PLYMOUTH MINE
Located between Ramsay & Wakefield
It appears in this web site because
it is one of the very few open pit mines on the range
and when the Iron Belle Trail is extended to Wakefield
it will go along the “pit” which is now a lake.

The property was originally owned by Anna Hanousek of Ramsay. The Butler Brothers were contracted to remove approximately 60 feet of overburden and strip mining began in 1916.  In 1924 a shaft was sunk 350 feet underground near the northeast edge of the Plymouth pit to serve as drainage. The open pit reached a depth of 400 feet, 900 feet across and 7,600 feet long  and produced 16 million tons of ore by the time it was closed on Nov 6, 1952.

The pit filled with water from a natural spring and by 1971 the pit held an estimated 7,000,000,000 gallons of water.

For more information, please see books by Bruce K Cox from Agogeebic Press.  These can be seen and purchased at the Heritage Center and are also available at Bessemer Public Library.  SOON you will be able to walk, ski, bike and snowshoe along the open pit lake.