Rock bearing small pockets of copper could be blasted out immediately and processed elsewhere at much lower cost.

The executives on the east coast wanted to build more elaborate and fancy homes with amenities such as electricity and running water.

But the east coast executives realized that if they offered nicer homes to the workers, the miners were more likely to stay, raise families, and be less likely to leave the area or transfer to another mining company.

The Quincy Mining Company closed operations (but did not dissolve) in 1931 due to low copper prices.

[11] During World War II, the mines re-opened due to increased copper demand.

When the government stopped supporting copper prices after the war, the mines quickly closed for good.

The Nordberg Steam Hoist and its reinforced concrete building, built in the Georgian architectural style with brick veneer and Italian-tiled walls, cost over $370,000 in 1918 but was used for only eleven years until it ceased usage in 1929.

[17] The Number 2 Hoist House was built as a reinforced concrete structure on a scale rare for 1918, making it one of the first of its kind.

On December 6, 2008 Michigan Tech Associate Professor William J. Gregg was installing emergency ladders in the mine shaft at the Number 2 Shaft House when he fell 225 feet and landed on an object and was declared dead at the scene by a paramedic who was lowered down to his location.