Nonesuch

Overview

Copper that wouldn't come out

Ed Less found the Nonesuch vein on the Little Iron River in 1865, and mining started in 1867. The copper sat in a four-foot bed of sandstone and in the shale beneath it, and it was very fine. The stamp mill crushed the rock and separated the metal by gravity, but much of the copper washed away in the tailings.

Owner after owner tried. The mine opened and closed five times and made a profit only from 1879 to 1881. In the early 1880s the town peaked at about 300 people, with a school of 30 pupils, and a post office ran from 1876 to 1887. By February 1887 the machinery had been stripped and shipped out. The Calumet and Hecla company explored the ground again in 1906, and a last crew came in 1912 and quit within a year. Total output was about 390,000 pounds of copper.

The same rock, the Nonesuch Shale, later fed the White Pine mine three miles east, which the Copper Range Company opened in 1955 and worked for about 40 years. The old townsite is now in the southeast corner of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.

Timeline

Nonesuch, 1865 to 1912

1. 1865Ed Less finds the Nonesuch copper vein on the Little Iron River.
2. 1867Mining begins. Over the next 45 years the mine opens and closes five times, each time under a new owner.
3. 1876–1887A post office operates at Nonesuch.
4. 1879–1881The only years the mine turns a profit.
5. 1881–1884The town peaks at about 300 people, with a school of 30 pupils.
6. 1887By February the machinery has been stripped and shipped out from the Union Bay dock.
7. 1906The Calumet and Hecla Mining Company brings in 200 tons of mining equipment and explores the area.
8. 1912A last 20-man crew starts mining and shuts down in less than a year. The mine never reopens.

What's left

What you'll see

A trail guide describes a mile-long round trip from a dirt road off South Boundary Road, about 4.2 miles from M-107, and warns that the turn is easy to miss. The first ruins are the foundations of the hoist house. A crumbling wall a short way off the trail is thought to be the boiler house, and beyond a rock pile are the concrete footings of a stamp mill the guide dates to 1906. Wikipedia adds ruins of the equipment used in the miners' last try at chemical leaching. Nonesuch Falls, on the Little Iron River, is about half a mile in. A 2021 article described signs and log fences around the ruins, and a 2025 article mentions an information sign along the trail.

The old USGS sheets below show the camp fading. The 1949 sheet still marks None Such as a cluster of buildings by the Little Iron River, and the 1956 sheet shows it in a clearing. On the 1960 sheet it sits just west of White Pine and its mine and tailings pond, and the 1979 sheet keeps only the name.

• Hoist house foundations
• Boiler house wall
• Concrete footings of the stamp mill
• Leaching equipment ruins
• Nonesuch Falls nearby

Historic maps

Nonesuch on USGS maps, 1949–1979

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19491:24,00019561:24,00019601:250,00019791:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Ontonagon is the nearest town, about half an hour away. Take M-64 west along Lake Superior to Silver City, follow M-107 a short way, then turn left onto South Boundary Road. The route ends on South Boundary Road about a quarter mile from the townsite point. A trail guide puts the trailhead, a dirt road on the left, about 4.2 miles from M-107. From Marquette, the drive is close to three hours.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

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Nearby

Other sites near Nonesuch

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Michigan index.

• Tula17.1 mi SW · Gogebic
• Matchwood17.4 mi SE · Ontonagon
• Victoria18.9 mi E · Ontonagon
• Adventure25.5 mi E · Ontonagon
• Verona26.0 mi SW · Gogebic
• Ramsay26.6 mi SW · Gogebic
• Dunham26.9 mi S · Gogebic
• Donken41.1 mi E · Houghton

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Nonesuch": fact sheet fields (roads, climate, best time, post office dates, population under 50).
2. Wikipedia, "Nonesuch Mine", retrieved October 2026: discovery, ore and milling, owners, profit years, population and school, post office, 1887 and 1906 events, the 1912 crew, production, leaching ruins, White Pine, location in the park, coordinates and elevation.
3. Michigan Trail Maps, "Porcupine Mountains: Nonesuch Mine Trail", read October 2026 (undated): 1 mile round trip, trailhead 4.2 miles from M-107, the hoist house, boiler house and 1906 stamp mill footings, the falls, the parking permit.
4. John Robinson, "The Michigan Ghost Town and Abandoned Mine of Nonesuch", WFMK, January 15, 2021: signs and log fences around the ruins.
5. Sophie Boudreau, "The Creepiest Hike in Michigan Takes You to an Abandoned Mining Town", Only In Your State, via AOL, September 23, 2025: the trail of just over a mile round trip passes the mine ruins, with an informative sign along it.
6. Michigan DNR, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, official site, read October 19, 2026: South Boundary Road winter closure and reopening, nearest hospital.
7. Coordinates: Wikipedia (from USGS GNIS). Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): White Pine 1949, 1:24,000; White Pine 1956, 1:24,000; Iron River 1960, 1:250,000; Ontonagon 1979, 1:100,000.