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Michigan » The Upper Peninsula » The Copper Country » Houghton County » Mine Shaft Number Two, Hoist House

Mine Shaft Number Two, Hoist House

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1919–1920. East side of U.S. 41
  • (Courtesy of Keweenaw National Historical Park)

The hoist house is a reinforced-concrete fireproof building with twenty load-bearing columns and a gabled roof. The red brick exterior veneer is broken with huge arched windows. The structure housed the mammoth Nordberg hoist, which was employed to reach the extreme inclined depth to which the Number Two shaft penetrated the rich Pewabic Lode. Measuring 60 × 54 × 60 feet, it is the largest steam-powered mine hoist ever manufactured; it could lift a 10-ton load of copper from a depth of 6,000 feet at the rate of 3,200 feet per minute. The attention paid to the architectural character of this purely utilitarian building says something about the aesthetic awareness, as well as the technical aggressiveness of the company.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Kathryn Bishop Eckert

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