Mine: South Kearsage Mine, Kearsarge, MI

Began → South Kearsarge Mine → Became

Operated for: 43 years.

From: 1887

Owned by: 

Produced: Copper Ore

Method: underground shaft mine.

Railroad connection: Mineral Range, then C&H.

Stamp Mill/Smelter:

Until: 1930

Lifetime Production: 

Notes

Kearsarge Mine was located north of Calumet in Houghton County. There was a North Kearsarge mine and a South Kearsarge Mine. The North Mine had two shafts and was first worked in 1881. The South Mine also had two shafts and was first worked in 1897. Note: The Wolverine Mine was in-between with two more shafts and first worked in 1882.

An underground copper mine consisting of six shafts. Organized as the Kearsarge Mining Company in 1886, it worked the Kearsarge Lode on opposite sides of the Wolverine Mine and between 1887 and 1897 produced approximately 14.5 million pounds of refined copper. In 1897, the company was bought by the Osceola Consolidated Mining Company and was split into the North Kearsarge (four shafts) and the South Kearsarge (two shafts). South Kearsarge was closed in 1930 and never reopened. North Kearsarge closed in 1931, but then reopened in 1942 to supply the war effort and continued until 1956 when it was closed for good. The Kearsarge Mines are one of the best silver producers for specimens in the Keweenaw.

At the end of 1899, the Osceola Mining Company began sinking two shafts between the Centennial and Wolverine Mines that would be called the South Kearsarge Mine. The shafts were sunk on the Kearsarge Lode approximately 1,100 feet apart. The best ore material came from the stopes closest to the Centennial property in Shaft No. 2. Osceola worked these shafts until 1957 when ore grades dropped below economic levels. Today, silver and copper can be found in prehnite vugs. [MINDAT]

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