Iron Mountain in Dickinson County, Michigan — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Cornish Pump

Registered Michigan Historic Site

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 30, 2010

1. Cornish Pump Marker

Inscription. When the E. P. Allis Company of Milwaukee built this pump in 1890/91, it was heralded as the nation’s largest steam-driven pumping engine. On January 3, 1893, the massive engine, designed by Edwin C. Reynolds, began lifting two hundred tons of water per minute at “D” shaft of the Chapin Iron Mine. In 1896 underground conditions shifted the engine out of alignment and it was dismantled. The Oliver Iron Mining Company purchased and rebuilt it at shaft “C” of the Ludington Mine in 1907. It dewatered the combined Chapin, Ludington, and Hamilton mines until 1914, when it was replaced by electric pumps. Patterned after similar pumps used in tin mines in Cornwall, England, the Cornish Pump boasts a flywheel forty feet in diameter, which weighs 160 tons and averaged ten revolutions per minute. The pump was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

Erected 1983 by Michigan History Division, Department of State. (Marker Number S0273.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce. In addition, it is included in the Michigan Historical Commission

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series list. A significant historical date for this entry is January 3, 1893.

Location. 45° 49.493′ N, 88° 4.216′ W. Marker is in Iron Mountain, Michigan, in Dickinson County. It can be reached from Kent Street west of Fairbanks Street/Carpenter Avenue, on the left when traveling east. Marker is mounted at eye-level on the Cornish Pumping Engine and Mining Museum, just to the left of the front entrance. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 300 Kent St, Iron Mountain MI 49801, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Great North Woods,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: James and Ida Goulette (here, next to this marker); Italians in Dickinson County (within shouting distance of this marker); Carnegie Library (approx. half a mile away); Robert C. Hoyle

Cornish Pump Marker • <i>wide view<br>(marker visible just left of museum entrance)</i> image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 30, 2010

2. Cornish Pump Marker • wide view
(marker visible just left of museum entrance)

(approx. half a mile away); Dickinson County / Dickinson County Courthouse and Jail (approx. 0.6 miles away); Maria Santissima Immacolata di Lourdes / Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Church (approx. 0.9 miles away); The Ardis Furnace (approx. 1.2 miles away); Menominee Iron Range (approx. 4.6 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Iron Mountain.

Regarding Cornish Pump. National Register of Historic Places #81000305. The Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine, also known as The Cornish Pump engine, was connected to a series of eight pumps, the deepest of which was 1,500 feet below ground. The total capacity of the pump system was 3,400 US gallons per minute.

Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. Cornish Pumping Engine

Also see . . . Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine (Wikipedia). The pump engine was originally installed at the surface near a boiler, to minimize efficiency losses in steam transport and to prevent damage to the engine in case of an emergency shut-off. It was housed in a massive red sandstone pump house, 60 feet high, 36 feet by 42 feet at the base, with

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a foundation 23 feet thick. The pump itself cost $82,000, and the entire installation cost an estimated $250,000. (Submitted on December 19, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Credits. This page was last revised on March 13, 2021. It was originally submitted on December 19, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 474 times since then and 30 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 19, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.