out. It began working in December 1902. The mill was huge, made of steel, and covered with metal sheets. Its foundation was built from sandstone from the company's own quarry. Inside, it had three sets of machines that could crush 500 tons of ore every day.

Near the mill, four houses and a two-story building were built. The two-story building had a school on the first floor and a meeting room on the second. This area grew into a town, which was named Gay to honor Joseph E. Gay.

In 1904, a fifth shaft (No. 5) was started. The first, second, and fourth shafts got new powerful machines called Nordberg Conical Drum Hoists to lift things. In 1906, a power plant was built at the mine. The company paid its first dividend (money to shareholders) in January 1906, and a second one in July.

On February 23, 1906, John Stanton, the company's president, passed away. Joseph E. Gay took his place as president. By 1909, the company had 1,000 workers. The Mohawk mine was producing more copper than any other mine in the area and was the only one paying dividends. A sixth shaft was dug by 1910.

The Big Strike of 1913–1914

On July 23, 1913, the Mohawk Mine had to close because of a large strike by miners in the region. The miners wanted better pay, 8-hour workdays, and the return of a specific two-man drill. Before the strike, miners worked 10-hour shifts with a one-hour lunch break.

During the strike, many workers and their families left the area. Before the strike, the mine had 686 workers. When the strike ended on January 16, 1914, only 102 men came back. By February 20, 400 men had returned. The mine didn't get back to full operation until May, with 711 workers. After the strike, the 8-hour workday became normal at the Mohawk Mine.

How the Mine Grew

In March 1910, the company bought a small piece of land from the Ahmeek Mining Company. This allowed Shaft No. 3 to go much deeper, from 1,600 feet to 2,800 feet. In 1923, the Mohawk Mining Company took over two other companies: the Wolverine Copper Mining Company and the Michigan Copper Company. In 1929, they also took over the Mass Consolidated Mining Company, which was a group of several smaller mining companies.

The Town of Mohawk

The town of Mohawk grew up near the mine. At first, the town had a blacksmith shop, the Petermann Store (a carpentry shop started in 1899), and a church built by Norwegians in 1902. The church was later sold in 1907 and became St. Mary's Church. Another church, the Mohawk Methodist Episcopal Church, was built in 1905. The Mohawk Bank opened in 1907. The blacksmith shop was sold during the 1913 strike.

Mine Leaders

When the Mohawk Mining Company started in 1898, John Stanton was its president. He was also the president of the Wolverine Copper Mining Company nearby. Fred Smith, who was the Superintendent at the Wolverine Mine, also became the Superintendent at the Mohawk Mine.

After John Stanton died in 1906, Joseph E. Gay became president. Later, John Stanton's son, John R. Stanton, took over as president.

? means there aren't enough records to know the exact dates.

~ means this was a year they were known to hold the job.

The Mine Shafts

All the shafts at the Mohawk Mine were dug at a 36-degree angle. This means they sloped downwards, not straight down.

Mohawk No. 1 Shaft

This shaft was one of the first three built in 1899. It's where mohawkite was first found in 1900. By 1902, it was 800 feet deep. In 1904, it got a new hoist machine. By 1916, it reached 2,693 feet deep, and they stopped mining there because the copper was running out. When copper prices went up in 1918, they started mining in No. 1 again. It closed permanently in 1932 with the rest of the mine, reaching a depth of 3,017 feet, making it the deepest Mohawk shaft.

Mohawk No. 2 Shaft

Built in 1899, this was another original shaft. It had an air compressor for drills. By 1902, it was 700 feet deep. It also got a new hoist machine in 1904. In 1914, it was producing 450 to 500 tons of ore each day. This shaft closed sometime between 1914 and 1924.

Mohawk No. 3 Shaft

This shaft, built in 1899, was about 472 feet deep at first. It had a large air compressor for many drills. By 1901, it was 667 feet deep. In 1910, the company bought more land, allowing this shaft to reach a maximum depth of 2,800 feet. However, it was abandoned in May 1914.

Mohawk No. 4 Shaft

This shaft was built in 1901 and was about 200 feet deep. It also got a new hoist machine in 1904. By 1914, it was producing 450 to 500 tons of ore daily. By 1922, it reached 2,832 feet deep. Mining continued until 1924. It reopened in 1926 to supply ore to the mill and stayed open until the mine closed in 1932.

Mohawk No. 5 Shaft

This shaft started in 1904 because the area had a lot of good ore. By 1908, it was 575 feet deep and had a hoist machine moved from another mine. In 1914, it was producing 450 to 500 tons of ore per day. A new building was built around this shaft in the same year. It closed on November 4, 1922, after reaching a depth of 1,874 feet.

Mohawk No. 6 Shaft

In January 1910, this shaft hit a copper vein 210 feet underground. In 1914, it produced 300 tons of ore daily. By 1924, it was the only shaft still being mined until 1926. In 1925, water started leaking into the shaft, so they built a pumping station. By 1926, it was 2,504 feet deep. This shaft stayed open until the mine closed in 1932.

Copper Production and Profits

The main goal of the Mohawk Mine was to dig up copper for less money than they could sell it for. And they did a great job! In 1907, it cost them about 11.74 cents to get one pound of copper, but they sold it for 15.66 cents per pound. That year, they made about $396,204 in profit.

The best year for profits was 1918, during World War I, when copper prices went up to 24.73 cents per pound. The mine produced over 10 million pounds of copper that year, making about $1,151,477 in profit!

Native Copper

The chart below shows how much copper the Mohawk Mine produced each year:

The numbers for 1929 and 1931 are estimates.

What is Mohawkite?

Mohawkite nugget

Mohawkite is a special type of copper ore, or rock, that was first found at the Mohawk Mine in January 1901. It's a rare rock made mostly of copper and arsenic.

About 70 tons of mohawkite were sent to a place in New York to be processed. This amount of mohawkite was worth about $140 per ton! Because so much mohawkite was found, the company decided to build a special factory, called a smelter, just for it. This was needed because the large amount of arsenic in mohawkite created dangerous fumes when heated. The special smelter was built in New Jersey and started working in late 1901.

Later, more mohawkite was found in another shaft. In 1902, 700 tons of mohawkite were sent for processing. The Mohawk Mining Company even signed a contract to provide the smelter with at least 100 tons of ore every month for three years. Besides copper and arsenic, mohawkite also had small amounts of nickel, cobalt, and about 20 ounces of silver per ton!

Money Paid to Owners

The Mohawk Mining Company paid money, called dividends, to its shareholders (the people who owned parts of the company). Here's how much they paid out each year: