The Champion No. 4 shaft Captain’s office, before restoration work began in 2019. (Photo courtesy of Painesdale Mine & Shaft)

ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Restoration and preservation efforts continue at the former Champion Mining Company’s No. 4 Shaft complex in Painesdale. Now under the care of Painesdale Mine & Shaft, Inc. (PM&S), the past couple of years have seen impressive work. The organization’s projects have increased the number of visitors to the historic site.

In the fall of 2022, PM&S received a grant from the Houghton County Historical Preservation Fund in stabilize and improve the stairs and walkways of the upper levels of the shaft-rock house. The repairs allowed visitors those upper level areas.

Vince Kanthak, a member of the PM&S Board, and a volunteer guide, said this year, the complex has seen more visitors than in previous years, but some are more interested than others.

“I think you know there’s two kinds of visitors,” he said. “one are the visitors who pay to go on the tour, and the others who are coming to just check it out.”

Numbers of visitors, fortunately, have not hindered progress on preservation projects.

Earlier this spring, rock remaining in the upper rock bin of the shaft house was removed in order to inspect the integrity of the wood framing, as well as to remove the weight of the rock from the upper levels of the building. The rock, left in the bin since the mine stopped operating in 1967, had been collecting moisture and stressing the steel and wood structure.

Rock skips being hoisted from the mine were unloaded in the bin, located in the upper level of the shaft house. The rock could then be dropped into jaw crushers beneath, then into the main rock bin. According to Michael Prast, PM&S pesident, the bin was still full of rock, creating problems for the structure. The weight, combined with moisture retention for 100 years, wore down the supporting steel and wood. Rock removal from the structure is estimated to continue for the next two to three years.

Restoration and preservation extends beyond the shaft house. The captain’s office, built in 1902, has been the subject of a number of projects this year.

“We just finished painting the windows, the soffits, and trim on the office,” Kanthak said. “Until this spring, the windows were all shuttered. The shutters weren’t historic. They were simply there because the windows were in bad shape.”

Kanthak said the shutters were a temporary fix, but they worked.

“Twenty-five years ago, they decided to cover them, which was a good thing,” he said, “because the front window was totally blown out. There was no framing there.”

Painesdale Mine &Shaft, Inc is a 501-c(3) nonprofit, and is dedicated to preserving the  No. 4 Shaft-rock house, as well as buildings, objects, and documents related to the Champion Mining Company and the town of Painesdale. PM&S is a Heritage Site of the Keweenaw National Historic Park.

By preserving and restoring the No. 4 shaft complex, Painesdale Mine & Shaft, Inc. hopes to continue using it as a museum so that future generations can experience the sights, sounds, smells, and the feel of mining as it once was. Along with the shaft house, there remains numerous industrial buildings, and private homes related to the mining area. PM&S Inc. hopes to someday identify these structures so that the full story of what life was like in Painesdale can be told. 

PM&S’s goal, as always, is to preserve the buildings under our care while retaining the “as is” feel of the experience, said Prast. The organization wants people to enter the buildings and feel what the men who worked here might have felt; all the dust and dirt included.

The Captain’s office after restoration. (Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette)