(81) Cornish Stamp Mills in the Michigan Upper Peninsula

Cornish Stamp Mills

MICHIGAN UPPER PENINSULA

The following information was obtained prior to, during and after my trip to Michigan Peninsula (UP) to learn more about the Cornish Style Stamp Mills used over the years in the UP.

The first contact that I experienced of Cornish Mills was a U Tube video of a Cornish Mill in Pochwerk Cornwall that was shown in operation. You could see looking at the video that the mill was different from the stamp mills in the USA. It had wooded stamp stems, the cams (cam barrel) were different, the classic bull wheel was missing, and the shoes were rectangular. I did not do anything with the video until I heard that the UP once had Cornish Stamp Mills brought to the UP be the Cornish immigrants. The video reported that the stamps were 400 to 500 pounds and 12 stamps could crush about 100 tons of ore per week.

Prior to Visit I started to research mining in the UP and found that not only the Cornish gravity mills were used, but also a steam driven stamp mill that I will discuss in another presentation. Prior to visiting the UP I contacted several individuals at the Michigan Tech to find out where the mills were located and if there were any Cornish mills still existing in the area. The first person I contacted was Steve Delong, Landscape Architect at Keweenaw National Historical Park. He referenced me to Tim Scarlet and engineer at Michigan Tech who might have knowledge on the Cornish Mills. Sean Gohman’s name came up in reference to the stamp mills. He is a noted scholar on mills in the UP. I also researched the area to see if there were any Cornish mills in the area and through Emily Riippa, at the Michigan Tech Archives, obtained pictures of early Cornish Mills on the UP. The following are some of the mill pictures courtesy Michigan Tech Archives :

This was very positive information that proved there were gravity Cornish stamp mills in Upper Peninsula at one time. During my review I found pictures on the Internet of a gravity Cornish Stamp mill near the Ontonagon in the Porcupine Mountain district (Wilderness). The pictures were taken by an amateur explorer and were very interesting and showed most of the mill parts. During my discussions I was referred to Tim Scarlett, a professor at Michigan Tech that was familiar with the remains of the Cornish stamp mill at the Carp Mine. He said that he could arrange a hike to the millsite, but it was a long walk and very hilly.

During my Visit I managed to make it to the Houghton area were we stayed during my visit to the UP. Houghton was chosen since Michigan Tech was in the area. We spent (3) days in the area, one day touring the Upper Peninsula mines, discussing and viewing steam operated Nordberg stamp mills, and discussing and viewing gravity Cornish Stamp Mills. The first two days will be discussed in another article.

Tim Scarlet met me at my motel at about 08:30 and headed towards Ontonagon, picking up one of Tim’s associates. We drove about an hour and stopped at a trail head where this sign below was posted and then hiked in. We traveled for a while on a marked path and then left the marked trial. I was lost, but Tim and his associate seemed to know where they were going. We got off track, but Tim got us to the Millsite and I was impressed. A fire had burned all of the wood and left only the iron. It does not look like the area was tampered with over the years. The boiler, mortar boxes, roller cams and stamps appear to be untouched and in the original orientation that the mill was constructed. 

NOTE: I noticed that there was NO rust on the cams and the shaft. This is very unusual, in that, these items have been in the weather for over 80 years. The mine was closed down in 1929 and a fire destroyed the wood parts sometime after.  

Carp Lake Cornish Stamp Mill Visit

The picture below shows what an assembled Cornish mill looks like with all of the wood. You can compare it with the above picture.

POST TRIP RESEARCH