Quincy Unit

Within Keweenaw National Historical Park's Quincy Unit are the former Quincy Mining Company properties, including the sites of the mine shafts, hoist houses and the copper smelting complex on the shore of Portage Lake. Much of the former Quincy Mine was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1989. Tours of the 1908 Shaft-rockhouse, 1918 Hoist house and the underground are operated by the Quincy Mine Hoist Association, one of the Park's 21 Heritage sites. When Keweenaw National Historical Park was established in 1992, Congress recognized the former Quincy Mine as one of the components that best represents the story of copper mining on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula.

At the southern boundry of the Quincy Unit, near the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, lies the former Quincy Smelting Works. As the copper rock made its journey from the stamp mill in nearby Mason to the smelter, it was then purified and cast into ingots and cakes to be shipped to buyers nationwide. Since closing in the 1970s, the site remains one of the best preserved copper smelting sites of its time. Although the smelter is currently enclosed by fencing, guided tours are available through the Quincy Mine Hoist Association. In recent years, some stabilization and preservation work has been accomplished with the hope that the site will open to more visitors in the future.

Copper mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula pioneered deep shaft, hard rock mining, milling, and smelting techniques and advancements in related technologies later used throughout the world.
...extraction and processing are best represented by extant structures of the Quincy mining Company.
From Public Law 102-543

 

 

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"Old Reliable"

Established in 1848, Quincy Mine was one of the early mines to the Copper Country. After floundering for nearly a decade, the discovery of the Pewabic Lode on the property reversed their fortunes. Quincy became the second largest mining company in the area by the 1880s and paid dividends every year from 1862-1920, earning the nickname "Old Reliable." At closing in 1945, Quincy shafts plunged 9,260 feet into the ground, making them some of the deepest in the world at the time.