The Minesota (the single "n" in the name was a mistake in the original incorporation papers) was one of the most productive and famous early mines in the Michigan Copper Country.

Other minerals in the ore, but which had no economic importance include quartz, calcite, epidote, pumpellyite, chlorite and feldspar.

The Minesota fissure vein was discovered in 1847 when prospectors found a six-ton (5.4 mt) mass of native copper in a pit dug by aboriginal miners.

In 1870, the rich massive copper had been worked out, and the depth of the mine shafts had reached the limit of the hoisting equipment.

[2] Through the end of the 1800s tributers continued to pick copper out of that part of the old workings that remained above water level.