Copper mines could be found here in 1800s

There’s a review process underway for the proposed NorthMet copper and precious metals mining project in the north central and arrowhead regions of Minnesota. The review and comment of the draft supplemental Environmental Impact Statement is being billed as an exhaustive analysis for the “first” copper-nickel mine in the state.

Maybe “first” is being applied to the proposal as an open pit mine; because there were copper mines in Taylors Falls in the 1800s. This precious metals project in the Superior National Forest will not be man’s first try at pulling copper out from under Minnesota. According to the Taylors Falls Historical Society Journal, printed in 2005, the state legislature authorized a Taylors Falls man, in 1865, to search for copper in the St. Croix River Valley, gave him a grant and told him to make a report. Mr. N.C.D. Taylor submitted the report in 1866 and said he’d sunk two shafts in Taylors Falls at a cost of $20 a foot.

A geologist, Professor James Hall, analyzed samples and said the samples were equal to the best-paying veins near Lake Superior. Test shafts were sunk on the south side of what is now First Street, in Taylors Falls. You can still see a sign posted on the edge of the woods with lettering announcing, “Coppermine Shaft.” According to the Historical Society’s Journal a mining company for Mr. N.C.D. Taylor’s property in Taylors Falls formed in 1864, and after the state legislature granted Taylor the money for the analysis on the copper vein-- the local paper declared “hopes ran high that fall of 1865.” In a couple months the shaft was again referenced in the Taylors Falls Reporter as being 40 feet deep.

There are follow-up stories in the local newspaper about accidents at the shaft and the death of the owner Mr. N.C. D. Taylor. Between 1888 until July 1889 there were ads for the mining property for sale. Records show an heir taking ownership in 1901. The shaft somehow got filled in and mining ceased without a mention in the local paper. There was also the Taylors Falls Copper Mining Company, with its first officers being W.H.C. Folsom, G.W. Seymour, L.W. Folsom and D.A. Caneday. The copper shaft overseen by this enterprise was on Ravine Street about a block from where the Springs Inn sits. According to the historical society’s 2005 mining article, the shaft went to 115 feet deep. To finance exploration shares of stock were sold, 1,000 shares for $1 a piece was the initial offering.

In November 1875 company directors voted to procure steam-operated machinery but the next phase never transpired. Stockholders heard at the annual meeting that December that the company had sold $3,605 in shares but was in debt for $4,058. “Mining agent” D.A. Caneday wrote in the Taylors Falls Journal newspaper the company suspended operations ...by reason of the financially depressed state of affairs.” The authors of the journal piece-- Fay Caneday and Jack Liljenberg-- propose at the end of the article that it may be a good thing that copper mining at Taylors Falls proved to not be cost-effective.

They wrote to conclude their piece: “...those who (now) appreciate Taylors Falls for its natural beauty may wish to count their blessings. If copper exploration had been successful our landscape would look considerably different than it does today. It would have changed the culture, maybe even the existence, of the town.”