8U
Q
wide and 8-1/2 feet thick. Nearly 70 percent of the
copper mined in Michigan in l86l was mass copper, but as
time passed the copper content of Michigan ore fell; by
I89O mass copper had become quite scarce.
9
As ore ran thin and mines grew deeper, mines
were forced to close. Today most Michigan mines have
been abandoned; shaft houses that remain stand silent,
and only a small mine at White Pine remains in operation.
Rock piles are to be seen alongside almost every town,
and old company houses, now privately owned, remain; but
most of the people have gone or are leaving. The copper
country of Upper Michigan is a thing of the past; the
mines emptied of their rich ores.^ Mining has moved to
the West.
Arizona, which held third place in copper output
at the turn of the century, behind Michigan and Montana,
now is in first place by a wide margin. In 1969 Arizona
mines contributed 52 percent of domestic copper, Utah
was a distant second at 19 percent, Montana fifth at 6
8Ibid., p. 232.
9
The Calumet and Hecla Quincy mine, whose shaft
house still stands atop a tall hill overlooking the
cities of Houghton and Hancock, would become more than
a mile deep by the 1930s.
Significant deposits remain in the Upper
Peninsula and account for a substantial share of
remaining United States reserves; but because
mineralization is erratic and many of the outcrops are
concealed, exploitation of remaining deposits is
difficult.