Traders Mine

Thought to be the Traders Mine, located to the north of Lake Antoine and also known as the Antoine Mine and later the Clifford Mine, this exceptional view must have been taken shortly after the mine opened in 1895. The timbering process in evidence at the entrance was a method for supporting an excavation by the use of timber posts and caps, laced with cribbing (timber used as supports and to prevent rock falls) and lagging (small, split timbers placed over caps or behind posts to prevent fragments of rock from falling through). To the right of the tunnel entrance two men appear to be working with Rand drills which were run by compressed air carried to the equipment in rubber hoses. The small ore cars brought the ore out of the mine using a system of tracks and were pushed by men called trammers. Tramming was sometimes dune by mules, although this technique was used infrequently in Dickinson County mines. Later on small electric locomotives provided the power needed for this work. [Menominee Range Historical Museum]