Cornish Pump Engine & Mining Museum

You have to see this gargantuan flywheel in person to fully grasp its size. It weighs 160 tons, is forty feet in diameter, and could pump 200 tons of water a minute. That such a behemoth was needed just to keep one shaft of the Chapin mine dry indicates the scale of opertions of this important mine. Long dormant, the mine site is located on Iron Mountain's west side, off Upper Pine Mountain Road.

Visitors with either an interest in mining or in the World II gliders made by Ford in nearby Kingsford will find much of interest here. The huge, steam-operated pump was installed in 1893 to dewater the Chapin Mine. (Motorists on U.S. 2 between downtown Iron Mountain and the North Side see the Chapin Pit, formed in 1945 when the surface caved in due to insufficient underground support.) The Chapin Mine was then the Menominee Range's wettest mine and largest ore body. So it made sense to build was then the world's largest mining pump. It's an awesome sight today with its 40-foot flywheel and pistons over eight feet long. The History Channel included the Cornish Pump as part of its Modern Marvels series on the world's biggest machines.

It's called the Cornish Pump Engine because the design was patterned after pumps from Cornwall, the mining region in the southwest of England. Cornwall exported master miners, engineers, and mining traditions directly to the Upper Peninsula.

The visually stunning upper section of the pump looks like industrial art.

The Cornish Pump was built in Milwaukee by the E. P. Allis Company. Like many giants of the engineering world, it came on line at the end of an era. Electric pumps replaced it in 1913-14. This pump almost succumbed to a World War II scrap drive. But local sentiment saved it and eventually resulted in this museum, established by the Menominee Range Historical Foundation. The museum reopened in 2001 after being closed for a year and a half. An air shaft of the abandoned mine caved in right at the building's edge, requiring successive caps to stabilize and fill it. A video shows the damage and repairs.

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The crucial "skip" is what took the iron ore by rail from deep underground to the surface.

Displays here focus more on mining techniques and geology than on the people and social history of the operators and miners. There's mining equipment, historical photos, and geological specimens. The museum is more for hardcore mining and engineering enthusiasts than the general public. Displays of work clothes stained red with ore dust do vividly evoke the everyday realities of iron mining. (Lay people will be more interested in the Iron Mountain Iron Mine, the State of Michigan's Michigan Iron Mining Museum in Negaunee, or the new Cliffs museum in Ishpeming. Leading Copper Country mining attractions touch combine social and technical history, too.)

A bonus at the museum is a room devoted to the big World War II gliders Ford Motor made in adjacent Kingsford. Forty feet long, they could transport 15 fully armed soldiers up to 25 miles behind enemy lines. A full-sized glider will soon be added to the museum's collection.

There's also a lot here on Ford's wooden World War II gliders made here and the fascinating role of gliders in secretly deploying troops behind enemy lines. That era comes to life with the help of an 8 1/2' glider replica, videos of gliders in motion, and local photographs of the manufacturing operation. The museum has just acquired a glider fuselage.

Just south of the Chapin Pit and north of downtown Iron Mountain, turn west onto Kent St. and go a short way to the museum. 774-4276. Open daily from Mem. Day weekend thru Labor Day: Mon-Sat 9-5 Central Time, Sun noon-4. Call for spring & fall hours. Adults $5, ages 10-18 $3, under 10 free. Combined admission to both museums: $8/adult and $4 ages 10-18. Handicap accessible.

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