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That Time I...

Broke My Finger in a Uncharted Mining Ruin

Far out in the Trap Hills in the Ottawa National Forest lay mining ruins that even the Forest Service may not know about... We found an old foundation of some sort buried against a rocky hillside, far from any other mapped mining location. Nearby were a few water-filled mine shafts that had not been grated over! This is significant because every other mining ruin I've found has been 'capped' to make it safe for people and wildlife. Except for this spot.


Iv'e done a lot of research into the copper mines in the area and this may be one of a handful that were never mapped well in the Trans-Ontonagon District (an area that basically everything from Bergland to Rockland). Many mines were founded in this area in the mid-1800s, and some by the American Mining Company did not have accurate locations. They're basically lost to history! Might this be one of these long-lost ventures? We may never know.


At any rate, I decided that we should stay the night in the old ruin to say that we did. That involved removing generations of fallen trees and boulders. As I was moving one particularly large boulder out of the way, it slid in the snow unexpectedly and crushed the ring finger on my left hand. Whoops. Putting my invinciblity to the test, I kept doing hard manual labor to make a livable shelter, made a bunch of firewood, and spent the night out there in freezing temperatures with a clearly broken finger. Just like the miners would have wanted!

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