Article ID: CBB867528422

It’s Not Time to Be Wasted: Identifying, Evaluating, and Appreciating Mine Wastes in Michigan’s Copper Country (2013)

unapi

Sean Gohman (Author)


IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology
Volume: 39
Issue: 1-2
Pages: 5-22


Publication Date: 2013
Edition Details: Theme issue: The Industrial Archaeology of Industrial Waste
Language: English

Over a century of mining native copper in Michigan's Copper Country has produced several million tons of workable metal and an even greater amount of waste. The remaining rock, tailings, and slag each represent a separate step in the process of hard rock mining, providing tangible links to industrial landscape narratives at both regional and site-specific scales. Recently, the Keweenaw National Historical Park's Advisory Commission funded a survey of over 350 separate sites of copper mine waste, ranging from multi-acre tailings deposits to slag heaps occupying less than 50 sq. ft. This work resulted in the development of a classification and scoring rubric designed to identify waste sites of greatest historical significance, authenticity, and integrity. These findings offer insight into understanding and appreciating the residues of extractive practice that in this case, due to the benign nature of the unalloyed copper mined there, pose a lesser threat to the environment compared with most hard rock mining activities. [2016 Vogel Prize winner]

...More
Associated with

Article Zimring, Carl A. (2013) Foreword: Theme Issue: Industrial Archeology of Industrial Waste. IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology (pp. 3-4). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB867528422/

Similar Citations

Article Fredric L. Quivik; (2007)
The Historical Significance of Tailings and Slag: Industrial Waste as Cultural Resource (/isis/citation/CBB377369152/)

Article Terry S. Reynolds; (1989)
A Narrow Window of Opportunity: The Rise and Fall of the Fixed Steel Dam (/isis/citation/CBB855460391/)

Book Sebastián Ureta; Patricio Flores; (2022)
Worlds of Gray and Green: Mineral Extraction as Ecological Practice (/isis/citation/CBB555291139/)

Article David Landon; Patrick Martin; Andrew Sewell; Paul White; Timothy Tumberg; Jason Menard; (2001)
"... A Monument to Misguided Enterprise": The Carp River Bloomery Iron Forge (/isis/citation/CBB135813963/)

Article John H. White; (1981)
Preserving a National Symbol: The Steam Locomotive (/isis/citation/CBB460797834/)

Article David B. Landon; Timothy A. Tumberg; (1996)
Archeological Perspectives on the Diffusion of Technology: An Example from the Ohio Trap Rock Mine Site (/isis/citation/CBB831006428/)

Article Eric DeLony; (1989)
HAER's Historic Bridge Program (/isis/citation/CBB189522320/)

Article R. Angus Buchanan; (1975)
New World 1974 (/isis/citation/CBB358883232/)

Article Larry Lankton; (2018)
HAER MI-2: Unintended Consequences of the Quincy Mine Recording Project (/isis/citation/CBB659928297/)

Article Karen Arbogast; (1976)
Suspension Bridge Declared National Landmark (/isis/citation/CBB418991387/)

Article Eric DeLony; (1993)
Surviving Cast- and Wrought-Iron Bridges in America (/isis/citation/CBB483397256/)

Article Gabriele Cruciani; (2001)
The Montevecchio Mining District: Industrial Archeology in SW Sardinia, Italy (/isis/citation/CBB147115970/)

Article T. Allan Comp; (1975)
The Tooele Copper and Lead Smelter (/isis/citation/CBB759489580/)

Book Graydon M. Meints; (2018)
The Fishing Line: A History of the Grand Rapid & Indiana Railroad (/isis/citation/CBB804206250/)

Article Fredric L. Quivik; (2003)
Gold and Tailings: The Standard Mill at Bodie, California (/isis/citation/CBB586713387/)

Article Jeffrey M. LaLande; (1985)
Sojourners in Search of Gold: Hydraulic Mining Techniques of the Chinese on the Oregon Frontier (/isis/citation/CBB201807187/)

Authors & Contributors
Eric DeLony
Fredric L. Quivik
David B. Landon
Timothy A. Tumberg
Paul White
Gabriele Cruciani
Concepts
Industrial archaeology
Industrial heritage
Mines and mining
Tailings (Metallurgy)
Copper Mines and Mining
Buildings, Industrial
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
Places
United States
Michigan (U.S.)
Butte, Montana
Cincinatti, OH
Tooele, Utah
Carp River
Institutions
U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record
Anaconda Copper Mining Company
Quincy Mining Company
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment