Qualla: Quincy Mine

Quincy Mine: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unbekannte Autoren und Grafiker; Scan vom EDHAC e.V., Public domain. Fifty-three consecutive years of profit. From 1868 through 1920, the Quincy Mining Company paid a dividend to its investors every single year, earning the operation its famous nickname: Old Reliable. In the volatile world of nineteenth-century mining, where fortunes evaporated with a single missed lode, that streak was almost supernaturally consistent. The secret lay a mile and three-quarters underground, following a copper-bearing vein down a 55-degree slope beneath the hills above Hancock, Michigan. By the time the Quincy Mine finally ceased production in 1945, its Number 2 shaft had reached 9,260 feet along the dip of the deposit -- the longest mine shaft in the world.

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Image: Unbekannte Autoren und Grafiker; Scan vom EDHAC e.V. | Public domain

Quincy Mine: Born from a Bureaucratic Blunder

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carolschmidt333, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Quincy Mine owes its existence to a clerical error. In the early 1840s, the copper rush drew speculators to Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, and two companies -- the Northwest Mining Company and the Portage Mining Company -- each purchased the same tracts of land, thanks to poo...

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Image: Carolschmidt333 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Quincy Mine: The Pewabic Lode and the Art of Amygdaloid Mining

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Royalbroil, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Quincy's longevity hinged on a geological discovery and a willingness to change methods. In 1856, the recently discovered Pewabic amygdaloid lode was found to cross Quincy property, and the mine became the first in Michigan to switch from fissure mining to amygdaloid mining. ...

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Image: Royalbroil | CC BY-SA 3.0

Quincy Mine: The Hoist House That Dazzled Investors

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Valerie A. King, CC BY-SA 4.0. As the mine drove deeper, the engineering grew more ambitious. In 1918, the company built the world's largest steam-driven mine hoist to service the Number 2 shaft, housing it in a building that doubled as a showpiece for visiting investors. The Nordberg Steam Hoist weighed more ...

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Image: Valerie A. King | CC BY-SA 4.0

Quincy Mine: Wartime Revival and Final Silence

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit James St. John, CC BY 2.0. The Quincy Mining Company did not dissolve when it shut down operations. It waited. When World War II drove copper demand skyward, the mines reopened to feed the war effort. But the reprieve was temporary. Once the government stopped supporting copper prices after the war, the Qu...

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Image: James St. John | CC BY 2.0

Quincy Mine: Into the Seventh Level

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wickanninish, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today the Quincy Mine is a centerpiece of the Keweenaw National Historical Park and one of the peninsula's most popular tourist attractions. The Quincy Mine Hoist Association maintains the buildings and grounds, offering guided tours of the Number 2 Hoist House and the seventh le...

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Image: Wickanninish | CC BY-SA 4.0