Lake Superior Mine (Old Phoenix Fissure), Phoenix, Houghton Township, Keweenaw County, Michigan, USAi

Regional Level Types
Lake Superior Mine (Old Phoenix Fissure)	Mine
Phoenix	Unincorporated Community
Houghton Township	Township
Keweenaw County	County
Michigan	State
USA	Country

The Lake Superior Mine was the site of the first mining lease in the Phoenix area. The Lake Superior Copper Company was organized in 1844 after exploration work a year earlier showed promising signs. The lease contained ten mineralized veins; however, Vein 8, along the banks of the Eagle River between the present-day towns of Phoenix and Eagle River, became the primary workings. The vein was 1,800 feet in length, approximately eleven feet wide, and contained half breeds (copper/silver mix) and plates of pure native silver. The first shaft was sunk in 1844 along the east bank of the river. By 1845, four additional shafts were driven where pieces of copper and silver where said to stick out of the ground. In 1849, the company reorganized into the Lake Superior Mining Company and was sold to the newly formed Phoenix Copper Company the same year. Phoenix worked Vein 8 into the 1850s and early 1860s before shifting operations to the bluffs of what is currently known as the Phoenix Mine. After this point, the Vein 8 workings became known as the Old Phoenix Fissure Mine.

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