Atlantic Stamp Mill Operation
Baltic Stamp Mill Operation
The Dams of Redridge (Updated 8-28-2003)
Changes to the Community Over the Years
About 12 miles west of Houghton Michigan, on a picturesque winding
road, travelers will see a sign denoting the town of Redridge. Technically
there is no town there, a few scattered houses, an old schoolhouse and a
boarded up church, at least that is all that is apparent at first glance.
Journeying further into "town" one can see that something definitely went
on here at one time. From the direction of Lake Superior an old smokestack
is seen jutting up toward the sky. And to the left of the roadway lies an
enormous steel dam sitting there empty. By now the traveler must be
wondering what all of this is doing in the middle of nowhere? The answer is
simple: copper. At the turn of the century two copper mining companies
decided that this would be a good place to set up stamp mills for retrieving
copper from the ore that contained it. The Atlantic Mining Company started
stamping ore at Redridge in 1895, and the Baltic Mining Company finished
building their own mill at the site in 1900. The following chapters deal
with the evolution of the site known as Redridge from quiet forest, to
mining company town, to quiet hamlet.
In each section, clicking on numbers in parenthesis will take you to the footnote corresponding to
that number.
Atlantic Stamp Mill Operation
Baltic Stamp Mill Operation
The Dams of Redridge (Updated 8-28-2003)
Changes to the Community Over the Years
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