The Keweenaw Peninsula is rich in minerals. Mining in the Upper Peninsula is a HUGE part of the industry up there, especially when it comes to Copper, and it's because of the unique geography. But it's NOT just copper that has people digging in the dirt Up North.

There's rumors of a lost "Wall of Silver" in the Keweenaw Peninsula in particular that could net someone the closest alternative to a literal gold mine you could get... but where is it, exactly?

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The idea of this "Wall of Silver" comes from a man named Richard Kellogg, who wrote a book about his first-hand accounts, and the stories of other prospectors who claim to have seen this elusive mine that could net someone millions.

A documentary on Kellogg and his book claims he made it to the mine, hundreds of feet underground, and left his mark to prove that he had been there. But when he returned to try and find it again, he was unable to.

"Despite retracing his steps time and time again... "

According to his book, Kellogg claims when his friend Jake Stockard first found the mine in the 1920s, he pulled several barrels of the valuable ore out of the ground, and sold it to the mafia. In turn, they paid him in gold coins, which he hid in the mine. So you can imagine WHY he and Kellogg were so eager to find the mine again.

The mine is one that Kellogg claims has been found, mined, and lost twice in history, not just to him, but to previous generations, and even indigenous people and English settlers from the 1700s. But even if you're skeptical of the mine's existence, in the video below, Richard recounts his trip into the mine in the 1970s, and his vivid descriptions make it seem like this "Wall of Silver" mine could actually be real.

"We turned into a room that had 17 pillars left in place... And some of the pillars, he said were solid silver. So when we got past these 17 pillars, he shined his light on this dark wall and it looked like it was a large piece of swiss cheese that had just been carved in all different holes... I asked him, 'what is that,' and he says 'That's the Wall of Silver.'

"He stepped it off for me, about 30 paces, and it disappeared into the wall, the ceilings, the floor, at each end."

In 1979, Kellogg tried again to find the mine, but logging crews stood in his way. He also found out that the logging company had bought the property, and leased the mineral rights to another company until 1999. So again, after the year 2000, Kellogg returned again to try and re-discover this lost "Wall of Silver" in the Keweenaw... but was unsuccessful, despite finding the marker to indicate the entrance to the mine.

Of course, we can only scratch the surface of the full story, but Richard's book is available for you to read more into.

And one last thing, as proof that Richard really was in the mine, and as proof that someone may one day find it again, he left his dog tags at the entrance, so that whomever might re-discover the mine can take one out with them, and show the world that, indeed, the "Wall of Silver" really does exist in the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Ruins of the Quincy Mine Buildings

Abandoned Copper Mine Tunnel, Ontonagon County

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