The Abandoned 1840s Minesota Mine, Ontonagon County
The Minnesota Mining Company was organized in the Upper Peninsula’s Ontonagon County in the 1840s, but thanks to a spelling error in the state charter, the legal name became ‘Minesota’ with a missing “N”. The village surrounding the mine was platted as ‘Rosendale’ but when a post office opened up in 1857, the name became ‘Minesota Mine’.
After the mine was taken over by the National Mining Company, the post office (and village) was re-named ‘National’ in 1861. The town of ‘National’ became consolidated into the village of Rockland in 1863, re-naming the post office to ‘Rockland’ of which it remains to this day.
As for the mine, the fissure vein was discovered in 1847 by prospectors when they came across a pit with a six-ton chunk of copper dug out approximately 400 years earlier by native miners. Mining began the following year and by 1855, the Minesota Mine was one of the entire country’s most productive copper producers.
The Minesota Mine had ten shafts were dug, which uncovered a 527-ton mass of copper, the second-largest ever found in the Upper Peninsula’s Copper Country.
The mine was productive from 1848 to 1885, when it finally closed for good. Today, the mine sits in ruins, which you can see for yourself if you scroll down to the gallery below...
Minesota Mine, Rockland
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