Down Inside the Abandoned Lake Mine: Ontonagon County, Michigan

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

So is Lake Mine just a mine or is it a town as well?

This area in the Upper Peninsula's Ontonagon County was settled in 1840. In 1848, the Belt Mine opened and a few years later was bought out by the Belt Mines Company in 1882. The company didn't live up to its expectations and was re-sold in 1905 to the Lake Copper Company.

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In 1908, a post office named 'Belt' was opened; two years later (1910) it was re-named 'Lake Mine'. According to Michigan Place Names, after the company produced 7.3 million pounds of copper, the mine shut down permanently in 1919. Lake Mine's population went from 500 to 50 by 1927.

Then the Great Depression hit. The post office had to close in 1939, leaving Lake Mine with only one general store left to take care of the leftover miners and their families. Lake Mine was also a small train station alongside the Copper Range Railroad.

The mine may have only operated for about ten years total, but it still cranked out a good output: 7.3 million pounds of copper. Abandoned for over one hundred years, the mine sits back in the woods, many tunnels still hiding underground, filled with water.....and ice during winter.

The gallery below features photos that take you into the mine, thru the narrow tunnels with sheets of ice in some areas, as well as a giant ice formation or two. Discover the location as well.