"The Quincy Mine No. 2 Shaft Hoist House is an industrial building located north of Hancock, Michigan along US Highway 41 within the Quincy Mining Company Historic District.

"The Hoist House contains the largest steam hoisting engine in the world, which sits on the largest reinforced concrete engine foundation ever poured. The shaft hoist house was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1969 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970."

"The Quincy Mine No. 2 Shaft Hoist House is a rectangular structure, faced with red brick veneer, measuring 72 by 76 feet (22 by 23 m) in plan and rising to a height of almost five stories.

"The building is particularly decorative for a hoist house, containing an inordinate number of windows and, originally, a green glazed tile roof. The design of the building included large doors, open interior space with no columns, and an overhead crane to facilitate the installation of the hoist.

"The reinforced concrete foundation supporting the building and the hoist engine is particularly notable: it contains 32,000 cubic yards (24,000 m3) of material and was reputedly the largest block of reinforced concrete ever poured for such a purpose. It was one of the first very large reinforced concrete buildings ever built.

The hoist inside measures 60 by 54 feet (18 by 16 m) weighs 1,765,000 pounds (801,000 kg), and could pull a skip with 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) of rock at 36.4 miles per hour (58.6 km/h)." (wikipedia)

"The incredibly successful Quincy Mine produced profits for more than 50 consecutive years, and had the world’s deepest mine shaft when operations ceased," the travelthemitten.com reports.

"To get ore and workers in and out of this shaft, the world’s largest steam hoist was built. It weighed more than 880 tons and saved the company a great deal of money as it was able to move 10 pounds of ore at a time at speeds of more than 30 miles per hour.

"The largest concrete slab ever poured (at the time) provided the base that this hoist rested on. Today, this mine is a top attraction of the Keweenaw and visitors can tour many of the remaining structures."

"Had a great time visiting the Quincy Mine. This was a large copper mine operation and the Quincy Mine is one of the few mines that allow visits. We toured the hoist house that featured an enormous steam powered hoist."

"They did a great job of highlighting the hard work of the copper miners and their challenging working conditions. Highly suggest online reservations."

"The technology behind the construction of the equipment is fascinating (for history buffs). The tour of the mine shows just how much the miners of the 19th century had to endure - risk of death, darkness, equipment malfunctions. Definitely recommended."