IROQUOIS MINE

Mohawk or Ahmeek, Keweenaw Co., MI

August 8, 2003

Iroquois Mine dump

On Friday afternoon, after leaving the Seneca Mine, I drove to the Iroquois Mine. This mine is located off Cliff Drive, 2.1 miles north of where Cliff Drive joins US 41. There’s a dirt road on the right that leads to the dump. It was well marked with pink ribbons tied to trees. The only problem was that loggers working in the area were also using pink ribbons to mark their logging roads. This resulted in one wrong turn that became very obvious before I went too far. Some sources show the location as Mohawk, but my map indicates that it s nearer Ahmeek. In any case, it’s the same mine. The dump is located at lat. 47 deg. 19.417’ lon. –88 deg. 21.423’.

The copper here is mainly in prehnite. Our guides, in the photo above, were kind enough to show examples of the type of rock to look for. I collected more copper crystals here than at any other locality on this trip. There also was epidote, pumpellyite, datolite, quartz and prehnite in both the more common radiating green crystal groups and discrete pink crystals.

I also got what I believe to be apophyllite, in very clear crystals with copper inclusions. The copper could also be underneath. With such good clarity it’s hard to tell. I’ve been told that this could also be another form of prehnite.

At the end of this field trip I headed back to the Lake Linden campground, cleaned up and changed clothes. We went out for dinner at a small restaurant in Lake Linden and got ready to head home.

The trip home was smooth and uneventful. We made it all the way home in one day on Saturday.

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