Montreal, WI: Underground Iron Mine and Company Town

(Satellite)

"White framed houses, curved streets and gracious landscaping mark the now named, City of Montreal - the only planned company mining town in Wisconsin." [TravelWisconsin]

Thomas Kangas posted seven photos with the comment: "Montreal Mine late 40’s, early 50’s. Ironwood Daily Globe article."

Andrew Roth shared with the comment: "This iron ore mine was originally on the Soo Line and was a large ore producing mine."

Paul Hillmer: This is cool ! The machine shop is still there in Big Snow Country.

When I was in high school, we went on a Homestead High School ski trip for ski club. Our lodging was The Montreal Motor Lodge. We got there and it was this machine shop. With large rooms and army cots. And I was one of the few that knew it was an old mine building. Hey 1970s, it was what it was.

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Jason DeJoode: Pretty impressive stockpile system.

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mines
"A miner stands in a fire and ventilation door at the Montreal Mine. The Montreal Mine was an underground iron mine in the Gogebic Range near Montreal, Wisconsin. The Mine was in operation by the 1880s with other early mines in the Range, and closed by the late 1960s. It was one of the deepest iron mines in the world. The Mine was operated by the Montreal Mining Company, which was reportedly incorporated around 1894."

This building used to be the mine's medical clinic. The hill is a tailing pile. "The Montreal had produced 45 million tons of iron ore when it shutdown in 1962. Competition from cheaper sources of iron, not the lack of ore, forced the closing." [hmdb]

Street View, Aug 2023

The mine is over 4000' (1.2km) deep. There is a trail with signs describing the many preserved buildings. [MineSpotter]

TheDiggings describes the geology of the mine.

Three photos from mindat.

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Montreal Mine Shaft No. 6

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Loading ore at the Montreal Mine

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Underground at the Montreal Mine

1956/57 Iron Belt and 1955/77 Ironwood Quads @ 24,000