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Mining in the State of Michigan

The use of minerals and metals in Michigan goes back some 5,000 years to the time of the Native Americans who first occupied this land.

Native Americans mining minerals

Native Americans in the Northeast traditionally used copper and brass sheet metal to make utensils and tools including pots, spoons, arrow points and pipes, as well as jewelry including tinkling cones, beads, bracelets, and rings.

In 1837, Douglas Houghton was appointed the 1st State of Michigan Geologist, as a result of a geological survey he did of the state of Michigan. His survey set off national interest in mining in Michigan, particularly in the area of Keweenaw, and its copper ores that were in abundance.

Douglas Houghton

Copper and Iron

The Jackson Mining Company, originally founded to mine copper, was exposed to a place near Negaunee where iron was exposed on the surface by a Chippewa Indian Chief.   This set off a second wave of mining growth in Michigan

Copper and Iron were mined successfully and in great numbers in the UP due to its purity and abundance

Michigan supplied not only iron and copper, but also limestone, salt, gypsum, oil, natural gas, coal, stone, sand and gravel to the nation as it expanded after the Civil War.

Salt

 Native Americans knew and used salt springs. State Geologist Douglass Houghton identified many of these salt brine locations in the lower peninsula. The state's lumbering industry furnished the scrap lumber necessary as fuel to evaporate the water and produce salt.

Michigan led the nation in salt production for all but four years between 1905 and 1958 and still has sufficient salt deposits to supply the world's needs for centuries. Salt companies used two methods to extract salt. In one method water was pumped down to the salt to make artificial brine, which was pumped to the surface and evaporated. Actual underground mining of rock salt began during the early 20th century under the city of Detroit. The photograph shows one of the world's largest salt mines which was operated by the International Salt Company under the city, and is now the Detroit Salt Company.

 
The Detroit Salt Mine

Limestone

Michigan limestone has been important for smelting iron and making cement. The world's largest limestone quarry, covering approximately 6,000 acres, is located at Rogers City on Lake Huron.

Gypsum

 Underground mining of gypsum began in the 1840s near Grand Rapids. Gypsum quarrying (above-ground "mining") began in 1861 at Alabaster near Saginaw Bay. By the 1970s, Michigan gypsum, which is used for plaster, wallboards and other building materials, was valued at more than $10 million annually. The photo in the gallery shows a conveyer that took gypsum out to ships in Lake Huron south of Tawas City

Coal, Oil and Gas

State Geologist Douglass Houghton reported coal mining in Jackson County in 1840. The greatest production came from mines in the Saginaw Valley which were developed after 1890. Thirty-seven mines were producing at the peak of coal production in 1907. A small strip mining operation in Ingham County was the only evidence of this industry in the late 20th century.

From Michigan State University Geology Department

Michigan's first oil wells were sunk in the Port Huron area in 1886. By the mid-1920s, both oil and gas companies had opened productive fields north and west of Saginaw. Since that time, activity has centered in Isabella, Bay, Gratiot, Midland, Kalkaska and Grand Traverse counties.

Sand, Gravel and Stone

Deposits of sand, gravel and stone occur throughout the state, and have remained commercially productive throughout the 20th century. In the late 19th century, quarries at Grindstone City, near the tip of the Thumb, supplied grindstones for sharpening tools. Sandstone, from Hillsdale and Jackson counties and the south shore of Lake Superior, was used as a building material. Beginning in the 20th century, sand and gravel were used in large quantities for building roads and making cement. Michigan accounts for nearly 4% of the value of the US non-fuel minerals production. 

Mining History Links

http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/explore/museums/hismus/prehist/mining/mining.html

http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/explore/museums/hismus/prehist/mining/extractv.html