Palms Mine

Palms Mine

Palms shaft #1 & Co. Office
Palms shaft #1 & Co. Office

THE PALMS MINE

President - F Weyerhauser
Vice President & treasurer - Charles Best Jr.
Secretary - Henry Baetz
General Office - Chippewa Falls, Wis.
Mine Office -Bessemer, Michigan

The Palms Mine was opened in 1886.  It is so named because this particular northwest quarter of Section 14 was owned by Francis Palms of Detroit.  He persistently refused to have his property “molested” but in August 1886 he was persuaded by Frederic Weyerhauser to grant him a mining option.  Five shafts were sunk in 1886.

The first five shafts ranged from 118’ deep to 650’ deep.  A new shaft known as the Palms Shaft, was started on August 22, 1912.  The headframe was 104’ tall.  It eventually reached a depth of 2108’.  It became the main working shaft of the Palms Mine.

The Palms mine was combined with the Anvil, Keeweenaw and Massie mines to form the Anvil-Palms mine in 1923.  After the mines were combined, the Palms Shaft was used for supplies and as an escape shaft.  The remaining ore was hoisted through the Eureka-Asteroid No. 4 shaft beginning in 1951.  The mine ceased operations on January 31, 1957.