It is the largest reciprocating steam-driven engine ever built in the United States.

[2] Development was rapid: Iron Mountain was platted in 1879 and the Chapin Mine Company was formed the same year.

[4] The company's chief engineer, Edwin P. Reynolds, designed a "Cornish Pump" similar to those used in tin mines in Cornwall, England.

In 1894, it acquired the nearby Hamilton and Ludington mines, both of which had been abandoned due to flooding problems.

[6] In 1907, Oliver reassembled the pumping engine and moved it to its current location near the site of the Ludington Mine "C" shaft.

[2] They constructed a corrugated metal building on a red sandstone foundation to house the pumping engine.

[6] The engine was nearly scrapped during World War II for its metal content, and indeed the steel frame shaft housing standing nearby was dismantled,[6] but local sentiment saved the pumping engine.

[7] In 1978, the county turned it over to the Menominee Range Historical Foundation,[6] who constructed a museum around it in 1982-83.