Did You Know?

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The Plumer Mine was named for Daniel Longfellow Plumer (1837-1920) who was president of the Northern Chief Iron Mining Company.

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The Plumer has been called the "Plummer" and "Plumber" Mine.

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By 1905 a new steel headframe stood on the site of the former "Rhine" Mine. The mine was re-named the "Plummer" or "Plumber" Mine.

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A 1907 advertisement sought an English speaking family to conduct a boarding house in a new building at the Plumer Mine. The ad came  with the promise of "fifteen boarders (miners) to start  with."

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In 1912, the Plumer Mine shipped 47,578 tons of rich hematite iron ore by rail to the ore docks in Ashland, WI. From this Lake Superior port, the ore was shipped to steel mills in the lower Great Lakes. The ore was so rich in iron that it was "direct-shipped" and no processing was needed.

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A year later, in 1913, the Plumer Mine shut down. 

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In 1917, the Plumer Mine operations restarted under the Republic Iron and Steel Corporation. The mine now reached a depth of 1,300 feet. 

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The Republic Iron and Steel Corporation spent $2 million dollars on the Plumer Mine.

 

The Plumer Mine operated on and off before it was permanently shut  down in 1932. 

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During its lifespan, the Plumer produced 172,329 tons of iron ore. There was still an estimated of 150,000 tons of ore "in sight" when the mine closed.

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The Plumer Mine reached a maximum depth of 2,367 feet. In comparison, the Montreal Mine, located approximately 7 miles to the east, was the deepest iron ore mine on the Penokee-Gogebic Range. It reached a depth 4,335 feet.

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The Plumer Mine was a very wet mine, producing around 600 gallons of water per minute. 

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The Plumer Mine was technologically significant in two ways. It was the first "inclined" headframe on the Penokee Range whose entry point and mine shaft  were angled to 60-degrees to follow the tilt of the iron ore body. Inclined headframes were developed to reduce shaft cave-ins. However, this design didn't solve the problem.   Newer headframes and their shafts entered the ground vertically with mine tunnels branching out horizontally to access the iron ore body.

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The Plumer Mine was the first all steel headframe on the Penokee Range. It remains the last one standing  among hundreds that once dotted the famous Penokee-Gogebic Iron Range. Why it was not scrapped, like all of the other headframes when mining operations ceased, remains a mystery.

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The Plumer Mine Headframe is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Taken from Headframes and mine shafts of the Gogebic Range by Bruce K. Cox, Wakefield, Michigan : Agogebic Press, 2010.