Steve's Archaeology Blog

Posted By Steve on July 1, 2009

Might as well start this story from the beginning. A long, long time ago….well…not really that long I suppose, twas at the end of the spring semester here at Michigan Tech, April 2009 let’s call it. Anyway…towards the end of the semester I was queried by one of my professors as to whether I was going to field school this summer. Professor Sweitz had come to know me a little bit and knew that I was an Archaeology major. When I told her sadly, no, as I had been making fantastic amounts of money the previous tax year, the federal government had not seen fit to donate a whole helluva lot to the “Help Steve Go To School” fund and therefore…no summer classes for Steve…including Field School. She then went on to mention that her husband (henceforth known as “Dr. Sweitz” or “Sam”), whom I had taken a class from the previous semester, might have some field work going on locally sometime this summer depending on funding, etc. I, of course, said I would definitely be interested.

Months went by.

It is now late June, and after job hunting to no avail since school ended I happened to be downstate visiting family when I randomly checked my school e-mail. Much to my surprise, a message from Dr. Sweitz greeted me. Was I interested in a project excavating an engine house at the Quincy Mine? It would be a good way to gain experience and a little money. Hell yes I would! I wasn’t expecting to get paid for this field work. Bonus! So a few e-mails back and forth and it was decided I would show up Monday morning at 9 to start my new job, cutting my vacation a day short, but that was okay with me.

Monday morning rolls around and I’m up and at ‘em at 8 a.m. I get ready and head to the site. I arrived about 20 minutes early, I wasn’t sure how long it would take and I didn’t want to create a bad first impression. A few minutes later an SUV pulls up behind me and parks, and a figure gets out. I exit the van and head over to introduce myself. The figure turns out to be Craig, the graduate student running the project. He proceeds to give me a tour of the site and an explanation of what the project is going to be. Basically, the Quincy Mine Hoist Association wants to make the abandoned engine house for the mine railroad into a museum. Craig is a museum studies student. The mine people contracted a basic excavation/survey of the site to determine it’s feasibility as a museum. We’ll be excavating a small layer of soil to expose the original floor boards in an area approximately 2 and half meters by 14 meters, excavate a trough that runs under a section of rail, presumably for ease of access under the engines, and performing a survey of a few post holes that will have to be dug for support beams for the new roof. About the time Craig got through explaining the project, we heard a car pull up. It was Sam, who then walked me through mostly the same information, and after deciding it was a little too wet to do much that morning (a misty drizzly morning it was) I went back to the Social Sciences office on campus to fill out my employee paperwork. While there I found out my pay rate…a little higher than I expected….score!

The next day, much the same, the weather wet and drizzly, I showed up at quarter to 9 and soon after Craig showed up. A few minutes later Cal, one of the other undergrads working on the project also showed up. Off we went to one of the SS professor’s house to pick up what would essentially be a gangplank so we could transport dirt and artifacts over the trough. While Cal grabbed a tarp from Wal-Mart to give us a little protection from the rain, Craig and I headed back to the site and staked out some excavation units. After the tarp was set up in a make-shift lean-to, Craig sketched the area and then he and I took measurements of features while Cal wrote them down. Figuring it was still too wet to do much of anything else, Craig called us done for the day after a mere hour and a half. And that is where things stand for now. Tomorrow may see a little more work, and hopefully pictures, depending on the weather.

Categories: Quincy and Torch Lake Railroad Engine House Project
Tags: beginning, cal, craig, engine house, excavation unit, field work, measure, mine, rain, sketch, stake