Cleveland Mine Engine House Number 3

The Cleveland Mine Engine House Number 3, also known as the Brownstone Engine House,[2] is a building located at 601 Division Street in Ishpeming, Michigan. It was built to house engines hoisting ore from various Cleveland Mine locales, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.[1]

Cleveland Mine Engine House Number 3
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
View from southeast
Show map of Michigan Show map of the United States
Location	601 Division Street St., Ishpeming, Michigan
Coordinates	46°29′20″N 87°39′31″W
Area	1.5 acres (0.61 ha)
Built	1880
Architectural style	Late Victorian
NRHP reference No.	07000386[1]
Added to NRHP	May 02, 2007

History

View from southwest

The Cleveland Mine was established in 1849,[3] and was the second iron mine opened on the Marquette Iron Range after the Jackson Mine.[4] The mine was one of the largest producers in the area from the 1850s through the 1880s,[4] when it was headed by Samuel L. Mather.[5]

The first portion of the engine house was built in 1880-1882 and served as the mine's primary engine house.[5] A hoisting plant consisting of two engines built by the Iron Bay Foundry of Marquette was installed in the building, and the equipment was used to haul ore from what was then known as the Incline Pit and the Sellwood (or Number 3) Pit.[2][6] In 1884, the size of the building was doubled, and a four-engine hoist was installed.[2]

The iron ore mined by the Cleveland Mine company was depleted in the early 1890s. However, in 1891, the assets of the Cleveland Mining company were merged with that of other iron companies in the area, including the Jackson Mine and the Iron Cliffs Mine, to form the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. Samuel L. Mather's son William G. Mather was president of the merged company.[5] The Number 3 Engine House was converted to a storage facility.[2]

Description

The engine house is constructed of stone, with an iron roof truss.[4] The building is considered an outstanding example early masonry mine buildings built in the Upper Peninsula iron fields.[4]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. S. T. Nelson (1922), "Fragmentary History of Powerhouses of Cleveland Iron Mining Company from 1880 to 1903", Proceedings of the Lake Superior Institute annual meeting, Lake Superior State Mining Institute, 22: 153–167
3. Alvah Littlefield Sawyer (1911), A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people: its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, The Lewis Publishing Company, p. 231
4. "Downtown Niles and Tourist Attractions in the Irish Hills Among 10 Properties Nominated to the National Register of Historic Places". Michigan Department of Natural Resources. January 25, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
5. "Cleveland Iron Company". abouthegreatlakes.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
6. Alfred P. Swineford (1881), Annual review of the iron mining and other industries of the Upper Peninsula, Mining journal, p. 6

Further reading

• Terry S. Reynolds; Virginia P. Dawson (2011), Iron Will: Cleveland-Cliffs and the Mining of Iron Ore, 1847-2006, Wayne State University Press, ISBN 0-8143-3511-X