Prescott Water Pump photo

The Copper Range Company, which was established in 1899, operated copper mines in Houghton and Ontonagon Counties. It merged with the Louisiana Land and Exploration Company in 1977. The collection contains records concerning a number of mines and mills owned by the Copper Range Company, but the vast majority of the records are from the Champion Mine and Champion Mill in Painesdale, MI, which operated from 1899 to 1967. The Maps and Plans series contains blueprints and diagrams of the mines themselves as well as structures built by the company and machines used in the mines. The Production Records series contains ledgers documenting the output of Champion Mine and the number of drill bits sharpened by employees. The Labor Tally Sheets series contains documentation of how many hours individual employees worked. The Workman's Compensation records record fatality and injury claims against the Copper Range Company for 1921. The financial records include invoices, payroll records, paychecks, overtime logs, and paycheck deductions for Champion Mine, Champion Mill, and the Copper Range Company. The Books and Pamphlets series contains two product guides for pipes and casings as well as a history of the Copper Range Company, "Half a Century on the South Range," written in 1954 by Harry T. Mercer, who was the oldest employee of the Copper Range Company at the time.