Speed Burns Mine Hoist

Sigma Rho Extracts 88 Year Old Historic Mine Steam Hoist

How it worked    Bat Colony Update    Glossary of Terms

In the front of Sigma Rho's Alpha Chapter stands a large piece of historic mining equipment. As you pass through Chassell feel free to stop by for a closer look, take some pictures, but just don't ask us to put it back! This completely restored steam hoist was once used in underground mining. Not only is it a testament to our area's history, it's now a treasured part of Chassell, Michigan. To the caretakers of this 11 ton hoist, it holds a special meaning as well. It's a standing monument that Sigma Rho was originally founded for mining students and became the first Mining Engineering fraternity in the world. It also highlights the spirit of our brotherhood and a reminder that as a cohesive group, dedicated members can accomplish extraordinary feats, even under the worst of conditions. The story below outlines how a group of young men (some would even say kids) extracted this piece of history from deep within a dark bat (the ones with wings and fangs) filled mine shaft by Eagle Harbor, MI.

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In 1950, Sigma Rho brother Robert (Speed) Burns came across the intact mine hoist during a trip into the abandoned Copper Falls Mine which. The hoist sat half-buried in sand, eight and a half levels down (about 850 ft. below the surface), untouched since its last use in 1892. Intrigued by this unique piece of Copper Country history, Burns, a graduate student in Michigan Tech's Geology program, developed a plan to preserve it for future generations. He approached Geology Professor Dr. Joseph Dobell with the idea of extracting the hoist and restoring it for public display. The two worked out details and presented the idea to the other members of Sigma Rho.

After several meetings, the brothers decided that the project would be a unique challenge and an excellent opportunity to serve the community. The Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, who owned the property, sent an inspector to determine the stability of the mine and provided the Sigma Rho's with equipment and safety training. Equipped with this knowledge, the brothers laid out a detailed plan, scheduled rotating work groups, and arranged to borrow the necessary equipment.

In October of 1954, work began in earnest. The brothers planned to dismantle the hoist and bring it to the surface in pieces. Professor Dobell was the job supervisor while Archon George Sinko acted as coordinator of the students. When the mine was operational, a cart running on a track system was used to haul ore pieces out; by 1950, the carts had been removed and the tracks had long since fallen into disrepair. Faced with the challenge of hauling the eleven-ton hoist up through it's only access, a 30-degree air ventilation shaft, the brothers put to use their engineering coursework with some Sig ingenuity. They built a skip (tram car) with wheels and axles found on the seventh-level stope and laid 600 feet of new track from the hoist to the mine entrance. Funds were limited and they were resourceful, gathering tracks from around the mine, erecting trestles, replacing rotten ties, and filling in washed-out areas.

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The brothers worked in groups of five to ten, two or three days a week. On weekends, the crews often worked in two eight-hour shifts. To maximize productivity, they often camped overnight in the complete blackness of the second level. There was incessant running water, darkness like none ever experienced, and thousands of hibernating bats hanging on the overhead rock like pears on a tree. The intense cold and wet Upper Peninsula weather added a new dimension of discomfort to the work, and the brothers welcomed relaxing post-shift ham dinners in front of the fire at the Sportsman's Bar in Kearsarge. The hard work of the Sigma Rho team paid off: by January of 1955, new tracks had been laid and the hoist was dismantled, ready to bring up to the surface.

Before the pieces could be hauled to the surface, the group had to bring out a generator to power equipment that would pull the loaded skip up the track. The generator, borrowed from Michigan Tech, was transported to the mine on a 6 x 6 Army truck provided by the Permafrost Research Establishment. The work team remembers it as the hardest day of work; even with the help of a small bulldozer loaned by Michigan Tech's Forest Products and Research Division, it took 25 men 12 back-breaking hours to shovel and push the generator the 1.5 miles from the highway to the mine's entrance.

Once onsite, the generator powered an electric tugger borrowed from the Army Corp of Engineers, which pulled the skip at a snail's pace up the track due to its 150 to 1 mechanical advantage. Piece by piece, the hoist was transported to the second level of the mine and lifted to the surface, while brothers coordinated the effort on each mine level by using walkie-talkies and field telephones donated by Michigan Tech's Army ROTC. As the project progressed, the Sigma Rho team encountered an unexpected predicament. As the end of May 1955 approached, waters began to rise in the mine and threatened to submerge the hoist. Rallied by George Sinko and Fred Ross, the brothers made a final push and removed the final piece from level 8.5 with less than 24 hours to spare before the water filled the space. During the entire effort, there were no injuries and only minor equipment losses.

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The hoist pieces were then hauled to the original Sigma Rho House, which sat atop a 40-foot hill now occupied by East Wadsworth. Before they could assemble the hoist, MTU's plans for expansion of Wadsworth Hall commenced. This use of eminent domain led to the sale of the Sigma Rho house and property to MTU Board of Control. Sigma Rho relocated to the current Chassell property, and the members' efforts were necessarily directed for the next several years to the repairs on newly purchased Worcester mansion.

In 1961, when all of the members of the original hoist removal team had graduated, a new group of brothers renewed the hoist restoration efforts. To remove years of dirt, rust, and paint, the brothers used sandblasting equipment borrowed from the Herman Gundlach Construction Company. After sandblasting, which was done largely by Pete Cayler and his brother Jim, each hoist piece was painted with red lead paint under the supervision of Larry (Rigger) Willet. Bill Hicklen directed another crew that dug a foundation, set concrete forms, and poured the base. Near the end of the process, a pair of cement mixers operated continuously for 24 hours.

The main hoist was erected in 1961 and the final pieces were assembled and painted in early 1962, almost 12 years from the date that Robert (Speed) Burns made his original discovery. The hoist still stands as a preserved piece of 19th century mining machinery and a testament to the never ending hard work and determination of the Sigma Rho brotherhood.

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How it worked:

The hoist used cables wound around its wooden clad drum to raise and lower skips, buckets, cages, and larry cars from deep within the mine to the upper levels. One cable was used for lowering, while the other is used for raising the cables up and down the shaft. Operators controlled the hoist in response to the mine bell signal system. A signal was given from underground giving the hoist operator the indication to lower or raise a skip or bucket to a certain level within the mine. Built in 1866 by Fitchburg Machine Works in Fitchburg Mass., our hoist was operational for 25 years until it was shut down in the Spring of 1891 – where it sat for almost 60 years before we recovered it.

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Bat colony update:

The Copper Falls Mine is now home to a hibernating colony of 11,000 bats. In January 2002 the Michigan Department of Natural Resources fitted the very air ventilation shaft the hoist was removed through with a bat-compatible gate to protect the bats. The gate keeps people safe from the hazards of abandoned mines while allowing bats free passage into the mine.

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Glossary of terms:

Adit — Entrance to a mine

Archon — Sigma Rho's name for its president.

Drift — Horizontal shelf wide enough to accommodate equipment to move ore from one shaft to another or from shaft to adit.

Native Copper — The ore found in the mine in its almost pure metallic state as opposed to an oxide, a Sulfate or other chemical compound

Pillar — Column of rock left behind when mining out the stope to support it's roof

Shaft — Opening between levels in which the ore was hoisted up or down to a drift accessible to an adit

Skip — The tram car used to haul ore, tools, equipment and/or people from one part of the mine to another

Sleepers — Railroad ties - the wooden members to which the rails are fastened

Stope — The mined out area between shafts and between drifts

Tugger — Winch or small drum hoist

Turntable — Device at each level used to rotate the skip 90 degrees when moving from shaft to drift

Some pictures courtesty MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections