Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette The Quincy No. 2 Nordberg Hoist is the largest steam hoist in the world. The ceiling of the 103-year-old Hoist House will be repaired through a preservation grant.

By GRAHAM JAEHNIG

Daily Mining Gazette, Houghton

HANCOCK — The Quincy Mine Hoist Association received notification of the latest grant award from the Department of the Interior for continued work on the 1918 Hoist House.

In a recent email, Quincy Hoist Executive Director Tom Wright said this round of work will finish all of the structural repairs and renovations that need to be done, which should put the Hoist House in good shape for the next 100 years.

The grant, totaling more than $1.25 million, is to continue historical rehabilitation of the building, including repair work to the reinforced concrete frame and shell of the Hoist House.

The exterior of the Hoist House.

In many parts of this early site-cast concrete building, the embedded steel reinforcing bars were placed very near the surface and have been corroding over time, states the Keweenaw National Historical Park’s 2024 Keweenaw Guide. The rusting steel expands, which leads to the fracture and failure of the surrounding historic concrete which breaks and falls away, exposing still more steel to weathering and accelerating overall degradation.

Repair work at the Hoist House will take place at select areas of the exterior walls, ceiling, and exposed structural elements to protect the safety of workers, volunteers, and the visiting public, the historic hoist engine housed within, and the historic building itself.

The Hoist House took less than a year to construct, according to the Report of the Directors of the Quincy Mining Company for the year 1918.

“Early in the year,” Charles Lawton, general manager wrote, “a contract was let for the construction of a new hoisting engine house of the latest design of reinforced concrete and necessary foundations for the new No. 2 Nordberg hoisting engine.”

The wall, Lawton wrote, have red brick facing, the windows are of prism glass, in steel frames, and the roof is concrete with tar felt sheathing and green tile.

The photo shows some of the structural damage.

Complications created by World War I delayed the installation of the new No. 2 hoist for two years. On November 10, 1920, it went into commission.

It was the largest mine hoist in the world, The overhead winding drum has a diameter of 30 feet, of which the cylindrical center section is 10 feet long. The two 10-foot long end sections taper down to a 15-foot diameter. Wire-hoisting ropes (almost 27 tons) could be wound onto a small end of the cylindrical drum as the other rope unwound from the cylindrical section.

Two cross-compound, cross-condensing Corliss steam engines with cylinder bores of 32 and 60 inches and 66-inch stroke drove the drum directly, with 2,500 horsepower at 34 revolutions per minute being its normal operating load. Skips weighing 6 tons of 10-ton capacity traveled the shaft at speeds of up to 36 mph. When Quincy stopped mining permanently in 1945, it had achieved a depth of 9,200 feet.

The Quincy Mine Hoist Association is a dedicated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the primary focus of which lies in preserving and interpreting the history, landscapes, buildings and industrial work experiences associated with the Quincy Mining Company. The Quincy Mining Company operated on the site from 1848 to 1945.

This historical conservation effort aims to educate the public about Michigan’s copper mining legacy. The organization has successfully attracted more than 30,000 visitors to its mine site, which serves as a national historic landmark district.