Champion Stamp Mill- Freda, MI
These are photos I took in Freda, MI of what is left of the Champion Stamp Mill and the Copper Range Railroad tracks that served it. Essentially this ghost town existed to serve the Champion Copper Mill, which processed copper-bearing rock from the nearby Champion Mines. Unless you were native to the area, or living up in Houghton, you would never know that this place existed, just like many other abandoned mining operations and stamp mills across the Keweenaw Peninsula.
The mill processed copper-bearing rock dumped from locomotives into an area where one of five large stamps would break the minerals into pieces. Water from the adjacent Lake Superior was added, while the pieces were pulverized by iron balls. The produced sludge that was forty percent copper or more was then sent by locomotive to Michigan Smelter, near Houghton, from which the copper was made into ingots and shipped to the world.
The Champion mine, the last native copper mine operated by Copper Range Company, closed November 4, 1967.
Photos taken: Champion Stamp Mill, February, 2017
Be sure to check Google out for many other peoples stunning photos in seasons that are not covered many feet of snow, it is fun to compare them!
