Iron Mountain, Michigan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iron Mountain is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,154. It is the county seat of Dickinson County6.
US 2 (running concurrently with US 141) connects with M-69 at Crystal Falls, about 20 miles northwest, and with US 8 at Norway, about six miles east. US 141 north merges with US 2 just east of the city. US 141 continues south into Wisconsin. M-95 connects with Kingsford just to the south and with M-69 east at Randville about 14 miles north.
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[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.2 km² (7.8 mi²). 18.6 km² (7.2 mi²) of it is land and 1.6 km² (0.6 mi²) of it (7.69%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 8,154 people, 3,458 households, and 2,147 families residing in the city. The population density was 437.3/km² (1,132.6/mi²). There were 3,819 housing units at an average density of 204.8/km² (530.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.67% White, 0.20% African American, 0.48% Native American, 0.66% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.23% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.07% of the population.
There were 3,458 households out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 33.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 19.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 96.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,526, and the median income for a family was $43,687. Males had a median income of $38,309 versus $22,533 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,918. About 9.4% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.5% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Iron Mountain cable system
Iron Mountain once had a cable system using encrypted low-power broadcast stations. Part of this system:
- W43AN (//WLUK-TV)
- K47AF
- W56BF (//WGBA, ch. 57 move possible and recorded carrying same station)
- W59AQ
- W63AW (TNT)
- W65BN (TNN)
- W67AO (MTV/Disney Channel)
- K69BA (//WNMU)
[edit] Environmental importance
Iron Mountain's abandoned Millie Hill mine is home to one of the largest bat hibernacula in the Midwest. Roughly 25,000-50,000 bats make their winter home there.
[edit] Historical Importance
Iron Mountain is home of the largest steam engine in the world. The Chapin Mine Pumping Engine (Cornish Pump) was patterned after the ones used at Cornwall, England in the deep tin mines.
Edwin Reynolds, chief engineer for the E.P. Allis Company (now the Allis-Chalmers Co.) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, designed the steam engine in 1890. The engine's high pressure cylinder has a 50 inch bore, and the low pressure cylinder is 100 inches in diameter. The flywheel is 40 feet in diameter, weighs 160 tons, and had an average speed of only 10 revolutions per minute. The drive shaft to the flywheel is 24 inches in diameter. The engine itself rises 54 feet above the floor of the room. The designers estimate the weight to be 725 tons over all.
The pumping equipment utilized a reciprocating motion to a line of steel rods extending 1,500 feet down into the mine, with eight pumps attached at intervals of 170 to 192 feet along the rods. Each of the pumps forced the water to the next higher pump and finally out to the surface of the mine.
As the engine was designed to run slowly, the pumps had a capacity of over 300 gallons per stroke of the pistons. At ten revolutions per minute, this meant over 3,000 gallons of water poured out through a 28-inch pipe every minute. A total of 5,000,000 gallons of water could be removed from the mine each day.
The Chapin Mine Pumping Engine (Cornish Pump) was designated as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Monument by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers on June 6, 1987 and has been featured in the History Channel's Modern Marvels Series on the World's Biggest Machines.
[edit] Current and former residents of Iron Mountain
- Anna DeForge, American professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
- Robert J. Flaherty, a filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film, (Nanook of the North) in 1922.
- Tom Izzo, the men's basketball head coach for Michigan State University since 1995
- Steve Mariucci, former NFL head coach, for the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions
