Mansfield Mine Disaster Traditional Cache
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During the twenty-some years of its existence, Mansfield never had a population of more than four hundred, even counting the dogs and cats. It has, nevertheless, one tragic claim to distinction. Mansfield was the scene of one of Michigan's worst mining disasters. It happened on the night of September 28, 1893.
In 1889, a W.S. Calhoune discovered iron ore in profitable quantities there, and platted the town. A year later, the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad built a branch line from the Armenia Mine (near Crystal Falls) to the site. Then the Mansfield Mining Company began developing the mine. The miners and their families represented many ethnic backrounds: Cornish, Italian, Scandinavian, Finnish, and Irish.
The town soon acquired several boardinghouses, two general stores, three saloons, a church and a school. There was a stage line from Mansfield to Crystal Falls and on July 23, 1891, Mansfield received her first Postmaster. .
By 1893, the mine had six side shafts at different levels, with the deepest at 425 feet. Each of the shafts ran directly beneath, the Michigamme River, with the top level only thirty-five feet below the riverbed.
The top 5 shafts had been nearly mined out, which left only the wooden shoring and some pillars of ore to bear the tremendous weight of the earth above.
It is generally believed that the disaster occurred when the fifth level of the mine caved in, allowing the levels above, and consequently the river, to crash down on the miners.
Altogether, twenty-seven miners lost their lives. The death of so many husbands and fathers, as well as single men, was a terrible blow to the town, and it never recovered. By diverting the river into another channel, the mine was later redeemed and was operated until 1911 by the Oliver Mining Company. But, by 1913, the mine was closed and Mansfield's post office was discontinued. That was the end of Mansfield, except as a ghost town.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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